Hobbies Galore

Okay, deep breattthhh.....lots to cover:


First off, thanks to any and all who found their way to our table at the TC Zine Fest last weekend. I was playing Lonewolf, so I wasn't able to see many people besides my neighbors Anna B. and Eric S., who both had some fun mini's I picked up. I wholly recommend tracking down copies of each, if you can. Will Dinski's new mini, The Old Guys, did well on it's 2dc debut, which was good to see. I did manage to run over to Tom K.'s Uncivilized books table to pick up his new Gabrielle Bell Mini, as well as a couple of solid choices from the always polite John P. and his Spit and a Half distro, on tour now! Besides an overactive child (even when the Geirdoz aren't present, they seem to find our table) and her little ugly dog who was dangerously close to besmirching the last copy of Nic's You Can't be Here I had on hand, a good time was had by me. Nice job Lacey, here's to the 2012 show!


Onward and upward, we have our still newish and awesome 2dc (and NOW Fantagraphics) cartoonist Noah Van Sciver on his way to the city by the bay for APE this weekend, right alongside Joseph Remnant, who was kind enough to share table space with Noah and by extension, 2dc. Noah will have some of our more travel-ready 2dc books on hand, in addition to 2009 Isotope winning Covered In Confusion by Will D., not to mention his other thoughtfully crafted mini's, both old and new. This will of course all be accompanied by Noah's standard spread of Blammo's and other Van Sciver ephemera, such as his new mini, Dueling, which is just a taste of what's to come in Noah's forthcoming book from Fantagraphics:

Thats'anice'acover'a

As I've already mentioned multiple times already, Will Dinski's new mini is officially out in the world, and you can make the moves on getting your copy over at our online shop, in addition to a few other choice releases Will decided to have us distro for him. As with all of Will's work, he does limited runs, and these won't be available in shops, so unless you want to meet us in the flesh, get over there!


Now for the big-tent items. Vincent Stall/King Mini's first work with 2d Cloud, Things You Carry, is officially off to the presses! After pouring over the files and proofs (thanks Raighne and Vincent), everything should be in place and this will be one fine, fine book come October. We were hoping for the book to have a preview launch at Vincent's new show going up at the CO gallery 10/8, but some fine-tuning will probably push it back a little bit, possibly to the Rain Taxi Book Festival, possibly to an event all its own, details will be forthcoming. I know both Raighne and I are very excited and honored to be working with Vincent, given his reputation both in the sequential arts as well as his numerous other accolades and achievements. Below is a sample from Vincent's upcoming show of the same name at the CO gallery:

Last, but in no way least, we have just begun our push to get our other big 2011 release out the door in time for MIX: Motherlover. I can say that I've read this book multiple times already, both for copy editing purposes and in earlier permutations (for Nic's pieces anyway), and all of the work in here was already solid. Now, with a few minor editing choices by Raighne and I to "You Can't Be Here" so Nic's great pacing shines to its full extent and some of Raighne's as always stellar color work, we really have something of interest on our hands. Rob Clough has been gracious enough to put 2dc in context with the Minneapolis comics scene and beyond, as well as expound upon what makes the Holden Bros. and Nic's comics  so oddly compelling by providing a foreword, all of which can be read here, which sits below the following video from the kickstarter: 

We're about a quarter of the way there already (huge THANKS to those who have already shoved numbers our way!), but to keep the momentum going we'll need YOU to find it within yourself to bring this book the attention it deserves. We have quite a few worthwhile incentives tied to each price level, some of which I'll be making sure I snag a copy of before they're gone, so make that hard for me to do and drop the coinage!

Alright, another night of little sleep at the 2dc abodes. Show up to Vincent's show if you're able, we'll be there!

Reminder: 2DC2011TCZF

Before the day draws too near, just one more reminder that the Twin Cities Zine Fest is occurring this Saturday, the 24th. With Lacey taking the reins for the first time, there are a few changes, all of which I'm (Justin) looking forward to: a later start time (Noon), a new location (Powderhorn Park building--3400 15th Ave. S.) and a little bit different approach to the scheduling (Lacey describes it as a three-ring circus). We'll have copies of Will Dinski's new mini The Old Guys on hand for the first time, not to mention the usual gaggle of 2dc books. I know a couple of 2dc cohorts (Eric Schuster, Anna Bongiovanni) will have new mini's debuting at the show as well, which only sweetens the pot. There are a few other cartoonists/distros/labels of note that will be there as well, but I'm going to leave it up to you to discover them yourselves between 12-5 this Saturday. 


Not 100% related, but I'm putting out the call for an unofficial after-party spot: Skoal Kodiak will be dropping their first load (records) release the very same night at the Eagle's Club in the Seward neighborhood. These boys don't disappoint and Load has its own history of putting out records by stellar cartoonists (Lightning Bolt--Brian Chippendale), so this sidetrack has come full circle.


No excuses, see you Saturday.

Dylan Williams, Publisher at Sparkplug Passes Away

I heard the news last night and I felt like I left my body. Going to sleep early and feeling alone, even with my wife sharing the bed. This morning it hit me pretty hard. I never knew Dylan as well I would have liked -- I would see him with Tom Neely at shows, have dinner with him on a few occasions, and we’d exchange emails from time to time. But I only had this rapport with him for little more than a year or two.

I’d try to inquire as to whether he would distro some of our books, chat him up about also being a vegan, and generally come off often as a tongue-tied pest. If he found any of my blathering and blatant hero-worship the least bit obnoxious, he didn’t show it. Instead, he would tolerate my silly behavior, took me up on attending MIX, answered my questions on running a tiny comics operation, etc. In short, he was a patient, modest person who I perceived as my late 20’s role model.

Just being around Dylan put me in mind of having or being an older brother (I am the oldest amongst my siblings so I can recall being on the other end -- in addition, my younger brother’s name is in fact Dillon). Anyways, as you can imagine, the usual awkwardness and fumbling that arises from these sort of scenarios. This was my relationship with Dylan and he was fine with my interactions very much coming off like a foal’s first steps.



Dylan was also aware of this effect he had on people -- we talked a bit about it at one point and he wasn’t always sure if people were genuinely trying to befriend him or merely trying to schmooze / network with him. He may have even been politely nudging me with this. In any case, Dylan was a true, ethical, hard working dude. He dared to publish comics no else had much interest in and to continue putting out many of them in the staple-bound format as comic books. It was no mistake that Sparkplug Comic Books had ‘comic books’ in the name.

Sparkplug was and is my favorite comics publisher and Dylan is the reason for that. I am deeply indebted to him for his openness, his example, for personally introducing me to awesome cartoonists like Noah Van Sciver, and just for being an honest and decent human being. He is sorely missed.

My heart goes out to Emily, the rest of his family & friends, and the comics community at large. We lost a great hero today.

Twin Cities Zine Fest 2011 is coming up!

Hello folks! In a few short weeks the Twin Cities Zine Fest will be upon us. The date to mark on the calender is this Sept. 24th, a Saturday. Noon to 5pm, Justin and maybe Nic Breutzman will be holding down the 2DC table. We will have the usual books, comics, mini's and maybe a couple new little things premiering at the show. We will see.

That image is the first part of a 3 pager that I submitted to TCZF -- they are going to have a How-To zine / comic encyclopedia / anthology thing involving everyone that is at the show! A pretty neat idea if you ask me.

I'll have another update tomorrow covering our fall line up, new books in the shop, and perhaps some other odds and ends. See yah then!