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MIX poster art by King Mini

It’s been a long time coming, but MIX (The Minneapolis Indie Xpo) is just around the corner. Sarah and I (mostly Sarah) have been working like zombies on cocaine trying to make sure the show is as successful as possible. So before my brain completely shuts off and I fall face first into the computer screen, here’s all the deets:

MINNEAPOLIS INDIE XPO
AUGUST 21 | 9AM – 5PM | FREE
Where: THE SOAP FACTORY

There’s lots of programming too.

Art by Aaron Renier

The Friday before MIX (August 20) I will be signing copies of my new book, Fingerprints, at Big Brain Comics from 6-8pm. Aaron Renier (The Unsinkable Walker Bean) and Zak Sally (Sammy The Mouse #3) will be there as well signing their respective new books. I’m very excited for this.

I actually have a single copy of the Fingerprints, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. Come on out to the signing and I’ll put a drawing of something on the inside of it. I’m not sure of what, but SOMETHING. Probably a FACE.

Or you can get a copy directly from the publisher, Top Shelf Comix.

Here’s the list of various news outlets that have been writing about MIX.  I’ll update this list as more and more people get hip to what’s up.

The Onion A/V Club
Vita.mn
City Pages
Downtown Journal
City-Pages Comics Issue
Vu @ weheartmusic.vox.com
The Visual Literati by Lucas Schulze @ The Loft’s Writers’ Block

The 7th Annual Twin Cities Zinefest has come and gone. This was the 3rd year that I had a contributing hand in its organizing. Ostensively, Sarah Morean has been coordinating the entire show for the last three years but I’ve been kept busy working on promotional items, signage and odds & ends.

For 2010, it was decided to change the two day festival to a one day show. The second day was always a little sluggish anyway. The result was that Zinefest as a one day show had twice the energy compared to the past two years. It was an amazing group of zine makers charged up by their proximity to each other.

I heard the panels and zine readings were a real hit this year. I never leave my table for more than 2 minutes at a time, so I’ll have to take others word for it.

The after-party was very well attended and totally rocking. It was organized by Lacey Prpic Hedtke with a panel discussion by Andy Sturdevant (which I also missed because I was eating pizza).

Andy even wrote and illustrated a zine that served as a catalog of some of his most favorite zines from his personal collection:

Joe Biel and Elly Blue took the train in from Portland and stayed with us for the weekend. You couldn’t ask for more pleasant houseguests and Sarah and I were regaled with their mischievous stories from back home.

Now here’s the real news: as much fun as working on Zinefest has been these last three years, 2010 was the last year Sarah and I will be involved. Sarah will be organizing the Minneapolis Indie Xpo, and a person can realistically only volunteer so much of their time before they burn out.

Massive gratitude goes out to everyone who exhibited and attended Zinefest this year and in previous years. What a fun time.

I just can’t get enough of comic book conventions. I guess I never tire of sitting in a chair for seven hours during the week and it needs to bleed into the weekend.

So Springcon was this weekend. It used to be called Microcon. But Microcon was only one day. Now it’s two days. Like Fallcon was. What’s Fallcon? It’s the same show, but It’s in the fall, but it’s also two days. No wait, now it’s only one day. And it’s not a convention. It’s a party. Or something.

Doesn’t matter. It’s put on by the guys at The Source and they did a fantastic job, as always. For a show with a more superhero/back issue bent, I generally have a great time.

For once, I actually got out from behind my table and walked around. Not all the photos of turned out, but you can see Raighne Hogan, Jon Thompson, Aaron Poliwoda, Barbara Schulz, Brian Defferding, Sean Lynch, Reynold Kissling, Britt Sabo, Danno Klonowski, and Sam Hiti.

There was only one book I was interested in getting. Check out the new issue of Good Minnesotan from 2DCloud:

The whole package a smart way to do a collection like this and I look forward to spending some time with it.

And that’s it. The next show for me is the Twin Cities Zinefest. See you there?

Drawn while sitting.

This last weekend I went to TCAF. It’s like a whole other country up there.

It was a very well attended show and I was fortunate enough to sit right next to publishing prizefighter Brett Warnock. I also got to know Kathryn and Stuart Immonen who are two of the most warm-hearted AND blindingly talented people I’ve met in a long time. Check out their new book Moving Pictures.

These comic shows are only once or twice a year for me, so it was also great to see all the guys from One Percent Press, David Huyck, Box Brown, and Chris Pitzer. I also met for the first time some wonderful people including Ed Brisson, David Yoder, and Josué Menjivar.

However, I didn’t meet Dan Clowes. Maybe he couldn’t find my table.

I took a lot of mediocre photos while I was there.

I’m honored to learn that Covered in Confusion has been selected as a finalist for The Maisie Kukoc Award for Comics Inspiration. From here, a vote will be taken and the winner will receive the award and a $350 cash prize. That’s a lot of staples.

Here’s the entire list finalists:

Will Dinski: Covered in Confusion
Damien Jay: The Natural World #1-2
Jonas Madden-Connor: Ochre Ellipse #3
Corinne Mucha: Buzz #3, My Every Single Thought
Sarah Oleksyk: Ivy #5
John Porcellino: King-Cat #70

To vote, you’ll need to go to the award’s website and request a ballot.

Those wild and crazy guys over at the Indie Spinner Rack have selected Covered in Confusion as one of the best of 2009. Suh-weet.

You can listen to Part One of the awards show right now!

Also save the date for:

Save the date:

This Saturday, I’ll be selling my books at the MCBA Book Arts Festival.
10 am to 5 pm.

Hope to see you there!

James Sime at the Isotope Comic Shop has a rather large gallery of toilet seat artwork that lines the topmost part of his store. When I was at the shop this last month, he was kind enough to give me a toilet seat of my own to draw on.

So this is what I came up with:

Special thanks to Pat Callahan for all the help painting this sucker black and the screen printing. This was definitely a collaborative effort.

The other toilet seats on display at the Isotope can be seen on this flickr page.

I’m back from the Alternative Press Expo in California and I brought with me a little surprise. While at the show I was awarded that trophy pictured above sitting on the bed stand in my hotel room in San Francisco.

All I can say is that I’m very happy to have won and that James Sime from the Isotope really knows how to throw a party. I can’t say that I’ll ever win another award for my comics again, but I can’t image feeling as good about winning another as I did when I was first handed the Istotope Award.

Photos from the award ceremony:

Flickr

More from Flickr

My photos from APE.

Sarah went with me to APE this year. So she’s got a proper roundup over at The Daily Cross Hatch.

Here’s a couple early reviews of Covered in Confusion:

Comic Book Resources, review by Greg Burgas

High-Low, review by Rob Clough