Category Archives: News

David Mruz Interview

My friend David Mruz passed away this week. I first remember meeting David at the BIG FUNNY show, where we had a bunch of art hung up inspired by the newspaper comics of the turn of the previous century, as well as many examples of Sunday pages from that period. David introduced himself and gave me some 100+ year old Happy Hooligan sheet music, just because he thought I would appreciate it. This sort of amazing casual, generous kindness was something that has come up frequently in the remembrances of David I have been reading online.

In the years since then, I always sought David out when I would go to the local comic conventions to sit around and shoot the shit for a while, as it was always one of the big highlights of the shows for me. David was a delight to talk to… he had an incredible enthusiasm for comics, and for the history of cartooning in Minnesota specifically. I am really going to miss getting to talk to him.

You can read a wonderful remembrance of him by his good friend of 50 years Joel Thingvall here and learn about all the wonderful things David accomplished (such as running the first comic conventions in Minnesota back in the 70s, and as a founding member of the Minnesota Cartoonist League).

Back in 2011, Britt Aamodt and Barbara Schulz interviewed me for a project of theirs collecting oral histories of Minnesota cartoonists. I recommended they interview David, since he knew more about the history of cartooning in Minnesota than anyone else I ever met (and probably knew more on that subject than anyone else ever has). Britt and Barb have given me permission to post the interview here. It does a nice job capturing David’s character and enthusiasm, and it will teach you a hell of a lot of things you did not previously know about cartooning in Minnesota. Rest in peace, David.

Photo of David by Britt Aamodt. Click on the photo to read Britt Aamodt and Barbara Schulz’s interview with David.

Supreme Court May Weigh in On Kirby Case

The great Jack Kirby’s heirs have been in a long, drawn out lawsuit against the Marvel/Disney monolith in attempting to some of the money they deserve for Kirby’s creation of most of the characters in the early “Marvel Universe” comics. It may go to the Supreme court soon. You can read an excellent summary of the case by Mark Evanier and John Morrow in their testimony for the case below. The details of the horror story of how Kirby has been treated by Marvel really should be something everyone trying to make a living in comics should be familiar with.

Evanier

Big Sale at Altered Esthetics this Saturday (1/25/14) as Altered Esthetics Gets Rid of its Walls.

Our friends and collaborators at Altered Esthetics gallery (1224 Quincy St. NE Minneapolis) are having a big sale this Saturday from 12 to 5 as they prepare to move out of their current space to pursue AE Without Walls. Please check out the kickstarter for that for more information, and to donate.

The sale this weekend will include all of the collaborative comics projects we’ve done with them that they still have in stock, including Lutefisk Sushi volumes D and E, Just Add Ink, Rock Ink Roll and BIG FUNNY… they will all be available at DEEPLY discounted prices. Hopefully we can find good homes for most of them. Much original art and other good stuff will also be for sale, including their furniture.

Here is a Craigslist post about the sale with the furniture for sale shown and some photos of other items.

More on AE Without Walls:

Altered Esthetics is excited to commemorate our 10th year with the launch of “Ae Without Walls” – a pop-up exhibition tour of the Twin Cities.

We have exciting news to share with you!

Celebrating a decade in the Arts District, Altered Esthetics will bring exhibitions directly to the audience in a series of pop-up installations and exhibitions around the Twin Cities entitled “Ae Without Walls.”

No stranger to pop-ups, Altered Esthetics has hosted exhibitions in alternative venues. From the Dinkytowner, to installations at the Hennepin Central Library, to its solo exhibitions program, Altered Esthetics has curated installations in a variety of spaces – but never before on such a grand scale. The hope of Ae Without Walls – to increase accessibility, opportunities for exposure to the arts, and to celebrate 10 years of being a voice for artists.

Altered Esthetics will still base out of the Q’arma building, maintaining a presence at its home in the Arts District, but will no longer have a permanent space housed there. Exhibition locations will be announced monthly.

Altered Esthetics is a community gallery run by artists, for artists. Want to get involved in Ae Without Walls? Email contact(at)alteredesthetics.org to find out more about showing opportunities, internships, volunteering and more.

#minicomicsday2012 is Today! (May 26th)


Pictured above: The 2012 Stapler Award for the Best Minnesota Mini-Comics Day Mini-Comic

You’re encouraged to use the hash tag #minicomicsday2012 for whatever you may want to use a hashtag for.

Cartoonists around the world will be drawing and printing a mini-comic in a day. Any cartoonist anywhere can participate.

There are event sites this year in:
Sacramento, CA
San Francisco, CA
Baltimore, MD
Minneapolis, MN
Keene, NH
Albuquerque, NM
Norfolk, VA
and McCleary, WA
(and we had a site in Newcastle Upon Tyne in the UK participate last month)

If you live near one of those locations, go here for the details of your local event.

Participate in the 2nd Annual Mini-Comics Day: May 26th, 2012


(Above image by Dan Murphy)

May 26th, 2012 is the date for the second annual Mini-Comics Day, celebrating the art of cartooning and creating hand-made comic books (the first event was held April 9th, 2011).

On Mini-Comics Day, participating cartoonists from around the world will write, draw, and print copies of a mini-comic, completing the entire process from start to finish in a day or less. Anyone in the world can participate.

Mini-comics have been democratizing the art of making comic books since the 70’s or earlier… with the popularization of photocopiers, it became apparent that anyone with an inclination and some spare change could print a little comic book. Wildly varying in both form and content, mini-comics are a wonderful synthesis of cartooning and hand-made art objects.

Guidelines: To participate, create a mini-comic from start to finish on May 26th, 2012 (including writing, drawing and printing it). You can make your mini-comic by yourself or with other artists.

Format: Your mini-comic can be any size, length and format you desire. A standard mini-comics size would be eight 4.25″x5.5″ pages (which can be made from one 8.5×11 sheet of paper printed on both sides).

Help: For more information on how to make a mini-comic, see the Cartoonist Conspiracy’s mini-comic tutorial How to Make Mini-Comics. More resources can be found here.

Submit: Optionally, you can post information and/or images from your comic on this blog. Contact for an account to post here.

Bonus points: If you are working with a group of cartoonists, you may want to consider collecting your mini-comics together to distribute as a set. Bags, rubber bands, or boxes all work great for this purpose.

Also, you may want to consider trading copies by submitting some to the Mini-comix Co-op.

Events: Mini-Comics Day events will be organized at different locations around the world. You can read more about how to organize an event in our FAQ. The purpose of Mini-Comics Day events is to provide a place for cartoonists to draw and/or print their comics, and possibly to trade or sell their minis if they choose to. In 2011, we had 17 event locations participate internationally.

If you would like to organize an event, contact us at so we can promote your event and add it to our event listing.

About The International Cartoonist Conspiracy: Founded in Minneapolis in 2002, The International Cartoonist Conspiracy is a loosely organized group of cartoonists with cells all over the world. The Conspiracy has been responsible for many collaborative projects, including anthologies, gallery shows, and numerous jams every month. Any cartoonist anywhere can start a cell, and anyone with a desire to draw comics is encouraged to participate.

MIX Links

This morning I was sent a link to an huge quantity of interviews with exhibitors at last month’s delightful MIX convention by Fancy Pants Gangsters. You can check them out here.

That made me realize I don’t believe I have yet posted a link to Tom Spurgeon’s amazing and enormous MIX link roundup at the Comics Reporter. You can check that out here.

Get your mini-comics ready… only 23 months until the next MIX!

Recent Twin Cities Cartoonist News!!!

!!!

Jon Sloan is going to be the Comic Book Guest of Honor at MarsCon 2012!!!

Tom Kaczynski was just featured on TCJ talkies, the new Comics Journal podcast!!! His Trans-Utopia mini-comic was recently nominated for an Ignatz award for outstanding mini-comic!!!

Sarah Morean was just featured in and article on her and MIX in the City Pages!!!

Bill Prendergast and his anti-Michelle Bachmann comics were just prominently featured on an Australian news site!!! Bill was featured on CNN recently as well!!!

Danno Klonowski’s art was just featured on the delightful Ink Panthers Podcast (yours could be as well… see the site for details)!!!

!!!

Roger Lootine’s Artwork Ripped Off by XLARGE

Apparently, XLARGE, a company that makes poorly-designed t-shirts and other fashion atrocities for the dim-witted and/or aesthetically-challenged, recently made a good looking t-shirt by ripping off artwork by Minneapolis’ own Roger Lootine. You can read about it here.

You can contact the perpetrators here if you are inclined to tell them what you think about this. Or maybe you’ll want to just check out their site and see if they have decided to use some of your artwork without your permission! Spreading the word that these people are blatant plagiarists by passing this story around seems like a good idea.

Mark Your Calendars… April 9th, 2011 is MINI-COMICS DAY!

April 9th, 2011 is the date for the first annual Mini-Comics Day, celebrating the art of cartooning and creating hand-made comic books.

On Mini-Comics Day, participating cartoonists from around the world will write, draw, and print copies of a mini-comic, completing the entire process from start to finish in a day or less. Anyone in the world can participate.

Mini-comics have been democratizing the art of making comic books since the 70’s or earlier… with the popularization of photocopiers, it became apparent that anyone with an inclination and some spare change could print a little comic book. Wildly varying in both form and content, mini-comics are a wonderful synthesis of cartooning and hand-made art objects.

Guidelines: To participate, create a mini-comic from start to finish on April 9th, 2011 (including writing, drawing and printing it). You can make your mini-comic by yourself or with other artists.

Format: Your mini-comic can be any size, length and format you desire. A standard mini-comics size would be eight 4.25″x5.5″ pages (which can be made from one 8.5×11 sheet of paper printed on both sides).

Help: For more information on how to make a mini-comic, see the Cartoonist Conspiracy’s mini-comic tutorial How to Make Mini-Comics. More resources can be found here.

Submit: Optionally, you can post information and/or images from your comic on the Mini-Comics Day blog. Contact for an account to post here.

Bonus points: If you are working with a group of cartoonists, you may want to consider collecting your mini-comics together to distribute as a set. Bags, rubber bands, or boxes all work great for this purpose.

Also, you may want to consider trading copies by submitting some to the Mini-comix Co-op.

Events: There will be two kinds of events related to Mini-Comics Day:

Cartooning Events, where cartoonists meet to work on their mini-comics around their peers.

Mini-comic Swap Events, where cartoonists can trade and sell their minis.

If you would like to organize an event, contact us at so we can promote your event and add it to our event listing.

About The International Cartoonist Conspiracy: Founded in Minneapolis in 2002, The International Cartoonist Conspiracy is a loosely organized group of cartoonists with cells all over the world. The Conspiracy has been responsible for many collaborative projects, including anthologies, gallery shows, and numerous jams every month. Any cartoonist anywhere can start a cell, and anyone with a desire to draw comics is encouraged to participate.