Category Archives: event

Cartoonist Conspiracy @ The Loring Corners Bazaar (6/27 + 6/28)

event, Minneapolis, St. Paul

The Cartoonist Conspiracy Cells of the Twin Cities are getting in on the ground floor of something that could be potentially great! With Pride Weekend in full swing in the Twin Cities, three lone Conspirators Bud Burgy, Ryan Dow, and Daniel Olson learned of an opportunity to push comic materials to the mostly non-comic reading public! How? A bazaar in the Historic Loring Corners community!

Plans are still in their infancy, but with the proper nurturing, this thing could really take off! From what we understand, the bazaar will have various vendors crafting curious things (fashionable wears, paintings, framed album covers, comics, etc.) and associating with the general public. The bazaar is slated to be open during the Basilica Block Party and Loring Art Festival this year too! If all goes as planned and it becomes a success, more weekends could be added!

So, why am I telling you? Well, you should show up! You should say hello! Bud, Ryan, and Daniel may be bored to tears or could quite possibly having the time of their lives! Either way, we need your support! Plus, if you have any books that you’d like us to push for you contact us and we will make arangements for either this event or others in the future!

Drinking Liberally With Ken Avidor This Thursday at the 331 Club

Conspirators, event, Events

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.

Want to Advertise in BIG FUNNY’s Classified Section?

anthologies, BIG FUNNY, Cartooning Projects, event, Events, gallery show, Good Causes, Projects

Congratulations to the nearly fifty artists who made it into this summer’s BIG FUNNY newspaper and gallery show. We had over seventy outstanding submissions and it was very difficult to whittle it down. We usually like to be as inclusive as possible, but for this project the budget and limitations of printing an actual newspaper limited the amount of entries we could accept.

But there’s still a spot for people to get their name in lights: the classifieds!

The newspaper is going to press in a few weeks, and we’re looking for advertisements to throw in our CLASSIFIEDS section in the back of BIG FUNNY. You get 50 words for $20, and all proceeds go to helping the BIG FUNNY show exist — Altered Esthetics Gallery is a community-based nonprofit and can’t exist without your help!

Get all the details here.
Hurry, though — deadline is May 31

Participate in little funny: a BIG FUNNY Sideshow

anthologies, BIG FUNNY, Cartooning Projects, event, Events, gallery show, little funny, mini-comics, Opportunities, Projects
little funny

little funny is intended as a prominent “sideshow” to the upcoming BIG FUNNY project. little funny will be a series of mini-comics sold in an old cigarette vending machine at Altered Esthetics during the month of the BIG FUNNY show. No entries will be rejected provided they follow the specs (these comics need to be a specific size to fit inside the boxes in the vending machine).

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

  1. DOWNLOAD THE TEMPLATE. The template includes a little funny logo on the front and back covers. One double-sided copy makes three copies of a 10-page accordion style micro-comic (or, alternately, 3 different issues).
  2. Email us at webmaster (at) cartoonistconspiracy.com for an issue number. little funny will be a numbered series. Make sure to put your number on your comic. If you choose to do multiple issues, you’ll need a number for each different issue.
  3. Draw your comic. Make sure to sign your work and include your contact info on it if you want to.
  4. Make copies of it. Copy, fold and staple them.
  5. We request a minimum of 18 copies of each comic submitted (which is 6 double sided xeroxes). More is great, and you can send us as many as you wish. Mail your copies to:ALTERED ESTHETICS
    1224 Quincy St NE
    Minneapolis, MN 55413

    In addition to the comics please include your name, address, phone number and email address.

DEADLINE FOR PARTICIPATION IS JULY 20th.

THINGS TO NOTE:

  • Each participant will receive one vending box of minis… how many minis are included in a box will depend on our level of participation. No box will contain all of the minis. Each participant will be responsible for picking up their box some time during the month of the show, or for making special arrangements if they can not attend.
  • Participants names will also appear on the BIG FUNNY website as being a part of the little funny show.
  • These comics can be by a single artist or be collaborative.
  • You can do as many issues as you wish… if you want to do more than one, just ask us for another number.
  • Comics may be color, or black and white, or on colored paper, or decorated with glitter glue, or painted or whatever the hell you want to do as long as you stick with the basic template.
  • Two sets of all the comics will be kept for the Conspiracy archives.
  • All proceeds from the comics will go to support the gallery, Altered Esthetics, which is a non-profit, community and artist centered gallery. You can read more about AE here.
  • Submissions will not be returned.

JAM THIS THURSDAY IN MINNEAPOLIS

event, Events, jam, Jam Comics, Minneapolis, mn, St. Paul

This month we are not beholden to a particular theme since the Altered Esthetics theme of the month is RESIDENT ARTISTS. 

So, basically we have to do the best work we can. 

Or we can use the ultra-classy idea Kriske came up for when describing the cosplayers at the recent Microcon:   “UNDERGROUND F**K SOCIETY OF SUPER NERDS”

The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.

Generally, we draw collaborative “jam” comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).

Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bus info here.

Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.

Big Time Attic

Big Time Attic hosts our monthly jam meetings at Diamond’s… they will be supplying us with a big old plate of pastries or something. Thanks fellas!

BIG FUNNY Deadline Passes… Need an Extension?

anthologies, BIG FUNNY, Cartooning Projects, deadlines, event, Events, gallery show, Local Hero Kevin Cannon

The BIG FUNNY deadline just passed at midnight, smelling of sweat, ink, and old newsprint! Kevin had a busy day of getting submissions in… we now have 50 of them! The paper is going to be nothing short of spectacular!

And we still want yours!

Not done yet? You’re not alone… there are a number of people whose submissions are really close but not completed. And some, well… maybe not so close, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. You too. We’ll give you one more week! That will be it, though, so don’t miss it!

Please note that submission does NOT guarantee inclusion. You will want to make sure to read the complete project specs and info here.

Please contact us if you are taking advantage of the extension… you can email me at webmaster (at) cartoonistconspiracy.com.

MICROCON This Sunday!!! (April 26th) Have a Blast and Help Len Wein!

conventions, event, Events, Microcon, Midwest Comic Book Association, Minneapolis, mn, show, St. Paul

MICROCON is this Sunday! Our good friends at the Midwest Comic Book Association always put on a great show, and are wonderful hosts to creators… as is true every year, you won’t want to miss it! Read more about MICROCON here.

Here is a banner you can put on your website or social networking page to help promote the event… and remember to tell your friends!

MCBA MICROCON COMIC BOOK PARTY
SUNDAY APRIL 26, 2009 – 10AM TO 4PM

THE PROGRESS CENTER – ON THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIRGROUNDS!

1621 Randall Avenue – Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108

One of the oldest and by far, coolest buildings on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds!

Directions: Enter the Fairgrounds via the Snelling entrance (Eastside) go straight for two blocks and make a right (North) and proceed to the Progress Center.

Parking: Free Parking abounds! Just make sure to pay attention to the street signs!
Handicapped parking is available!

Hello Everyone,

The 2009 MicroCon Comic Book Party is this Sunday!

The staff and the volunteers of the Midwest Comic Book Association are happy to announce all systems are go for this weekends MCBA Comic Book Party! Things are looking great and you’ll be happy to know that there have been some very cool last minute Guest Creator additions (like Mike Grell – www.mikegrell.com), a few dealer changes and the number of prizes and surprises continues to grow!

While at MicroCon, please make sure that you get entered into this years MicroCon Prize Drawings! We’ve had some terrific prize donations!It’s free and you need not be present to win. Also, keep in mind that the first 500 attendess get a free MCBA Grab bag!

You, your family & friends are invited to join us, our family & friends at the MicroCon Comic Book Party! It’s going to be a blast!

Finally, we’ve update some of the information listed below. We hope you get a chance to look it over!

Thanks for your time and we look forward to seeing you this weekend!

The MCBA Comic Book Geek Squad – The “Original” Geek Squad!

PS. We received a last minute appeal to come to the aid of a comic book industry legend. (Please see immediately below). Let’s step up and show him what we can do!

A PLEA FOR HELP – AN INDUSTRY LEGEND NEEDS US!
WeinAs many of you already know, the home of comics creator Len Wein (Swamp Thing, X-Men, etc.) was destroyed in a fire on April 6th, 2009. He, his wife Chris, and his son Michael were unharmed, but their beloved dog Sheba and Len’s extensive comics collection both perished.

There is now an effort to restore Len’s comics collection, particularly the books he worked on. If you’ve ever gotten pleasure From reading his books, or if you simply have some of these titles in your collection, please consider donating them to this cause. Insurance covers many things, but the comics weren’t under that umbrella.

Here’s how you can help:
* Please check the .pdf document listed below.
* Search your comics collection for items you can contribute.
* E-mail comix4len@povonline.com with the items you intend to donate
(so they can update the list).
* Bring them to the MCBA Spring Show, and hand them to either Christopher Jones or Melissa Kaercher. They will both have table space at the show.
* We will take it from there!

Other things you want to know:
Mark Evanier (POVOnline) is coordinating the effort. Please check this page on his site for updates: http://www.povonline.com/weinproject.htm

The .pdf document of comics can be found on that page, but this is the direct link. It will be updated frequently: http://www.povonline.com/Len%20Wein%20checklist.pdf

If you have questions, you can contact any of the following people:
Melissa Kaercher chebutykin at visi.com Christopher Jones christopherjonesart at gmail.com
Mark Evanier comix4len at povonline.com

We thank you for your help! Melissa Kaercher & Christopher Jones

MICROCON 2009 Coming Up Fast (April 26th)

conventions, event, Events, Microcon, Midwest Comic Book Association, Minneapolis, mn, show, St. Paul

MICROCON is coming up very soon. Our good friends at the Midwest Comic Book Association always put on a great show, and are wonderful hosts to creators… as is true every year, you won’t want to miss it! Read more about MICROCON here.

Here is a banner you can put on your website or social networking page to help promote the event… and remember to tell your friends!

Hello Everyone,

It’s hard to believe that the 2009 MicroCon Comic Book Party is just a few weeks away!

During our never ending Winter, the staff and volunteers of the Midwest Comic Book Association, an all volunteer, not-for-profit, group have been happily working away and getting ready for the launch of the super spectacular MicroCon 2009!

Look for some changes in this years event! Every year MicroCon grows and evolves and this year is no exception! The Guest Creator list is bigger, the Dealer list is more diverse, the layout of MicroCon is different (so make sure you get a chance to look around the whole place!), and we’ve added some unusual goings on!

And while change and growth is good, somethings at MicroCon are staying the same! As always, look for friendly staff, easy Guest Creator access, hundreds of prizes & grab bags, a terrific 55,000 square foot marketplace, a world of surprises and much more!

What we’re really trying to say is that we’re inviting you and your family/friends join us at the MicroCon Comic Book Party! The only thing cooler than doing something fun, is sharing the fun with someone else or with your community and we love being part of that community!

MicroCon is a Comic Book Party where everyone is welcome and there’s something for everyone!

Finally, as promised, here’s some new information about the “One Day Wonder!” and a couple of other related factoids laced with comic book shenanigans!

Thanks for your time and we look forward to seeing you soon!

The MCBA Comic Book Geek Squad – The “Original” Geek Squad!

MCBA MICROCON COMIC BOOK PARTY
SUNDAY APRIL 26, 2009 – 10AM TO 4PM

THE PROGRESS CENTER – ON THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIRGROUNDS!

1621 Randall Avenue – Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108

One of the oldest and by far, coolest buildings on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds!

Directions: Enter the Fairgrounds via the Snelling entrance (Eastside) go straight for two blocks and make a right (North) and proceed to the Progress Center.

Parking: Free Parking abounds! Just make sure to pay attention to the street signs!
Handicapped parking is available!