Maria Hahne, Olivia Presser, and Jason Viola at MICE, 2024. — Photo By Lauren Miller

By Mina Rose Morales

For months, the Boston Comic Arts Foundation has united Somerville’s comic community through its Picture + Panel events, but this February, the monthly series will wrap up at its current venue and move to a new location, though some events will continue to be held in Somerville.

Over the past year, the Boston Comic Arts Foundation (BCAF) hosted its Picture + Panel events at Somerville’s Aeronaut Brewing on the first Monday of each month. The events feature panel discussions with two comic writers and/or artists, delving into their creative journeys. On January 6, 2025, the series kicked off with a comic misfits-themed Picture + Panel featuring Tyrell Waiters and Matt Smith.

“It’s very generic, but it’s really good advice – just keep drawing,” said Matt Smith when asked what he would tell aspiring artists to help them pursue their dreams.

Throughout the night, Cory McCarthy, Chief of Student Support for Boston Public Schools, asked the artists a range of questions, including how it all began, how they get in the creative groove, the advice they would give aspiring artists and more.  When asked about their creative processes, the two artists offered distinct answers – Tyrell outlined a specific, routine-driven approach, while Matt prefers to listen to music and draw.

“I do a few things: I scroll through Pinterest for hours, I just make pages of art and separate each, and then I go to a comic shop. I can’t buy anything – my wife would get mad since there’s no space at home. Then, I go home and start drawing. My wife knows not to bother me,” said Waiters when asked how he finds inspiration.

Shelli Paroline and Jason Viola, cartoonists and organizers of the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE), wanted to create a space to celebrate comics year-round. MICE, a festival that showcases independent comics artists and small press publishers, offers hands-on workshops and inclusive panel discussions, but it only happens once a year. To keep celebrating comics year-round, Paroline and Viola helped launch BCAF, which grew out of their passion for the art form and desire to help others enjoy comics beyond the festival. 

“All of it was a desire to foster a community from comics, and now it’s just a bigger community,” said Viola, BCAF’s program director.

BCAF hosts four comic festivals annually, offers workshops, runs the Picture + Panel discussion series, provides mini-grants for self-publishing, and recently launched its Underground Visionary Award at MICE this past December. Somerville has become a second home for many of BCAF’s activities. In addition to the Picture + Panel series, BCAF will celebrate comics in Somerville on Hourly Comic Day, February 1, 2025, at Comicazi, a local comic shop. The event will bring the community together to share the practice of creating comics every hour of the day. The event will also feature a panel discussion with local cartoonists Desmond Reed, Sadie Saunders, and Ellen T. Crenshaw.

“We could do a lot more than just a festival if we create a foundation,” said Paroline, BCAF’s executive director, when asked how BCAF started.

On February 3, 2025, the final Picture + Panel at Somerville’s Aeronaut Brewing will go out with a bang, featuring Raúl the Third and Ming Doyle. The team is in the process of finalizing the following venue location.