Rock Atlas Wins First Place

The Twin Cities Rock Atlas took home the gold over the weekend. The 2-page map that first appeared in City Pages in December '07 won in the "Innovation" category at the AltWeekly Awards in Philadelphia.

City Pages also took home two more awards, described here.

I don't know a lot of details about the award itself, but I'm hoping that there's some sort of plaque involved that I can hang up next to Zander's Eisners...

BTA Photo Album

Here are some snapshots from the past two months:


First up, graphic novelist Jim Ottaviani (author of "Bone Sharps") swung by a few weeks ago. Here he is in the bullpen with Zander, probably talking about how much fun they're going to have this weekend at Mocca.


A handful of Lutefisk Sushi artists pose in the Attic with their stuffed-with-comics bento boxes. Hard to believe that the third Sushi show has come and gone already! Artists featured above are (L to R): Lupi Miguinti, Maxeem Konrardy (kneeling), Ryan Dow, Jon Sloan, Zander Cannon, David Sandberg, and Carl Nelson.



Kirk Taylor came by the Cartoonist Conspiracy meeting last Thursday and gave a great presentation on Wesley Morse (the creator of Bazooka Joe). Kirk's talk focused on a cache of drawings he recently uncovered. The drawings -- pencil, ink, and wash on Morse's own stationary -- are beautiful and often cynical "love letters," all sent to Kirk's great aunt, actress Avonne Taylor. You can read much more at the collection's website. Thanks, Kirk!

Wesley Morse Presentation This Thursday

This THURSDAY, swing by DIAMOND'S at 8:00pm to hear Kirk Taylor give a presentation on Bazooka Joe creator WESLEY MORSE.

Steven Stwalley puts it this way:

In addition to our usual jam this meeting, we will have a special presentation by Kirk Taylor on cartoonist Wesley Morse. Morse was the creator of Bazooka Joe, and an uncredited illustrator of many of the best examples of the notorious tijuana bibles. In many ways, Morse was the prototypical underground cartoonist. Kirk’s presentation will feature works from the Taylor-Morse collection, a unique collection of beautifully illustrated love letter cartoons that Morse wrote to Kirk’s great aunt, chorusgirl Avonne Taylor. Read more on the Taylor-Morse collection website. The presentation will begin at 8:00. Thanks much to Puny Entertainment for providing the space and projector for the presentation!

More info here.

Morse's Tijuana Bible cover, above, is from tijuanabibles.org, which is a great site to check out if you're a few years older than Matthew Kriske.

How to Punch

Check Out "The Thousandth Word"

Cartoonist Conspirator and best-letterer-known-to-mankind Andy Sturdevant will be regaling us with his views on the Twin Cities Art Scene, via The Thousandth Word.

The Thousandth Word is a new blog from the Rake, a free monthly magazine that disappeared from Twin Cities' street corners a few months ago. Now they're online-only, which I guess is good news for whatever kind of tree it is that produces glossy paper.

So check out Andy's first article, a look at South Minneapolis' Shoebox Gallery.