Strip Search, Episode 42 — Comics in Color 2023 with Cagen Luse & ZeroSnake

When Boston cartoonist Cagen Luse and fellow artist and comics fan Barrington Edwards headed to the Black Comic Book Festival at Harlem’s Schomburg Center back in 2015, they were inspired by seeing “a space for people of color to come and enjoy comics together,” Luse recalls. “We felt like Boston needed that,” he says.

And now, eight years later — thanks primarily to their efforts during that time — Boston has that. April 29 will see the third free Comics in Color Festival come to the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, billed as “New England’s first comic arts festival focused on stories by and about people of color.”

This years version includes an all-star lineup of guests, including “Iron Man” and “Batgirl” artist Alitha E. Martinez, “X-Men” and “Ghost Rider” artist Larry Stroman, and comics historian and scholar Joel Christian Gill. Plus workshops, an artists alley, animated short films, music and dance performances, a cosplay contest, and even a fashion show. Not bad for something that started on a single table at the neighborhood library.

Listen or watch below as Cagen — in his third time on the "Strip Search" podcast — and manga artist and animator ZeroSnake (he drew the promotional artwork you see above) talk about what this year's Comics in Color Festival has to offer, and why it's such an important event for Boston. Also, in our intro, we pay tribute to the latest round of great cartoonists gone off to the big drawing table in the sky.

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Introducing Strip Search, the cartooning podcast

Hello all! Welcome to Strip Search, a new podcast where we'll be interviewing cartooning professionals and talk comic strips: their history, classic comics, the current state of the industry, and comics to watch out for. If you're a cartoonist or humorous illustrator and want to appear on the podcast with Dave and Pete, email us at petpeevescomic@gmail.com .

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