Vincent Stall on KFAI TONIGHT!

Hey fellow cartoony reading/writing/drawing peeps. Vincent Stall AKA King Mini will be interviewed on Minnesota's KFAI by Britt Aamodt tonight around 7:30pm - 8:00pm. Pretty rad, do check out!! For a link, it will be a part of the MinneCulture Legacy series. And I am sure somewhere in there Vincent will be talking a bit about his latest release, Things You Carry put out by, you guessed it, 2DC. It's in the shop yo.

Motherlover Press Release!

2D Cloud is proud to present Motherlover, an anthology in the vein of Drawn & Quarterly Showcase with a focus on some of our favorite Minnesota-based artists. In finer comic shops and bookstores in mid-February 2012!

Minneapolis, MN – January 12th 2012:

“The darkness of this book’s themes should not daunt an adventurous reader, because Motherlover explores work that is both emotionally powerful and uncomfortably familiar.”

- Rob Clough, comics critic for The Comics Journal & High-Low

Motherlover has its roots deeply embedded in Minnesota, with the four creators involved in the book hailing from different corners of the state: Nicholas Breutzman from Rochester, brothers John & Luke Holden from Bemidji, and Raighne Hogan from Minneapolis. The stories themselves have pronounced autobiographical undercurrents, each exploring the tensions, confusion, and mis-perceptions of youth. For some, these feelings circle around sex and how it can be a source of mystery or frustration, depending on where one is in life and the world. Others encounter the loneliness and ennui that is found just as easily in both rural and urban environs. These themes help illuminate much of the push and pull in Minnesota for a lot of creative types – something that compels us to venture beyond our borders, yet that same something that draws most of us back again. While these sentiments can certainly be found throughout the work, there is plenty to be discovered that’s not restricted to any particular locality.

About the Artists:

Nicholas Breutzman is the cartoonist behind the graphic novella Yearbooks, which came in at #24 in The Comics Journal’s top 50 comics of 2009 and was nominated for inclusion in Best American Comics 2010 by Neil Gaiman. His work has also been featured in anthologies like the Good Minnesotan series as well as Critical Citadel and more recently Pornhounds 2, with Sharon Lintz. Nic’s story You Can’t Be Here, featured in Motherlover, was also recently announced as a Best American Comics Notable for 2011.

Luke Holden, maker of zines, adventures, and art. Luke and his brother John are frequent collaborators in various creative projects, from punk/jazzy-guitar/folk music to spoken word, zines, and comics. Their work has appeared together and separately in the pages of Good Minnesotan as well as their zine series, Detrimental Information.

John Holden is a spoken-word artist and lapsed video blogger — at their height, his videos reached nearly 2 million hits on Youtube. John’s writings have been illustrated by his brother Luke and his friend Nic Breutzman in the pages of the Detrimental Information series and the Good Minnesotan anthology respectively.

Raighne Hogan is the co-publisher of 2D Cloud and colorist behind Yearbooks, Motherlover, and the covers of several 2D Cloud releases. Raighne’s past work has appeared in the Good Minnesotan anthology series, which he also acted as lead editor for during its four-issue run.

About the publisher:

2D Cloud is a micro-press comics publisher based in Minneapolis, MN. They publish paper-craft art books, minicomics, and graphic novels by an assortment of creatives, such as Noah Van Sciver, Nic Breutzman, and Vincent ‘King Mini’ Stall, amongst others. Recent releases include Things You Carry by Vincent Stall and The Death of Elijah Lovejoy by Noah Van Sciver, hailed by The Comics Journal’s Rob Clough as “…his single strongest work to date.” and that his involvement with 2D Cloud made “…this the best looking comic of his career”. Another semi-recent 2D Cloud release, Good Minnesotan 4, placed at #2 in The Comic Journal’s Top 50 Minis of 2010

Motherlover was made possible via a kickstarter. 

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Pornhounds 2 review on Exquisite Things; ALSO, made it into the Top Ten Comics of 2011!

"Even when everything’s at its bleakest, she narrates her life with a bemused fascination, delighting in the absurdity of things as she suffers through surgery and chemotherapy."

Sharon Lintz' Pornhounds 2 was recently reviewed across the pond at Exquisite Things by Matt Dick. It also made it into there Top Ten Comics of 2011 list as well (and at #3!). None too shabby! Sharon is brilliant, and the cover of Pornhounds 2 is gorgeous and provocative. It puts me in mind of that Otto Dix painting, Little Girl. If the work on the cover looks familiar, it is probably because Nic Breutzman did it. He also has two stories/chapters he illustrated inside the book.

If this sounds like something you would be down with, why don't you head to the shop and pick it up! And while your at it, check out the Pornhounds website for a lot or really interesting stuff, like the letters!!

Things You Carry reviewed! Breutzman interviewed + a NVS studio peek!

"It's all very quiet and beautiful and, while open to interpretation, "Things You Carry" feels like a homecoming story..." -- Sarah Morean, taken from her review on Indie Reader.

Things You Carry by Vincent Stall, got its first review earlier in the week. It's a really sharp and perceptive review, well-thought out -- and really, what more could one ask for?

A week or two back Nic Breutzman was interviewed by Lauren Peck of Metro Magazine. Nic talks about living in NY vs MN, comics that he is interested in, etc. It's a nice quick read. Nic's most current work is in Pornhounds 2 (written by Sharon Lintz) and Motherlover. Both books are in the shop!

PICTURES: Noah Van Sciver was recently featured on the Where They Draw tumblr curated by Jordan Shiveley. There is a peek at his workspace, The Hypo, and other doodles and comics. Neat stuff!

Welp, I gotta go watch a holiday movie with my wife now. Hassle Dazzle and Happy Holidays to All!

Willy D and Where He Draws

Sketch by Will Dinski take from his blog

Will Dinski makes some of the best and sharpest looking mini's out there. Recently, his work space was featured on Jordan Shiveley's Where They Draw. It's a brilliant idea -- and I am excited to see the work spaces of fellow cartoonists (Tom Neely is up there too!). I am always trying to figure out how to make mine more efficient, although I am never good at keeping it up. The unfortunate part of that WTD posting deals with the fact that some ass-hat broke into Will's place, stole his computer and a bunch of his equipment. NOT COOL! There is some silver lining, but to see that you better check out WHERE THEY DRAW!

And if you happen to head over to Will's news + sketchbook blog you can catch a glimpse of his process in the form of a really neat looking gif. You should add a few of those tasty mini's of his to your holiday list for yourself or someone else -- we got 'em in the shop you know, alongside some other cool books.

Best American Comics Notables: Nicholas Breutzman

Nic Breutzman, as you may recall, has two stories in Motherlover; Photograph and You Can't be Here. The latter of which was recently selected as a Best American Comics 2011 Notable! Woohoo! He was also recently featured in Metro Magazine with an exclusive comic focusing a bit on Saint Paul! Go check it out!

That comic sorta ties into a new book that Nic has been beavering away on for the past two years or so. We will begin serializing it online early next year. More on that later. If you would like a peek, the first nine or so pages were previewed and featured on MPLS.TV a month or two back. The image at top is from said book. And if it isn't obvious, I colored 'dem pages.

For reference:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:

Motherlover is now in the shop and Nic has some more collaborative work with Sharon Lintz via Pornhounds 2 in the shop as well. We will have more news on that soon. In the meantime, why don't you visit Pornhounds.net 

Noah Van Sciver in the 'Best of' News!

Over at Poopsheet Foundation and Thirteen Minutes, Justin Giampaoli threw together a Best Mini-Comics and Small Press Titles of 2011 -- The Death of Elijah Lovejoy by Noah Van Sciver made the cut!   Here is a quote from list: "Van Sciver is one of the small elite cadre of creators who make me yearn to still be reviewing comics 10 years from now just so I can see what he'll do next." Nice! A bunch of other great books like The Disgusting Room by Austin English, The Wolf by Tom Neely, Too Dark To See by Julia Gfrorer, Passage by Tessa Brunton and many others were mentioned as well. It's a wonderful list -- go check it out!

Speaking of that Van Sciver feller, he was featured on TCJ Talkies a while back with MariNaomi, as interviewed by Mike Dawson. I tell yah, if ever a guy had a radio voice, it is that guy. Mike also has a new comic (Troop 142) out himself by the fine folks at Secret Acres.

Last up, Noah has a sneak peek of The Hypo up on his blog. Really excited for that book, go give it a look!