The Comics Issue: Adventures in future Philadelphia
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Evan M. Lopez
We swore we'd never do a Comics Issue again, but you know what they say about saying never. Still, take heed: The old days of pitting hungry artists against each other for small patches of newsprint are over. For this rebooted Comics Issue, we decided to pick four of our favorite Philly comics creator, give them some space and tell them to go nuts. The theme? Philly in the Future. They could make of that what they wanted — apocalypse, dystopia, utopia, whatever. What they came up with was funny, freaky and unpredictable. Here's your future, Philly.
—Patrick Rapa
The Artists
Box Brown | Philly 2099
Box Brown is a New York Times best-selling comic artist, illustrator and publisher living in West Philadelphia. He started the comics publishing house Retrofit in 2011 and his comic biography, Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, was released in 2014 by First Second Books.
Kelly Phillips | Sorry for the Inconvenience
Kelly Phillips is a cartoonist based out of West Philly and co-editor of the all-girl comic anthology Dirty Diamonds, which recently released its latest issue about comics. (Look for it at kellyp.storenvy.com.) Her comics are about her life and some other stuff. She likes to get angry, get food and get to sleep. You can probably find Kelly and Dirty Diamonds at a table at Wizard World on Saturday.
@kellypcomics, kellyphillips.net/comics
Jamar Nicholas | Welcome to Futuredelphia
Jamar Nicholas is a cartoonist, educator and Philadelphia native currently living in Oak Lane. He adapted and illustrated Geoffrey Canada's Fist Stick Knife Gun and created influential webcomic Detective Boogaloo: Hip Hop Cop for filmmaker Kevin Smith's moviepoopshoot.com. His new graphic novel, Leon: Protector of the Playground, releases this fall. Jamar will appear on the Wizard World Panel "Indy Comix Creators Roundtable" at Wizard World Philadelphia tonight from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m.
@jamarnicholas, jamarnicholas.com
Christine Larsen | The Chase
Christine Larsen is a cartoonist and illustrator by trade, creating art for comics, book covers, posters, websites and more. She has worked with clients such as Dark Horse, IDW, BOOM Studios, DC Online, Saatchi & Saatchi, Simon & Schuster, Thrillbent and Cartoon Network. Christine is also a part-time instructor at the University of the Arts, and lives with her two cats, her husband and a sawed-off shotgun in a heavily fortified North Philadelphia row home where she awaits the zombie apocalypse.
