Brooklyn represent! Many artists won’t have to travel far to get to the city’s first queer comic convention at Grand Prospect Hall on June 13 — scores of Flame Con’s famous guests came from right here in Brooklyn. Here are a few of our top picks — all living in the borough that former Beep Marty Markowitz’s dubbed the “lesbian capital of the Northeast.”
Hayley Blatte
Bedford-Stuyvesant illustrator Hayley Blatte’s hirsute heroines explode narrow preconceptions of beauty, turning the pin-up girl aesthetic on its head by introducing grotesque and taboo elements.
“I’m reinventing the classic pinup with a feminist twist,” she said.
The body-positive depictions show that waxed eyebrows and an hourglass figure are not the defining characteristics of femininity.
Jennifer Camper
Talk about seven-card stud! Queer comics pioneer (and Kensington resident) Jennifer Camper is bringing decks of sexy playing cards illustrated by herself and other queer cartoonists — including the Brooklyn Paper’s own Bill Roundy. The decks are a steal at $20, and the proceeds go to defraying the cost of the City University of New York’s Queers and Comics conference. While you’re there, pay your respects to the long-time Gay Community News and Village Voice contributor.
Max Wittert
Williamsburger Max Wittert — known for parodic revisions of popular comics — will display art from his series “Jean and Scott,” which imagines the banal home lives of X-Men Jean Grey and Cyclops (Scott Summers). The multi-media maestro will also bring handmade handkerchiefs with erotic patterns crafted as a throwback to the “hanky code” popular among gay men in the 1980s and ‘90s, he said. The artist is also selling prints and some ‘zines, he said.
Molly Ostertag
Wacom wunderkind Molly Ostertag will be on hand too. The Bedford-Stuyvesant resident is best known for illustrating “Strong Female Protagonist” — a web comic that ditches spandex-clad machismo and focuses on the more heroic task of achieving a fair society.
“There is a lot of feminism in there — it talks about and explores different issues in social justice, the characters are diverse, and lots are queer,” said Molly Ostertag.
Ostertag, who produces the comic with creative partner Brennan Lee Mulligan, will also show her solo-produced comics and fantasy-inspired illustrations, she said.
David Rondinelli
Drop by “Node” creator and writer David Rondinelli’s table to talk about the forthcoming final issue in the three-part magical noir. The Pronto Comics alum’s publishing start-up, Horizon Line Comics, shares a table with his horror-focused Youtube channel “Monster Nation.”
