Cropped Will Cardini artwork

September 27th, 2017

CXC 2017 and Tales from the Hyperverse Unboxing

Filed under: Comic Fests — Tags: , — William Cardini @ 6:19 am

I’ll be tabling with Retrofit Comics at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (AKA CXC) this weekend. I’m very excited because it’ll be my first time selling my new comic from Retrofit, Tales from the Hyperverse, and my first time at CXC! CXC is a big event that lasts this whole week, I’ll just be there for the CXC Expo and Marketplace at the downtown branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, which is from 11am to 6pm on Saturday Sept 30th and noon to 5pm on Sunday Oct 1st.

CXC 2017 banner by Katie Skelly and Sonia Harris

Also, I got some of my contributor copies of Tales from the Hyperverse yesterday and I’m very happy with how they turned out. Here are some photos:

Tales from the Hyperverse unboxing

Tales from the Hyperverse interior

Tales from the Hyperverse interior

Tales from the Hyperverse interior

After I get back from CXC, I’ll add Tales from the Hyperverse to my online store so you can order signed copies. In the meantime, you can already order unsigned copies from the Retrofit store.

September 12th, 2017

Tales from the Hyperverse Debuts at SPX 2017

My new comic from Retrofit, Tales from the Hyperverse, debuts this weekend at the Small Press Expo near Washington, DC!

Tales from the Hyperverse by William Cardini cover

Unfortunately I won’t be there but if you can make it, SPX is a blast. I will be at the next show at which Retrofit is tabling, Cartoon Crossroads Columbus.

And if you can’t make it to either show and you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can preorder at the Retrofit site or wait until I get my copies and can offer signed copies on this site.

September 6th, 2017

KC Zine Con #3 Recap

Filed under: Recaps — Tags: — William Cardini @ 7:21 am

Thanks to everyone who came by my table at KC Zine Con #3!

William Cardini table at KC Zine Con #3

I had a good show, I sold my last copies of the “Miizzzard Experiments” print on the lower left of the photo. I had higher sales in 2016, but I think it’s because I had a wider variety of newer comics last year, so I’m going to try and increase my inventory for KC Zine Con #4.

William Cardini haul from KC Zine Con #3
Here’s my haul from the show.

Every year KC Zine Con has more awesome exhibitors, I hope the show continues to grow and thrive!

August 24th, 2017

KC Zine Con #3

Filed under: Comic Fests — Tags: — William Cardini @ 8:16 am

This Saturday, August 26th, I’ll be tabling for the second time at the Kansas City Zine Con!

KC Zine Con 3 banner

They’ve changed locations this year to the historic El Torreon, 3101 Gillham Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri. The con once again runs from 10am to 6pm and Betty Rae’s Ice Cream, a favorite of my household, will be scooping out delicious treats from their ice cream truck outside!

Drumstick Pit cover

I was hoping to have Tales from the Hyperverse and Warmer for my table but unfortunately I haven’t gotten my copies yet. So I’ll have Vortex, the Vortex risograph posters printed by Oddities Prints that debuted last year, and a print edition of my minicomic, Drumstick Pit. Study Group Comics previously posted Drumstick Pit online but this is the first time that it’ll descend from the Internet to the paperverse.

El Torreon map

I’ll be at Table 102 between the entrance and the Oddities Prints stage.

June 27th, 2017

Preorder a Collection of Poetry Comics about Climate Change

Filed under: Crowdfunding Campaigns — Tags: , — William Cardini @ 8:14 am

Hi y’all, I’m involved in another Kickstarter this year!

I have a four page comic in Warmer: A collection of comics about climate change for the fearful & hopeful, edited by Andrew White and Madeleine Witt. They’re raising funds to print the book via this Kickstarter campaign and they have one week and less than $1,000 to go to reach their goal.

Here’s a preview of my comic for the anthology:

Preview from the first page of my comic for the Warmer climate change poetry comics anthology

Any contributions or social media shares are much appreciated!

May 10th, 2017

The Retrofit Kickstarter Surpassed its Goal!

Filed under: Crowdfunding Campaigns — Tags: , , , — William Cardini @ 12:02 pm

I was very pleased to see that the Retrofit Comics Spring 2017 Kickstarter surpassed its pledge goal last night with about two days left on the clock! Thanks so much to everyone who pledged or got the word out on social media, I really appreciate your support!!

You still have about 34 hours left to back the project and get all the books at a discount – the $45 print and digital comics bundle is about $30 cheaper than getting the books individually. The campaign ends at 10:59pm CDT on Thursday May 11th.

I’ve got two more previews for y’all. Here’s the table of contents (sans background):

Tales from the Hyperverse

Here’s a crop from one of the pages colored by the incomparable Josh Burggraf:

Dim Red Sun crop

May 4th, 2017

One Week Left to Order my New Comic via Kickstarter

Filed under: Crowdfunding Campaigns — Tags: , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:51 am

There’s one week left in the Retrofit Comics Spring 2017 Kickstarter!

I’ve been posting previews every day on my new public Instagram, @williamcardini. Here’s a crop from the colored version of my comic “Ghost Arrow,” which will be one of the short comics collected in Tales from the Hyperverse, one of the six books in the latest Retrofit Kickstarter.

Ghost Arrow crop

You can order just Tales from the Hyperverse for $8, all six books at a discount for $45, or all six books and an original black-and-white 9×12″ ink drawing on watercolor paper from me for $150. I’ll draw you the Miizzzard, the Floating Crystal Witch, or whatever you want. I did this for the Sparkplug Books Fall 2014 Kickstarter, here’s what I drew for people then so you can see some examples of my work:

William Cardini ink drawing
A drawing of the Miizzzard.

William Cardini ink drawing
A drawing when I was told to do whatever I wanted.

William Cardini ink drawing
A portrait drawn from looking at a photograph.

William Cardini ink drawing
A drawing of the Miizzzard vs Kid Space Heater for Josh, the creator of KSH.

April 24th, 2017

Retrofit Comics Spring 2017 Kickstarter

Filed under: Crowdfunding Campaigns — Tags: , , — William Cardini @ 9:22 am

I’m super excited to tell y’all that a collection of my old and new short comics, Tales from the Hyperverse, is available to preorder through the Retrofit Comics Spring 2017 Kickstarter!

You can hear me talk about my comic and see previews of the other five great books in the video:

I’ve been working on this series of comics since 2009 when I drew “The Floating Crystal Witch ATTACKS the Miizzzard of the Year 2978.” Since then I’ve drawn comics in a similar size and format off and on. You can see some of the comics on the “Tales of the Hyperverse” page on my site.

The Retrofit published collection will be 40 pages and include 16 pages of comics that I haven’t posted anywhere. I’ve also asked my friend and frequent collaborator Josh Burggraf to add his painterly colors to five of the pages and I’ll color the other ones that were originally black and white. I’ll post more details throughout the Kickstarter campaign which ends on the night of May 11th.

February 10th, 2017

Buy Comics from Birdcage Books and Support the ACLU

Filed under: Events — Tags: — William Cardini @ 8:51 am

For the month of February, the following cartoonists and publishers, including me, will donate half of our sales through the Birdcage Bottom Books site to the ACLU!

Birdcage Bottom Books ACLU donation flyer for February 2017

Of course donating directly to the ACLU is great, but if you were considering buying any of these comics anyway, head on over to the Birdcage Bottom Books site!

January 3rd, 2017

2015 and 2016 in Review

Filed under: Recaps — William Cardini @ 9:50 am

Like many progressive American people, 2016 has been an alarming year for me.

I got re-invested in the political process during the primaries. Thinking about the issues led me to finally get to This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein on my to-read list. This book is a clarion call to agitate for immediate climate action.

And then Trump was elected. In addition to his distressing racist, sexist, and dishonest rhetoric and behavior, his potential nominations for his cabinet are a climate nightmare.

In comparison to the challenges of climate change mitigation and an authoritarian president, my psychedelic space fantasy comics have seemed such an inadequate pursuit. I still believe in the power of stories and that art has transcendent value but I feel so privileged working on comics while the world collapses around me. Especially when I see what activists can accomplish in places like Standing Rock. I’m not sure if I want to make my comics more political or just get more involved with activist groups.

So I haven’t been as productive in 2016 as I was in 2015.

In 2015 I drew a lot and tabled at SPX for the first time. I had pages in four anthologies, Blank Hill Zine, RhiZome #3, Ink Brick #4, and Future Shock Zero. Yeah Dude Comics put out my mini-comic Sphere Fear. I finished Skew Part 3 and a couple other comics for Study Group. I did two large Acrylic paintings as rewards for the Fall 2014 Sparkplug Books Kickstarter.

In 2016 I tabled locally at the KC Zine Fest but didn’t travel to any national shows. I did some watercolor paintings for a couple of KC area art shows. Alternative Comics took over the Sparkplug backstock and then released Vortex through Diamond and produced a digital edition.

My biggest accomplishment was finishing Skew Part 4 and an epilogue. As a reward for reading through this post, here are six pages from Part 4:

Skew Page 183
Page 183.

Skew Page 183
Page 184.

Skew Page 183
Page 185.

Skew Page 183
Page 186.

Skew Page 183
Page 187.

Skew Page 183
Page 188.

One of my goals in 2017 is to find a publisher for a print edition of Skew.

I’ve also been working on another comic that should come out next year. It’s weird to work on comics that I’m not posting as soon as they’re finished. I don’t want to say anything else for fear of jinxing it. And I’m involved in at least one other anthology-ish project for 2017.