When Lutefisk Attacks

The scene at AE last night was nothing short of bizarre. I walked in the door to find my friends buried under sinister-looking boxes. Here they are congregating in every available corner.

We quickly realized that the boxes could be subdued with magical glasses. See how they cower? It’s a pity we couldn’t subdue them before they got to the victim in the upper right corner. You’ll be remembered, whoever you were.

But as soon as I stupidly set my glasses down, an angry box jumped up and punched me in the gut, while the others lined up behind me with their mouths open.

This is the last thing I saw before they ganged up on me and took turns biting my toes.

Danno’s quick thinking save me. “Yessss, masssters should be eating. Masssters need to keep up their strength.” The comics he shoved into their maws seemed to keep them happy.

And luckily, there were hundreds more lying around the gallery.

Everybody sprang into action. Here are Britt, Steve, Bud, and Mike T feeding comics to the greedy little boxes.

Once all the boxes were in food comas, a pair of magic glasses was placed in each one, to keep them from getting riled up again.

Ryan taunts one of the now-helpless boxes.

Now that Ryan has shown them who the pack leaders are, the boxes seem kinda cute and submissive. Bud, Danno, and Britt decide to keep some as pets. I hope they’re housebroken.

But just to be on the safe side, the rest of the boxes have been kenneled.

If you’d like to adopt one, come to the opening on August 6th. For more info check out the official LSD website or the Facebook event page

 

ItchyKeen Art Fiends

Raighne Hogan of 2D Cloud has started a new blog for art theory, news, and thoughts. Check out the interviews with Good Minnesotan 4 contributors, myself included. He has also posted samples of all our work, so you can get a little preview of GM4.

And once again, check out the Kickstarter page for GM4.

 

Bantam is really, totally done now.

Well, I’m done collating Bantam. Here is a photo of what my basement looks like right now. You can see what the finished minicomic looks like, and you can also see what the coffee table looks like when we’re not expecting company–those magazines, books, and art supplies are not part of the collating process. They just live there.

I don’t recommend collating 200 copies of a 20 page book while sitting on the floor. After sitting in the same spot for several hours, my back hurt a lot. It was hard to bend over this morning. I don’t normally get back pain from working on the floor, but all these comics took up so much space that I couldn’t really stretch out at all. Would have worked on the table more, but I didn’t feel like evicting all the books, art supplies, remote controls, etc.

Here are some concept sketches. The first one is covered with notes I jotted down while still in brainstorming phase.

 

Anthologies

My work will be appearing in a couple anthologies this summer.
The first is Shiot Crock 16, edited by my pal Shannon Smith. You can read more about it and see the pretty cover art right here at his blog. The book is currently available Crooked Finger Press.

Secondly, my work will also be in 2D Cloud’s Good Minnesotan 4, which is scheduled to be officially released at MIX. There is going to be some really amazing and inventive work in it…if it can get enough funding!

Raighne and Megan Hogan of 2D Cloud are raising funds on Kickstart. You can see images from GM4 by watching the video on Kickstart, or by clicking here. If you like what you see, please consider donating some cash to this project.

 

Cigar Maker Gets Best Review Possible

I’m a little late posting this amazing writeup from Small Press Reviews, but I’m posting it anyway because it makes me so happy.

The reviewer says the nicest things imaginable:

Indeed, “epic” is perhaps the best word to describe this dense and moving novel, for it has both the multigenerational sweep of works like John Steinbeck’s East of Eden and the social awareness of John Dos Passos’ USA Trilogy. All of this is to say that for his sophomore literary outing, McGinty has done nothing short of producing the great American novel.

And on that note, I managed to work a Cigar Maker reference into Bantam, my Lutefisk Sushi D comic. Here’s a sneak peek:

Bantam will be available in the Lutefisk Sushi D box set this August.
The Cigar Maker is available to order online here.

 

Sushi comic finished.

Done drawing, done touching up. I only got 2 hours of sleep last night, but it feels good to finish by the deadline. Here’s the cover. My comic is a Batman parody, so I parodied the first Batman cover!

I might make it 3-D…but I may not have time to do that, and really, I don’t know what I’m doing anyway.

 

Lutefisk Sushi D deadline approaching

Hey, HOLY CRAP the deadline is 5 days away!

Minnesota artists, don’t forget to submit work to this show! It’s always a lot of fun, and this tine it will be more fun than ever because it will coincide with Minneapolis Indie Expo!

For more info, check out the sushi website–just click “How to Make a Mini-Comic” for helpful advice and submission info.

 

Turf Club

I’ve posted a new sketch to the Urban Sketchers Twin Cities blog. It is the bar at The Turf Club in St. Paul, which has the most awesome woodwork. It’s just pencil and ink–no color wash or anything–so it doesn’t capture the warmth of the wood, but it gives some idea of the size and weight of the thing.

Click here: http://urbansketchers-twincities.blogspot.com/2010/05/turf-club.html

 

Glowing review of the Cigar Maker

Reviews of Mark Carlos McGinty’s The Cigar Maker are already rollin’ in. Here’s a new one: Yay, this person loved the book!

Mark has more blurbs on his website.

If you’re in the Twin Cities or the Tampa area, follow this link for info on the Art-A-Whirl release in Minneapolis, and the Tampa Bay History Center reception.

People who live elsewhere can order here.

 

Cigar Maker Merch

I’ve added some Cigar Maker shirts and other cositas to my Zazzle store.