Things You Carry @ BCGF + New Books in 'da Shop!

If you're headed to the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest (and really why would you not be? unless of course you live thousands of miles away...), Santa comes early. Instead of cookies, bring cash-money's for gorgeous comic goodness. While we at 2DC will not be there, our compatriots at La Mano 21 and Uncivilized Books will be there representin'. Swag.

And speaking of Uncivilized, Tom K. will have Vincent "King Mini" Stall's latest and longest comic narrative at the show -- you know that awesome book pictured that we published last month, yep, that's the one! So please stop on by the table with Tom K, Zak Sally, and Gabrielle Bell behind it -- buy their books and Things You Carry!!

Oh and a small note on the snappily dressed chap -- (yep, that's a-me) Tom K, over at Uncivilized has some cool tee's featuring the 'caveman' logo and the one for True Swamp -- very metal! That's what I am modeling. I was going for that sexy underpants look as seen in those american apparel ads. Yeah, maybe not so sexy. Sorry Tom!

Using sex as a jumping off point -- we have 6 new items in the shop! The list includes the aforementioned Things You Carry, Motherlover, Arthur Turnkey Vol. 1, Prizon Food Vol.1 and two books of which have Pornhounds in the title. Those latter two are self published by Sharon Lintz -- who is awesome! They are all top notch books, so go check 'em out! 

A couple more quick notes: the two mini's, Prizon Food and Arthur Turnkey are in very limited supply but they will be getting re-printed very very soon! And for all the awesome folks that are waiting on their copy of Motherlover and other thank you gifts for throwing down the green during our kickstarter -- it's on the way. We are putting together some very cool extra special items! I think y'all will be pleased!

2D Noah Van Sciver

Photo by Tom K

"Noah Van Sciver was frozen in this position for the entirety of Spring Con. Raighne & Justin thought that was funny. Weird Funny. Not haha funny." --Tom K's Flickr page.

Spring Con 2011 was a lot of fun-- more so than I would have expected for a non-alternative/indie/art show. Part of that fun came from the excellent company of one Noah Van Sciver. We hosted that fella and premiered his book at the show. A big shout out to Zak Sally for the printing-hell to get it done in time for Spring Con. It's a beautiful little book and I am certainly proud of it. While at the show and shortly thereafter it's made some noise here in MN via a review by local cartoonist Alexander Fukui, and a brief interview with the nice chaps over at the Geek Report. Included in the interview/Spring Con post is Lars Martinson and the North Star Roller Girls.

Photo by Will Dinski

Speaking of The Death of Elijah Lovejoy, it is now available to order from the shop. So, head on over there and pick it up!

Also at our table we had Nic Breutzman, who drove up from Rochester MN on Sat. He is in the process of moving back to the cities. He has quite a load of work coming out the second half of the year. Keep a look out for it, 'kay? Other 2DC regulars included Justin, my wife Meghan and myself. We kept the table and a half stocked with people and books. Thanks to all who stopped by and chatted us up!!

I am sure everybody's done hearing about how the rapture/end of the world scenario did not happen this weekend, but we did get some heavy rain and a tornado dropped down in North Minneapolis and made a mess of things. That was a little worrisome...

Photo by Tom K

One grave error that I made during the duration of the show was forgetting to bring cash, thus I ended up staying put and not tempting myself with books I could not buy. Which was sad as I wanted to check out lots-o-stuff. And I opted to not use an ATM as I HATE doing that. Little did I know I would end up having to do that at Matt's Bar in South Minneapolis as Justin, Noah, Tom K. and myself had lunch there AND they do not accept plastic. I really should have known better. No matter.

Photo by Tom K

On monday I stopped at Big Brain and picked up 21 by Wilfred Santiago, Evolution by Kevin and Zander Cannon of Big Time Attic, True Swamp 01 by Jon Lewis, Book of Logo's by Dan Wieken.

Oh, and if you happen to stop over at Itchy Keen in the next week or two, my apologies-- it's in the middle of a redesign.  

TCJ's Top 25 Minis of 2010: 2D Cloud makes the cut

!!!!

The last book in the Good Minnesotan series, GMN4, makes it into The Comics Journal's Top 25 Minis of 2010. Hoo-haa, heady company we is in -- landing in the #2 spot, as decreed by indie comics maven Rob Clough feels, I don't know, nice. I worked my beard and bum off on that issue, so thanks much to Rob for digging into and appreciating the work. But don't take my word for it -- go check out the article! Fellow Minnesotans (past and present) like Tom K, Toby Jones, Ed Choy Moorman, and Nic Breutzman, not to mention our newest 2D Cloud artist, Noah Van Sciver, all made the list for their own releases over the past year as well. Congrats to them, and keep an eye on the future releases page as you're likely to see some, if not all of these great cartoonists in new 2D Cloud books in the future.

A big thanks to our contribs/supporters as well. You know, I still have yet to finish binding all 500 copies of GMN4. Ugh. Gotta get back to that prior to SpringCon!

Kickstarter goal toppled! La Mano 2nd Annual Report report! GMN4 Filed Under Other!

Ah summer, a time of cervezas, unchecked turpitude, and the inevitable fallout known as August. Guess no one told us summer has arrived, because 2D Cloud has been too busy pestering our friends (that's you) and loved ones (that's probably you) about this little project known as Good Minnesotan 4. Raighne slaved over this gem of a anthology earlier this spring and has just about rallied the last of our new troops into what will be our finest hour as promoters of local comics/sequential artists.
 Check it:      +$110 (Non-internet monies)= an astounding collection of cartoonists/artists who are just mere weeks away from being gathered together within the snug confines of ink-slathered elephant poop paper! Thanks so much to everyone who threw down some money, especially in these times of broketude to help us fund this thing. We are beyond grateful and we hope you enjoy the gifts that will be making their way into your hands in the coming weeks. Now comes the fun part for us, nailing down who is printing this (as of now the covers will be going to the Lab and the comics will likely be printed under the watchful eye of the masterful Tom K. of Mome/Uncivilized Books fame) and then getting these guys assembled in time for MIX! Can't wait to see this thing fully grown. Doing these anthologies over the past three years has been great and we hope people enjoy this final installment as much as I know we have and will. A side note: although we didn't raise double the goal amount, we will still be aiming to print twice the projected copies, meaning 500 instead of 250!


To segue ungracefully to last weekend, thanks to Zak Sally for his gracious invite to be a part of his 2nd Annual Report (can't help but think of the Throbbing Gristle record of the same name every time I hear this title, hope it was a reference). It was fun sharing horizontal door space with Tom K. and Camden/Cole's noise ephemera while sweating to the faint hum of aged arcade machines. Was definitely a memorable summer show, we hope to do it again if Zak will have us.


Rounding off a week of greatness for 2D Cloud was another shot in the arm from our staunch supporter and discerning comics connoisseur Shannon Smith on his minicomics blog File Under Other. As usual, Shannon doesn't hesitate to surround us with impressive company in his reviews of our anthologies, as evidenced by lines like:


Like Kramers Ergot or Mome, Good Minnesotan is a really good snapshot of the state of alt comics at the moment of production.  But unlike Kramers or Mome the product has a much more home made feel.


Although I typically feel a little sheepish putting our books in league with these captains of industry, I do feel our final issue reaches as close to the lofty standards those books set than any of our prior anthologies. Thanks as always to Shannon and best of luck with the book he just edited, Shiot Crock Sixteen!


And finally, I, Justin Skarhus, will hopefully be making semi-regular appearances on this and the Itchykeen Art Fiends blog from here on out, as I'm now along with Raighne the co-publisher of 2D Cloud. I've been working with Raighne on comics we never made since we were in high school and I'm looking forward to our 'formal' partnership at the helm of 2D Cloud. Look for 2D Cloud as repped by Shaun Feltz at the Caffetto Craft Fair on Sunday!

La Mano 2nd Annual Report + awesome but mostly unrelated note

This Saturday, starting at 5pm is Zak Sally's La Mano 2nd Annual report. It's an awesome-strange combination of a comic/zine/art fair, music show and benefit, all wrapped into one with a side order of fries, er, fun!  The place to be is:

Eclipse Records
1922 University Ave. W.
Saint Paul MN

The musical acts are as follows (though, not in this order):

CAMDEN (Cole from Daughters Of The Sun project)
PINK TEETH (me and Tooth making a racket)
NOSE QUEAN ANT (newly reconstituted)
TUNNELER (a couple guys from Moonstone doing "a hair metal project about drills", whatever the hell that means...)
MARIJUANA DEATH SQUAD
ARCTIC UNIVERSE
and
GAY WITCH ABORTION

Also, there is a door fee of $6. With that door fee you get a $6 discount off select La Mano books. Other cartoonists selling their wares include Zak Sally/La Mano, Tom K, Maddie Queripel (?), Vincent Stall(?) and a few 2D Cloud folks (of course!). I should mention that I am not really sure who all is attending the fest to sell their comix and the like. I apologize if I forgot anyone or if folks listed above are actually, you know, not in attendance. Not 100% sure...

Here is a clip from last year's event:



Also of awesome note:  Sean Lynch and Mako Homura got hitched!  Congrats you two love birds, sorry we missed yah!