Wally Wood Said It Best...

If you haven't seen a lot of posts from me and Zander in the last year, we apologize! We've just been very, very busy with really cool projects, and stuff like blog posts have fallen to the wayside as a result.

Wally Wood summed up our current situation very well in the last few panels of the premiere issue of "Cannon":

...Except that it's not "the end" of our blog! Keep checking back because we'll eventually post some sneak peeks of these projects that are eating up all of our time...

Lutefisk Sushi: Volume E -- The Ballot Boxes Are Open!

Hey cartoonists!

Minnesota's premier comics art show LUTEFISK SUSHI is back for its fifth season in 2012. While the opening reception is over fifteen months away, we need to decide on a featured artist ASAP! As in past years, the featured artist will design the sushi box, and will have a whole wall devoted to their artwork during the gallery show at Altered Esthetics in November, 2012. See websites of past shows here.

NOMINATION PROCESS:

To nominate a cartoonist, please send the following info to nordeastcomics [at] gmail.com:

- The artist's name
- The artist's website (if there is one)
- The artist's email (so we can contact them to confirm if they want to run)

NOTE: Artists must reside in Minnesota or have some strong connection to the state.
NOTE: If an artist does not wish to be nominated, or does not respond to us before August 25, they will not be listed as a nominee.

CALENDAR:

August 15: Nominations open
August 25: Nominations close; Voting begins
September 1: Voting closes at noon; Winner is formally announced at 6pm at the Nordeast Comics Summit, and online.

VOTING PROCESS:

As in past years, voting will take place on www.cartoonistconspiracy.com/conspire. So jump on that site between August 25 and September 1 to vote! Voters must register on the Cartoonist Conspiracy website (it's free). Voters may vote only once.

Past featured artists are Vincent Stall, Ken Avidor, Kevin Cannon, and Danno Klonowski.

Questions? Post them in the comments section below.

Mealtime Hero Viral Video

Nearly two years ago Zander and I were asked by Lunds & Byerly's to create a superhero character for their Mealtime Hero campaign. The campaign launch coincided with the revamp of their Golden Valley Byerly's store, and they printed some life-size cardboard cut-outs of our character for the grand opening event.

Here's a small jpeg of the cut-out as well as a screencap of the online comic we produced:





Today I stumbled upon a youtube video showing another aspect of Byerly's campaign -- a surprise in-store musical put on by U of M opera students. Quick eyes will spot our cut-out at 0:07 and also at the end of the video. For those of you with slow eyes, here are some screencaps:





And here's the full video, for your viewing pleasure. Turn up your speakers:


To date, this is the most musical theater I have ever been a part of.

City Pages Pride Map

Some more cartography for you. This is a somewhat navigable map of Downtown Minneapolis, highlighting some of the events and locales from Pride Week 2011. Click the image below for a high resolution version. Visit City Pages' blog to learn more about the map and to see some of the preliminary sketches I sent to the art director.

Just Add Ink -- Comics due JUNE 15

JUST ADD INK: A COMIC COOKBOOK is this summer's blockbuster comics show at Altered Esthetics. Instead of a box of comics or a newspaper of comics, this year we're making a COOKBOOK of comics. Draw whatever you feel like as long as follows the theme of cooking -- Could be an illustrated recipe, a kitchen horror story, or even a "recipe" for how to make great comics (meta, right?).

Like with any good recipe, you need to follow the guidelines EXACTLY. The submission guidelines pdf can be downloaded here!

BONUS: This year a limited number of artists will be REIMBURSED for a big portion of their printing costs! Again, details here.

Good luck, and please TELL YOUR FRIENDS! The more pages in the anthology the butter better!