Okay so recently Rain Taxi decided to launch a literary journal and is including COMICS! The deal is that on Aug 25th at the Cedar the event will launch with art making and local bands, and all the content for the issue will be made between noon and midnight, which is old hat for you comic jammers. They asked me to be the comics editor and I thought of you guys immediately. Who better to do this than 24 hour comics day veterans?

The deal is though, that Rain Taxi is crowd funding the project in the style of Kickstarter. And the funding seems to be creeping so it is going to need all the help it can get to become a reality.

The main reason that I am campaigning so much for this project among many other equally worthy projects is that I think it is a VERY IMPORTANT step in Minneapolis art/print scene that Rain Taxi from the get go decided to give COMICS an equal billing along with the more familiar short stories, poetry and non fiction. I think if this project makes it it will be another step towards comics being seen as an integral part of such anthologies and not an afterthought or oddity.

So that all said, if this sounds like something you’d want to participate in or help support here is where you do it. (Also read more about the details)

Firecracker Art magazine Seeder Page

Also if your work is selected this is gonna be a really nice book on the resume

Lance Ward “The Portal”
Interview with Conspirator Lance Ward about life, death and art by Ken Avidor. Photography and editing by David Steinlicht.

Maxeem pulls ahead (for now) in the RACE TO END EPIC FANTASY EXTREMELY RAPIDLY (Updates continue at: http://comiclusion.blogspot.com )

WARNING: This comic is NOT work/religion/science/family friendly

But that should probably be expected from our crowd. ;P

Now available: “Cornered!” A collection of comics from the Pioneer Press newspaper by David Steinlicht — published by Nodin Press.

This Saturday, from 4 to 6 p.m., you can buy the book and get it signed by the author, at Big Brain Comics in downtown Minneapolis.

Great Christmas gift. Excellent Chanukah gift. Perfect Kwanzaa gift. Super solstice gift. Nice stocking stuffer. Use ‘em for holiday party favors. Just the thing for grads. Mom will love it — Dad, Sis and Junior will, too.

And at $19.95 per copy, it’s budget friendly. Color cover, 274-page B&W interior.

(Note to those of you who purchased the self-published edition of “Cornered!”: Don’t get all worked up. It’s the same book, mostly. There are 11 additional comics, one more intro page, another index page, a Library of Congress number, a ISBN number, a bar code, an author picture and a snappy new cover design.)

Local Comics Week is a chance to show off local and independent talent.
Other cities besides Minneapolis have organized their own events
nationwide, and have even joined forces to create Indy Comic Week
(http://www.indycomicbookweek.com/index.html) which is aiming to do what we
have all set out to do with our event.

Our event is changing a bit. The Source Comics and Games in Roseville, MN
(http://www.sourcecandg.com/) is participating in Indy Comics Week and
after a few discussions with Nick, the organizer of their event, we have
decided to join forces and allow our event to be folded into Indy Comics
Week.

What does this mean? Quite a lot, actually.

Big Brain Comics is stepping out of the event, and our comics will now be
sold at the Source. Nick is also preparing for a signing event for
participating artists.

So, here is what you need to know:

-I will no longer be collecting the comics that you would like to submit
for the event. Instead, any material (mini comics, zines, trade
paperbacks, graphic novels) must be brought to the Source between December
21 and December 26th. Mind they will likely have shorter hours on
Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas. The nice thing is that the Source
WANTS to purchase your hard worked creations. How much they will purchase
items for, quantity, etc is up to the Source.

Remember, what you bring to the Source does NOT need to be new material!

-The material will be put out on the racks on Sunday December 27th and will
remain there until January 2nd.

-Wednesday, December 30th is the BIG event. The Source will be hosting a
signing for indy cartoonists. Space IS limited. In order to be a guest at
the signing, you MUST email Nick at the Source
http://www.sourcecomicsandgames.com/?page_id=10 with “Attention Nick/Indy
Comis Week in the first line of ‘your message’ to request a spot. The
signing will be 4pm until 8pm.

-You DO NOT have to provide anything to the Source to sell in order to be a
guest at the signing.

-You DO NOT have to be a guest at the Source in order to sell them your
comics.

That’s about it. If there is anything you want to know, please email me (bob(at)uptowngirlcomic.com)

Greetings, Twin City Conspirators! I’ve roamed away from my home range (the hills of New Hampshire) to spend a little time here, and would love to meet some of you. Join me at 7pm at Diamonds Coffee Shop for Inter-Regional Exchange, Drawing, Chatting, Showing Off Of Comics, and Et Cetera! Sorry for the short notice; I’ve been trying to juggle a lot of things while I’ve been here & had trouble figuring out when to do this. So – the last minute it is! I’m here through the end of the week, so feel free to drop me a line at colintedford@gmail.com if you’d like to hang out. I’m hoping to make it to the Open Studio Saturday, schedule permitting.

You can see my comics here and the Trees & Hills Comics Group of VT, NH & west MA, which I co-organize, by clicking the name. I’ll have a suitcase full of comics by various New Englanders with me at the event. Hope to see you!

December 27th – January 2nd will be….LOCAL COMICS WEEK!
Diamond Distribution, the biggest (and pretty much only) comics distributor will be taking a long winter’s nap that week and will not be shipping new comics…leaving comic fans without their weekly fix.
But not to worry, because as with a lot of comics, there are heroes to count on!  Those heroes,  ladies and gentlemen, are  US!
We will create and sell our own comics and provide the city with comic books and save the planet once and for all! 
Here’s the plan:  Big Brain Comics has generously allowed the Conspiracy to take over their New Release racks for the week.  Customers who are looking for their weekly comics will be introduced to the world of  local comics.

Here’s the info: If you want to participate, have 20 copies of a mini comic printed by DECEMBER 3RD.  You can bring your comics to the jam that month or you can arrange to have them mailed to me by contacting me at  bob (at) uptowngirlcomic.com. The mini comic should have a cover price of $3.   Consignment details are still being worked out. 

The comics will be delivered to Big Brain on December 28th
and will go on sale the next day on December 30th (new comic day!)
The comics will be on sale until January 5th.   Any money made will be able to be picked up January’s jam on the 7th. 
 
If you want to participate, please contact me by NOVEMBER 15th. 

Thanks to Kevin Cannon for creating the logo for the event!

Ted Anderson posted a nice review of David Steinlicht’s In This Corner compilation over at examiner.com. Thanks, Ted!

“Cornered!” is available at Big Brain, The Source, Frame Ups, Common Good Books and the bookstore at the Minnesota History Center — and online at cornercomic.com.

Local Hero Kevin Cannon has been featured in a couple of in depth interviews recently promoting his brilliant new graphic novel from Top Shelf, Far Arden. Here is the scoop from The Big Time Attic Blog:

I recently chatted with comics journalist and long-time Far Arden supporter Tom Spurgeon about life, love, and comics, as part of the CR Sunday Interview series. So if you want to learn about the time I lived in a theme park for three weeks, or get a behind-the-scenes look at a Far Arden easter egg, then this is the interview for you.

Comics Reporter Interview.

And I got so caught up with the MoCCA convention and the launch party that I failed to post about this interview with Alex Dueben at Comic Book Resources. Alex and I get down and dirty about the creation of T-Minus and Far Arden, and how I ended up at Top Shelf.

Comic Book Resources Interview.

Drink with conspirator Ken Avidor this Thursday! Here is the info posted at The Cucking Stool…

Thursday will be an extra special Drinking Liberally featuring Ken Avidor and some of his cartoon/illustrator buddies. Ken promises to bring along his sketch book and pen.

As most of you know, Ken has done several graphics for the Cucking Stool over the past couple of years. He skewers Michele Bachmann with some regularity and writes for Dump Michele Bachmann. Recently, Ken’s work in sketching for Law and Politics at the Republican National Convention won him a Society of Professional Journalists award.

One of Ken’s recent projects was to do the cover of the first issue of False Witness, Bill Prendergast’s graphic retelling of the Michele Bachmann story:

False Witness was noted recently in Talking Points Memo. And the dialogue is genuine Michele Bachmann, too!

We’ll have some copies of the comic available for you to buy, boys and girls, and Ken will autograph the cover if you like. It would make a great gift, especially for the right winger in your life.

We meet six to nine or so at the 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis.