Hey EVERY/BODY, Little Heart gets a sequel!....and other 2DC updates.

We've some new NEWS pertaining to Little Heart. Gina Carchedi has become our Little Heart representative and advocate. She will be meeting with MN United and other marriage equality advocacy groups to discuss having them take over the distribution and selling of Little Heart directly, with 100% of the profits going to support these groups!! We're really excited and grateful to Gina for joining the team! We are also hopeful that some real progress is made on these efforts!!

While ownership of Little Heart may be moving into the hands of the groups actively fighting for the cause, there is what we've come to describe as a follow-up or sequel to Little Heart on the way, Every/Body, edited by Greer Lawson, which focuses on people as individuals by examining the topics of body and gender.

This project began as a part of Greer’s internship at 2D Cloud, where it grew rather quickly into something that is 100% Greer’s baby. She's in the process of self-publishing it via a Kickstarter / pre-order program, with 2D Cloud handling distribution upon its release, which is set for TCAF, May 11th-12th.

Contributors include MariNaomi, Annie Mok, Jim Rugg, Rob Kirby, Anna Bongiovanni, and many, many, others. For a better look at the project, please please check out their Kickstarter page, or visit some of the works showcased here.

Interested parties should act fast though, the Kickstarter ends in a handful of days!!


In other 2DC news:

At SPX last year we debuted Will Dinski's latest major work, Ablatio Penis. It's an interesting cocktail of politics, ethics, and how sex can get mixed up in it all in ways the reader can't always guess. This book was launched shortly after all that ugliness in Wisconsin involving governor Scott Walker and his attack on unions. As a nod to that, Dinski chose to have the comic printed at Johnson Litho, a union printer in Wisconsin. The image above is a new postcard we'll be disseminating to continue spreading the word about this great comic throughout the year.

In the future releases camp:

Chris Adams’ debut graphic novel, Strong Eye Contact will be debuting at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival this May. You can catch an extended peep of it and Chris’ work via the TCAF tumblr preview.

Noah Van Sciver & Nic Breutzman’s Deep in the Woods had it’s own Kickstarter pre-order late last year. Due to some production snafu’s, that newsprint broadsheet has been pushed back from spring to early summer. Folks that pre-ordered should be receiving their copies a little deeper into this spring, just prior to CAKE, where attendees will see it's official debut! 

And finally, Anna Bongiovanni, in addition to her painted contributions to Little Heart, turned in one of the lengthier works to Every/Body. Not only will you have a chance to see some new work from her this summer, but 2DC will be debuting her first book, Out of Hollow Water, at the Small Press Expo in September!

Stick with us as these and other projects develop (coughcough2dc2.0cough)

Thanks for reading,

xo!
-Raighne

LOCAL KICKSTARTER ARTISTS RECEPTION

Tomorrow night in Minneapolis, the Walker Art Center will host a Local Kickstarter Artists Reception, which will feature yours truly (raighne here). The event runs from 5pm-9pm, and in between, there will a Free Lecture with Kickstarter co-founder, Yancey Strickler. At the event, I will have copies of Motherlover and Little Heart. Of which, the later is on sale -- 50% OFF (now only 10$ a pop!).

photo by Noah or Robin or someone maybe?

The full list of creatives at the event are as follows: Patrick Burke, Ethan Soper, Ariah Fine, Dale Flattum, Ben Harkins, Caitlin Rae Hargatan (+Screen Printing on the Cheap), John Harris, Raighne Hogan (duh), Roxie Lubanovic, Gordon McAlpin, Joshua Nite, John Noltner, Leslie Ostrander, Matt Marka, Leo Padron, Matthew Plumstead, Carl Thompson

Pretty rad right? Hope to see yah there!

also, if youre on fb, here is a link to a little event page i set-up:

http://www.facebook.com/events/292321174212505/

Twin Cities Book Fest this SATURDAY

2dc is returning to the MN State Fairgrounds once again this weekend -- this time with Will Dinski repping / pimping / signing his latest and greatest, Ablatio Penis. Both Justin and I (Raighne) will be milling around the show floor and behind the table this time too. I'll be there when the doors open, and Justin will be there when they close, so if you like one of us more than the other, plan accordingly!

As it’s autumn out, we’ll have our fall colors surrounding AP -- expect to see Christopher Adams' 2dc debut comic Period as well as Justin's newest little inscrutable menace, RDCD Fist 1.5.

As always, the usual 2dc party favors will be on hand too, such as the on sale Little Heart (50% off!! just try and dodge that deal), the quiet beauty Startled Maggie, the wordless fable Things You Carry, the dirty Minnesotan flavors of Motherlover, Noah Van Sciver’s Ignatz nominated The Death of Elijah Lovejoy, and so on. So VISIT US already!! You won’t be disappointed, promise. 

FallCON12: Ablatio Penis, Prizon Food, Little Heart (on SALE), High Score

saturdaySATURDAYSATURDAY

At the State Fair Grounds in Minnesota, Will Dinski will have copies of his lastest comics masterpiece, Ablatio Penis, published by yours truly (2DC!) on hand for FALLCON, Minnesota's Comic Celebration!! SO, stop by his table and snag a copy, chat up the guy, will yah!?

copy of Ablatio Penis

Our pal, Ricky Schuster, of Prizon Food fame, will also be tabling at this weekend event. He'll have his usual 2DC published Prizon Food comics, PLUS some other 2DC titles like Little Heart, and High Score.

As a reminder, if you are new to Prizon Food -- buy 'em both together and you shave 2 bones off the asking price! Twice as nice!

Say, did I mention that Little Heart is 50% off leading up to the November election (also of note, this sale extends to retailers as well!)? Well, it is! It's a long-ish sale and a heck of a lot off the cover price -- we really want to continue the conversation as the elections draw near. In that line of thinking we also got a new web series for the book via our Little Heart tumblr that we are seeking submissions for. Please go check it out and submit something!

Lastly, we got this little antho, High-Score, about video games. Ties into Rusel DeMaria's big book of the same name (was a backer reward per his Kickstarter). Pretty rad!

They'll be plenty of friends and artists we adore at the show (Cannon Bros, Sam Hiti, Hannah Blumenreich, maybe Anna Bongiovanni -- heck, I don't KNOW!), so go there, wander around and see cool ship!

Little Heart review + new tumblrs

Yay! New review for Little Heart!

print for our Little Heart backers by Jeremy Sorese

“I’m happy to say that the variety of styles and point-of-views make that book a good tool to discuss the issue.” This from François Peneaud, writing over at Gay Comics List.

Thanks François!!

Thar he be, Jeremy Sorese!! Pic and Portrait of 'da artist

I say, HWAT -- HWAT else we got? Our mega-rad intern, Greer Lawson has put together a tumblr page for Little Heart. It’s currently linked to our Little Heart FB page (though the linking/re-posting doesn’t seem to be working sadly). On it, we got short and sweet interviews with a variety of Little Heart artists, LIKE the above Jeremy Sorese. Many others on there as well PLUS, press re-postings, AND, later in the month, Greer will begin serializing a NEW web comic there as well. 

Speaking of tumblr, we’ve begun our arduous migration of Itchy Keen over to tumblr. We kicked it off with an interview with Vincent Stall. Butter laight than nuhver. It’s still rather rough around the edges and more of a drawing blog by 2dc peeps -- BUTT -- we do have some plans for it. Oh yes. More on that later in the year.

FrameUps/Capstone Gallery Event + Little Heart & Arthur Turnkey reviews!

FrameUps/Capstone Gallery is hosting an event to support the efforts of Minnesotans United For All Families (www.mnunited.org). MNUnited is a coalition set up to support the freedom of marriage for committed couples. Their goal is to help defeat the proposed ammendment to the MN state constitution being voted on in the November 2012 election. 

Please join us for an evening to celebrate art and equality. Bid on a variety of work contributed by regional artists in our silent auction. Proceeds will go to MNUnited. Appetizers & refreshments will be provided courtesy of The LowBrow restaurant (www.thelowbrowmpls.com) and Anodyne Coffeehouse. 

Auction bidding starts at 6:00 and ends promptly at 8:30. Winners must be present at end of auction to pay for items won. 


Thursday July 19th
6pm - 9pmCapstone Gallery4325 Nicollet Ave SMinneapolis, MN 55409

Unfortunately, we won't be able to be on hand personally (day jobs), but we have donated 24 copies of Little Heart to this evenings event. Please consider checking it out and bringing some friends to the event!

Per the heading -- we've gotten our first 2 reviews of Little Heart recently! Below are 2 excerpts taken from the reviews. Both worth checking out the links.

"One of the great things about the book is its diversity; some pieces are in color, some in black and white, some are short and some are long, some offer traditional comics panels, some are more collage-y or use free-floating prose, some use straight text as a narrative tool, while some are much more open to interpretation. They’re all comics that show the great versatility of the medium, perhaps like the dynamic nature of human sexuality and relationships themselves. There isn’t a right or wrong way to do comics, they’re all valid. Maybe that’s too obvious an analogy for the comic book literati, but I think it works very effectively and is the underlying message in this project. It’s a great batch of comics, with an even greater mission. Grade A" 

--Justin Giampaoli of 13 Minutes and Poopsheet Foundation

"There's no question that it's a beautifully designed book, as all 2D Cloud projects tend to be, and I hope that it makes a difference." 

-- Rob Clough of High-Low and The Comics Journal

Over at Clogged, Jordan Kamin wrote up a nice review for the first issue of Arthur Turnkey! He says, "The art is crisp and fun and displays a visibly practiced hand, showcasing an effective yet playful feel." 

Noice!

Here is that trailer for the book again in case you somehow missed it. 

Post Stump // Pre Tea Calf 2012

This past weekend was Stumptown 2012. The last Stump show we attended was in 2010 and we had a total blast, so it was very disappointing that I was unable to be in attendance this time around (had to work the Art in Bloom event at the MIA). With that said, Vincent Stall (King Mini) had us covered as he was holding down the 2DC tent at said show. In addition to the usual 2DC wares, he was carrying some killer King Mini swag which included this short mini which continues his new stylistic approach to narratives (see & buy THINGS YOU CARRY!). Gorgeous, brooding work.

For everyone who stopped by our table and chatted up Vincent, our thanks! Double that for 2DC and Kini Mini purchasers!! A big and obvious thank you to Vincent as well!!

Stepping out of hump-day (well, I guess technically it is Thursday now) and into the future, Little Heart will be making it's big debut at TCAF this Saturday & Sunday! Woo! To help direct that laser pointer that is your wallet onto that book, I have been asked to be a part of a couple panels. 

The first one, taking place at the Pilot Tavern on Saturday at 3:15-4:15pm titled New, Exciting, and Queer will be moderated by Jose Villarrubia (this guy is my comics coloring hero!). Panelists include Maurice Vellekoop, Emily Carroll, Lucy Knisley, Ed Choy, and myself (raighne here!). 

The other panel I will be participating in is called Crowdfunding a Project. It will take place on Sunday on the first floor of the library itself from 1:15pm-2:45pm. Subject matter is pretty straightforward enough I imagine. Fellow panelists include Becky Dreistadt, Frank Gibson, Scott Campbell, Yuko Ota, and Evan Dahm. George Rohac is the moderator for this guy. I'm pretty pumped for these panels and I hope you can make it to both of 'em!

Tomorrow morning we will be getting a closer look at the books as we are (as usual) playing this all last minute like. Many-many heart attacks happening inside my 12 year old frame, believe you me!!

At our table (#137) we will have Ed Choy & Jeremy Sorese, both of whom had larger and longer narratives in Little Heart (and who are both über-talented and awesome). Each of them will be debuting a new book at the show as well (Araby and Curveball, respectively) . Obviously Justin and I will be at our table too. 

Elsewhere on that awesome little island of tables that we are at you can find our friends at La Mano/Spit and a Half sharing a table housing Zak Sally, John Porcellino, and the one and only Noah Van Sciver; Sparkplug Comic Books/i will destroy you will be represented by our pal Tom Neely along with Emily Nilsson; lastly, Dan Nadel from PictureBox will also be on the island -- tons of awesome all around!!!

Please stop by and buy books from our friends Anna Bongiovanni and Evan Palmer too. They are both mega-talented! You can find them on the 2nd floor. We'll have some news on a new book we are doing with Anna later in the year. Pretty excited for it.

Across from our island is kickass Koyama Press, their tables will be full of amazing artists like Maurice Vellekoop, Michael DeForge, Brian Fukushima, Dustin Harbin, Jesse Jacobs, Pat & Marek Tin Can Forest, and quite possibly many others, including kickass Annie herself!

Well, I am out of steam, gotta sleep and maybe dream. Hope to see yah at TCAF!!

2dc Blop Gost

Thought I'd start out this post by thanking everyone who helped make our recent trip down to chi-town memorable. Our gracious host, friend, and tireless zinefest co-organizer, Neil Brideau, can be found in the vid above putting forth some of his feelings on why zines matter to him. From what I observed that weekend, Neil seems to have unlimited energy and willingness to do whatever is in his power to make the fest a good experience for everyone. I remember being on the couch sleeping when I heard him come in around 1-2 a.m. after the zine olympics Friday night at Quimby's, only to be out the door again around 7ish for the fest at Columbia College. The guy's a machine! Anyway, thanks Neil and everyone who stopped by the 2dc table, we'll be back down in a couple of months for CAKE, which, from what I've heard thus far, should be off some sort of chain.

In further praise of near herculean feats, my co-publisher and crazyman extraordinaire, Raighne Hogan, along with a plethora of people too numerous to list here (don't want to risk leaving anyone out!) have all rallied together to make our first benefit anthology, Little Heart, a reality! Raighne and I had our misgivings as we departed for Chicago to attend CZF, as progress had stalled out for a few days at 46%, but the final week saw a very strong surge of support that helped push it over the top. When all was said and done, $9,779 was raised, which will be going into improving the book. Seeing how frazzled Raighne was becoming over making this kickstarter happen (part of why some people may not have seen him making the rounds at CZF this year, as he was taking it easy behind the table most of the day), I'm glad it wasn't for naught, as he really put a lot of himself into this book. Raighne will be providing more updates on the book soon, but for now a massive thanks to everyone who made this happen and you'll be seeing us at TCAF, where the book will debut!

Pornhounds 2 continues to accrue praise, this time from Daniel Elkin over at Comics Bulletin. In a very thoughtful review that touches on a lot of the prominent themes (and tosses in a Videodrome reference for bonus points), Daniel surmises: 

Pornhounds 2 is another incredible example of the possibilities of comics. It is a confessional, thoughtful, funny, and empowering story told by someone clearly in command of her craft. All the artists on the book contribute to the book's overall effect, adding emotional tones and focus that would not exist were this story presented in any other medium. It is a great comic book.

While PH2 is back in stock, Pornhounds 1 is out of stock again, so for those of you who have or are looking to order a copy, hold tight, more are on their way!

Raighne and I had the pleasure of chatting briefly with Matt Brady at CZF this year, who was gracious enough to have a go at two of our big releases from last year, Motherlover and Things You Carry. Vincent's book was a bit of a head scratcher for Matt, and understandably so. It's a fairly open-ended work, one that welcomes a wide range of interpretations, which for me is part of its appeal. Raighne and I have had the privilege of hearing Vincent talk about the book on numerous occasions, which has brought many insights to light that I would have otherwise missed. Even without the author's intent(s) rattling around in your head, I had fun reading this book and teasing out my own meaning before I ever heard Vincent talk about it. Despite the bouts of confusion on Matt's end, the quote below encapsulates what he took away from the book:

It's weird stuff, but it's pretty gorgeously drawn, with chunky ink lines marking out all the jumbled details of wrecked buildings, clouds that seem to be alive billowing through the scenery, stacks of oddly orderly piles of papers, and what might be an even more apocalyptic ending. This is weird shit, but I dig it. Maybe someday somebody can explain it to me, but I'll be enjoying the mental imagery it provides whether that ever happens or not.

Moving on to Motherlover, Matt wasn't exactly sold on this book, but "...while it's not necessarily something I would seek out, I'm glad I read it, just to get a feel for what kind of comics they make." I can see where he was coming from with how this book struck him, but how he took it was sort of the point. This is a book that explores the ennui and confusion of youth in multiple ways, which doesn't always make for pleasant reading. Raighne and myself are drawn to these kinds of stories and cartooning styles, as they resonate with both of us in ways we don't find a lot of, at least locally, and this book was our way of adding that dimension to the collective voice of the Minneapolis scene, for better or worse. But enough defense, to each his own, and thanks Matt for taking the time to put some thoughts down on both books for us. Better to elicit a less favorable reaction than no reaction at all!

Check back here in a few weeks for more on 2dc's April events: Stumptown with Vincent/King Mini Stall and a one of a kind release party for Prizon Food vol. 2!

2dc road hitting: part 1

With MIX firmly behind us and Raighne in the midst of getting Little Heart off the ground (look to your right), we thought we'd take a moment (or several) to give a little rundown of the whats, whoms, wheres, and whens for 2dc in the first half of twentytwelve.

First up will be Chicago Zine Fest, running March 9-10. Raighne and I will both be making the trek, where we'll be debuting a zine we pulled together in December 2011 and into January of 2012, Brothersister (cover at left). Our donators to the Motherlover Kickstarter are receiving advance copies, as this was made with that set in mind, but it was a fun little project to put together and it has a good sampling of work from both 2dc veterans as well as talents fresh to our pages. CZF was good to 2dc last year, so I suspect we'll see a repeat this year!

The next leg of our tour will see us out in Portland for Stumptown, running April 28-29. While Raighne, myself, and our better halves had one of our best out of town shows at Stumptown 2010, we're unfortunately going to have to miss this year's show. In our stead will be Vincent 'King Mini' Stall, who will be there to promote his new book published by 2dc back in November, Things You Carry, as well as make available the rest of the 2dc catalog.  If you're lucky, you may see some of Vincent's stellar mini's and prints hanging out with the old 2dc standby's as well. While we're bummed we won't be able to attend, we're very happy and fortunate to have Vincent representing us out there and know we're in good hands with him behind the table. 

May will see Raighne and I (Justin here, BTW), on the road again, but this time out to Toronto for TCAF (5/5-6)! We did this show back in 2009 and while we were still in the throes of some notable growing pains, the show itself and the city of Toronto were hard to top. If all goes to plan, we will be debuting Little Heart at the show:

Joining us at the 2dc table will be Ed Choy and Jeremy Sorese, both of which have lengthier contributions in Little Heart. Ed is one of the oldest 2dc artists outside of the original trifecta of Raighne/Meghan/Me that we still work with and we're glad to have him along. In addition to his 2dc work, Ed will have a couple of his own mini's at the show, one of which will be new! Jeremy was introduced to Raighne at MIX by the great Annie Koyama (who we're excited to see again!), and we were quickly impressed with his great color sense and dynamic compositions. Having him in Little Heart was definitely a boost and we welcome his presence at our table as well. A few other Canucks of note will be residing between the covers of Little Heart: Maurice Vellekoop, Michael Deforge, Kate Craig + Emily Carroll, and a foreword penned by Chris Butcher. All five bring various strengths to the book and we're very lucky to have them be a part of it. One side-note: Anna Bongiovanni will be found across the border this weekend as well, slinging her newest mini, The Offering, along with her other great prints and mini's, so track her down and help make her trip even more worthwhile!

*catching breath*...okay. A few weeks after returning home Raighne and I will be tag-teaming one of our old local favorites, Springcon! I'll be the guy to see on day one, while Raighne will be there with manic laughter and mustache in tow for day two. Nothing is set yet, but chances are this will be the first proper show you'll be able to pick up Prizon Food 2:

Details on a special release party for this guy are forthcoming, as Party Food has got something in the works. Check back here in April for more...

We've got about a month before we're back in Chi-town (6/16-17), this time for CAKE, otherwise known as the Chicago Alternative Komics/Komix/Komex Expo! Lots of people from our neck of the woods should be in attendance: Zak Sally, Nic Breutzman, Vincent Stall, Anna Bongiovanni all are confirmed, but I'm sure I'm forgetting more than a couple. 2dc OG Meghan Hogan will be there to debut the first in her new series of mini's titled Startled Maggie. Meghan always 'brings it' in ways we don't typically see in most comics, so I know both Raighne and I are looking forward to seeing what surfaces come June.

Alright, thanks for sticking it out if you're still reading, we have plenty of shows and books still in the pipeline for part 2 of twentytwelve, some which there have been murmurings of for a while now, others which only a select few are privy to. Trust me, you'll want to be checking in, more than a couple of surprises on the way...

Valentine's Day, Little Hearts, and Pornhounds too

Welp, happy Valentines day folks! If you are looking for something fitting to get that special someone, I have 2 recommendation for yah.

1: Why not pre-order a comic anthology on marriage equality? This vid/montage is for Little Heart, a kickstarter project that happens to be another one that I am involved with. The project itself was created in partnership with local non-profit [MN]Love. Their creative director, Simon Stromberg got that ball rolling for this project to happen. Music is by the multi talented Dan Moyer.

2: Why not pick up a copy of Pornhounds 2 by the brilliant Sharon Lintz and various artists, including killer work by 2DC favorite Nic Breutzman. Say, did I mention that Pornhounds 2 made it into the Top 15 Comics of 2011 over on High-Low via Rob Clough? Well, it did. Nice! You can pick that book up in the shop, just scroll down a bit.

Some of our fav cartoonists are on that same list: Noah Van Sciver, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, Julia Gfrörer, Tessa Brunton and many other amazing cartoonists -- go check it out yourself!

Anna Bongiovanni had her self-published comic, The Offering recently reviewed over at 13 minutes. From the review:  "I like to imagine The Offering as a softer version of Julia Gfrorer’s Flesh & Bone, which was one of the best books I read last year. It has that same sort of flickering line weight, this rustic quality that reverberates with kinetic potential."  -- Justin Giampaoli

In the fall we will be publishing Out of Hollow Water by Anna Bongiovanni, which will collect some of her past work and some new stuff as well. Really really excited for that book!