The countdown clock is ticking for this year’s Danish comic festival, Komiks.dk, held on May 31st and June 1st.

Like previous years, I have been invited to participate, and once again, I find myself wonderfullly under-utilized and free to do whatever I want. Which usually amounts to hanging out with colleagues during and after opening hours.

One signing of Black Mouth is scheduled on Sunday June 1st (at the Faraos Cigarer stall), but there will probably be another on Saturday at the Brun Blomst stall. Otherwise I will be at Gimle Studio’s booth most of the time, doodling, humming, having a laugh.. Wasting time. The usual.

Lest we forget the other guests, the festival has managed to attract such alternative (ie, non-superhero, non-duck and off-mainstream bande-desinées) creators as have been lacking in previous years. David B (Epileptic, Babel), Martin tom Dieck (Der Unschuldige Passagier, Hundert Ansichten der Speicherstadt) and theorist Thierry Groensteen are attending this year, along with more reader-friendly Italian fumettioli (is that a word?) Barbucci & Canepa (Sky Doll) and Duck-maestro Giorgio Cavazzano.

I make light of the fact that I haven’t been callled to participate in panels and such, but I can’t help noticing that my book has been casually omitted from the shortlist for the grand prize of the festival. The decision has to do with the publication date, I’m told, but books published on the same date have been taken into consideration, and I suspect there are other motives to the lapse. My publisher was told off the record that Black Mouth has had enough media coverage as it is, and it is true that I went on national tv twice in promotion of the book.

Well, pardon me for getting air time. I’m sorry for getting good reviews. And I’m terribly sorry that the nominators of the festival don’t see that as a value. Really. But one mustn’t forget that the festival at this point is a non-profit event, and the people behind it, enthusiast grassroots. For their effort and engagement, I salute them.