On Saturday, January 20, I attended the DC Counter Culture Festival. To describe what it encompasses is no small feat, despite the fact it all took place in a bar. The bar, Dr Dremo's Taphouse in Arlington, VA (being torn down at the end of the month, unfortunately) was home to many artists, writers, designers, necklace makers, stuffed animal creators, and other interesting booths. These setups (around 25 in all) were either tables or covered pool tables. Despite the fact it was rather small, it wasn't packed enough that you couldn't move to where you wanted.

I started out on the first floor, where it was obvious the six vendors there probably got more attention before people realized there were more vendors past the bathrooms. Those first six were mainly selling comic books and one novel.


[i]Author August Adams. His novel, National Darkroast Day, is a parody about a coffee corporation which wants to take over the world (http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore).



(left)Andrew had a comic banned at his law school for being too offensive, probably because it was coarse and mad fun of the law (Law Monger)-- he also collaborated on an anthropomorphic space tale (Spadefoot) which sold really well that night.

(right)The man in the purple suit (http://www.oletheros.com -- conveniently written on his purple plastic bag) had his graphic novels on sale. It is about an actor's encounter with a fertility god, and another I wanted to read about an organization who tracks now rogue 'actors' in comics when they act out of character.



John Bintz talked to me about creating comics and his comedy series A Moment of Clarity (http://www.claritycomic.com). The newest storyline involves a young kid who wishes to buy the girl he likes a gift, and does so my selling gumballs at school illegally.



I moved to the larger room downstairs and got an ashcan of Evan Keeling's forthcoming children's comic CrumbSnatchers (http://littlefootcomics.com).



(left) Molly Lawless from Ad Infinitum (and Infandum?), had a collection of short comic stories by (http://www.tyrnyx.wordpress.com). One comic I was tempted to buy was The Passenger, which is about a man who has it all hounded by the ghost of a convicted murderer who wants to use him for his own redemption (http://www.cyberosia.com). Unfortunately it sold out earlier in the evening.

(right) Rebecca Simms produced her first comic book Girl Ninja (http://www.myspace.com/girlninja).



I also encountered a collection of strips from a college newspaper (Nut Butter by Mike O'Brien -- http://www.turtlesoupcomics.blogspot.com).



Josh Eiserike (http://www.comixpress.com) had a comic made to be the most offensive but I bought instead one about friends at their prom called Class of 99, and in doing so was offered the first three issues of his series Anyone but Virginia for the price of one of the issues, so how could I resist?

The non-comic related tables included an artist who made black-light paintings (http://www.arty4ever.com). He also had a deck of the US capitals with pictograms so you would remember the capitals of each state--I bought this for my elementary school teaching sister. These would actually be very useful in the classroom. Anyone here know the capital of West Virginia? Didn't think so.

There were also tables with necklace and magnet makers, a woman who made stuffed animals, tattoo people, clothes makers (handbags, purses, hats, shirts), bottle-cap earing makers, podcasts, (televisionzombies.com), a book author, and a movie maker (Joe Carabeo/Brian Sarvis -- http://www.astrayproductions.com).



But wait, that wasn't all! After all the vendors packed up, and we waited in the corner wondering where we weren't in the way, the Cheeky Monkey freak show started up. They had a magician, a man who stapled things to his body (he'd let you do it to him, for a fee), a glass-walker, and a contortionist. There were also bands setting up, but I had already lost my voice and prepared to leave. As I left, I saw about 30 people entering. I don't want to imagine how crowded it got afterward.

It was exciting to see comic books people had made as well as the other tables. It's unknown where it will be next year, but I would definitely go again. I've included some web addresses, but links to all the vendors can be found here