I’m very much looking forward to being at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival in Williamsburg, this weekend. This is the third year of the show, and the first time I’ve been sitting behind a table, which is nice. I’ll be at the Secret Acres Corral, between The Koyama Press Pavillion and the Drawn & Quarterly MegaDome. Lots of other Secret Acres artists are going to be at the show too, including, I believe, John Brodowski, who is debuting a new book. I loved his first graphic novel, Curio Cabinet, so am really interested to see his new work.

This Friday, November 18, 6:30-7:30 PM
Midtown Comics Downtown
64 Fulton St
New York, New York

More information here.

Hope to see you!

I’m back from the Minneapolis Indie Xpo, and in keeping with tradition here at Mike Dawson Comics, I have almost no pictures to show for it. I’m going to post what little I’ve got, and assume that some of the other cartoonists who were there this weekend will pick up some of the slack.

I’m thinking about one event in particular, where a group of us all went over to Zak Sally’s studio to see his printing press. That woulda’ been a good time to take out my iPhone. But, I never got it together. I saw other folks snapping photos though, so I’m sure the event will get covered elsewhere.

Here’s what I have!

This is a photo taken from my point of view at the airport gate in New York with a box of Troop 142′s sitting in my lap. See, another thing I never get on the ball about is shipping my books to the show ahead of time. So, my solution is to always stuff a large suitcase with as many books as possible, and just bring the bare minimum’s worth of other items, such as say, clothes and toothpaste and that sort of stuff.

With MIX and also APE, my suitcase weighed about 80lbs. Different airlines have different rules about baggage. I flew Virgin America out to APE, and the nice lady at the check-in desk gave me a break on my heavy bags, and just charged me a $25 additional bag fee. I flew Delta to MIX this past weekend, and their approach to luggage is to charge you 25 bucks just to bring anything at all. When I heaved my suitcase onto the scales at Delta, they basically said I could pay $100 in a heavy-baggage fine, or lighten up the suitcase. Thus, the photo of me sitting with a box of Troop 142 graphic novels on my lap, treating it as a carry-on item.

I guess truthfully, once I was on the plane it wasn’t so bad, because I just shoved it in the overhead, but it was definitely a pain as I waited in the loooooong security line…

The above three pictures were taken at the Friday night show pre-party. In picture one, that’s Jim Rugg and Dustin Harbin, in picture two we have AdHouse head-honcho Chris Pitzer and his lovely wife, and in picture three we see Grimalkin Press publisher, Jordan Shiveley, and rival comics podcaster and cartoonist, Rina Ayuyang. Well composed photos, one and all.

I never really sell full pages of original art, but this year I’ve been bringing a little Apple-Jacks binder filled with small images and scraps from comics. You can see, there are panels from my Ace-Face book there, as well as odds and ends from Troop 142. I think a couple of those visible there are panels that did not actually make it into the book.

Anyway, it’s nice to have a little something for people to pick through, and a way for me to make a few extra dollars, but my word of advice is to not use an Apple-Jacks binder to display such stuff, but rather to invest in an actual real-binder thing with plastic sleeves that can be turned and easily flipped through. It’s just tough for people to pick through the pile when it’s all stacked all higgedly-piggedly like I have it here. It might be a passive-aggressive I-don’t-really-want-to-sell-original-art thing on my part, because not selling much of it is surely the outcome!

Julia Wertz gave me an elephant cookie! That is some heavily applied frosting right there…

View from my Table 1: That’s Top Shelf’s own Brett Warnock talking with cartoonist and upstart publisher, Tom Kaczynski.

View from my Table 2: Tom is giving Kevin Huizenga the hard sell.

Tom K. is a Minneapolis native, and generously allowed me, Kevin, and fellow Secret Acres artist Eamon Espey (not pictured) to crash at his place. There were a number of other groups of cartooning friends also staying nearby, so the evenings were these great gatherings of funny, interesting people. I think one of my favorite things about MIX being a smaller show, was that it was easy to talk to all the people you wanted to talk to, and actually feel like you had a good amount of time together, as opposed to a show like SPX or MoCCA, where it feels like you barely spend four or five minutes in conversation with people you really enjoy talking to, and even then realize after the fact that there were a ton of people you didn’t even say “hello” to at all. MIX was a much better pace, socially. I mean, that’s from my point of view. Maybe all those other cartoonists are going to write con-reports that say stuff like “one downside to MIX being so small is that it was impossible to get away from notorious comics-chatterbox, Mike Dawson”. We’ll see.

I ate some of the cookie! Yes, that sure is some generously applied frosting, indeed.

This food truck outside had the most delicious vegetarian curry, which I ate for lunch both days. It was pretty much the perfect savory food to eat after consuming ten pounds of sugary elephant cookie frosting…

And finally, here’s a photo of the live TCJ Talkies podcast I recorded on Sunday morning. It was a spotlight on cartoonists Noah Van Sciver and MariNaomi. I think it went well. I listened back to the audio recording, and I think a combination of my nerves and the chilliness of the Soap Factory at 10AM (note the woolly Jets cap atop my head) made me a little manic, so we moved through an hour’s worth of questions at a clip which kept the panel under 45 minutes, but I think that was alright. There were a lot of laughs, and I think some interesting back and forth between Noah and Mari. I think it went well, and will of course eventually post the audio recording.

So, that’s really all I have. It was a great weekend. I sold a lot of comics, and came away from it amped up to get back to work, which is always the best outcome you can ask for. Here’s hoping MIX comes back in 2012!

I am back from the big Alternative Press Expo in sunny (yet unexpectedly chilly) San Francisco, and in keeping with tradition, I didn’t take pictures of anything, despite seeing plenty.

A few notes:

I really liked flying Virgin America. The plane felt new and safe, and they have these purple lights and a dimly lit cabin that make you feel like you’re just chilling at a particularly cramped nightclub, rather than hurtling through the air at 600 mph, in defiance of God and nature. I used to be a terrible on planes, but have gotten better in recent years. I tense up during take-off, but have finally learned to relax during the rest of the flight.

My one concern was the fact that also on my flight out there, was the incredibly talented and popular cartoonist, Kate Beaton. I always get a little concerned when flying with other cartoonists, because I worry about how the inevitable Beat headline would be written should our plane go down. With Kate on the plane, it would be no contest: Cartooning Superstar Perishes in Fiery Plane Crash! Aspiring Comics Podcaster also rumored to have been on board. Thank goodness we made it there in one piece.

On Saturday I was one of four guests slated to appear on the Comix Claptrap LIVE panel. I was up first, and participated in some mostly friendly, but pretty-well borderline insulting-to-me banter with the hosts, and then my 10 minutes were up and I was asked to slide down “the couch” while they called up guest number two. Here’s a photo I took of Scott Campbell getting the Claptrap Treatment.

It was a lot like being at a long table at a restaurant, with the feeling that all the good conversation was happening at the other end.

I didn’t really pack enough clothes (I think because I was too preoccupied with packing heavy boxes of books), so on Day One I bought a t-shirt from someone at the con. On Day Two, I wore it to the show. Here I am in it. I am pretty sure some of the aliens on the shirt have testicles visible, which I didn’t notice when I purchased it. I don’t think this will stop me from wearing the shirt again, but it will probably always be known to me as my Alien Balls shirt from now on.

Finally, what did I pick up at the show? I will probably post a photo of my “haul” at a later date – but I can tell you I got some great comics from Adrian Tomine, MariNaomi, Noah Van Sciver, Tessa Brunton, Ethan Rilly, Susie Cagle, Joey Allison Sayers, Levon Jihanian, and a bunch more.

However, my favorite thing that I bought might be this:

People say that APE is a show with more support for Arts & Crafts than other conventions, and I think this is true. A lot of tables have artists selling only prints, or posters, or handmade t-shirts, or toys. Buttons, postcards, paintings, and drawings. I think a show like SPX is a little more exclusively comics-focused, where at APE the lines are a little looser. I don’t really mind this at all, because one of my favorite things to pick up at conventions are strange little hand-made things that I can get for cheap and put up on the wall. I love this little mounted Yeti head. The only thing I have to decide now is if it’s better placed in my daughter’s room, or can this be something for the living room. Decisions, decisions…

Thanks to David King for the sweet animated gif at the top of the post.

Things have been real busy with me since returning from the Small Press Expo earlier this month, as I set off on a whirlwind tour of my ancestral homeland (Scotland) with my family, which had me “off the grid” for quite some time. The pic above was taken on the Isle of Skye. See how healthy and not-chained-to-the-internet my daughter and I look. You can practically smell the crisp air and savory outdoors-ness. It was seriously great.

I didn’t do any drawing or writing or anything while I was gone, but that was OK, as I think I needed to just recharge my batteries a bit anyhow. I am not sure if they’re totally back at full power yet – I still haven’t had a chance to sit down at the drawing table since my return – so we’ll see. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do next (I think) and I’m starting to feel amped once again.

But enough chit-chat, on with the announcements: This weekend I will be at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. I’ll be representing Secret Acres, and will have all their fine books on hand, as well as copies of Troop 142 and old Heroclix figurines, of course. Here’s what the floor plan looks like:

On Saturday I’ll be appearing on this panel:

2:00 The Comix Claptrap . . . LIVE! – Co-hosts Rina Ayuyang and Thien Pham record an episode of their enlightening, riotous, and controversial podcast, The Comix Claptrap LIVE at APE! For four seasons, Rina and Thien have interviewed comics artists in the indie comics scene about their work, creative processes, and experiences in the industry. Each show has included New Comics Wednesday beat reportage from fellow cartoonist Josh Frankel, and new favorite segment, The Comix Cranktrap, where they crank-call a well-known cartoonist listed in their Rolodex. Also featured on the panel: Mike Dawson, Scott Campbell, Levon Jihanian, and Esther Pearl Watson. This panel promises to be total mayhem!

I’m looking forward to this. As everyone knows, I am a generally nice fellow, considered quite genial by many. However, for some reason this upstart podcast called The Comix Claptrap has historically been (what some might consider) unfriendly towards me and my own podcasts. In their most recent episode they call the incredibly talented Laura Park to task for the offense of appearing on The Ink Panthers instead of their show, as if TIPS wasn’t up-to-snuff enough for her to come on. Not nice guys, not nice at all…

So, perhaps some of that will come up, but hopefully we’ll talk about Troop 142 as well.

Anyway, hope to see some of you there!

The release party is over, which means Troop 142 is essentially out now. I believe amazon orders will start shipping now, and hopefully the book will start making it’s way into finer comic stores within the next few weeks. Be on the lookout!

A couple of reviews of the book have started trickling out onto the internet. Here’s one by Greg McElhatton, and here’s one posted at Paste Magazine.

This weekend, September 10th and 11th, I will be appearing at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda (Rockville?), Maryland. I’ll be curled up at the Secret Acres booth pretty much the whole time, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find me. There’ll be plenty of books.

I am also participating in two panels over the weekend:

On Saturday, at 4:30PM, in the Brookside Conference room, I’ll be moderating Alex Robinson: Ten Years of Box Office Poison

Over the last several years, Alex Robinson has produced Tricked, A Kidnapped Santa Claus, and Too Cool to Be Forgotten, among other books, but his first major work was the 600 page graphic novel Box Office Poison, originally serialized in comic book format and collected in 2001. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of his debut book, Robinson will discuss his career with his Ink Panthers podcast co-host, cartoonist Mike Dawson.

On Sunday, at 1:30PM, in the same room, I’ll be appearing as one of the panelists in this discussion: Navigating the Contemporary Publishing Landscape

In the early 2000s, corporate publishers nearly raced to acquire graphic novels. Now, as the mainstream publishing industry faces severe contractions and as online media assumes many traditional functions of publishing, cartoonists face a rapidly changing publishing landscape, one that includes a resurgent small press. Johanna Draper Carlson will speak with Domitille Collardey, Mike Dawson, Meredith Gran, Roger Langridge and Julia Wertz about publishing options today.

I plan on bringing my little shiny pink MP3 recorder to both panels, so if you miss them, they may appear online at some point down the line. But don’t miss them! Come on out. I am sure they’ll both be better live and in person.

Speaking of me speaking about myself, please take a half-hour to read through this in-depth interview with me over at The Comics Journal. Thanks to Rob Clough for doing it with me. I don’t think I’ve ever publicly discussed a lot of things in there, especially about the early part of my career. It was really great to be able to talk about all of that, and just incredible to be interviewed by TCJ at all. I think if you read the interview, you’ll understand just how long I’ve been a comics fan, and what a big deal it is for me to get the spotlight treatment here.

I think that’s all. I hope to see you all this weekend!

Here are the pics that were taken with my phone camera:

A brand new comic posted this morning: a short story about a working mother who has a secret. Read the full thing here.

And, a reminder: The Troop 142 book release party is going to be held this Friday, September 2nd at Bergen Street Comics in Park Slope, from 8-11PM. The event is open to the public, so please come on out. There’ll be drinks, good times, and advance copies of the book. Troop 142 officially debuts at the Small Press Expo in Bethseda, Maryland, on September 10th which I will be attending.

Click to make bigger

Reminder: The Troop 142 book release party is going to be held on Friday, September 2nd at Bergen Street Comics in Park Slope, from 8-11PM. The event is open to the public, so please come on out. There’ll be drinks and good times.

Also, I should note, the book won’t be available in stores until sometime later in the month. It officially debuts at SPX on September 10th, so the release party is a good opportunity to get a copy early. I’ll also be signing and sketching in them. I’ve got this idea for special book-plate sketches, which I’ll post about later this week.

Expect some drum-beating around this for the next couple of weeks. The book officially debuts at SPX, but will be available a week early at Bergen Street Comics, on Friday September 2nd. Bergen Street is located in Park Slope Brooklyn, it’s a fantastic comic book store, which has hosted a couple of comics and Ink Panthers events with me in the past. Please, come on out!

Daniel Spottswood, John Kerschbaum, and Mike Lapinski joined us in the Mobile Panther Lair as we recorded a live episode of the podcast. Seeing’s as we were recording at the MoCCA Arts Festival, we made a conscious attempt to keep things comics-focused. Topics include: Conventions. What is the Point of Them?; Biggest Professional Regrets; Best Convention Celebrity Encounters; and more! Thanks again to Daniel, John, and Mike for joining us, and thanks to everyone who came out to see the show.

Comments welcome!

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Coming up: Sunday, April 10th, 3:30PM, at the MoCCA Arts Festival, we’ll be recording a Live Ink Panthers Show. Special guests include John Kerschbaum, Daniel Spottswood, and Danielle Corsetto. Planned topics include What Is the Point of Conventions, and What Are Your Biggest Professional Regrets. Lots of laffs, guaranteed!!

I know every week we promise a jam-packed show, but this week we really have got a show literally packed with jam. First, some follow-up on last week’s discussion with standup comedian Adam Conover, including the audio of him performing Mike’s soon-to-be-classic “The Thing’s Thing” joke. Then, like a bird-of-prey, Owly cartoonist Andy Runton, swoops back into The Panther’s Lair to talk craft and what’s meaningful to him as a creator. After that, Alex has some news about sandwiches, and Mike asks the tough-questions when it comes to picking out the perfect song to sing at a Karaoke outing. What song could he possibly choose that would make it tough to look him in the eye the next day? Find out here.

And if all that wasn’t enough, there’s the announcement of a new Live Ink Panthers Show, scheduled to take place at the MoCCA Arts Festival on April 10th. So, tune in to hear some early details about that.

Comments welcome!

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Five new pages posted to the site. Who wins the (not-so) coveted Grunge Sponge award? How happy are they about receiving the honor? Check it out.

And, a reminder, I’ll be reading pages from Troop 142 at KGB Bar, this coming Sunday night, the 28th, at 7PM, along with Kate Beaton and Lisa Hanawalt. I hope everyone comes out, as I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

I am really excited to be reading alongside Lisa Hanawalt and Kate Beaton, two of my favorite contemporary cartoonists. I think they’re both well-known enough that you don’t need me to convince you of how great their work is.

Come check it out, won’t you?

I don’t might possibly have a table to myself some table space, but there are a few spots on the convention floor where you might find me. Look for me hanging around the AdHouse Books booth drawing pictures inside copies of my book Ace-Face, or see if you can spot me milling around nearby the table Julia Wertz, Karen Sneider, Tom Kaczynski, and Jon Lewis will be sharing. Or even, perhaps, you might see me lingering close to the Secret Acres setup.

Speaking of Secret Acres, they ought to have all five issues of my Troop 142 mini-comics for sale. I am bringing plenty of copies down, so they should definitely be stocked. Keep an eye out for issue #5, as it’s brand new, and if SPX still had the Outstanding Debut Ignatz category, I definitely would have entered it.

And speaking of the Ignatz awards, don’t forget I’ve been nominated in a few categories. If you are a fan of Troop 142, and will be at the show, please consider casting a vote for me.

Hope to see you there!!

Sunday, August 22, 11AM-2PM
Bergen Street Comics
470 Bergen Street
Brooklyn, NY, 11217
(718) 230-5600

Join me, Alex, and iFanboy’s Josh Flanagan for a live taping of our special anniversary 57th episode! We’ve been furiously brainstorming topic ideas and special treats, so please come out. There’ll be Mimosas, Juice Boxes, and Blue Sky Muffins. Dogs and kids are welcome, so expect the conversation on stage to get drowned out by the sound of my daughter yelling in the back of the store and pulling books off shelves the whole time!

OK, so who would win in a fight? Mike? Alex? Or, the Desert Panther, Tony Consiglio? The smart money is on Mike winning in a fight against both Alex and Tony, but they disagree. Listen to the new episode, as we make our cases. Comments Welcome!

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And a reminder, on August 22nd come join us as we record Episode 57 live in front of a studio audience!

August 22, 11AM-2PM
Bergen Street Comics
470 Bergen Street
Brooklyn, NY, 11217
(718) 230-5600

Join Alex Robinson, Mike Dawson, and iFanboy’s Josh Flanagan, for Sunday morning brunch hilarity as they tape a live episode of The Ink Panther Show! podcast. There’ll be surprises and special guests galore. Come armed with questions!

Just returned from my trip to Angouleme yesterday, and wanted to post the bulk of my pics while it’s all still fresh in my mind. I am kind of a crappy photojournalist, and almost never take any pictures worth posting. I got very few pics of the festival itself, or any of the great art that I saw, or many of the people I met and spent time with. But, here’s the best of what I did manage to capture:

Alex Robinson and I signing books at the Rackham table.

“Velo!” is French for Bicycle.

A drawing from the Blutch exhibition.

I bought this little figurine of Nikita Khrushchev waving his shoe from a store in Paris.

Two days after Angouleme I took a train trip with Alex Robinson and Kazimir Strzepek to a great comic book store in Lyon called Experience. The owners treated us extremely well, treating us to a wonderful lunch, a tour of the city, and freedom to desecrate the ceilings of their store with our doodles. They have a lot of cartoonists already on the ceiling, but the only other Americans I spotted were Jeffrey Brown, Craig Thompson, Dash Shaw, and Keith Giffen, so I felt like I was in great company.

Kaz works on his doodle. My drawing of Ace-Face is visible at the top. I wrote my daughter’s name, Orli, on Ace-Face’s arm, but to my great shame, I misspelled it, Orly, which I am blaming on the proximity to the airport in France.

Alex’s pic near the entrance.

Here we are at lunch!

And here’s that same scene from the other direction. The man at the back is actually at the table next to us. His face turned an alarming shade of red as he drank his wine and ate his meat on his lunch-break. We were told this was a common look in France.

Seated next to the red-face man, towards us, is Cecile Mac Lennan, who does publicity work for Rackham, and took care of us a great deal of the time while we were there. She’s a delightful person, and a lot of fun to talk to. I am fascinated by the fact that her favorite TV show is The Wire (which I also love), since it’s a show that’s challenging enough to follow when English is your first language, let alone your second.

Me and Kaz in Lyon.

Me, Kaz, Alex, and our guide, Stephane. Stephane and Alex got into a heated debate about the value of the Pixar movie “Cars”.

Aliza is thrilled to finally be somewhere where there are no comics.

Kaz, Peter Kuper, Rackham publisher Latino Imparto, and Serge from Editions çà et là. This was from a signing back up in the Paris area.

And finally, one morning in Angouleme, I bought a bag of dates to eat, and someone took a picture of me holding them. I realize now that it kind of looks like I’m holding up a pair of testicles.

The final three pages in the MONDAY chapter of TROOP 142 are posted. Check them out.

This is nice timing, as I’m off to the Angouleme Festival in France next week. It’ll be good to have a little break, before I get back into it with the next chapter, TUESDAY.

If anyone is going to be at Angouleme, I will be signing every day at the Rackham booth. There are also some bookstores signings planned for Paris and Lyon the following week. My good friend Alex will be at each of those appearances too, so I imagine we’re going to have a pretty good time.

ACT-I-VATE is pleased to announce its first appearance at The Brooklyn Book Festival come Sunday, September 13th.

http://brooklynbookfestival.org/

“The ACT-I-VATE Renaissance”
3:00pm – 4:00pm
There is a comic book renaissance happening in Gowanus, Brooklyn, and members from both DEEP6 and XOXOs Studios, featuring Dean Haspiel, Mike Cavallaro, Tim Hamilton, Joe Infurnari, Simon Fraser, Molly Crabapple, and Mike Dawson [among others], will discuss the genesis of ACT-I-VATE, the premier webcomix collective, and sneak-peek their upcoming print anthology, THE ACT-I-VATE PRIMER. Moderated by Jeff Newelt, who will also announce two new members to ACT-I-VATE.com

Rocketship is proud to present CARTOON BROOKLYN V, a group art show with Mike Dawson (FREDDIE & ME, ACE-FACE), Ryan Dunlavey (ACTION PHILOSOPHERS, COMIC BOOK COMICS), and Sarah Glidden (HOW TO UNDERSTAND ISRAEL IN 60 DAYS OR LESS).

The opening reception is this Friday, July 31st!

Rocketship is located in Brooklyn, in lovely Cobble Hill. To find the store, Walk down Smith Street until you are between Baltic and Butler. Or take the (F) or (G) to “Bergen Street”. From there, look for a vertical “Clover Club” Sign. Rocketship is underneath it.

Picking up from where last episode left off, we recorded the Cartoonist’s Brunch event from this past Sunday, with (L to R) John Kerschbaum, me, and Alex at Bergen Street Comics. I thought the afternoon was fantastic. I can’t get over how many people showed up. Thanks to everyone who did, I hope you enjoyed the conversation, and also took advantage of the complimentary mimosas and muffins. Sadly, I must report, I was not able to drink enough mimosas to cause me to black out, despite all my best efforts.

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One last reminder about this event at Bergen Street Comics, tomorrow from 12-3PM. I think the presentation will probably begin around 12:30 or so. Then, following the conversation, there’ll be mingling, mimosas, and muffins.

I think I’ve figured out how I can record this, so will hopefully be able to post it next week as a special Ink Panthers Show! episode. If any of you come prepared with questions, then you’ll make it onto the podcast!

Hope to see some of you there.

In this episode Alex and Mike are joined by the slinkiest Panther of all, John Kerschbaum! The cartoonist behind The Wiggly Reader and Petey & Pussy chats with us about the origins of The Ink Panthers Show, drinking until you blackout, and the Fourth of July. Comments welcome!

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And a reminder to any New Yorkers out there to consider joining Alex, John, and I at our “Cartoonist’s Brunch”, this Sunday at Bergen Street Comics, for what will basically be a live Ink Panthers Show.

I’m very excited about this event, especially the casual brunch-like nature of it. As the flyer says, it’s baby and pet friendly. I know I’ll be bringing Orli, and hopefully some other little kids will be there too.

Alex, John, and I will each do a short reading of our work, and then interview each other conversational-style. It will essentially be like a live episode of The Ink Panthers Show!, except that for once we’ll just being talking about the comics-making process, and not things like our apartments and our neighbors and stuff like that.

Hope to see some of you there!