I had the great fortune to have Sam Sharpe (above) join me as a traveling buddy and table-neighbor. He's a real stand up guy, and I had a lot of fun with him. We left Chicago on a megabus at 10:30 Friday night, getting into the City of Lakes at 5:30 am. We spent the entire weekend together, and I did not for one minute get tired of his company. Conversation revolved almost entirely around comics, both singing their praises as well as venting frustrations, and gossiping, it was lots of fun. On Sunday Sam and I explored a small chunk of the city, walking from the Seward Cafe to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to Big Brain Comics.
I also got to hang out with some really great folks, like Dylan Williams, Aaron Renier (who traveled back to Chicago with me and Sam on the bus), Noah Van Sciver, John Procellino, Amanda Elliott, Justin Madson, Lale Westvind & Ian McDuffie and Jeremy Tinder! But the kids that took the cake this weekend were my and Sam's (and Dylan's, and John's, and Noah's!) hosts, Raighne and Meghan Hogan, known to the comics world as 2D Cloud, producers of the Good Minnesotan. Look, here they are now:
They were super friendly, welcoming and accommodating, and hilarious and fun to be around. They're exhibiting at the Madison Zine Fest in October. I will be too, so I'm excited to see them again!
The show itself was really well put together by Sarah Morean and Andy Krueger. They clearly cared about the exhibitors, providing us with pizza (regular, vegan, or gluten free depending on your dietary wants and needs), and fans to keep us cool. It was hot and muggy that day, but the room I was in stayed nice and cool all day. The venue was fun, and the attendees seemed really interested in comics, even if they were not regular consumers. Hats off to Sarah and Andy, they did a bang up job, and deserve a round of applause. I'm looking forward to MiX 2011!
No sleep for the comics maker, though. In just two weeks I'll be jumping on a train to our nation's capitol to exhibit for the first time at the Small Press Expo (SPX) in North Bethesda. I've volunteered at this show -which is commonly known as the premier independent comics show in the country- for the past two years, but now I'll be sharing a table with my comics kindred spirit Kenan Rubenstein, and zinester extraordinaire Caitlin M! I'll be debuting my Uncle Envelope comic write now! which is both a love letter and tutorial to self-publishing. I'll also be debuting Secret Formula, an adventure comic, which I probably will only sell at shows due to its secret odd packaging. I'm still drawing it, but here's a preview of the comic:
Sock-Monster production will (already has) suffer from preparation for SPX, but I'll try my hardest to eek some comics. That's all for now!
