With every convention I attend, I bring along my sketchbook to get some sketches of my favorite character, Sergio Aragones' Groo. Here's what I got this year:
Sam Alden did sort of a minimalist pencil sketch, and I love the long, curved lines he drew.
Mike Dawson demonstrated his great cartoony style with some impeccable inking.
Joshua Cotter did a pretty flawless copy of a Sergio panel in one of the issues I had on hand for reference.
Hellen Jo delivered her signature brand of coolness with this reclining figure of our favorite mendicant.
Liz Prince went cute with this great depiction of Rufferto and a cat.
Jesse Moynihan did a pretty awesome version of Groo that looks like he could show up on Adventure Time.
Luke Pearson also went cute with a sort of super-deformed Groo; I like his topknot.
And finally, Chris Eliopolous turned Groo into a character that could appear in one of his children's books. Nice!
Comics conventions are exciting experiences, and the great thing about them is that you come home with a ton of stuff to keep you passionate about comics and the people who make them. Here's all the stuff I got at this year's CAKE:
And here's what it all is, starting from the back row:
Two issues of the free Seattle newspaper comic Intruder
DAYGLOAYHOLE: The Beast In Me, by Ben Passmore (and also a smaller DAYGLOAYHOLE minicomic and a New Orleans-based zine called Uncontrollable that Passmore did illustrations for)
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work (a.k.a "Pizza Comic"), by Beth Hetland and Kyle O'Connell
Fütchie Perf/Hank the Zinedealer, by Kevin Czapiewski and John G.
A Make Comics Anytime booklet that was given away at a pre-CAKE event that took place at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art. The interior is blank, so you can fill it with your own comics.
Unfortunate Mishaps in Aviation History, by Emi Gennis
A sampler chapter from Liz Prince's upcoming autobiographical comic Tomboy. This book looks excellent, focusing on Prince's childhood as she struggled with gender identity issues. It's coming out this fall from Zest Books, and it's one I'll definitely be watching out for.
Phase 7 #18, by Alec Longstreth (containing part 2 of his ongoing Weezer story)
This year's issue of Runner Runner, which is Tugboat Press's Free Comic Book Day book.
Mortifera #1 (This one was on the free comics table)
Chicago: From the Swamp to the Slaughterhouse, by Caitlin Cass
That seems to be everything I brought home, but I saw plenty more, and I found lots of other cartoonists that I'll have to try to follow. The Chicago comics scene is as exciting as ever, so it looks like my comics-loving energy is refreshed for another year!
I don't know if anybody is actually reading this, since it has been much, much too long since I've posted anything around these parts, but I wanted to pop in to note that the third annual Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, or CAKE, is going to take place this weekend, May 31 and June 1, 2014, and I'll be there, both volunteering and wandering around checking stuff out and hopefully getting a few Groo sketches, and maybe even attending some panels or off-site events. So look for me, and get some visual or even auditory/tactile confirmation that I still exist and have not fallen from the face of the earth. Here are the details on hours, how to get there, and whatnot:
Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) Saturday and Sunday, May 31 and June 1 11 am – 6pm Center on Halsted 3656 N Halsted FREE and open to the public! http://cakechicago.com
While I'm here, I'll go ahead and note a few artists that I would recommend checking out:
Sam Alden - his webcomic Haunteron the Study Group site is gorgeous.
Nate Beaty - he's debuting his strip collection Don't Cry, Wolfman Chicago at the show.
Kevin Budnik - I haven't read enough of his comics, but he's a Chicago local, and a cool guy in any interactions I've had with him. His art style is kind of simple, but he gets at some deep emotional stuff in his work that's definitely worth checking out, especially since he's a young guy and is just going to get better.
Tyrell Cannon - Another Chicago native; he's got a really cool style. His most prominent work so far has probably been the series Gary, about the Green River Killer, but he's got other stuff going on too, so check him out.
Victor Cayro - I don't know if I really get what this guy is doing (maybe kind of a Benjamin Marra-style serious approach to dumb action tropes?), but I like the crazy detail and energy he puts into his comics.
Joshua Cotter - Hey, I didn't realize Cotter was going to be at CAKE! I love his work, especially Driven By Lemons.
Kevin Czapiewski - I love Kevin's art on comics like the Project: Ballad webcomic, but he's also a publisher of good independent stuff by people like Liz Suburbia, so it's always worth a stop by his table.
Ezra Claytan Daniels - Another Chicago native! He's usually got a lot of stuff going on, but his interactive comic/app Upgrade Soul is always worth checking out.
Mike Dawson - Kind of an indie comics superstar, with books like Freddie and Me, Ace-Face, and Troop 142. He's pretty awesome.
Michael DeForge - Everybody knows about this guy, but he cranks out work like it's going out of style, and it's all pretty great, so make sure to see what he's got that you haven't yet discovered.
Sean Dove - This guy is a friend of mine, and he's awesome. He seems to mostly do graphic design and posters and whatnot, but I'm always hopeful that he'll have a new comic out for me to read (like this one).
Lyra Hill - Another awesome Chicago person! She's best known for her comics performance series Brain Frame, and she's always got plenty of cool comics and art going on. Check her out if you haven't seen her stuff before (or even if you have!).
Lucy Knisley - Hey, I didn't realize Lucy was going to be at CAKE either! She's an ex-Chicago person, having moved to New York a couple years ago, but we miss her. I've loved most everything I've ready by her, especially Relish, and her next book, An Age of License, is due out this fall from Fantagraphics.
Koyama Press - Annie Koyama always has some great books coming out, including stuff by Michael DeForge, Jesse Jacobs, Dustin Harbin, Hellen Jo, Joseph Lambert, Nate Bulmer, Victor Kerlow, and many more. I especially want to check out Cole Closser's Little Tommy Lost and whatever issues of Ryan Cecil Smith's S.F. I can get my hands on.
Alec Longstreth - I dig Alec's style, and I'm excited to finally read his decade-in-the-making book Basewood, which he recently self-published with the help of Kickstarter. He was super-nice when I met him last year, and he even gave me a copy of the issue of his pinball zine Drop Target that featured a Groo table designed by Ryan Claytor. I also recommend checking out his current series of minicomics about being a fan of Weezer. He's awesome.
Annie Mok - I met Annie a few years ago, and I've followed her comics ever since. She's pretty great, doing some interesting, well-designed stories about queer issues, and I guess she has a strip in Vertigo's CMYK anthology. Cool.
Jesse Moynihan - He's probably best known as a storyboard artist for Adventure Time, but his comic Forming is also quite awesome, and its second volume will be debuting at the show.
Pranas T. Naujokaitis - I love Pranas' cartoony style, and my daughter really likes the kids' comics of his that I've brought home. It's always neat to see what kind of stuff he makes, like the short comic he had last year that was printed on a strip of cloth that was about six feet long.
Oily Comics - Charles Forsman and company regularly publish some really good minicomics, printed simply on plain white paper at small size. In addition to his own series The End of the Fucking World, he puts out work by people like Michael DeForge, Dan Zettwoch, Josh Simmons, Melissa Mendes, and many others. There's always something new to check out on his table.
Luke Pearson - Another Adventure Time guy, but also a great cartoonist and designer. I liked his book Everything We Miss, and he's got some other good stuff out too.
Liz Prince - I've always liked Liz's stuff, whether it's about dating difficulties or rock and roll, so I'll be glad to see her while she's in town.
Secret Acres - This small publisher puts out some great comics, including books by Chicago's own Edie Fake (who is one of CAKE's organizers) and plenty of other awesome people. I'm always excited to see what new stuff they've got.
Chad Sell - I like Chad's webcomic Manta Man a lot, but he's probably better known for doing portraits of the contestants on Ru Paul's Drag Race. Whatever he does, he's pretty awesome.
Trubble Club - These guys are a Chicago institution, a jam comics group consisting of talents like Jeremy Tinder, Aaron Renier, Nate Beaty, Kevin Budnik, Laura Park, Lilli Carre, and many others. I don't know if they have a new issue of their minicomics series out (they might have stopped doing those, since they're unlikely to top the amazing newspaper format issue they put out a few years ago), but their table should at least be a gathering place for great Chicago cartoonists.
2D Cloud - This small Minneapolis-based publisher always puts out interesting books, so I'm always curious to see what they've got. They're debuting Blaise Larmee's new book, Ice Cream Kisses, at the show.
Uncivilized Books - Another small publisher, run by Tom Kaczynski. I don't know what they have this year, but last year they debuted a book by David B., so I bet they'll have something interesting.
Noah Van Sciver - I don't know if Noah has put out anything major since his book The Hypo, which came out last year, but he'll probably at least have some minicomics or something.
Lale Westvind - I discovered Lale last year, and I'm fascinated by her crazy sci-fi comics. She's another Chicago native, and I want to read more of her weird, weird comics.
Yeti Press - A small Chicago-based publisher that puts out interesting stuff. I especially recommend Kat Leyh's series Bird Witch, but they've got plenty of other cool books as well.
Is that everybody? Almost certainly not, but they're all people I can get behind, and since this is just a fraction of what's going on (I didn't even mention special guests like Hellen Jo and Tony Millionaire!), there's sure to be something for everybody. If you're anywhere near Chicago this weekend, you owe it to yourself to come by. It's free! See you there, I hope.
Jason Shiga is a cartoonist whose mind seems to be continually at work coming up with new ways to use the medium of comics. His specialty is interactive stories that branch off into multiple paths in surprising, delightful ways. This is probably best exemplified in his book Meanwhile, but he has several other examples of innovative ways to tell interactive stories, ranging from short minicomics made from folding up a single piece of paper to massive self-published volumes that have the reader flipping back and forth through hundreds of pages. The Box is one of the former, and its mind-blowing innovation in comics technology involves the way it is intricately folded in a way that allows one to flip it either horizontally or vertically whenever a choice needs to be made, if that makes sense. In fact, Shiga thinks it is a previously-undiscovered mathematical shape called an octatetraflexagon.
As a story, it's a simple one, with four possible endings, but Shiga's goofy sense of humor makes each of them surprising and funny, as a kid chooses whether or not to open a box that he finds, usually with amusing consequences. It's a testament to both his genius for the physical form of comics and his ability to come up with satisfying stories within the clever structures he develops.
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Redbird #2, Tel-Tales #1, and Cut-Away Comics #1
By Dan Zettwoch
Self-published (Redbird and Tel-Tales), Published by Oily Comics (Cut-Away Comics)
Dan Zettwoch's comics are also innovative, in the way they explore pictorial ways of conveying information, using cut-away views, captions, diagrams, maps, and all manner of using images to create easily-understandable representations of real-world objects and locations. But what's more, he makes the stories he tells fun, obviously enjoying himself as he comes up with fun ways to describe his subject, whether it's a travelogue of the road trip he and his wife took across the "Midsouthwest" (spanning Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas) in August of 2012, a story about the old telephone equipment his father used when working for AT&T in the early 70s, or a biographical look at John James Audobon as he studied chimney swallows in Louisville, Kentucky in 1808. Whatever the subject, Zettwoch brings an enthusiasm to it, and his cartoony artwork brings the various scenes to life, adding some exaggeration, but still making the reality of the scenes obvious, and demonstrating what he finds so interesting about them.
Redbird and Tel-Tales even include fold-out sections that expand the size of the page when the imagery (large-scale maps and diagrams) warrants it. Cut-Away Comics is more modest, fitting into the small, cheap format that Oily Comics does so well, but Zettwoch still finds room to include a double-page spread of a massive hollow tree that contains what must be thousands of birds, turning it into an ominous monolith that entices the reader into curiosity as much as it does Audobon. Zettwoch has such a fun way of imparting the information that he has accumulated that one can't help but enjoy following him wherever he wants to go. He's got at least one full-length book, but even if he just keeps cranking out little minis like this and designing fascinating infographics, I'll keep reading whatever he does.
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The Providence Comics Consortium is a group of cartoonists who put on educational events for kids at libraries throughout Rhode Island (and other states as well, I think), working with them to create characters and then publishing comics based on the kids' creations, some of them even including comics by the kids themselves. They're pretty great, offering a chance to see the kids' imagination at work, and letting them see the stories they create in print. Of these two issues, Classic Characters includes several stories featuring characters which had appeared in previous PCC publications, including a duck-wolf named Dolf who angsts over his crush on a classmate while dealing with a skull-headed bully, a space cow who travels to Earth from another planet and very nearly ends up as the contents of a hamburger, a teacher who is actually a were-owl, and an alligator bank teller. The Astro-Cow story is drawn by 11-year-old Keegan Bonds-Harmon, but the other stories are by the cartoonists Zejian Shen, Aaron Demuth, and Marc Pearson. All in all, it's a super-fun book.
Providence Car Crash Consortium has a more focused theme, covering car safety. Its messages seem to be to wear a seatbelt, don't drive drunk, and don't text while driving. The way the kids convey these lessons isn't always instructive, but can be pretty entertaining, including a rampage by Cuc the Drunken Pony drawn by Asuaka Rafiq, the adventures of Zombie Scented Tree, an undead car air freshener by Faye Thompson (and elaborated upon by Elliot Lamb); a heartfelt message from a zombie named Rotten M'Gee by Dakarai Williams; more message-laden adventures from a disembodied eyeball created by Abigail Ramos and illustrated by David Waterhouse; and an odd story about three fuzzy dice named Boby, Bob, and Bobert created by Keegan Bonds-Harmon and illustrated by Marc Pearson. As team-ups between today's talented cartoonists and the stars of tomorrow, these series are great little encapsulations of creativity, making for a wonderful chance to encourage kids toward artistic pursuits. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for more of these comics; this consortium is doing work that benefits us all.
As happens at every comics convention I attend, I try to get as many contributions to my Groo sketchbook as possible, and this year's CAKE was no exception. Here are the awesome pictures that a bunch of talented people drew for me:
Chuck Forsman makes Groo look worried.
Josh Simmons contributed a very Josh Simmons-style freakout Groo.
Dan Zettwoch adds his signature bulging eyeballs and flames to our favorite mendicant.
Michael DeForge turned in this cute super-deformed Groo.
Joseph Remnant gives Groo some nervous sweatiness.
Box Brown also makes Groo cute. Somebody bumped him from behind while he was sketching, causing him to leave some handprints on the page, so he turned those into a snake and a signature.
Pranas T. Naujokaitis gives Groo a nice cartoony style, and a sentimental tattoo.
Kevin Huizenga contributed what could be Glenn Ganges doing some Groo cosplay.
Jason Shiga drew Groo in his signature simple style, but he still got the nose right, and he even added in a good Rufferto!
Aaron Renier depicted Groo experiencing every dog owners frustration.
Noah Van Sciver contributes this dismayed Groo.
And Ezra Claytan Daniels provides a pretty realistic Conan-style version of Groo, along with a glimpse of his backside.
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