ape

The Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco was TONS OF FUN!

As usual, the highlights were the friendships, new and old that I got to enjoy.  I got to hang out with my cousins Edward and Anne on Friday night.  They're really great folks, so it was fantastic to get to hang out with them.  As usual, I shared a table with Kenan Rubenstein, who is a great guy, and a lot of fun to be around.  Next to our table were our buddies Josh Shalek and Reid Psaltis.  The number of good friends inhabiting the show are too numerous to list here, but they are all awesome folks, and they should know how exciting it is to see them whenever I get to.  I also got to meet some new folks, some I was excited to meet, like Anne Koyama, and Michael Deforge.  Others were pleasant surprises like Lea Zalinkis, and Sarah Palmer.

I had some fun food experiences, from a failed trip to buy vegan doughnuts on Sunday Morning, to the most manic and bizarre chinese restaurant I've ever been to, to delicious vegan organic mexican cuisine!

Sorry, it's not much of a recap, but my head is still spinning.  Photos help tell the story too.  Also, check out my photos from the Madison Zine Fest.  I'm trying really hard to get better at taking pictures.

ok bye.

Sock-Monster #612

My friend Jeff is helping me learn how to scan!  After five years of having a webcomic, you'd think I'd know how to do it...but I didn't.  Here's a new Sock-Monster we've been testing on.

indie comics connection to science

I don't know if you're aware of it, but the Museum of Science and Industry here in Chicago is looking for a roommate.  If you'd like to be considered for the position, build a time machine, go back to when they were accepting applications, and apply.  You might win, you will have had just built a time machine, that's kinda sciencey.

  Something I've found interesting (and further proof that I need to have a life outside of comics) is that two notable applicants have ties to the indie comics world:

1. The contestant whose applicant video won the museum's "Best Sets and Choreography Thereof Award," Davin Coburn had help from Johnny Hiro creator, Fred Chao for his video (he slaps up the clouds and is dressed up like a robot, and I'm sure helped build the sets & props, he's a good dude).

2.  One of the five finalists, Kate McGroaty is the current roommate of Corinne Mucha (author of My Alaskan Summer, My Every Single Thought, and Is It The Future Yet).

  Corinne assures me Kate is the person for the job, and apparently you can vote once a day for the duration of voting.  Check out the finalists and vote for the Kate you think should win (sorry other finalists, maybe if your current roommate was a friend whose comics I admire, and they told me to vote for you, I'd vote for you).  Corinne vaguely promised some sort of "a museum stole my roommate" comic out of Kate's winning, if that's not motivation enough, you've never read Corinne's comics.

small press expo recap

Here's the Rubenstein/Brideau table spread for this past weekend's SPX.  I had a grand old time.  Let us pretend to remember, shall we?

I took a 17-hour Amtrak ride down to DC, and met Kenan at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, where SPX took place, and checked into our hotel room.  We immediately jumped back on the DC Metro, down to Union Station and caught the MARC train up to Baltimore, which was a smooth and fun ride. The MARC train looks like a space ship in the inside, unlike the Metro trains, which look like space ships from the outside.  My best friend from college, Doghed, who now lives in Baltimore met us at Penn Station, and we drove over to the neighborhood that houses Atomic Books, for a comics reading.  We stopped into Golden West Cafe to have dinner with another friend from college, Joe Mulhollen.  It was all quite exciting.

  Atomic Books held -for the third year in a row- SPXplosion, an unofficial pre-show party which featured readings by folks like Sarah Glidden, Corinne Mucha (who I thought stole the show), Julia Wertz, and R. Sikoryak, as well as an awkward presentation of the Nerdlinger Awards (not hosted by founders, Liz, MK or Robin).

  After the event, Doghed, Kenan and I headed back to Bethesda and stayed up until 3:30 am binding comics.  I can't really blame procrastination, because I'd been working hard on preparing for SPX for the past three weeks.

  The Small Press Expo takes place in a large hotel ballroom, with a couple hundred tables filled to the edge with comics, prints, t-shirts and hand-made toys.  The show attracts comics artists both established and unknowns to set up shop, and sell, trade or give away their comics.  This was the third year attending the show, the last two years I volunteered for the show, and brought comics to trade with folks.  This year I ended up behind a table with my good friend, Kenan Rubenstein.

  Saturday was a very busy day!  The sea of humanity that flooded the aisles never let up, and instead of waiting for a lull, I just ended up running away from my table near the end of the day to say hello to some acquaintances, who happened to have comics I new I wanted to grab.

  Sunday was less busy, but not slow by any means.  I did step away from my table more, though I was nervous the entire time I was away.  I met some really cool folks, and picked up some really exciting comics, that in future posts I hope to mention.  All in all, I sold out of three titles (including both of my debuting titles), and sold, traded and gave away a lot of all of my comics.  I was really happy with the reception my comics got by folks.

  On Sunday, my friend Becky stopped by and delivered 10 sticky buns from Sticky Fingers, a vegan bakery in DC, which I shared with my table mates, and a few friends who were sitting in other parts of the show.  Later in the day, a third college friend, Patience surprised me by showing up at my table.  I hadn't seen she visited me in Providence, the summer of 2003, right before I moved to Chicago.  Besides giving me the amazing gift of her presence, she gave me an amazing hand-drawn flip book she had made called "Herculean Snail," which brought a smile to everyone I showed it to.  Seeing Patience amplified the awesomeness of the weekend exponentially.

  Saturday night, Kenan, Sam Sharpe, and Reid Psaltis went out to dinner to Yuan Fu, a vegan/vegetarian restaurant a couple miles away from the hotel, and got back to the hotel in time for the Ignatz awards.  No one I voted for won, but I still thought everyone who did was well deserving of their bricks.

  I had a lot of fun hanging out with Kenan and Sam (who shared our room Saturday night).   After SPX was over on Sunday, the three of us packed up our tables, and trekked into DC, and met up with Becky, and had dinner at Busboys and Poets on 14th.  We then unloaded our hauls and read comics in our pajamas until late into the night.

  The next morning Becky went to work, Kenan jumped on a megabus, Sam headed out to Dulles airport and I made my way to Union Station to get back onto the Amtrak.

  My first year exhibiting at SPX was a great experience, and I owe it to good friends, and the great interactions I had from behind my table and in front of others'.

  Now I need to regroup, and get myself in order for the Madison Zine Fest (10/2), Alternative Press Expo (10/16-17) in San Francisco, and the Milwaukee Zine Fest (11/12-13)!  See you there?

happy bethesday!

Here's a quick update for this upcoming weekend, which if you don't know by now is the 16th annual

SMALL PRESS EXPO in Bethesda, Maryland (which is a block away from the White Flint stop on the Washington DC Metro's red line).

I've been working pretty hard to get everything ready for the show.  I'll have old stand-by's like the Trugglemat, Spitting Pennies, What is This?, and both Alpha City Comics.  I will also have these exciting new titles:

  oh boy, Comics! #1, which debuted at MIX three weeks ago, is a 106-page collection of previously printed comics that have appeared as free comics, online comics and anthology pieces that have not been readily available.

  write now!, debuting at SPX is my newest contribution to the paper-surprise-in-the-mail service, Uncle Envelope.  It's a love letter/tutorial on self publishing for kids, and comes with a zine written by the main character of the comic.

  Also debuting at SPX will be a comic I'll only have available at shows, Secret Formula.  It's an adventure comic printed as a scroll and packaged in a glass tube.  The secret formula is revealed at the end of the strip, and is one you can use.

  I'm excited to be sharing a table with Kenan Rubenstein, a good friend and a great comics artist.  Sharing our room will also be Sam Sharpe.  He'll have a new gag comic and t-shirts?! We'll also labeling our hotel room the "nerd room," a space folks can visit on Saturday night.  While other rooms will have raucous parties and have management called on them, our goal is to be a space for those not interested in getting drunk (though it wont be a dry room, neccessarily) or being loud, but those who'd like to read comics, draw, trade comics, a pretty much nerd out on comics.  It's kinda like the quiet car on the commuter train.

  Speaking of commuter trains, Kenan and I will be taking a mass transit adventure, traveling by commuter train to Baltimore on Friday evening for Atomic Book's SPX-Plosion!  It should be tons of fun.  Especially because one of my best friends from college, Mischlepity (aka Schlep, aka Doghed) now lives in Baltimore will be hanging out with us!

If you're in the general area of North Bethesda, get thee to SPX this weekend!

mix and spx

That's me at the end of MiX, the Minneapolis Indie Xpo, holding my comic that debuted there, Oh Boy, Comics! #1.  MiX was tons of fun! You can check out photos from me and other folks who went on the MiX flickr pool.

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!

capitol man #200

It may be the 611th Sock-Monster comic, but it's the 200th comic featuring Capitol Man. The only other supporting character in the comic who has appeared more than Capitol Man is Skig, who has 18 appearances over everyone's favorite villain.

http://www.sock-monster.com