BUBBLES CON: JUNE 6TH & 7TH 2025 - RICHMOND, VA
Bubbles Con is a FREE event of live interviews and presentations about comics in Richmond, Virginia organized by Bubbles Fanzine. It's focus is on education and building community amongst artists and fans alike. The second edition of Bubbles Con will take place June 6th & 7th 2025 at the Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library (101 E. Franklin Street).
Follow Bubbles on Instgram at: @bubbles_zine
Bubbles Con 2025 will feature:
Friday June 6th 2025, 6pm-9pm, Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library:
6:00pm: Opening for Art shows for John Vasquez Mejias and Dash Shaw on the First Floor of the Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library
7:00pm - 8:00pm: John Vasquez Mejias will perform a puppet show based on his woodcut comic The Puerto Rican War, followed by an on stage interview with Mejias
Saturday June 7th 2025, 9am - 5pm, Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library:
10:00am - 10:50am: Ryan Holmberg Talk on Manga: Horror, Me, and My Basement
11:00am - 11:50am: Caitlin McGurk Talk: Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund
12:50pm - 1:30pm: Lunch Break
3:30pm - 4:30pm: Charles Burns Interview conducted by Dan Nadel author of Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life
AFTER PARTY:
Saturday June 7th 2025, 7pm - 9pm, Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU (601 W. Broad St):
7:00pm - 9:00pm: Charles Burns Presents "I Was A Teenage..." An 8mm Film Screening.
DESCRIPTION: Cartoonist Charles Burns will present 8mm silent short versions of films from his collection of inspirations. Discover the terrors within I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, two 1957 classics from the genre at the heart of Burns’ most recent graphic novel, Final Cut (Pantheon Books, 2024). Each short has a run time of twelve minutes, and the screening will be preceded by a slideshow introduction.
Doors open at 7 p.m. with the screening starting at 8 p.m, followed by a Q & A with Dan Nadel.
Tickets are FREE and can be reserved here: https://icavcu.org/events/bubbles-con/
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More about all the Bubbles Con guests...
Charles Burns: Burns has proved to be one of the most important cartoonists of the 20th century and beyond. His seminal work Black Hole (2005) is regarded as one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. An incredible work of horror and teenage coming of age. At Bubbles Con we’ll showcase his most recent work Final Cut (2024). Instagram / Website
Tara Booth: Booth’s cartoony paintings are abstract in form yet blunt with emotional resonance. Her cartoons are full of lively colors that explore all sides of her psyche. Humor plays a large role in her exploration of her own mental health. She’s recently put out a 400 page book called Processing by Drawn & Quarterly. Jam-packed with 100 unique comics that’s really paving her own way in contemporary cartooning. Instagram / Website
John Vasquez Mejias: Mejias has carved out his own place in the comics field through his beautiful woodcut artistry. His graphic novel The Puerto Rican War tells the story of the 1950 attempted assassination of Harry Truman by Puerto Rico revolutionaries fighting for their independence. Mejias is also a performer and will be doing a puppet-show of his comic on the Friday night of Bubbles Con! Also stay tuned for his new book about Lolita Lebron. Instagram / Website
Kevin Huizenga: A Chicago based cartoonist, Huizenga is known for his Glenn Ganges comics, published by Drawn & Quarterly. He’s known for his playful explorations of the medium and fantastic storytelling. His most recent books are The River at Night (2019), Fielder #3 (2024) and various mini comics he prints himself in his studio. Instagram / Website
Juliette Collet: Collet is a New Yorker who’s been making comics for a few years now and immediately had an incredible natural talent for the medium. Her comics are poetic and expressive in a way that feels like they come from her deepest heartstrings. She was recently featured in The Comics Journal magazine. Instagram / Website
Caitlin McGurk: McGurk is one of comics most exciting historians. Known for her dedicated work at Ohio State’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum she comes to Bubbles Con to present her new book on New Yorker cartoonist Barbara Shermund. Shermund, a previously unsung genius of gag comics, has her story being told in full for the first time ever by McGurk’s meticulous research. Instagram / Website
Ryan Holmberg: You might know him as Mangaberg, the foremost researcher of alternative manga in America. He’s translated and written historical essays for dozens of books for the past 15 years. Artists like Yoshiharu Tsuge, Ebisu Yoshikazu, Yamada Murasaki and Suehiro Maruo are just a few that he’s helped bring into English. Instagram / Website
Dan Nadel: Most recently Nadel wrote the definitive book on Robert Crumb entitled Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life. He also ran the legendary Picture Box comic publishing company for 14 years. He’s a curator-at-large for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Nadel’s long been a real champion of comic books. Instagram / Website
Ana Pando: Pando is a fantastic cartoonist based in Madrid, Spain. Her solo anthology comic Mano Opuesta is full of funny and dreamlike personal stories. She’s also a longtime contributor of interviews to Bubbles Fanzine. Instagram / Website
Thomas Campbell: Campbell is a North Carolina based comic critic who published Comics Blogger, a fanzine about the contemporary alternative comics world. He also publishes and distributes comics. Instagram / Website
Dash Shaw: Shaw is a local Richmond cartoonist and film director. His most recent book is Blurry (2024) and his film Cryptozoo (2021) won the Innovator Award at the Sundance Film Festival. He was a Bubbles Con guest last year, this year he’ll be hanging some art in the Richmond Library lobby gallery. Instagram / Website
Brian Baynes: Baynes has been publishing Bubbles Fanzine since 2019 and has published 5 or 6 books through that name. He also organizes Bubbles Con, 2025 will be the second year of it. Instagram / Website
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Nearby Quick Eat Restaurants (for the Lunch Break):
Stella's Grocery - 109 E Grace St, Richmond, VA 23219
Ay Caramba - 204 E Grace St, Richmond, VA 23219
KOGI - 325 N 2nd St, Richmond, VA 23219 (Place order ahead of time)
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Parking Suggestions:
Street Parking on Friday and Saturday are both 1-2 hours around the library. It's recommended you find a parking garage nearby to park all day. Most are less than $10 for the whole day.
A few garages nearby:
SP+ Parking - 107 S 2nd St, Richmond, VA 23219
3 E Grace St Parking - 3E W Grace St, Richmond, VA 23219
5th & Broad Street Parking Lot - N 5th & East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219
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Any questions? Don't hesitate to reach out: bubbleszine@gmail.com