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Category: comics
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Elisha Lim, MariNaomi & Mike Dawson read from their Graphic Novels to kick off the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo at Quimby’s 5/30
The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo will kick off its third year’s festivities with a reading at Quimby’s Bookstore with three of its many exciting exhibitors. Join us the Friday before the festival to welcome comics makers, MariNaomi, Elisha Lim and Mike Dawson as they read excerpts from their new graphic novels.
MariNaomi will read from her book, Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories (2DCloud). In this collection of thought-provoking, emotionally honest graphic vignettes, MariNaomi explores a wide spectrum of topics including youthful rebellion, mortality, disillusionment and compassion.
Mike Dawson will read from his book Angie Bongiolatti (Secret Acres). Set in the same universe as Troop 142, Dawson’s much acclaimed tale of Boy Scouts gone wild, Angie Bongiolatti puts away childish things and moves into the city.
Elisha Lim will read from their book 100 Crushes (Koyama Press), which compiles five years of queer comics. It is an absorbing documentary that travels through Toronto, Berlin, Singapore, and beyond in the form of interviews, memoirs, and gossip from an international queer vanguard.
Entertainment Weekly called Mike Dawson’s debut graphic novel, Freddie & Me: A Coming-of-Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody, “undeniably contagious”, while the UK Daily Telegraph said it was “Charming, sincere and, above all, expressively drawn”. Troop 142, his second graphic novel, was nominated for multiple Ignatz Awards, including Outstanding Graphic Novel, and was the winner in the Online Comic category. Dawson is also the co-host of The Ink Panthers Show!, a comics-themed “lifestyle” podcast. http://mikedawwwson.tumblr.com
Toronto-based artist Elisha Lim’s work celebrates the dignity and power of being neither straight, nor white, nor cis-gendered. In 2011 they also successfully advocated for Canadian gay media to adopt the gender neutral pronoun “they.” http://elishalim.com
MariNaomi is the author and illustrator of the award-winning graphic memoir Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22 (Harper Perennial, 2011), the upcoming books Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories and Turning Japanese (2D Cloud), and her self-published zine, Estrus Comics (1998 to 2009). Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including I Saw You: Comics Inspired by Real Life Missed Connections, Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women, No Straight Lines, Anything That Loves, QU33R and Action Girl Comics.Her comics and essays have been featured on The Rumpus, The Weeklings, Truth-out, SFBay.CA, The Comics Journal, The Bay Citizen, XOJane and more. http://marinaomi.com
The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] is a weekend-long celebration of independent comics, inspired by Chicago’s rich legacy as home to many of underground and alternative comics’ most talented artists– past, present and future. Featuring comics for sale, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more, CAKE is dedicated to fostering community and dialogue amongst independent artists, small presses, publishers and readers. This year’s CAKE is May 31 & June 1st at the Center on Halsted (3656 N Halsted), and is free and open to the public. http://cakechicago.com
Visit http://cakechicago.com or e-mail cakexpo [at] gmail.com for more information.
Fri, May 30, 7pm – Free Event
Quimby’s Bookstore Chicago, IL quimbys.com -
Trubble Club Draws Your True Inner Self for Free Comic Book Day 5/3
Join the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] at Quimby’s Bookstore [1854 W North Ave] on Saturday May 3rd 7pm to celebrate Free Comic Book Day with Chicago’s Trubble Club!
This year, the Trubble Club has modified the Quimby’s photo booth to capture your true essence. Come hang out with some of Chicago’s best comics artists as they collaboratively reveal your inner self by interpreting psychic signals from their magical photobooth. Snacks and refreshments will be provided by CAKE, and free comic books will be available for pick up (while supplies last).
Trubble Club started as a group of Chicago-based cartoonist making jam comics. While we still do that, and love doing that, we’ve been branching out. The Infinite Corpse is a never-ending webcomic spearheaded by Trubble Club, that includes panels by both totally unknown artists, and institutions, like Art Speigelman and Kim Deitch. We have also recently done commissioned installations for the Museum of Contemporary Art, The DePaul Art Museum, and the John Michael Kohler Art Center.
The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE] is a weekend-long celebration of independent comics, inspired by Chicago’s rich legacy as home to many of underground and alternative comics’ most talented artists– past, present and future. Featuring comics for sale, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more, CAKE is dedicated to fostering community and dialogue amongst independent artists, small presses, publishers and readers. This year’s CAKE is May 31 & June 1st at the Center on Halsted (3656 N Halsted), and is free and open to the public.
Visit http://cakechicago.com or e-mail cakexpo@gmail.com for more information.
Sat, May 3, 7pm – Free Event
Quimby’s Bookstore Chicago, IL quimbys.com -
off-site: CAKE FRAME 2: Live Art Auction and Brain Frame Comics Performance Event to Benefit CAKE 4/20
Sun, April 20 at the Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3219 S Morgan Street, Chicago IL 60608 (NOT at Quimby’s)Doors at 6pm, show at 7pm
$5 – $20 sliding scale entryFor the second year running, the performative comics reading series Brain Frame is teaming up with the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) to host the CAKE Frame fundraiser, an evening of comics readings and a live art auction. Cake Frame 2 is All proceeds go to benefit CAKE, the weekend-long celebration of independent comics featuring comics for sale, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more. CAKE is dedicated to fostering community and dialogue amongst independent artists, small presses, publishers and readers.
Brain Frame founder Lyra Hill will host the evening as master of ceremonies and auctioneer. Attendees can bid on original art from 30 talented Chicagoans including Chris Ware, Nicole Hollander, Ivan Brunetti, and Edie Fake. All bids for artworks will start at $30. The evening will also include a wide variety of comics performances by Brain Frame alums Kevin Budnik, Rachel Niffenegger, Pup House and Jen Rickert. There will be live drawing by Jenna Caravello and live music by El Is A Sound Of Joy. Doors open at 6pm and the event starts at 7pm, but we recommend attendees arrive early if they want to review the auction items before bidding.
With only two months until CAKE on May 31/June 1 at the Center on Halstead, the CAKE organizers are kicked into full gear. Organizers Ben Bertin, Neil Brideau, Marnie Galloway, Max Morris, Grace Tran and Jeff Zwirek are committed to making this year’s show one that goes down in history, and the CAKE Frame 2 fundraiser will help them towards that goal.
For more information on CAKE, please visit cakechicago.com
For more information on Brain Frame, please visit brainframe.tumblr.com
Contact: Max Morris, cakexpo(at)gmail(dot)com -
Gregory Benton Brings B+F to Quimby's 3/22
Gregory Benton’s book B+F was awarded the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art’s inaugural Award of Excellence at MoCCAFest 2013. An expanded version of B+F was published in the autumn of 2013 through AdHouse Books (USA) and Editions ça et la (France).
B+F is a wordless meditation on goodwill, hostility, and isolation. It’s a fable, a meandering tale of two friends that explores an otherworldly forest with a naked woman “F” and a large yellow dog “B” as they encounter its denizens, both benevolent and malicious. The characters are pulled apart by circumstance and the obstacles that they must overcome to find each other again.
Gregory has embarked on a nation-wide tour in support of B+F. He is excited to add Quimby’s of Chicago to the list of stores he is visiting. He’ll be “dedicating” books to customers, meaning that he’ll spend time with each customer drawing in their books, more common in the European comics festival tradition.
Gregory Benton has been making comix since 1993. He cut his teeth on the political anthology World War 3, moving on to writing and drawing stories for Nickelodoeon, Vertigo, DC Comics, Disney Adventures, Watson-Guptil, Entertainment Weekly, as well as contributing to numerous alternate-press comix anthologies. A graphic novel, Hummingbird, was published by Slave Labor Graphics in 1996. Gregory has also produced numerous limited-edition mini-comix. Hopefully you have some. His illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice and Fortune, among others.
Details:
B+F
64 4C pages
10 ” x 15 ” HC
$24.95 US funds
ISBN 978-1-935233-25-1For more info: gregorybenton.com
Click here to read an interview with Gregory Benton.
(author photo credit to Seth Kushner)
Saturday, March 22nd, 7pm
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Hillary Chute Discusses Outside the Box: Interviews with Contemporary Cartoonists 4/19
We are living in a golden age of cartoon art. Never before has graphic storytelling been so prominent or garnered such respect: critics and readers alike agree that contemporary cartoonists are creating some of the most innovative and exciting work in all the arts.
For nearly a decade Hillary L. Chute has been sitting down for extensive interviews with the leading figures in comics, and with Outside the Box: Interviews With Contemporary Cartoonists (University of Chicago | 272 pages | 39 color plates, 31 halftones | 7 x 10) she offers readers a chance to share her ringside seat. Chute’s in-depth discussions with twelve of the most accomplished artists and writers in comics today reveal a creative community that is richly interconnected yet fiercely independent, its members sharing many interests while working with wildly different styles and themes. Chute’s subjects run the gamut of contemporary comics practice, from those of underground pioneers like Art Spiegelman and Lynda Barry, to the analytic work of Scott McCloud, the journalism of Joe Sacco, and the extended narratives of Alison Bechdel and Charles Burns. They reflect on their experience and innovations, the influence of peers and mentors, the reception of their art and the growth of critical attention, and the crucial place of print amid the encroachment of the digital age.
“This is a book of great interviews with great cartoonists. The interviews are great because Hillary Chute is great. She knows how cartooning works and she intimately knows the work of the artists she’s interviewing. The interviews are smart, insightful, and very readable. This isn’t dry stuff nor is it fluffy. It’s the real stuff. Anyone interested in the minds of today’s cartooning masters will want to read it.” –Seth, author of Palookaville
Hillary L. Chute is the Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of English at the University of Chicago and the author of Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics.
For more info:
Levi Stahl, promotions director, University of Chicago Press; lstahl(at)press(dot)uchicago.edu or 773 702 0289.
Sat, Apr 19th, 7pm – Free Event
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New Online Literary Journal, Goreyesque, Seeking Submissions
Columbia College Chicago’s Department of Creative Writing is launching a new online literary journal, Goreyesque (www.goreyesque.com), now open for submissions. (And no, you don’t have to be a student at Columbia to submit your work).
Both an homage and showcase of contemporary artists and storytellers inspired by Edward Gorey’s lasting influence across genres, Goreyesque seeks works that are darkly humorous, surreal, playful, and anything in between. Short stories, essays, poems, illustrations, video/animation and other forms of art all welcome. Original work preferred but reprints that fit the project’s scope also appreciated (see submission guidelines). Work can be sent to: goreysubmissions(at)gmail(dot)com.
The launch of Goreyesque coincides with the Chicago debut of Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey and G is for Gorey—C is for Chicago: The Collection of Thomas Michalak, at the Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA), Feb. 15 – Jun. 15. While Elegant Enigmas has traveled the country since 2009, the companion exhibition G is for Gorey provides an even closer in-depth look at Gorey’s legacy, including his illustrations for book jackets and magazine articles, and his life and work on Cape Cod.
Gorey’s artwork returns to his home town for the first time with this special exhibition and reading/performance showcase, so writers and artists should be sure to send Gorey-inspired work soon! All works submitted before Apr. 14 will be considered for a public reading and showcase at LUMA’s gallery space in Chicago on Apr. 29. Top 5 submissions will also receive the exhibition catalogue Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey.
Special guest judges for the reading: Sam Weller, author of The Bradbury Chronicles, and Mort Castle, author of Bram Stoker award-winning New Moon on the Water. Both served as co-editors of Stoker award-winning Shadow Show: All New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury.
For more info, contact Todd Summar at goreysubmissions@gmail.com
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Art Spiegelman's WORDLESS! with music by Phillip Johnston at the Logan Center, Performance Hall
Two performances onlySat, Jan 25, 2014 / 3 pm and 8 pmLogan Center, Performance HallIn his Pulitzer prize-winning masterpiece, Maus—a moving father-son memoir about the Holocaust drawn with cats and mice—Art Spiegelman changed the definition of comics forever. In WORDLESS!—a new and stimulating hybrid of slides, talk and musical performance—he probes further into the nature and possibilities of his medium.A noted artist, historian and theorist of comics, Spiegelman collaborates with critically-acclaimed jazz composer Phillip Johnston, whose all-new scores performed by his sextet will accompany the cartoonist’s personal tour of early graphic novels and their influence on him: silent picture stories made by early 20th Century masters like Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward and Milt Gross. As Spiegelman explores “the battle between Words and Pictures,” he smashes at the hyphen between High and Low Art in a presentation featuring a new work drawn specifically for this project, “Shaping Thought.”The Logan Center is proud to host the Chicago premiere of Art Spiegelman and Phillip Johnston’s WORDLESS!, an innovative show combining slides, talk, film, and live musical performance. -
Chicago Zine Fest Looking For Submissions For Zine
As per their press release:
The Chicago Zine Fest will be celebrating its fifth year of existence next year! We’re blown away by the massive zine love that takes place in Chicago each spring, and we are thankful that you’ve been a part of making that happen. To celebrate this five year milestone, we are putting together a comp zine of CZF stories. Do you have a memorable CZF experience, anecdote, or adventure? We’d love it if you could be a part of this project!
The details:
Submissions should be 1-3 pages
Submissions should be half size (5.5” x 8.5”)
New or previously published work accepted
Submissions should be about something related to the Chicago Zine Fest
A high resolution (at least 300 dpi) JPEG or PDF of the submission can be emailed to chicagozinefest@gmail.com.Along with your submission, please send a contributor bio (featuring your name, the title of your zine, contact info, and a few sentences about yourself) to be listed in the back of the zine.
We reserve the right not to include every submission. Contributors will receive a copy of the zine, so please include your mailing address with your submission.
Submissions are due by February 1, 2014. The zine will be sold at CZF 2014 & online, with all proceeds going towards CZF.
Thank you for being a part of the Chicago Zine Fest!
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Michael DeForge Talks About Ant Colony 2/8
On Saturday, February 8th, at 7pm, join Quimby’s and Drawn and Quarterly for the launch of Michael DeForge’s darkly existential graphic novel Ant Colony! In just a few short years, DeForge’s singular, idiosyncratic style has made him an important new voice in alternative comics. Here, he will present a slideshow with a signing to follow.Ant Colony follows the denizens of a black ant colony under attack from the nearby red ants: from its opening pages, DeForge immerses the reader in a world of false prophets, unjust wars, and corrupt police officers. On the surface, Ant Colony tells the story of this war, the destruction of a civilization, and the ants’ all-too-familiar desire to rebuild. Underneath, though, Ant Colony plumbs the deepest human concerns – loneliness, faith, love, apathy, and more. DeForge’s striking visual sensibility – stark lines, dramatic color choices, and brilliant use of page and panel space – stands out in this volume.
More info about Michael DeForge:
http://michaeldeforge.wordpress.com/
Click here to see Facebook event invite.
Also! Santullo’s Eatery down the street (1943 W. North Ave) has generously agreed to provide pizza for the occassion! For more info about their delicious New York style pizza see santullos.com.
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Quimby’s Holiday Sketch Gift-ravaganza 12/15
Find the perfect hand-drawn, gift at this year’s Quimby’s Holiday Sketch-ravaganza! On Sunday, December 15 from 12:30-6:30 p.m. we’ll be hosting six talented, local comic artists who will doodle away on the image of your choice. It’s all part of our seasonal celebration, 12 Weeks of Quimbas. That’s right. Christmas with a Quimb’.
How about a Santa riding a mongoose? No problem. Perhaps a festive owl peering out from a bottle of scotch? Got you covered. Come in and one of our Quimbas comics elves will scrawl away on any image of your creation.
Here is a list of participating artists so you can haggle with your favorite Chicago drawing star:
12:30-1:30: Ben Bertin – Ben Bertin’s comics appear in anthologies, his own self-published work and as part of the Chicago-based jam comic collective, Trubble Club. Among his projects: the alien-centric “Oofo Komsk Booka Oon” and “Losing Sight”, a “minicomic about a caveman who is bitten by a snake.” benbertin.blogspot.com
1:30-2:30: Lyra Hill – Lyra Hill is the mastermind behind the pioneering performative comics series Brain Frame, now in its fifteenth iteration. She uses sequential art to examine everything from personal anecdotes to sci-fi alternate realities. Her work often juxtaposes live action elements within the static, illustrated panels of her comics. iamanartstudentwhatamidoing.blogspot.com/
2:30-3:30: Krystal Difronzio – Krystal Difronzo is a comic artist whose whimsical, humorous and sometimes dark depictions pepper the pages of her mini-comics. Her subject matter ranges from collections honoring Canadian singer Kate Bush to narrative coat tales. In addition to her illustrations, she is part of the puppetry collective Pup House. http://krystaldifronzo.com/
3:30-4:30: Grant Reynolds – Grant Reynolds’ work delves into the dark realms of horror all while exploring gender, feminist politics and the abstract world of mysticism and the unseen. Reynolds, aside from being a nearly lifelong illustrator, also has recently begun exploring written narratives and has embarked on several musical projects. http://grantreynolds.com/
4:30-5:30 Kevin Budnik – Kevin Budnik is a lifelong Chicago area resident who “spends most of his time drawing noodle armed characters.” When not scrawling the pasta-limbed, he creates paintings, illustrations and comics that have been featured in the pages of Saveur, MAKE Magazine, Wild Honey and Sexfist, just to name a few. http://kevinbudnik.com/
5:30-6:30: Jenna Caravello – Jenna Caravello is an LA native, Chicago-based comics artist and videographer. When not creating animations and drawings, she directs music videos and is the videographer-in-residence for Brain Frame. She’s also illustrated awesome coloring place mats! http://www.jennacaravello.com
