Cartoon Crossroads Columbus presents the field of cartoon and comics

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus comes to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum to celebrate the art of comics with legendary cartoonists and hands-on events.

Columbus’ comic, art and animation festival, Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, will include in-person events starting Thursday and ending Sunday. Virtual events will take place on Discord and recordings of in-person events will be posted on the festival’s YouTube channel, Jerzy Drozd, interim director of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, said.

Drozd said the festival showcases new ways to enjoy comics and cartoons through lectures by established cartoonists and events that will teach visitors about different comic book layouts and character design. Whether people are extremely familiar with this art form or it is the first time they have seen art in this medium, there will be something for everyone.

“Whatever your involvement with comics, there is something to [Cartoon Crossroads Columbus] it’s up to you to celebrate, ”Drozd said. “Maybe you can’t name all of the X-Men, or maybe you’ve read Raina Telgemeier’s ‘Smile,’ but you don’t know a thing about Brian Micheal Bennett’s Spider-Man comics. You still have a place to be there. So it’s very inclusive.

Due to the pandemic, Drozd said organizers have put in place several ways for people to enjoy art from the comfort of their own homes, including live broadcasts of the events and recordings posted on their channel. Youtube.

Newspapers and films don’t fully represent the extent of what comics can bring to the art world, Drozd said. In order to help remedy this, the festival brings in cartoonists who can fully explain how their art can speak deeply to viewers through pictures and a few selective words.

“It’s deeply exciting for me, as a cartoonist, that just changing a few lines can communicate so much, and it happens intuitively and instantly in the reader’s head,” Drozd said.

Jeff Smith, artistic director of the festival, New York Times bestselling author of the “Bone” series, professional cartoonist and Ohio State alumnus, said he would discuss his new project, “Tuki: Fight for Fire ” at the festival.

Smith said he started his career in 1982 when he wrote comics for The Lantern at Ohio State titled “Thorn”, which gave him ideas that led to the “Bone” series.

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus was originally known as the Festival of Cartoon Art and took place every three years from 1983 to 2013 before Lucy Casewell, the former curator, retired, Smith said.

In 2015, he and his wife, Vijaya Iyer, came up with the idea of ​​bringing together all the art institutes near Columbus and their cartoon guests on the same weekend for an event that would be open to the public, Smith said. .

“When I started out in comics, comics were only sold in hobby stores, comic book stores, and that was the only place you could get comics,” said Smith. “We’ve always tried to expand our audience because there just aren’t that many women or even children in comic book stores.”

Smith said the changes to the festival reflect changes in the comic book world in the sense that while there have been many changes in both, they still place the same emphasis on comic book art. drawn.

“The big difference between us and any other comedy series is that we don’t celebrate Spider-Man or the X-Men, we celebrate the art form and the creators,” Smith said.

More information on this year’s event dates and guests is available on the festival website website.