This weekend I’ll be in Minneapolis for the first time to table at my first Autoptic Festival!
My table at Kansas City Zine Con #9.
At Table 16A, I’ll have my recent comics, which you can see in the above photo from my last tabling event, including the final stack of the first print run of Reluctant Oracle #1. I’ll also have some fun Xerox comics I made for a comics workshop I taught at my kid’s summer camp.
Hey y’all!! I had to miss KC Zine Con #8 last June because it was the same weekend as CAKE, but I’ll be back for KC Zine Con #9 this weekend!
I couldn’t find a poster for this year’s show, so I just grabbed this screenshot of their cool website, designed and developed by catmothcrow.
Last year, KCZC moved to Goofball Sk8boards, which is right in my neighb, and fortunately for me, they’ll be there again this year. To make room for more exhibitors and enable zinesters to do some shopping and attend panels, they’re splitting us up, so some people are tabling on Saturday, and some people are tabling on Sunday.
I’ll be there Saturday, June 22nd, from 11am to 5pm at Table 2, next to my bud Nick Francis Potter and right by the northeast entrance:
I’m bringing my comics and prints, including my latest comic containing my collabs with Mark Peters, Cosmic Gossip! Because I just have a half table, I’m not bringing any Retrofit comics.
This Sunday I’ll be tabling at the second Paper Plains Zine Fest in Lawrence, KS!
I’ll have this new riso print for sale…
…plus my usual offerings.
Flyer by Lydia Halo.
This year, they’ve expanded PPZF to two days, and divided the programming and tabling onto separate days, which I love to see because tablers can attend without losing out on sales! The schedule on their website has the programming for Day 1, AKA tomorrow.
Sunday will be all tabling; I’ll be at Table 35, cozily sandwiched between my buddies Red Shorts Bindery and Jason Lips, plus a surprise special guest!! Click here to see a table map
I’ll be tabling at CAKE, the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, this weekend, their first show since 2019!
Excellent poster by David Alvarado.
CAKE is at a new location this year, the Broadway Armory. Come say hi at Table 509A along the back wall!
My spread will be similar to what I had at KC Zine Con and Paper Plains Zine Fest last year (this post includes a photo of my table from last year’s KCZC). Reluctant Oracle #1 came out in 2021 but it will be new to CAKE!
Unfortunately I’ll be missing this year’s KC Zine Con because it’s also this weekend.
Hey y’all, I’ll be tabling at the inaugural Paper Plains Zine Fest this Saturday in Lawrence, KS!
Flyer by Lydia Halo.
Entry is free. Come say hi at Table 48! There’ll be tables inside and outside; I’ll be inside, where masks are required.
This is my second zine fest of the year (scream emoji), so I’ll have a similar setup to what I had at KC Zine Con #7, here’s a shot of my table from that event:
I’ll have my comics, a couple riso prints, and a few books from Retrofit. See ya there!
I’m excited to tell y’all I’ll be tabling at KC Zine Con #7 this Saturday! It was the last con I tabled at in-person before the pandemic began, so it’s fitting that it’ll be my return to in-person tabling.
Poster by local tattoo artist Ana Mal.
I’ll be at table 19 in between John Coats, Thayer NG Bray, and Joe Trotter.
There was a virtual KC Zine Con #6 in Fall 2020 in which I participated, but unfortunately nothing beats cramming a bunch of grubby zinesters and zine enthusiasts into the same physical space. I dream about alternatives to the con model of zine and art comics distribution in North America but I do enjoy hanging out with like-minded people IRL and sharing our passion for cheaper art produced by individual, or small groups of, visionaries. Fortunately the KC Zine Con organizers are taking the health of tablers and attendees seriously by requiring masks for everyone and proof-of-vaccination for tablers.
This is what I look like wearing a mask.
This year I’ll have my newest mini-comic, Reluctant Oracle #1, in addition to my 2019 mini-comic Urscape #1, my 2017 collection of short comics Tales from the Hyperverse, my 2014 graphic novel Vortex, and a selection of Retrofit Comics.
Luckily I got in off the waitlist for KC Zine Con #5 and will be tabling there for the fourth time this Saturday! Here’s the awesome poster with all the deetz:
Poster by Gabbi Brandini.
I’ll be at Table #57 with Urscape #1, Tales from the Hyperverse, Vortex, and some newer Retrofit comics like Fashion Forecasts by Yumi Sakugawa, Understanding by Becca Tobin, and Survive 300 Million #1 and 2 by Pat Aulisio.
I circled my table location on this map of the venue:
Map of Pierson Auditorium on UMKC campus.
This is the last year that KC Zine Con will be on UMKC campus. Pierson Auditorium is a great venue but UMKC allowed a hate speech event on campus in April which resulted in violence against trans people and has made people in our community feel unsafe on campus. You can read more about KCZC’s thought process behind the venue change on their website. I support KCZC’s decision to seek a new venue for future cons. Trans rights are human rights.
Bonus Zine-Related Content: A recent Twitter kerfuffle made me realize that there are art and comic makers who aren’t familiar with the term zine! ’Zine is short for magazine but means any self-published booklet. It could be photocopied for cheap at a local library or sent to a printer, but to qualify as a zine the booklet should be self-published. My understanding is that it originated with SF fans around the middle of the century who self-published fanzines that mimicked the pulp SF magazines that were so popular. Major SF writers such as Moorcock got their start in these zines. In the 90’s, the Riot Grrrl movement and others developed extensive mail-order networks of zine creators and traders. These zines featured an expanded array of content such as poetry, photographs, personal essays, and collages. My friends and I made and traded our zines from 4th grade on. One of the first zines I encountered that was made by someone I didn’t know was the Dishwasher zine by Dishwasher Pete, which chronicled his adventures during his quest to wash dishes in all 50 states. In my personal lexicon, I usually call my self-published comic books mini-comics, but I think they also quality as zines. Now if you want to talk about what is and isn’t a mini-comic, that’s a whole other discussion.
For a different perspective, check out this page provided on the KCZC Press page:
There’s no creator so I’m guessing this was a collective effort by KCZC staff.
If you want to make your own zine on a photocopier without a computer, check out Julia Gfrörer’s zine, Thuban Press Guide to Analog Self Publishing, available from her Etsy store.
You can also download a free copy of Re: A Guide to Reproduction: by Ron Rege Jr., Dave Choe, Brian Ralph, and Jordan Crane from my site. This PDF got me started self-publishing my mini-comics over a decade ago.
This weekend I’ll be tabling once again at the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, AKA CAKE. This year the fest is Saturday June 1st and Sunday June 2nd from 11am to 6pm at the Center on Halsted. And admission is free!
CAKE 2019 poster by Marnie Galloway.
I’ll have my new self-published comic, Urscape #1, and oldies-but-goodies including Tales from the Hyperverse, Vortex, my last copy of the climate change poetry comics anthology Warmer, some Retrofit comics, and the risograph prints I debuted at the show last year. I’ll be at Table 221B.
Urscape #1 cover photo.
Urscape #1 interior photo.
If you can’t make it to CAKE, Urscape #1 is also available in my online shop, or from the distros Birdcage Bottom Books and Domino Books.
This Saturday, September 8th, is going to be busy in the Kansas City metro area!
From 9 to 11am, climate activists will march in downtown Overland Park, in conjunction with sister marches nationwide, to demand that local governments will commit to a clean energy future and oppose all new fossil fuel infrastructure. You can see more info and the march route on this Facebook event page.
I won’t be at the march (except in spirit) because I’ll be slinging comics at KC Zine Con #4, from 10am to 6pm at Pierson Auditorium on the UMKC campus. Come find me at Table #88!
I’ll have Tales from the Hyperverse, Vortex, my latest riso prints, a selection of Retrofit comics, and more.
Oddities Prints, my KC-area print shop, will also be at KC Zine Con, selling (among many other things) riso print grab bags to benefit RAICES, the ACLU, and Planned Parenthood! Here’s a mockup of the print I designed for this fundraiser:
If you can’t make it to KCZC#4, you can also order these grab bags online.
This weekend I’ll be tabling for the first time at the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo AKA CAKE. CAKE is Saturday June 2nd and Sunday June 3rd from 11am to 6pm at the Center on Halsted. I hope to see some of y’all there!
I’ll have my comics Tales from the Hyperverse, Sphere Fear, Drumstick Pit, and Vortex; the climate change poetry comics anthology Warmer, which has one of my comics in it; some Retrofit comics; and these two new risograph prints:
The prints are Rainbow Robot on the left and Diana in Ghost Arrow on the right. I got them printed by a local shop, Oddities Prints.
I’ll be at Table 410A.
If you’re not going to be at CAKE, you can buy my new prints here.
