MIX 2011: A retrospecticus

    So MIX 2011 has come and gone, and I can say without hyperbole that it was the greatest comics-related weekend of my life.  I/we/Minnesota/comics are forever in debt to SARAH MOREAN for making this fantastic show happen for two amazing years.  THANK YOU, SARAH!!!  Thanks to all her staff of volunteers as well.  You are all wonderful, wonderful people and put smiles on the faces of all the exhibitors and attending public alike.  THANK YOU ONE MORE TIME!  And now…a blow-by-blow of my fabulous weekend…

FRIDAY:

    MIX began, in my mind, hours before the opening parties when the local NPR station (MPR!) had an early afternoon hour on the present and future of comics featuring Scott McCloud.  Best of all, that hour of programming opened with the announcement that is was going to be discussing comics because of–you guessed it—MIX!  Public radio loves its comics!

    Then MIX reeeeeeeeally began at 6pm with the WOMEN OF MIX exhibit at MCAD. I arrived at about 6:45.  After taking in SARAH GLIDDEN’s breath-taking pages from “HOW TO UNDERSTAND ISRAEL IN 60 DAYS OR LESS” I ran into old friends DANIEL J OLSON and KEVIN CANNON.  After chatting with them for a few minutes I attempted to get back to the art but immediately ran into CHRIS MONROE.  Chris and I had met last year at BOOK FEST, so we had that acquaintanceship (and Facebook) on our side.  Little did I know by the end of the weekend Chris and I would end up becoming bestest of friends. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

     Eventually people started clearing out of MCAD (the show closed at 8pm) and moving across town to the opening night DRINK AND DRAW/CLOUDY COLLECTIVE EXHIBIT at PINK HOBO (aka PUNY ENTERTAINMENT).  Chris was unaware of the event, but I twisted her arm (FREE BOOZE!) and convinced her to go. Doing my part to save the planet, I carpooled over dirty socialist/future L RON HUBBARD/amazing cartoonist MAXEEM KONRARDY and his friend/fellow cartoonist/MCAD alum ANNA BRATTON (who it was nice to finally meet. Love her and BRITT SABO’s “Francis Sharp” comic). Speaking of dirty socialists, on route we drove by OCCUPY MN and I swear to god PHISH was playing.  Anyway…

    After arriving at PINK HOBO, Chris and I hooked back up and enjoyed a Grain Belt and the Cloudy Collective show.  The show was spectacular, but the 2 stand-out pieces to me at had to be the ones by ED EMBERLEY and GRAHAM ANNABLE (its total bias, though). Chris and I then ventured into the back where the DRINK AND DRAW was going-on. And was it EVER going-on!  There were several large tables set-up, each covered in white paper, and all the tables were packed to capacity.  Eventually though 2 spots opened up, and as luck would have it they were at the same table as my friends NICK MUDGE and NICK STRAIGHT.  Also at that table was SCOTT SEEKINS…

    If you’re not from MN you probably don’t know Mr Seekins, and I’m not going to get into it here, but all you need to know is he’s a Minneapolis fixture and he only does art that involves himself incorporated into it.  So Chris and I sat down by Scott Seekings and both began drawing Scott Seekins as Scott Seekins was drawing Scott Seekins.  Very meta.

    After some drawing and a couple beers I looked at the over-flowing mass of cartoonists and decided to do some mobile socializing.  But first…I’d need another beer.  As luck would have it, set-up next to the booze station was Conspirator/podcaster/online teacher/webcartoonist ROB STENZINGER, and the mobile chatting began.  Rob had brought with him MARK RUDOLPH (of the gone but not forgotten ART & STORY podcast) and SARAH TURNER (frequent guest of the aforementioned podcast), and it was great to finally meet them as people and not just the voices in my head.  Mark quizzed me on hotdish (whattya mean its not called hotdish everywhere?! MADNESS!), and a weekend-long running gag was born.

    Speaking of podcasters, I also finally met MIKE DAWSON shortly thereafter and we discussed the challenges of doing interview-heavy shows. Nice guy, that Mike Dawson.

    From there I just made the rounds talking to old friends and the MNtoonists I usually only get to see at conventions and openings.  But the night was getting late and we had already exceeded the 11pm closing time (the crowd had thinned out, but it was still VERY crowded).  Knowing I had to be up early the next day I headed out. A great opening ceremony.  Take THAT, Hong Kong Olympics!

SATURDAY:

    While the con didn’t open to the public until 10am, I had volunteered for early/morning last minute set-up.  Sarah cracked the whip and we said “How High” to get everything running smooth. After a few errands I ended up being a greeter/usher helping the checking-in creators find their spot.  It was fast-paced and very fun and I’m glad I did it.  It was a nice, quick way to meet many fellow cartoonists and put faces to names.  It was also great watching the place fill-up–over 200 creators filled three big rooms. Amazing!

    At 9:45 I turned in my gun and badge (still don’t know why we were issued those) and settled into my table which I was sharing with my friends and collaborators BUD BURGY and DAN MURPHY.  Dan was tabling on his own for the first time.  All he had were three minis in his ever-growing ELLE CIRKA saga, but they were easily some of the best things anyone could have purchased at the show.

    We were also surrounded on both sides by friends like BOB LIPSKI, LUPI McGINTY, STEVE STWALLEY and AARON POLIWODA.  JORDAN SHIVELEY and  BRETT WARNOCK of TOP SHELFwere across the way.  It was a great spot in the chilly “Papa Bear” room (And yes, the other two rooms were “Mama Bear” and “Baby Bear”. Bet you can figure out why).  The crowd trickled in immediately, and by 11:30 or so it was a full-blown frenzy. I was behind the table more or less all day. Sales were good enough for me to make a couple or rounds purchasing (aside from a last-minute spending binge on Sunday, all my profits went into others books. I only *lost* money on food and booze, but the food truck grub was AMAZING and booze is booze, so I wouldn’t actually call it losing).

    I was honored to be asked to be a part of the SALON SALOON panel and was looking forward to it all day.  When it finally started at 3:30 I was not disappointed.

    ANDY STURDEVANT puts on a hell of show with SALON SALOON, and even in the truncated MIX form it was still a great time.  Fellow guests CORINNE MUCHA, LENA CHANDHOK, and JOHN PORCELLINO were all really entertaining. As I’ve mentioned in the pre-MIX posts, John P was one of the main reasons I got into mini-comics to begin with, so to find myself onstage with him singing “OH, YOKO” at the end of SALON SALOON…well, it was just magically surreal, lets say that. Lena and Corinne were also super cool people (and great cartoonists) who I’m really glad I got to meet and get to know in such a fun setting.  Luckily, Andy let me record the whole thing and it’ll be available as a part of the LUTEFISK SUSHI PODCAST this Thursday.

    Salon Saloon ran a little long (fine by me!) so the con was more or less over by the time I got out.  Luckily while I was paneling ATHENA CURRIER and her booth-beard JASON ROBEY were hatching dinner plans!  Given the ‘ok’ to invite ‘whoever’ over to Jason’s for a home-cooked meal I wrangled Chris Monroe to forgo a nap in favor of a potentially awkward meal.  But awkward it wasn’t, not in any way, no sir!  The one to describe the whole scene was DELICIOUS (also: boozy)!!!  Jason is a master fucking chef and the company was fantastic!  So thanks Jason, Athena, Chris, Bud, Murphy, RYAN DOW, BRITT HAMMERBERG, DAN OLSON, and TED ANDERSON for a great time. (On a side note: Athena did the most heart-felt book signing of the weekend on her new ACTION ATHENA collection.  It seriously melts my blackened, ice-cold heart.  Thanks, Athena!!!)

     The official Saturday after-party was at HONEY, a place where vampires and clubbers go for orgies.  But on this night the nerds took over!  The dinner crew (plus MIKE TOFT) stuck together for a while, but as the official MIX cocktail kicked-in, the socializing spread out.  An old friend, and currently dormant cartoonist, MATT MUNN was there and it was cool to get to see him again (he finally got a new computer. Here’s hoping the return of his “ZED RECKONING” webcomic is not too far behind).  Also CATHY JOHNSON was there!  Cathy was part of the Conspiracy back when she was 17 or so.  One day Cathy left to go off to college.  I could have sworn this was like a year and a half ago, but NOPE! Cathy is a full-grown college graduate and all-around awesome adult now, and it was great to get to catch up (feeling like an old, old man however, not so great).  The aforementioned Mark Rudolph and I also had some more fun.  He’s seriously a great guy.

     All good things must end, however, and with the 10pm end of the party came the vampires and models and shitty, shitty dance music with which they would soon cover HONEY with their jizzum and blood and VD.  Smartly, Chris suggested we bolt for NYE’S POLONAISE ROOM, so that’s what we (along with BUD and STEVE STWALLEY) did.  As Bud bought the first round I nabbed the biggest table in the Polka bar which was perfect since we were soon joined by KEVIN CANNON, SARAH MOREAN, BRITT HAMMERBERG, JORDAN SHIVELEY, BRETT WARNOCK, TIM SIEVERT, and several others.

    Drunken mayhem was had by all–Sarah and I dueted a tune in the piano karaoke bar, Tim and I had a magical polka bonding moment, Chris and I had tons of laughs, and we all went horse shouting out our conversations.  Despite the fact it was Daylight Savings night and we *technically* could have stayed out drinking until 3am (since the clocks turn back at 2am–the hour MN bars close), people started scattering around 12 or so.  Only the drunkity-drunks (myself included) stayed until about 1:30–the last 45 minutes of which was spent nursing glasses of water and making deals with deities so we wouldn’t be *too* hungover the next day.

SUNDAY:

     That extra hour of sleep was a saving grace.  Sunday morning wasn’t nearly as horrific as I feared, in fact I barely had a headache at all (I also ate like nine aspirins before passing out).  It was pointed out in the morning that Twitter was abuzz with talk of hangovers and mix2011 hash-tags.  Totally not surprised.

    Sunday was bitter-sweet, though.  Knowing this whole magical weekend was coming to an end was sad, but being in the moment of it was heaven.  I made several more sales, got a bunch more books, and got to meet the several more people who had eluded me previously like SARAH GLIDDEN (who says she might move to Mpls. I hope this weekend helped sway her decision!):

    Also, JULIA WERTZ.  Julia claims her signature in my FART PARTY collection is the “worst she’s ever done” so I won’t post it here, but its a pretty hilarious and I’m honored to be in possession of the “worst” thing she’s ever done (“I saw your panel, I KNOW your name is Danno, so why did I sign it…Wait! Why am I drawing myself as a hunchback?!”).  Thanks, Julia!

    The day drew to a close.  Goodbyes started to be said all around to both new friends and old.  And before we knew it MIX 2011 was over.  There was a closing party four hours after MIX ended, but once I went home I was DONE.  I had gotten maybe eight hours of sleep total from Friday night until 5pm Sunday so i was not surprised to find myself dozing off around 8:30.  As much as I would have liked to taken part in the grand finale, I don’t think I could have physically taken it.  As I type this I’m still recovering.  But it was ll totally worth it!

    So, was MIX 2011 the best show ever?  Yes.  Deal with it, every other indie show.  You might have age and experience and the what-not on your sides, but you don’t have SARAH MOREAN, and Sarah Morean knows how to throw a fucking party!

   You’re the best, Sarah!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

(Photos by me, Sarah Morean, Amaya McBatman, Puny Entertainment, and Christian Erickson. All photos (c) their respective photographer.)

Countdown to MIX, “DUH”, and the Lutefisk Sushi Podcast episodes 4 & 5

MIX is only 2 weeks away! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?! So I’m counting-down to MIX each week with a sampling of what I’ll have to offer.  Previously I mentioned the debuts of both the MANLY TALES OF COWARDICE and SUPERMARKET VIGILANTE graphic novels, as well the debut of the GERM WARFARE anthology I have a story in. But Germ Warfare won’t be the only anthology debut I’m a part of…

DUH… is the latest project from writer/publisher BILL PRENDERGAST of FALSE WITNESS: THE MICHELE BACHMANN STORY infamy. DUH… is a 24 page floppy anthology in the tradition of old-school Mad Magazine.  Each story is written by Prendergast and features artwork by the False Witness stable including JAMES POWELL, DAN MURPHY, CARLOS MERINO, LUPI McGINTY and myself.  I actually drew two shorts for DUH…, one about an alien encounter and the other a mad-cap retelling of the story of Alexander the Great.  Here’s a short scene from the Alexander tale:

Also, the 4th episode of the LUTEFISK SUSHI PODCAST is up and features a chat with beloved MN cartoonist KEVIN CANNON.  Episode 5 will be up later this week and features a tag-team conversation with BOB LIPSKI and BRIAN BASTIAN.  Be sure to check them both out, and I’ll see you at MIX!

SOUTHPAW SWEDE–part 1(of 2)

Once upon a time, my friend STEVE STWALLEY had a dream.  Well…he had a couple dreams.  The first dream was to form the International Cartoonist Conspiracy.  Having completed that, he decided to move onto dream #2–doing an anthology comic and calling it “WEIRD ILLUSTRATED”!  Steve put out a call, and I answered with…

So I’ll get into the genesis of the SWEDE later, but I can tell you a few things like:

     This is the first story I ever drew using a PENTEL POCKET BRUSH.   At the time (late 2004/early 2005/whenever this was exactly) the Pocket Brush was a new-fangled thing ZANDER CANNON had just smuggled into the country and we few brave souls who had one were trying to figure out HOW THE FUCK YOU USE THEM!  Clearly, I had a ways to go…  Speaking of a ways to go–KEVIN CANNON was still a good 7 years away from doing the first NORDEAST COMICS SUMMIT.  I had no idea you shouldn’t underline dialogue.  NO IDEA!!!

The Young Earth Chronicles–part 5(of 12), also: Kevin Cannon’s fail “Oceanis”

   So here we go with Chapter Two.  Again–I had no idea where I was going here.  I just had to write myself out of bomb going off in a Creationist past.  So what better place to go but a future ruled by clones?  Whats even funnier about my decision to advance my tale into the future is that I wasn’t alone in using this plot device…

     KEVIN CANNON also tried his hand at the 144 Page Graphic Novel Challenge and came up with OCEANIS—a tale about a doomed spacecraft headed towards sister planets where the crew is separated, half inhabiting each world.  Kevin only got 24 pages in before throwing in the towel, but they are 24 classic Cannon pages of beauty.  To be fair, Kevin was also undertaking–and SUCCEEDING AT!–the 288 Graphic Novel Challenge  and bringing to life FAR ARDEN.  Frankly I’m glad he focused on that.  But I do remember Kevin telling me that had OCEANIS continued part 3 would have picked up YEARS LATER… Let your imagination go wild.

“The Young Earth Chronicles”–part 1(of 12)–aka “The most epic fail in the history of the Cartoonist Conspiracy”

Once upon a time ago in 2007, there was this epic fail.  So that’s how this happened…

   Ok. So here’s what I remember kinda sorta happening: Sometime during or after 2006’s 24 Hour Comic Day Conspiracy Poo-Bah STEVE STWALLEY proposed the notion that since 24 HCD–even at only once a year–was a bear of an effort, and what might be more fun of an experiment would be to meet once a month for 12 hours for one year straight.  The over-all idea was then you’d have a full 144 page graphic novel in 365 days!  What a great idea (in theory)! 

      So we gave it a whack.  As is our way we decided to meet at the MN Center for Book Arts once a month from 8am-8pm (or as long as you could. You didn’t have to do all 12 pages then and there just so long as you finished your 12 pages by the next month). I remember showing up some Saturday morning of some month in late 2006/early 2007 a little after 8.  ZANDER CANNON was already there (which is kinda funny considering how this story ends).  All in all those there that first Saturday to give the 144 Page Graphic Novel Challenge a try were Zander, Steve, KEVIN CANNON, ERIC LAPPEGARD**, CURTIS SQUARE-BRIGGS (I think), DAVID STEINLICHT (or was he just there for the open studio? Or was this how the Open Studio started? Ugh. My memory is so fuzzy on this. I think I blocked it out), and myself.  There may have been a few others.  I don’t know.  What I do know though is that WE ALL FAILED!!! **

     To be fair we didn’t all fail at once.  I know I made it 3 months. As did I think Steve(though he may have gone longer). Maybe Kevin too.  I’ll try to get the facts straighter for future posts.

     ** Ok technically Zander hasn’t failed. He’s still plugging away very slowly on his story ‘HECK’.  He’s dedicated to finishing it…some day.  He posts bits of it every so often HERE.  And ERIC LAPPEGARD tragically passes away that year.  So I give him a pass(even though he technically quit after the first month the quitting quitter!).  But to be fair he started his SCHMAPPLES webcomic around the same time, so again I forgive the quitting quitter quittertons quitting.

TC: FCBD–part 9(of 12)–by Bastian and Dank, also: I go all ‘cross hatchy’ on your ass

BASTIAN:  I just couldn’t figure out what type of evil chanting would work for something like this, so I just wrote “evil chanting” and figured you’d come up with something, and unlike every sports team I support, you didn’t let me down. I’ve always wondered if they actually mean something, but I think if I found out there were, it would creep me out even more. 

DANK:  Actually Brian, I don’t think it’ll creep you out too much.  Like you said, in the script there was no written incantation for Mark to read from the Necronomicon, so I reused the one I had Dick Cheney chant in IT’S WAR 2: THE WAR ON HOMELAND SECURITY(which you can read in its entirety HERE, though God, why would you?).  The devil-wording (or whatever it is) is an actual Satanic verse I got out of a friends book.  It’s from a poem about the beauty and power of nature or something equally UN-evil like that.

BASTIAN:   I’m sure I think the whole Marvel Zombie thing is a lot more hilarious than it probably is. I’m sure back in the day I actually got excited at the concept of Werewolf Captain America too.  Ah to be young and dumb again.

DANK:  Just realized we never answered the question of who would win that fight.  My guess–Werewolf Jonah Jameson’s Kid would sucker-punch’em both.

ALSO:  You probably already know this–since I’m guessing if you’ve read this far you know me all too well–but I wrote a recap of my experience at last weekends TWIN CITIES BOOK FEST for my favorite indie comic news website–THE DAILY CROSS HATCH.  I felt like I was writing an article for the coolest school newspaper ever, and was honored to be asked to be ‘a part of the team’, if only for a day.  Many thanks to SARAH MOREAN for giving me a platform for my rantings.  When I sent Sarah my ‘rehash’ I sent her A LOT of pictures.  Obviously she couldn’t use them all, but here are two of/from my buddy KEVIN CANNON I feel must go somewhere, so why not here:

  I didn’t bring any paper to BOOK FEST, hoping it wouldn’t turn into “that kind of show”.  About an hour in when I looked over and saw Keivn doodling, I was instantly jealous.  Anyway, here’s the awesomeness he made:

TC: FCBD–part 8(of 12)–by Bastian and Dank, also: “False Witness” #4 gets reviewed, and be sure to check in on ‘Continuity Guy: Chrono Choas’

BASTIAN:  Hey kids, do you think that history is boring? Well it’s full of atrocities like cannibalism. You just need to do a little more research than what’s in your school books. Remember that for your next school report. Or find a movie that’s based on a horrible world event and write the report on that. Today’s classes are too crowded for anyone to really check up on your work. 

DANK:  All this flashback business serves two purposes–1) to clue in any “new” readers, and 2)to cram in more of our over-flowing cauldron of story ideas.  Over-all it was fun to draw since I got to work in the murder of BOB LIPSKI and the kid which I’m pretty sure wasn’t in the script. 

BASTIAN:   I love those skeletons. I’ll say when a script calls for death or gore, you don’t dink around. Bravo.

DANK:  FUN FACT!– Brian and Bob would debut these books every year during Free Comic Book Day at JIMMY JAM COMICS in Rochester, MN where Mark worked/managed.  In the time between when we started this issue and when FCBD occurred Jimmy Jam closed up shop, so we had to give this book to Mark when we saw him at Spring(nee Micro)Con.  Wait…that wasn’t that fun of a fact.

   ALSO:  The 4th issue of FALSE WITNESS: THE MICHELE BACHMANN STORY is now out, and some reviews are starting to come in!   CITY PAGES and Comic Book Resources’ ROBOT 6 both did nice little promo things, but the real deal is the review on THE TALKING POINTS MEMO.  The reviewer liked it despite himself!  Nifty!  As for my role in this issue…Well first off the whole issue was drawn by LUPI McGINTY and JAMES POWELL.  James inked all his work on the ‘flashback’ sequence, but I did all the inking on Lupi’s ‘God in the Bar’ sequences:

   Lupi, James, BILL PRENDERGAST (the writer), and I all did the ever-changing backgrounds, though I ended up doing a majority of them.  KEVIN CANNON also did the brilliant opening page (and let me tell you it was AWESOME seeing Kevin’s rendition of Lupi and I’s ‘God in the bar’ sequence).  Finally, I (and my friend Photoshop) did the Wrathful God back cover:

   I have done work on all four issues of FALSE WITNESS, and I can say without a shadow of doubt this is the best issue both in terms of art AND story.  I highly recommend you go BUY IT  TODAY.  Hell, buy all 4.  They are totally worth it!

   AND AS IF THAT WEREN’T ENOUGH:  I honestly can’t believe the outstanding work BUD BURGY has been doing bringing my script for CONTINUITY GUY: CHRONO CHAOS to life.  Seriously.  His best work ever.  Hands down.  So be sure to check in on Continuity Guy and company every week.  I’d say right now is a prefect jumping-on point for new readers, but honestly these stories never make too much sense until about 5 pages to the end.  But it’s a fun ride getting there!