RochesterFirst

Rochester Indie Comics Expo runs Friday, Saturday

Dan Gross

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Arts, comics, and local vendor lovers rejoice:

The 4th annual Rochester Indie Comics Expo — or “RICE” — is coming back. Over two free days, RICE will showcase nearly 40 local and regional independent comic creators. The artists will be of all styles and genres. One artist, “False Knees,” will be making the trip from Canada.

“We really focus on in the indie comics world are new comics that artists create: original comics using original properties, original characters and ideas,” said Director of RICE and Professor of Comic Studies, Daniel Worden.

“(I hope) the young artists, especially the young artists get inspired, and this is a thing you can do,” said Frances Andreu, Digital Initiatives Librarian at RIT, and co-founder of the event.

Friday night at 7 p.m. features ten panelists who will be doing live readings of their comics, and more, at The Strong Museum of Play, and Saturday at Mercantile at Main, will be the classic open floor expo from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. There is also a “comics for kids” event, and registration is required.

One of those artists is webcomic creator Jackie E. Davis. Her project, “Underpants and Overbites,” has over 130,000 followers on Instagram alone.

And like RICE — who had their first showing at Ugly Duck Coffee in Rochester — Davis’s comic started in a coffee shop.

“I started underpants and overbites in 2016, after wandering the creative desert for a long time and making a lot of content about customers who went to the coffee shop I worked at,” Davis said. “And then I drew myself, and the comic was born.

“(The comic has) two potato-shaped characters, that’s me and my husband Pat, he’s purple,” she said. “I go out of my way to show the vulnerability of my life.”

Panelists for the Friday Comics Showcase:

Exhibitors: