Atomic Indie Comix Show

The reception for the Atomic Indie Comix Show at Crimson Cup Coffee House in Clintonville is tomorrow night. One small change to the exhibit has been made, however. Due to space limitations, the six artists will display their work in two waves, with each group being on display for two weeks. The first group consists of Matt Wyatt, Rich Watson and Ray Tomczak, with Jonathon Riddle, Sue Olcott and Max Ink comprising the second wave. Works by all six will be on display for the reception.
Hope to see you there tomorrow.

Sunday Comix To Show At Crimson Cup In March

Sunday Comix, a group of local comics artist here in Columbus, Ohio, has another gallery showing coming up this spring. In the past, the group has displayed their work at Kafe Kerouac near the Ohio State University Campus and The Gallery Upstairs, above the Surly Girl Saloon in the Short North neighborhood. The latest exhibition of the groups work will be at the Crimson Cup coffee house at 4541 North High Street in the Clintonville area during the month of March.
Artists participating in the show are Max Ink, Matt Wyatt, Sue Olcott, Jonathon Riddle, Rich Watson, and Ray Tomczak (that's me, the guy writing this). All of the participating artists have had cartoons published in the Short North Gazette.
The exhibit, titled "Everyday Comix", opens with a reception at Crimson Cup on Friday March 6. There are prelimanary plans, not yet finalized, for a group appearance at the Laughing Ogre comics shop, just down the street from Crimson Cup, before the main reception at the coffee shop. As of this posting, plans are for the event to run through March 28.

Free Comic Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow, as you may or may not be aware, May 3, is Free Comic Book Day. If you weren't aware and are wondering what exactly FCBD, to use it's semi-official initialism (not "acromym", as the initials do not make a word), is pretty much what the name implies. It is a Day, and on this day, Free Comic Books are available at participating comic book stores. The idea is to encourage non-comics readers to give the medium a try, as well as give long time readers a chance to try something new.
There is a story that I have related several times since it happened in 2001 in the wake of the very first FCBD (and if you've heard or read it before feel free to skip the rest of this post) which, to my mind, perfectly illustrates What Free Comic Book Day Is All About.
Oni Press's offering for the first FCBD was the first issue of a mini-series called Hopeless Savages. I'd seen this title on the shelves of the Laughing Ogre in the preceeding months and had passed it by, mostly, I am somewhat ashamed to admit, because of it's title. It sounded a little too---well---"hopeless", not to mention "savage", for my tastes. Anyway, with no money going to waste, I decided to pick it up that day.
Once I read it, I instantly fell in love with the story and the characters and soon after purchased the book collecting all four issues. The series, a post modern family sitcom chronicling the lives of married 70's punk rock icons Dirk Hopeless and Nikki Savage and their four children, Rat, Arsenal, Twitch and Zero, has become one of my all time favorite comics and I have purchased each subsequent book (there are two sequels) almost as soon as it has hit the shelves.
So, the moral of this story, and all good stories have one, is to approach FCBD with an open mind and pick up something you might be reluctant to if you actually had to part with coin for it. You may end up being, as I was, pleasantly surprised.
The FCBD web-site offers a round up of the titles that the various major and minor publishers are offering tomorrow. Here are some highlights:
DC offers up a special reprinting of the first issue of All-Star Superman, Grant Morrison's brilliant re-imagining of the myth and majesty of the Man of Steel, illustrated by Frank Quitely.
Marvel, of course, trots out an new installment in the never ending spandex soap opera that is its inexplicably popular X-Men franchise.
Archie Comics offering stars Jughead in what seems to me, from the description on the site, to be essentially an infomercial for Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore, where Juggy gets a job and gets involved in allegedly funny misadventures.
Bongo Comics, comics home of The Simpsons, offers up a sampling of short comics stories based on that long running property, as well as Futurama.
Dark Horse has a Hellboy comic to spotlight the upcoming movie sequel.
The One Book You Must Check Out is Amelia Rules!, Jimmy Gownley's hilarious and poignant tale of a young girl adjusting to a new life in a small Pennsylvania town following her parents' divorce. Amelia is also featured in the anthology sampler Kids Love Comics! Comic Book Diner along with other kid friendly comics.
Among other books tailored for the younger set are two featuring characters that are favorites of my six year old niece Alison. Owly and Friends features a wordless tale of the titular owl by Day Prize winner Andy Runton, as well as stories for younger readers by James Kochalka and others. Tiny Titans is a representation of the first issue of the new DC series that re-invents the company's popular Teen Titans franchise as pre-school age children in tales aimed at that demographic.
Wizard Magazine presents the How To Draw Sampler featuring hot superhero artists of the day telling poor young impressionable kids how to draw like them.
Anyway, that's just a sample of what's available for free tomorrow at your neighborhood comics shop. I urge you to go check it out and try something new.

Day Prize Ceremony

Finally, here is exclusive, unexpurgated, unedited (except for being cut in two to comply with YouTube's time limits) video of the awarding of the 2007 Howard E. Day Memorial Prize, aka The Day Prize, at SPACE earlier this month.
I apologize for the shaky camera work, and also for the fact that I missed Bob's opening remarks because I was in the exhibition hall talking to Greg Hyland.

SPACE Parties

2-day SPACE convention deserves 2-day party!
To celebrate the 2-day Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo, Columbus’ own Panel Collective is planning two days of parties.
Friday, Feb. 29 – Monkey’s Retreat
Join us for an art show and mixer at Monkey’s Retreat in Columbus’ Short North area. Monkey’s Retreat has been Columbus's best source of underground comix, art books, martial arts supplies and more since 1975 – a perfect match for SPACE. We’ll have a keg, but once that’s cashed there are several cool bars and clubs within walking distance.
Monkey’s Retreat
1202 North High StreetColumbus, OH 43201
8– 11 p.m.
Google maps reference:http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GFRC_enUS204US204&um=1&q=monkey%27s+retreat&near=Columbus,+OH&fb=1&cid=0,0,7336798876243304512&sa=X&oi=local_result&resnum=1&ct=imageSaturday, March 1 – Momo2
Panel is taking you back to Momo2 for this year’s SPACE party. Momo2 features bowling, billiards, karaoke, bubble tea and a fine collection of Asian gifts and novelties. Momo has easy access to highways and several restaurants and bars nearby.
Momo2
2885 Olentangy River Rd
Columbus, OH 43202
8 p.m. - ???
http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GFRC_enUS204US204&um=1&q=momo2&near=Columbus,+OH&fb=1&cid=0,0,3238279955749711861&sa=X&oi=local_result&resnum=1&ct=image
Panel is a Columbus-based group of writers and artists. It features several working comics professionals, and it will debut its 12th anthology at SPACE.
SPACE, the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo, runs March 1-2 at the Aladdin Shrine Temple. It brings dozens of the best regional and national small press comics.

Komics @ Kerouac Video

Well, this past weekend I finally had the time to edit and cobble together some of the video I took the previous weekend at the opening of the Sunday Comix "Komics @ Kerouac" show at--where else?--Kafe Kerouac. Please read no significance into my choice of Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" as the soundtrack for the Friday night portion of the piece other than the fact that it's six minutes long.

Komics @ Kerouac

There'll be more exhibitor bios soon. In fact, Bob "Taskmaster" Corby just sent me a few more today. Tonight, however, I need to wrap this up quickly, get home and get ready to head out again to Kafe Kerouac.

Tonight, you see, is the hanging of art for the upcoming "Komics @ Kerouac" show featuring comics and cartoon art by members of the Sunday Comix cartoonists' group, of which I am a charter member. (Max Ink stole the whole idea from me, and don't let the fink tell you any differently)

The exhibit formally opens tomorrow night with a reception from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. wherein the panting public shall have the once in a life time opportunity to both hob and nob with these giants of cartoon art. Among those whose art will be displayed are Max Ink, Matt and Ellen Wyatt, Sam McElhaney, Molly Durst, and this bodacious blogger his own bad self. From there, these modern masterpieces of graphic art (I refer to my own work, of course) will be on display, and available to be purchased and enjoyed in your very own living room, den or bathroom, throughout the month of February.

I've posted along with this entry a little preview of the exhibition, in the form of one of the pieces I'll be showing. Entitled "Must! Run! Faster!!", this merely marvelous bit of pop culture detritus can be added to your personal collection for a mere $85.00.

Well, I'll see you all tomorrow night.