It is spring and we are all gearing up for the con season down here in Savannah, although truthfully, it looks more like flu season over at my apartment. I’ve been pretty sick the past few days and unable to work on anything other than bowls of carrot ginger soup and season 1 of Mad Men. It’s been pretty pathetic over here.

Aw, sick.

That said, I will be attending a few events this year, once I start feeling better and get my shit together! I thought I might let you guys know about some of them:

First off, I will be attending FLUKE in Athens, GA. This is a one-day show on Saturday, April 21st, and will be held at the 40 Watt Club in downtown Athens – a fine venue, if I do say so myself. I had heaps of fun at this event last year and am very much looking forward to returning, along with a handful of my SCAD homies like Ellis Rosen, Max Young, and Jackie Roche.

The following weekend, I will be travelling all the way to the opposite side of the country for the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, OR on April 28th and 29th, where I will be tabling with Max Young. Neither of us have ever been to Portland before but we hear it’s an awesome place for cartoonists so we’re both very excited. If anyone has any good recommendations for restaurants, bars, or fun things to do in Portland – please let me know!!

Directly following my (projected) graduation from SCAD, I will make my triumphant homecoming to be at CAKE in Chicago on June 16th and 17th! I have always wondered how a city home to Quimby’s, arguably the best alternative comics shop possibly ever, could be without a good alternative comics show. Finally! This will be remedied! There are tons are talented folks in the Chicagoland area and I think this will turn out to be a really great show. Plus it gives me an opportunity to see my many friends back home.

Later in the year I will be attending SPX in Bethesda, MD on September 15th and 16th, which is a really fun show that I haven’t be able to go to for a couple years because of scheduling conflicts. I should be tabling with Matt Moses of Hic and Hoc Publications, the publisher collaborating with me on the Unsolved Mysteries anthology (that we’re still accepting submissions for!!). I am very excited about finally coming back to this show, it’s a great one.

In the meantime, I’ll be putting together issues of SPAZ! #5, which will be available at all of these shows. I’ll also be working on new comics, which will be featured here on the website or in other publications to be announced later. If you live in or around any of the cities these events are being held in, come out to the shows to say hi and check out all the many talented artists that will be attending each one. I’m excited for what promises to be a really great year of shows.

On an unrelated note…

I’d like to congratulate all the people who were nominated for Einser Awards this year – especially my dear friend Ellis Rosen, whose work was featured in Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular & the New Land, nominated for best anthology this year! It’s a great collection of stories that, as Jeff Newelt put it in HEEB, illuminate “the origins of a jew ne sais quoi.” It’s a great read and well deserving of the the nomination. Mazel tov to everyone who worked on the project (especially you, Ellis!).