gimme some cake! a play in one act.

MARK:
Hey Neil, what have you been up to?

NEIL:
Oh, Y'know, like this and that.

MARK:
Oh yeah?  Like what?

NEIL:
I don't know, bustin' heads, feedin' pigeons.  That sorta thing.

MARK:
Cool.  Cool.

NEIL:
Oh, I'm also organizing CAKE, the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo.  It's taking place June 16th & 17th at 1104 South Wabash (8th floor, jerks!), from 11am and 6pm.

KNIGHT #2:
A comics show?!  Ah man, those things cost so much money!  And I don't have any!
[turns, kicks the dirt]

NEIL:
Not CAKE.

ORKA:
Whaaa-????

NEIL:
Yeah, you didn't hear? CAKE is FREE and open to the public, and the space is wheelchair accessible!  We're gonna have nearly two hundred guests & exhibitors from all over Chicago, the U.S., and abroad!  It's the first alternative comics fest in Chicago in over 15 years!  We've got a full slate of really great programming, tons of debuts, not to mention a wicked awesome poster drawn by Chicago's favorite comics artist, Laura Park!

MARK:
You put this together all by yourself?

NEIL:
No way, man.  I'm just a part of a large group of people putting this together.  The other organizers are Ignatz Award winner Edie Fake, Ignatz Award nominee, Jeff Zwirek, Line Work co-editor, Max Morris and zinester extraordinaire, Grace Tran!  We also have an advisory committee made up of members of Chicago's alternative comics community.  And we've gotten a lot of support from Quimby's Bookstore, Columbia College Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, Mortville, the Hideout, Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar, and a bunch of folks who have donated to our IndieGoGo campaign.

ANDERS NILSEN:
I, along with Jeffrey Brown, Lilli Carré, Closed Caption Comics, Paul Hornschemeier, Lucy Knisley, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Corinne Mucha, Laura Park, Pizza Island (RIP), John Porcellino, Nate Powell, and Chicago's own Trubble Club will be special guests.

ORKA:
I'm hungry.
[eats everyone]

  

fin.

free comic book day is tomorrow!

Free Comic Book Day is a really exciting holiday for me (mainly because of the "free" and the "comic book" components of the equation).  Often times it's official, sanctioned free comics that are handed out from larger publishers, but each year it seems more and more smaller publishers are taking it upon themselves to publish free comics.  This year, Tugboat Press has Runner Runner & Sparkplug Comicbooks, Teenage Dinosaur, Revival House & Floating World Comics released Bad Trip.  

Last year, Sam Sharpe, Erik Schneider and I released a minicomic, Handout Comics,

This year, Sam and I coordinated a second issue of Handout Comics (don't worry, Erik is in this one too!).  We had it offset printed by 1984 Printing in Oakland, and had a rubber stamp made by Lakeview Stamp Company for the title.  But the contents is the exciting part!  We got 11 awesome Chicago-based comics artists to contribute to the comic:

Nate Beaty!

Bernie McGovern!

 Erik Schneider!

 Me!

Beth Hetland!

Ian McDuffie!

Sam Sharpe!

Jeremy Sorese!

Jeremy Tinder!
(who also did the cover!)

 Jeff Zwirek!

Caroline Picard!

They'll be available at the following stores:

Brainstorm Comics 

Challengers Comics & Conversation

Chicago Comics

BOTH Comix Revolution Locations

Evil Squirrel Comics

G-Mart

Quimby's Bookstore

Third Coast Comics

& I sent a handful of copies with my friends from 2D Cloud to TCAF this weekend in Toronto!

So check them out, pick 'em up, they're 100% FREE! Happy Free Comic Book Day! 

mocca occa occa occa

Do you love alternative comics?
Do you live in New York City?
Do you have the weekend free?
(alternately, do you remember me from college and want to tell me off to my face?)
I'll be at the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art Fest this weekend!

I'll be tabling with SAM SHARPE & LIZ PRINCE, and tabling next to KENAN RUBENSTEIN & JOSH SHALEK!

The website has a full exhibitor list, along with the table assignments (I'm at table i-7), hours and show costs.

Come by, say hi.  I happily accept vegan baked goods for exchange for just about anything.

who am i kidding who am i foolin' when they say "what's up neil brideau" and i say "coolin'?"

Lemme tell you I've been a busy Brideau.

Since the last post in Mar...DECEMBER?  Ah jeeze.

ahem.

Since the last post in December, the Chicago Zine Fest has come and gone.  Organizing it was a lot of hard work, and sleepless nights, but I think it all worked out in the end.  We had over 200 zinesters exhibit, and over 1,000 attendees check out the fest. I had a real blast organizing the fest with my co-organizers.  The weekend (and the months leading up to it) are such a blur now, that it's difficult for me to really reflect on the experience.

CZF T-Shirt Design by Lilli Carré

Organizing a successful event the size of the zine fest takes a commitment beyond even a part time job (which is what I used to compare it to), I basically abandoned any other projects I was working on, and eliminated most of my social life (which was pretty small to begin with).  Because of the work load, and having a lot of other projects I want to get to, I decided early on to not be an organizer for the 2013 Chicago Zine Fest.  But I'm sure the fest will be better than ever in 2013 in the capable hands of the remaining organizers, Leslie, Jen, Heather & Johnny, and whoever they end up adding to the mix.  And I'm excited to finally experience the fest from the outside, attend the events, volunteer & possibly exhibit.

What projects am I so eager to put my mitts on?  Well, I'm so glad you asked...

As ridiculous as this might sound, I'm...actually...organizing another small press show.

-sigh-

I said, I'm actually organizing another small press show.  I know, I just said I was burnt out on organizing, but this show is also going to be awesome!  It's CAKE!  The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo! It will take place June 16 & 17, at 1104 S Wabash here in Chicago.  The exhibitor list will be released in the next couple of days, and it is off the chain.  More info on that in future blog posts I wont have time to write.

CAKE Banner by Laura Park (check out the allium motif!)

In comics news, I'm working on the Plot #2, currently in the lettering stage but other projects (like the ones mentioned before and after the Plot) are getting in the way.  I really wanted to have this done by MoCCA (which takes place in New York City on April 28 & 29, where I will be sharing a table with Sam Sharpe and Liz Prince!)

BUT, unless I get fired and don't have to work anymore, I probably will not be able to ink the issue's 40 pages in 24 days.  I don't know why I wrote the word "probably." Instead I am going to try to have oh boy, COMICS! #2 done ready for MoCCA, hopefully without it getting stolen this time.

I am working on other comics projects:

Handout Comics #2 is a comic Sam Sharpe and I have compiled for Free Comic Book Day (May 5th).  It will feature brand new comics by 11 Chicago-based comics artists, and it will be absolutely, positively, 100% free, and available at the better (based on the completely biased opinion of me and Sam) comic book shops in Chicagoland.  Each of the artists will also be given a bunch of copies, so you can hassle them for a copy.  I'll post the list of the artsits once the comic actually goes to the printer (which if the planets align will be tomorrow).

Ro-Cor comics is a project Sam got me involved in.  It's kind of a convoluted process, which I'll explain later (seriously, guys, you should NOT write blog posts at 2:30 in the morning).   I'm excited to be a part of this project, which is inspired by the creative process of Roger Corman.  If all goes according to plan, it'll debut at SPX.  BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!  and by more I mean another anthology I'm going to be a part of that should debut at SPX:

If you have bionic macro-optic eyeballs, check out that list of contributors!  Oh I guess you can also CLICK on the image (if you don't have bionic macro-optic eyeballs), and it'll get bigger or something.  I don't understand these computer boxes, am I right, Detective Dan Stark?

Sorry, I got distracted.  How did I get in this line up? Guys!  Berke Brethead is contributing?! Renee French?!  Ayun Halliday?! Brian Ralph?!  Come on, guys.  Here's a thumbnail from my story, which is completely written, just needs to be drawn:

I'm sure I'm forgetting some other news, or other projects I'm working on.  I've used every image that was sitting on my desktop, so I guess not. I gotta post more frequently, and more lucidly.

Chocolate chip cookies!

plot #2

I've been quite busy helping plan the 2012 Chicago Zine Fest, and running around the Midwest to various comics/zine shows, and hanging out with my awesome parents.  So the Plot #2, Your Curiosity Will Get You Killed has been progressing very...very...slowly.  But I am still working on it, and yesterday I had a few hours on an Amtrak train up to Milwaukee, so I worked on some cover designs for the issue. Here are some of the better designs I've come up with so far:

onward!

Saturday, November 26th (which, depending on when you read this is tomorrow, today or in the past) is the date during which the 3rd annual Genghis Con will be strutting its stuff all over Waterloo Ave in Cleveland, Ohio.  I exhibited at the show during its first year, and am excited to return, this year (smuggling Sam Sharpe in my suitcase). 

Here are the "deets:"

The Genghis Con

Saturday, November 26, 2011

11am - 6pm

Beachland Ballroom

15711 Waterloo Rd.

Cleveland, OH, USA, Planet Earth (sorry Martians)

Flyer by Kevin Fagan (related to Matt?)

It'll be tons of fun, so if you're near the Cuyahoga river, follow it to Cleveland, and the Beachland Ballroom.

Sam will be sharing a table with me and have his brand new (and freakin awesome) comic, Viewotron #1, which will soon be a name that is mentioned in the same breath as Optic Nerve, or Ganges, or maybe Betty and Veronica Digest.

I will have the Plot #1 which I hope you will read and enjoy.

no debut

In my last blog I excitedly announced the debut of oh boy, COMICS! #2 at this weekend's Minneapolis Indie Xpo (free and open to the public, come one come all!).  Unfortunately that debut will not be happening.

UGH!  I was so close!  I staid up so late two nights ago, pasting up the master (and the master for a new free minicomic, Not Worth It, Number Fun!).   Looking at the past year's "extra" comics I had drawn (nearly 50 pages!), all together in one volume was really exciting.  It -along with Not Worth It, and a near-constant listening of They Might Be Giants' new Album Raises New and Troubling Questions (which is awesome)- had reminded me how important drawing unimportant comics is as a way to keep oneself fresh while working on larger more significant projects.

but then my backpack got stolen yesterday.

contents:
my sketchbook!

my computer! (if you see a dirty white macbook with a Quimby's sticker covering the Apple logo, that's mine)

some items not worth noting -like left over Halloween Candy, a zine I was reading, a CD I never got to listen to, oh and

MY MASTERS FOR THESE TWO COMICS I WAS NEARLY FINISHED PASTING UP!!!

I'm quite angry about this, but more than anything I'm really disappointed these comics wont be available at MIX.

The good news is, I will still be exhibiting at MIX with my good friend Sam Sharpe, and I'll have copies of the Plot #1, which is only a few months old, and I think a pretty good comic.