On the Road: Boston Zine Fair, Mass. College of Art, Boston MA

It was a good plan. Finish up the latest issue of Caravan, get it copied at Staples, take care of the errands I needed to do. All of that would get done Friday night, and I'd leave for the Boston Zine Fair the next morning. Yeah, you know what happens to the best laid plans.

So I woke up at 5 AM Saturday morning, with the zine finished printed out, but not copied, with not quite all of the errands done, and with my stuff not yet packed. I attended to the packing and remaining errands, and figured I'd stop at Staples along they way to do the copying. After all, they have several locations right off Route 3, and they open at 7:00 AM.

Except they don't. Staples opens at 7 on weekdays; this was a Saturday. They open at 9. Note that the Zine Fair starts at 10. Right. Plan B. I drove up to Dedham and got to the Staples there right at 9, did the copying, and then headed over to Forest Hills Station and took the bus to Mass College of Art. As things turned out, I arrived at about 10:05, and located my table after following a spectacularly circuitous route marked with orange signs that led, through twisted halls, empty galleries, and through (not past) the campus security office.

I laid out a spread of zines and minicomics, and also put out blank pages and index cards for the weekend's special project. I had decided to make ANOTHER new issue of Caravan. This one would be made entirely during the Zine Fair.

I immediately got some interest in the on-site zine, and collected various pieces of artwork and writing over the course of the day. In the meantime, I was buying and trading zines writing up reviews.

The crowds picked up as the day went on, and we had some visitors who stopped in on the way to/from an anti-war rally on the Boston Common. I gave away bunches of postcards, sold some zines and minicomics, and made lots of contacts. I also ran into a few old friends. Matt Feazell was in attendance from the Midwest, selling his Cute Girl and The Amazing Cynicalman minicomics. And I was sitting two tables down from E.J. Barnes, who writes and draws The Ling Master ("He's a detective! He's a mystic master! He's a man of mystery! He's a drunk who wears a pillowcase on his head!").

I worked the zine fair until just about closing time at 6 PM, and then headed over to Cambridge to meet Trey R and some of her friends for dinner at John Harvard's Brew Pub. Trey works for GAMA and she was in town for the Boston Gift Show. It turned out that a couple of the people she was meeting were folks I knew from back when they were all in Boston, and we had a great time chatting comics, LARPs, and Ren Faire stuff.

Unfortunately, the trip back to my brother's place in Hingham Saturday night turned into the Trip from Hell. It was raining pretty hard when we got out of John Harvard's and I ran to the subway station. First the Red Line got delayed (reasons unknown). Then there was a bunch of confusion about which Orange Line train to get on because they were changing the service due to construction. Now the construction was in the opposite direction I was going in, so in theory, once I got on the right train I should have been all set. In theory. The orange line train stopped at New England Medical Center with word that there was a "Police Action" (Isn't that what they called the Korean War?) at Ruggles. Finally they announced that we were moving, but would be skipping Ruggles. No problem. I wasn't getting off there. We passed Ruggles and got to Roxbury Crossing and the trip ground to a halt once again. Finally, we were informed that this train would be going back to Ruggles. I got off, and proceeded to leave one of my bags on the train. Fortunately, it was spotted before either 1) the train left or 2) I caused a terrorist incident. Not that Boston has EVER been known to get jumpy about suspicious packages (it helps that I was not traveling with any Lite-Brite devices). Oh, and to make it fully clear that the fates have decided to make me miserable tonight, it is now snowing. So we finally got moving again, and I had a very difficult drive to Hingham, arriving around midnight. I cleared enough space around the sofabed in my nephews' playroom to unfold the bed, removed a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle from the mattress, and crashed.

Sunday morning was more relaxed: Breakfast with family and then I drove back to Mass Art. Street parking is free on Sundays and I got a spot a few blocks off over by Wentworth Institute of Technology. As I expected, business at the Zine Fair was slow on Sunday, but it gave me a chance to read some of the zines I bought and work on the special Boston Zine Fair edition of Caravan.

I ended up leaving at around 3 PM, after collecting a bunch of additional submissions for my on-site zine, which I'm currently working on putting together.

I love the creative energy of the zine fair, and I'm looking forward to participating in future zine events.

Boston Zine Fair photos:

Here's the entrance to Mass College of Art, and the start of the labyrinth that eventually led to the zine fair.

 The zine fair, with my table in the foreground.

The Dandelion Studios table, with copies of Caravan, Phoenix, Kinships, and some of our minicomics visible.

Protesters stopping in at the Zine Fair on their way to the Boston Common for the anti-war rally.

Flyers for the anti-war rally on the Boston Common.

Comic book artist E.J. Barnes, who had a table near mine. 

Comic book artists Matt Feazell and Jim Mackey.

Some additional sights from around the MassArt campus:

MassArt courtyard.

Sculpture, MassArt courtyard.

Wind sculpture, MassArt.

Wind sculpture, MassArt.

High-rise building, MassArt.

 And lastly, a final plea that I found posted in the window of one of the MassArt buildings:

And on that note, I'll see you on the road!