Okay so PHEW! I have a couple of things about SPX to tell you! -SPX is coming THIS WEEKEND! Friday and Saturday September 26-27 at the Bethesda Marriott North in Rockville, MD -I will have a table there! I am sharing my table with Evan Dahm at table H14. It is very easy to find! Lookie:



-The Friday night before SPX I will be involved in several goings-on at Atomic Books' 2nd Annual SPX-Plosion party! I'll be reading from either My Brain Hurts or Freewheel (haven't decided yet) and other people reading will be awesome folks like MK Reed, Ken Dahl, John Porcellino, Peter Kuper and some other people too! We will also be hosting the 4th Annual Nerdlinger Awards on this evening! It's FREE and I believe there will be FREE BEER so you should come!

-Saturday night brings the Ignatz Awards, which I will be totally MCing! I am still looking for the last part of my outfit but I guarantee to you that I will be very well dressed!

-After the Ignatz Awards on Saturday night will be the 4th Annual SPX Karaoke Karavan! I will post the flier once I have it, but basically after the Ignatz Awards everyone meets at 11pm-ish in the Marriott lobby to arrange rides, and we all head off to the karaoke place to jam out all night long! We ask that you please contribute $10 to cover the cost of the rooms but that's it!

-Sunday night - if you are staying in the Marriott or have friends staying in the Marriott and you're still around COME SWIMMING IN THE HOTEL POOL!!!! 9PM-ish until whenever. Believe me, nothing caps off a convention weekend better than a pool party.

NOW! On to the Freewheel #3 preview goodness. Freewheel #3 will be debuting at SPX alongside My Brain Hurts: Volume Two. In case you were thinking about trying to go see the Contessa, the kids of Gang Mills Nest have a few words of warning:

 

..Punchbuggy Book Tour 2009!

Promote Your Page Too..

The Punchbuggy Tour now has both a real website and a Facebook fan page!

I implore you to not only become a "fan" of the Facebook page but to tell your friends to do so as well! We plan to make the page super fun and engaging once we're on tour by posting daily updates with photos and hopefully video as well. All three of us are admins on the page so it won't even be just me posting!

In the meantime, to keep your brains working until we go on tour, I've been posting bits of "Rejected PR" every day. I got the idea from some hilarious PR that MK was working on, which was the first thing I posted. Now I just plan to post ridiculous and mildly humorous fake PR every day.

Also Gabby now has a REAL WEBSITE from which you can, for a limited period of time, purchase cat (or other pet) portraits by him. Check it out! Any money you spend on him will assist the tour insofar as he will not starve and hence be whiny.

Robin Enrico and I reading from "Sing Along Forever" - all photos courtesy of Amy from Bergen Street Comics.

On Friday, August 21, 2009 I had the second-best day ever. The first best day ever being this:



The previous night, Thursday August 20th, I had gone to see the Bouncing Souls play at Webster Hall with Zane and his younger brother Kasey. It was an amazing show, and as there was no barricade I was able to climb up on stage several times and dive into the crowd. You can barely make me out in this video I found - I come up on the left side, sing into Bryan's mic for one verse, then dive off into the crowd (I apologize for the awful sound, the video's not mine).



At one point, during the song "Argyle" (one of my favorites) there's this PERFECT stagedive moment that I was intent on harnessing, so I climbed up making sure my timing was JUUUUST right, but then I noticed they were waiting! I looked around, Michael (drummer) looked at me and yelled "WAIT FOR IT!" I looked at Greg, he said "wait for it!" then BOOM! They went right into it, I dived off, it was AMAZING. They did a similar thing at a totally different show with some guy, to give you an idea of what happened to me (this isn't me, and this is a different show, which should be obvious when you watch it) - it's right at the very beginning of the video:



Zane and Kasey both saw it, and Zane later remarked that he was surprised to see me appear on stage so many times. Usually I am pretty shy about that kind of thing, but what can I say? This is what the Souls do to me. They make me a bolder person.

Anyway I got a few more good dives on songs like "Sing Along Forever" and then the show was over. We walked over to some bar on 11th Street where an afterparty was supposed to take place, so I could introduce Kasey to whichever members of the band showed up. Kasey is also a big Souls fan, but he's not 21 yet so we had to wait outside the bar and catch them on the way in. We were able to introduce him to Pete and Bryan, and he was super psyched because according to him, Bryan is his favorite, so it didn't matter that we missed Greg and Mike. It was a really fun night for all of us, and it's always great to share those nights with people you love.

The next day was THE BIG DAY!!! I was slated to read from Sing Along Forever and Squids & Heroes at Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn at noon, and the Souls were scheduled to perform a short acoustic set immediately afterward. I joked on the way there, as Zane hauled bags full of comics, that it did not feel real and felt more like he was trying to trick me into checking into a mental institution, saying things like "yeah Liz, we're going to a COMIC BOOK STORE and you're going to read your comics in front of people, and then the BOUNCING SOULS will play a special acoustic set just for you and your friends!"

Once I got there and saw Kate and DJ and John all setting up the equipment, it felt more real. Even though some people were starting to line up outside I was so nervous I didn't want to let them in until it was almost time to read and everything was set up.

As soon as the Souls all showed up (with Mike Cavallaro, aka "Johnny X" in tow of course, as he was responsible for organizing this whole thing!) then I REALLY got nervous. My hands were shaking and I started breathing really shallow nervous breaths. I tried my best to gain my composure and just jump right into it, hoping the nervousness would fade once I started reading.

Thankfully, it did, and everything was pretty smooth after that. Greg even read his parts out loud from the crowd, and Shanti (his wife, who has one or two lines in the comic) read her parts as well! The best though, is that he also read the parts of the rest of the band, doing impressions of Pete, Bryan AND Michael! So fucking awesome and hilarious!

After I read, the Souls started playing and I sat on a cooler next to Becky right in front of them as they played.



They basically played every song related to or mentioned in Sing Along Forever, including acoustic versions of Sing Along Forever and Neurotic, which they had never previously played acoustic! I'm really bummed that no one seemed to have recorded the acoustic version of Neurotic - it actually turned out really well, but it had kind of a weird hoedown vibe to it. Becky and I even pulled out some rad square dancing moves while seated on the cooler.

I'm an idiot and didn't even remember to take out my camera ONCE, but thankfully Amy had the presence of mind to record the Souls playing Kids & Heroes (a little homage to my Squids & Heroes comic), and you can watch it on Facebook here.

Once it was over I signed a few comics:



Here's a picture of Zane talking to Mr. X:



Here's a good one of Greg with Johnny X, looking all sinister because of the lighting:



Here is a picture to give you an idea of what the crowd inside the store looked like:



There is so much rock in this photo I can barely handle it (Vasilis Lolos, Becky Cloonan, Bryan Kienlen, Johnny X):



Here's Mike (their drummer) signing my ukulele, which I got signed by all the guys because I use it to play Bouncing Souls cover songs on the internet:



Last but not least, Amy had the presence of mind to snap a photo of Greg and me while I was getting my ukulele out for him to sign. Thanks Amy!



For more photos, check out the set I put together on Flickr. It's got all the photos Amy took of the event, I put them there for the people who don't have Facebook.

Here, also, is a Flickr set of photos taken by Edwina Hay of the event.

Later that night, I took my friends Jill and the guy I like to call "Not That" Josh Frees (as in, no not the one from the Vandals) to see the Souls play at Webster Hall again. Kate left some VIP passes for us at the door so we could hang out upstairs in the swank VIP lounge, which was extremely nice of her. The three of us got to watch 7 Seconds and Tim Barry from above, which was SO cool (especially the crowd for 7 Seconds - total pit insanity!). Once the Souls were about to go on, Josh and I went downstairs and Jill stayed upstairs to watch.

It was another great night, but it was SO hot downstairs that I made a mental checklist of songs that I wanted to stagedive to and when I reached my third or fourth song on the list, I called it quits and went upstairs to watch from above. Humorously, Josh had the same idea at the same time (he cut his hand on some guy's belt) and we met up upstairs.

The rest of the show was great, of course, and afterward I got to chat with Johnny X a bit (also known as Mike Cavallaro in the comics world... I never know what to call that guy!) and hung out with a few new friends I had met through the Souls as well. I also got to say hi to Fly and she introduced me to her friend Aaron (who seemed like he was probably Aaron Cometbus but I didn't ask because I didn't want to fanbarf all over him). I also got to meet "the" Lamar Vannoy, who complimented me on my stagedive technique.

The next day, I made my way down to Philly for the next two Souls shows at the Trocadero. Due to a series of unfortunate events, I made it to my bus just minutes before it left and almost was not able to get on. Luckily, I saw my friend Kettner getting on the bus and started talking to him, and the attendant probably assumed we were intentionally traveling together and let me on. Thank god for Kettner taking the 1:45pm bus to Philly, is all I gotta say!

The most fun I had was probably hanging out with my superfriend Sally Bloodbath, who is always an excellent host and does everything in her power to make me comfortable when I'm visiting Philly. She basically rules. Also, she named one of her cats after me, and I got to watch her give that cat a haircut while we watched Clarissa Explains it All on VHS. It was pretty rad.

Anyway, Sally came with me to both the Troc shows, and although the first night the crowd was kind of lame and not really into it, the second night totally made up for it (even though there was a barricade and therefore no stagediving). It was super fun and a great way to end the weekend!

Big thanks to Tom and Amy at Bergen Street Comics for making a dream come true for me that I didn't even realize could BE a dream because I never conceived of it before! Nevertheless, a dream was realized and it was amazing. Also big thanks to Mike Cavallaro (aka Johnny X) for helping to put it together as well. And of course, big big thanks to the Bouncing Souls for being the best band a superfan could ever hope to love.

See also: this NY Times review of the Thursday show, which did a great job of encapsulating what's so great about Souls shows (like for example, wheelchair crowdsurfing). They pretty much sum it up with "The band had become merely a conduit, creating the space for other people’s joy."

Celebrate comic books and punk rock with a special reading of SING ALONG FOREVER: A LOVE LETTER TO THE BOUNCING SOULS at Bergen Street Comics on Aug. 21st at 12pm! WITH SPECIAL MUSICAL GUESTS!

I have been holding my tongue about this for over a MONTH! Do you know how HARD that's been? In any case, due to contractual obligations on their end, I am not supposed to include who the "Special Musical Guests" are... but I *can* say.... THEY ARE EXACTLY WHO YOU THINK THEY ARE. If there is ANY confusion about that, feel free to e-mail or message me and I'll tell you outright. I just can't put it in the promotional material.

I'm actually eating my words and re-printing Sing Along Forever just for this occasion and selling them to the band for their mailorder and to the store, but I will continue to not sell any myself until I get around to expanding it into full book form.

I mean, when you do a comic about your favorite band and it goes out of print, but the band asks you to reprint it? You kinda have to.

Anyway, 12 noon at Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn on Friday August 21st! Come one, come all! Tell your friends! IT'S FREE!!

Witness possibly one of the top ten moments of my life!

This fall, I'll be going on a book tour celebrating the release of My Brain Hurts: Volume Two (from Microcosm Publishing) along with my buddies who are also releasing new books: MK Reed (Cross Country) and Ken Dahl (Monsters). Here's the tour dates:

PUNCHBUGGY BOOK TOUR 2009 TOUR DATES

(aka "the Cross Country Monsters of Freewheel")

Sept. 25th - Baltimore, MD @ Atomic Books (reading w/ John Porcellino, Peter Kuper and MORE! Also, the 4th Annual Nerdlinger Awards!)
Sept. 26-27 - Small Press Expo/SPX (where I'll be hosting the Ignatz Awards Saturday night!)
Sept. 29 - Durham, NC @ Duke University (details forthcoming)
Sept. 30 - Asheville, NC @ Downtown Books and News
Oct. 2 - Louisville, KY @ Ray's Monkey House
Oct. 3 - Bloomington, IN @ Boxcar Books (w/ special guest TBA)
Oct. 5 - Chicago, IL @ Quimby's Bookstore (w/ special guest TBA)
Oct. 6 - Ann Arbor, MI @ Vault of Midnight (w/ special guest TBA)
Oct. 8 - Allentown, PA @ Muhlenberg College (details forthcoming)
Oct. 9 - Philadelphia, PA @ Wooden Shoe Books (w/ special guest Sally Bloodbath!)
Oct. 10 - Asbury Park, NJ - no reading booked, but we'll be hanging out at the Clam N Jam!
Oct. 11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Bergen Street Comics (w/ special guest TBA)

The final reading on October 11th at Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn is also my 30th birthday, so come down and celebrate with me if you're in the neighborhood! I'll also be accepting early birthday beers, punches, donuts, and other gifts along the tour route if you want to give me somesuch along the way!

As you may or may not have known, at Heroes Con I made a series of 12 superhero/villain themed watercolor and ink sketches to sell. I sold half of them, which means I still have 6 of them left! Rather than allow them to collect dust on my shelf, I am offering them for sale on the internet! They are $20 each or 2 for $30, which includes domestic shipping. For international orders, please email me at liz(at)lizbaillie(dot)com.

All pieces are drawn/painted on 6"x9" bristol board using archival materials (or at least that's what the labels say).

If you would like to purchase any of these, please email me at liz(at)lizbaillie(dot)com.


Wolverine at the Barbeque - $20


Still Life of Hellboy With Kitten - $20


Superman is Kind of a Douche - $20


Bizarro - $20 (goes great with Superman - if you put them side by side, Supes is giving Bizarro the stinkeye!)


Harley Quinn - $20


the Joker - $20 (goes great with Harley Quinn!)


MODOK - $20

L to R: Megan, Sally, me (MK behind the camera) outside Lupie's Cafe in Charlotte, NC

All photos courtesy of MK Reed Enterprises, Inc.

Me and MK took the train down to Charlotte, NC for Heroes Con bright and early, 7am on Thursday morning. We were fortunate enough to share the train with Alec Longstreth, who got on at DC and rode with us for half of our 15 hour long journey. Mostly we slept or hung out with Alec in the cafe car, getting work done and shooting the breeze, sharing snacks like a sweet apple pie that MK had brought with her. We were all picked up in Charlotte by Greg Means, who was not driving a rented White Patriot this year, but instead a small, less hilariously named economy car.

We got to the hotel so late there was nothing open but the hotel bar, which thankfully served food and even though they had to come out from the kitchen to confirm that I did in fact want orange juice with my meal at 11pm, and the service took FOREVER (thought probably normal by North Carolina standards) I was very very happy to finally eat. Since our three hotelmates weren't arriving until Friday, we went to the room and stretched out on big beds all to ourselves. Luxury!

 On Friday morning we went downstairs to set up (Heroes is a three-day convention) and mostly sat around all day. Traffic in the Indie Island section (where we were) was a touch slow and business showed it. It was sad to look around and realize so many of the wonderful people who attended last year were not in attendance this year and we only knew a handful of people, whereas last year it seemed like a room full of our friends. Nevertheless, we were determined to have a good time.

First, we decided to continue the tradition we began last year of visiting the amazing free-standing 1950's-era Dairy Queen with the borderline racist Alaskan girl sign holding the phallic ice cream cone. Like last year, we went EVERY DAY because you know, they don't have DQ in New York, but especially not one like this. Of course, the tradition would not be complete without the annual Pornographic Positioning Photo Opportunity with the sign:



On the first night, I got a hot fudge and marshmallow sundae. On the second and third nights, I got a medium Reese's and Snickers vanilla Blizzard. Alec and I were supposed to meet there on Saturday night to witness Roger Langridge ordering (with his English accent) and consuming his first DQ Blizzard, but due to a series of unfortunate events they left four minutes before we got there so we missed it. Apparently Roger chose the Strawberry Cheesequake flavor Blizzard.

Generally the show itself was pretty slow, and although I did not do as well as I normally do at shows, I did well enough that I would consider coming back next year (if I can convince even more of my friends to not drop out). I made the excellent choice of doing a series of 12 small superhero-themed watercolor and ink drawings to sell at Heroes for extra money, as well as choosing to charge $10 for sketches. This netted me about $85 extra that I wouldn't have made otherwise, and definitely made a big chunk of a difference in the final tally, especially when comparing this year's sales to last year's.

On Friday and Saturday I was kind of bummed because things were pretty slow at the table, and my social activities had been somewhat disappointing. I attempted to make Saturday night my raucous "party night" but my attempts at getting drunk failed miserably. MK had brought some fancy tequila with her and though I drank a decent amount mixed with some citrus-ey drinks, its only effect was making my stomach hurt miserably without the benefit of drunkenness. On top of that, I found out that the hotel pool was not actually located inside the hotel, but rather was part of an attached YMCA that closed early and was closed completely on Sunday (the best day to go swimming after a con). Sally and I went to bed early on Friday and Saturday nights and everyone else stayed out late to party.

Oh, except for our discovery of the North Carolina newspaper which features mugshots and crimes committed by various people, called THE SLAMMER. It was surprisingly entertaining, especially the section "Kiddie Korner" (juvenile offenders) and "Laughter and Tears" (people either laughing or crying during their mugshot photo).

Reading the SLAMMER with Sally next to the NO LOITERING sign

Sunday, however, made up for EVERYTHING.

Sally and I decided that since it is hard to sell your own books, and way easier to sell someone else's, that we would switch places for the day and she would impersonate me, and I would do the same for her. We even switched my nametag with her wristband. She did a great job of impersonating me and even signed a few comics for people as me, but I did not do as good of a job. I am just not a good liar. I would usually give up as soon as they asked me "Are you Sally Bloodbath?" This also got confusing when people who weren't close friends but knew who I was would come up to Sally's table and get really confused because my comics were not on the table.


impersonating Sally Bloodbath

I guess I had gotten a little bored or something, or maybe the taste of impersonating people got me thirsty for more, but on Sunday afternoon while Alec was at a panel, I decided to dress up like him (complete with fake beard and using his actual cap) and stand on the chair (for height) behind his table until he got back, pretending to be him, and wait for the inevitable collapse of reality when Real Alec and Fake Alec met for the first time.

 
photo by Jimmy Aquino

Mostly I stood behind the table yelling choice Longstrethian phrases such as:

-I'M ALEC LONGSTRETH!
-STAR WARS!
-WEEEEEEZER!
-DVORAK!
-JEFF SMITH!
-COMICS!
-It's a FAMILY OF BIRDS! (in reference to the origami family of birds MK made and taped to my napkin beard)

and occasionally:

-DRAAAAAGONS!

My antics got a lot of laughs for the first, oh... fifteen minutes. Little did I know, Alec would be gone for TWO HOURS! After the first half hour, I just couldn't give up and decided I would not leave the chair until the Real Alec finally showed up. My hope was that he would be with Jeff Smith so we could get the ultimate photo op of Real Alec and Fake Alec blowing Jeff Smith's complete concept of reality. And we did!


My beard was falling off because we had to pick it out of the garbage when we spotted Jeff Smith coming.

My favorite might be the photo of Chuck McBuck interacting with Fake Alec (note the presence of not just napkin beard, but napkin mullet):



So yeah... I impersonated Alec Longstreth for two hours and even sold a comic as Alec, which I was asked to sign as Alec, which I did (as "The Real Alec Longstreth")

After the show we quickly packed up and headed for the after party at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find, the comic shop that organizes Heroes Con. They were offering free pizza, beer and cookies, so of course we headed there immediately to get the best of everything before everyone else got there. Apparently, Greg and Alec had the same idea because we saw them coming out of their car just as ours was pulling into the shop's parking lot!

We were among the first there and quickly ate up a bunch of pizza and cookies, and got started on the beer. They had a great selection that included Yuengling, which is my fave, and Blue Moon! Pretty unusual for the free beer! Just another reason to love Heroes!

Also present at the party, and at the convention in general all weekend, was Scott Adsit who plays Pete on 30 Rock. I kept seeing him around and since he looks like such an average dude I wasn't sure it was him at first (I am a HUGE fan of 30 Rock) but through the grapevine, I learned that it was! Although I wasn't trying to talk to him, he happened to be talking to Alec at one point during the party so I went over and joined the conversation. He was very friendly and immediately introduced himself and we had a nice casual conversation about Heroes Con. Apparently he goes to NYCC and San Diego all the time but people kept telling him Heroes was the best con to go to, so he flew in for the weekend and filled up a sketchbook with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen sketches. Pretty rad!

At one point, Alec showed us how to play two bottles at once with his nose and mouth:


You can tell how drunk Alec is by how far back his cap is turned.

After the party at Heroes I was pleasantly drunk and happy in general, which was the perfect time to go with Alec, Greg and MK for our final evening of DQ. To make up for the disappointments of the previous night, Alec treated us all to Blizzards and even sprung for a little Blizzard shaped antenna topper to give to Sally!





The perfect end to a perfect evening.

BUT WAIT! There's more!

We decided to hit up the bar at the Westin (where most people go to drink after the show) where there was almost no one except Jeff Smith sitting with a group of friends! We decided to hang out at our own table for a while but after some time had passed we made our way over to Jeff and Co. and hung out with them for a while, which was super rad. At no other show would this probably ever happen.

The next day we left early for our epic drive back with Sally and Co. We had to drive Kiril back to DC, and then Megan back to Philly, and then Sally volunteered kindly to take me and MK back to Brooklyn.

 
Kiril at the Waffle House


A truck full of gazebos passing our car

 
A pit stop for dinner in Baltimore, MD - sign reads "LIVE HERE"

I got home a little after midnight on Monday evening feeling like I was getting sick, and woke up this morning to find that yes, in fact I had gotten sick. Awesome.

NYC Zine Fest next weekend!

I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend, in the extra special Indie Island area! I'll have all my usual stuff, PLUS... 12 pre-made superhero/villain themed ink and watercolor sketches which I'll be selling there. Whatever I don't sell at Heroes, I'll put online for sale when I get back. Here is a taste of a few of my favorites:

Yup, you can now get it online, right here on my website! Four bucks, plus a buck for shipping. If you want to order with cash through the mail, just fill out this order form and send it to the address on the form.

If you want to see a few preview pages, here's 13, 14 and 15!

Here's a list, by no means complete or comprehensive but the best I could do today (still gotta put Freewheel #2 for sale online and all that), of my favorite stuff I got at MoCCA. "Got" usually means "people gave this to me" or "I traded for this" but there are maybe three things on there that were bought with money (by Zane, not me, because I am a cheapskate and did not buy anything with money):

-SUMO by Thien Pham

Someone (I forget who) alerted Zane to the existence of this comic, and to that person I am eternally grateful. Zane loves, nay, is OBSESSED with sumo (as if you couldn't tell by the full sleeve of sumo tattoos on his left arm). Not only is the story beautiful written and drawn, but the book itself is a beautiful piece of work. I wish I could find a photo of the book but I can't. It's hand-bound/sewn with a silkscreened cover and is awesome. Zane said "it totally made me cry" and I said "it totally almost made me want to cry." But in a good way. I heard First Second picked it up so I'm sure you'll be hearing about it real soon!

-Jam in the Band 2 by Robin Enrico

If you know me at all, you probably know that I count Robin among my closest and most beloved friends. I've been keeping tabs on Robin's comics since before they were good, and before we were really good friends, so I would like to think my opinion is not swayed by our friendship. With that in mind, Robin is really stepping it up a notch with Jam in the Band 2. If you haven't read any of this story yet, but you read Robin's old comics (any of them), I beg of you to pick up JITB 1 and read the crap out of it. Then read #2. Then see if you don't want to know more about this uniquely-told story of an all-girl band's rise to the top, and the tensions that arise between them when they are confronted with challenge after challenge to keep the band going.

-Papercutter #10 edited by Greg Means/Tugboat Press

If you are a regular on the indie comics circuit, you are probably already well aware of this outstanding, award-winning anthology put out semi-regularly (at least once a year I gather) by Greg Means. Issue #10 is no exception to the high standard this anthology has come to be known for, with enjoyable stories by Jesse Reklaw, Damien Jay and Minty Lewis. I won't spoil it for you, you should just go get one for yourself!

-Awesome 2: Awesomer edited by Indie Spinner Rack and Top Shelf

I got a copy of this brand spankin' new anthology at MoCCA because I'm in it! This is the anthology with the Jerk Ghost: the Work Ghost story I did with MK. A portion of the profits from this book go to a scholarship fund for a student at the Center for Cartoon Studies! The book features work by Jim Rugg, Alex Robinson, Colleen Frakes, Julia Wertz, Mike Dawson, Jeff Smith and a slew of other fantastic creators. It also comes with a free minicomic inside! How can you pass this up?

-Girls Don’t Make Passes at Boys With Moustaches by Sally Bloodbath

Sally Bloodbath might be best known as one of two editors of the popular anthology, Always Comix, which comes out seasonally and always has a neat theme like "the Evil Issue" or "How We Met." Sally also puts out minicomics her own self and GDMPABWM is her latest! It collects a number of short autobio strips she's drawn recently and her usual self-deprecating sense of humor and visual sensibilities (like a panel where she shakes hands with the number 5 to show "getting off from work") shine through as always. My personal favorite in this collection of strips is directions on how to properly eat a cookie (spoiler alert: she is 100% correct in her direction on how to eat a cookie). Also it has a neat cover that has a wraparound silkscreened bit. Hard to explain, you should just buy it.

-Pile Driver edited by Sabin Calvert
-Demon of the Fall by Sabin Calvert

Sabin had a number of great new comics at his MoCCA table and I was fortunate enough to trade him for copies of both Pile Driver and Demon of the Fall. Pile Driver is a comic anthology of stories about wrestling, and though some of the art is pretty rough around the edges, the heart is there and a few of the stories stand out quite strongly. Overall it's a totally enjoyable read, and recommended if you are into wrestling at all. I'm not, but I'm into martial arts and also soap operas so I can appreciate why people love it so much. Demon of the Fall was one of Sabin's new minis and it's a story he wants to write rather than draw, so if you are interested in drawing a story about an alcoholic superhero who gets his power from booze, yet is in AA, you should get in touch with him! It's a great concept and the mini shows the very very beginning of the story, so it's hard to gage where it will go from here, but if Sabin's other work is any indication it will be an awesome tale for sure!

-Carl’s Large Story #5 by Marcos Perez

If you are not already familiar with the Carl is the Awesome series by Marcos Perez, you should be! Carl is a dinosaur with a beaver tail (I think) who has great self-esteem and in most of Marcos' comics, Carl never encounters any type of conflict whatsoever, thereby flauting the rules of good storytelling, yet somehow being completely awesome in the face of the rules he defies! Carl's Big Story has been a continuing saga of Carl's first real brush with conflict, and it's also Carl's first long story! Pick up the early issues, get up to speed, then continue on to #5 (or read some of Carl online at the link above). You won't be disappointed.

-untitled minicomic by Shauna Grant

Shauna used to be one of my students when I used to teach a comics group at an afterschool program here in NYC and she was the star of the group then, and continues to just get better and better with time. She's currently a student at SVA, which is pretty much a breeding ground for comics talent right now, and she is no exception. She has kind of a manga-inspired look to her art, like a lot of people her age, but you can see she is really coming into her own in her recent work, more and more with each passing comic I see from her. This mini is a collection of a few different short tales, my favorite being "O-Panda and Cheergirl," which is a silly and funny story about exactly what it sounds like - a cheerleader and a panda fighting crime. What more could you want from comics?

-Menstruation Station: Menarche Aboard! by Jen Vaughn

You know how people always make jokes about how women in comics only want to draw comics about their periods and stuff? Well, Jen Vaughn is making it easier for them to prove that, but lucky for everyone in the world, these comics are good! Lord knows we have enough comics by boys about their boners and the girls they wish they could do, it's about time a woman came in and did a little menstruating on the place, ya know? Anyway, these comics are mostly cute and pretty funny and from what I can tell, it's just the first in a series of comics about periods! This one seems to focus on the "first period." Go and buy it! It has a red cover too! As if you could accept anything less. Oh and at MoCCA you got a free tampon with it, which is pretty cool too.

-Leo Geo Acquires Ancient Knowledge by Jon Chad

Jon Chad rules at comics. Especially minicomics. Why are you still reading this? Why aren't you reading Leo Geo Acquires Ancient Knowledge? Seriously, though - Jon Chad is an insane talent when it comes to both drawing and reproducing minicomics. Each one is well-drawn, always has an interesting story, and most of them come in some really unusual format. Like this one, for example, is one sheet of paper that's been cut out at all weird spots and you have to unfold it in a certain way to read the comic, and the folding action follows the action in the comic! But it's much more complicated than your average one-page fold-out. Serious. It's awesome, and full of facts!

-The Legend of Hardcore Dan by Josh PM Frees

Do you think it's weird to draw comics almost exclusively about your friend Dan? Josh doesn't, and he's been drawing these cute, funny strips about his buddy Hardcore Dan (who is a real person, by the way) for a few years now. With every passing year, I've been watching Josh get better at not only drawing, but writing jokes as well. This minicomic not only showcases Josh's growing talent when it comes to writing and drawing hilarious comics, but he's kicked it up a notch with the cover as well. It's probably the best and most professional, put-together cover I've seen from him so far! It's not your typical autobio/slice of life stuff either, by any means. This comic made me laugh out loud on the subway. That's saying something, people.

-What is This? By Neil Brideau

A robot crash lands in a little kid's room and wants to know what all the stuff is! It's a simple, cute, well-told, well-drawn little ditty about exactly that, in the tradition of stuff like E.T. or the Iron Giant. If you like that stuff you'll like this. What else can I say?

-Cragmore: Book One by Pat Lewis

If you like the humor of the Simpsons, and who doesn't, you will totally dig Pat Lewis' new series, Cragmore. The heart and soul of this book is really in Pat's classic animation/cartoony style of drawing combined with his unique and impeccable sense of humor, which is particularly on display in this book. I don't want to spoil the plot and/or jokes for you, but to make it simple it's about a rich douchebag (Donald Trump-ish) who dies for a short period, goes to hell, and seeing what hell is like decides to make some drastic changes... but it's not what you'd expect by any means! Straightforward humor comics in the tradition of old-school MAD Magazine is hard to come by in indie comics, but Pat Lewis really brings it home with Cragmore.

-The Mourning Star 2 by Kazimir Strzepek

I haven't read this one yet, but I am SUPER EXCITED about it! I love the first Mourning Star book so much, I'm completely excited to read the second one! If you like great world-building sort of fantasy adventure with amazing linework telling really awesome stories you should get it. That is all. Oh, and the first book was award nominated! And rightly so!

-Lipstick & Malice #3 by Monica Gallagher

This comic is folded lengthways instead of widthways, which I think most of us minicomics people have pondered at least once in our folding and stapling adventures, but Monica has actually gone ahead and made a comic that way! And guess what, it works! Lipstick and Malice is the story of a model who is also an assassin, and a damn good one at that! You can tell Monica's having a great time drawing it, the linework flows really well and she does an amazing job of drawing the kind of unusual fight scenes that occur when a model is also an assassin.

-Silver Mercedes With the Top Down: A Minicomic by Jesse Post and Fred Chao

Basically this is probably the world's biggest "minicomic," being four legal sized pages stapled together at the sides. Mostly it's just really funny because of that, but it's also a short comic based on a Missed Connections ad. I saw people carrying it around and I thought it was pretty funny. Then Jesse gave me one and I was psyched! It was pretty cool.