comics reading recap

I hosted a comics reading at the Fun House last Saturday.  It went really well, about 25 folks showed up to hear four very different readings!

Sara Drake went first, performing a dramatization of the comic she's working on right now.  A conversation between a garden (played by Sara), a sullen garden hose (played by Krystal DiFronzo), and a cynical moth (played by Cassandra Troyan).  It was beautifully poetic, and may or may not have included confetti, I didn't see it happen, but there sure was some on the floor at the end of the night.

Rickey Gonzales went next and straight-up READ his comic Concepcion out loud.  Rickey's comics actually work really well in this delivery, as they could be considered sequential illustrated essays rather than comics (in the traditional sense of the word).  Rickey's one of my favorite comics writers, and I was reminded how much I love his writing from his reading on Saturday.

Aaron Renier followed Rickey, and read the first handful of pages from The Unsinkable Walker Bean, which comes out in just a matter of WEEKS!  Aaron's reading got me so excited about this book I nearly exploded.  I can not wait to read it!  Aaron's piece had a lot of dialog, and he read each character in a different voice.  Hilarity ensued when he couldn't keep the voices straight for any of the characters.  It was great.

Edie Fake capped the night off with a reading from his series, Gaylord Phoenix, which will be collected into a book from Secret Acres at the end of the year.  Edie wasn't sure about how he would narrate the slides, as the dialog is minimal in the series, but I think his guidance of the audience through the beautiful world of the Gaylord Phoenix was really well done, directing us with enough space to let us explore the amazing landscapes Edie created.  Just like with Aaron's reading, Edie's presentation left me brimming with anticipation for the book!

After the reading, everyone hung out for a little while, ate popcorn and complained about how hot my apartment was.  So I told them all to scram.  The end.

comics reading to-night

I just wanted to remind folks about the comic reading tonight at the fun house:

Comics Reading

at the Fun House

Saturday, July 24

8pm

1743 N Mozart

Free!

No drugs or Alcohol please!

 

Readers:

Sara Drake (Arty Party)

Edie Fake (Gaylord Phoenix)

Rickey Gonzales (Victims at the End of the World)

Aaron Renier (Spiral-Bound)

Sam Sharpe (These Yams Are Delicious)

You'll be happy you attendededededededededed.

Chicago Zine Fest!

In one week we'll be smack-dab in the middle of the Chicago Zine Fest, Friday's reading & art show will have happened, and we'll be just about to open the doors to Saturday's exhibiting & workshops.  It should be tons of fun, I hope if you can you'll come.

We've had a good response from the press, there should be articles in the Columbia Chronicle and Time Out Chicago later this week.  Microcosm did a quick Q&A with us, and the Chicago Underground Library interviewed us on their blog.

In other news, as soon as the zine fest is over, I'll be preparing for the Museum of Comics and Cartooning Art (MoCCA) Arts Fest April 10 & 11 in New York City, and the Stumptown Comics Fest, April 24 & 25 in Portland, OR.

More upcoming events: In May I'm taking a trip to Tokyo to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew.  August 21st I'll be exhibiting at the Minneapolis Indie Xpo!

The next few months will be a bit of a transition for me, as I'm moving down to the Fun House (home to half of the zine fest organizers) at the beginning of May and five close friends are planning on moving from Chicago.  This might be kind of rough, as I've already felt at least one of them pull away from me in expectation of moving to a new life in a new city.

who...what...huh...how...(too much awesomeness to express)

Holy Cow and a half!  Have I got some news.

First of all, guess who's starting to work here:

on Wednesday. Here's a hint, it's me!  I've been in love with Quimby's since I first arrived in Chicago six years ago, and now I get to work behind the scenes.  I sure hope I don't suck at my job, because I'm expecting to learn a lot from it, and hoping to put a lot of energy into it as well, so I'd like to keep it for a long while.

Also guess who's playing their first show outside of my living room?

These guys!

Here's the flier:

 If you do the math, that's the day after the Windy City Comicon.  That's gonna be a CRAZY weekend.

summer reading recap

Last night was the zine reading/fair at the Fun House, and it was AWESOME! All the readings were super super sweet, and I ended up going last, which made me really nervous. I enlarged copies of pages from What is This? and read it out loud with sound effects, and a funny voice for Lucy, the alien. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Then I traded for a bunch of zines, and a couple of folks insisted on giving me money for my comics, so I made back about half of the printing costs, which was an added bonus I wasn't planning for.

I'll add it to my "I Just Wanna Draw Comics Fund" savings account I'm gonna try to reopen today.

I've got the day off from work, so I'm running some errands, and then heading down to Hyde Park to have a drawing date with Ryan Alexander-Tanner. I'm drawing my page for the Windy City Comicon program, which is a full-sized comic book, with each creator getting a page. I'm also working on Alpha City Comics #2, I'm 10% done with penciling the book.

summer reading and zine fair

On Thursday I'll be participating in a reading of zines and comics at my friend Leslie's place. I've never read a comic out loud, so it should be an interesting experience. I tried looking into the works of the other readers, so as to provide links, but all I could find were myspace pages. Leslie is reading, and she's pretty cool. So that's reason enough to show up to her event.

There'll also be a concurrent vegan baked good swap going on! How could you NOT go?!

1743 Mozart Thursday, July 2, 2009 7pm. Be there!