MIX-ing It Up

METRO catches up with a few members of the Twin Cities comic community

Independent comic artists and publishers will gather at the Minneapolis Indie Comic Xpo on Nov. 5 and 6.

Image credit: Photo by Sarah Jordet

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This weekend, The Soap Factory will be flooded with comic fans to celebrate the second annual Minneapolis Indie Comic Xpo, or MIX.

The two-day festival will feature independent comics and cartoonists from all over, but it has a particular emphasis on the Twin Cities’ local comic community. With a program of exciting workshops, panels and tons of exhibiting artists and publishers, MIX will showcase a wide range of artistic talent and innovation in the world of indie comics.

To celebrate the opening of MIX on Saturday, METRO decided to catch up with a few local comic artists and a local comic publisher about their incredible work and what they’re bringing to MIX.

Evan Palmer, evanpalmercomics.com

Minneapolis artist Evan Palmer is not only a cartoonist, he has a degree in comic art, which he admits is “kind of a ridiculous thing to have.” Still, the 2008 graduate of Minneapolis College of Art and Design hasn’t put his degree to waste. He worked for a year as a background artist for professional cartoonist Peter Gross and recently had his work featured in City Pages’ Comix issue.

Palmer’s current focus is his fantasy comic series “The Godins,” which his agent is shopping around to publishers. “As a cartoonist, I’m a huge nerd, so it’s my own take on a fantasy story,” he says.

As an exhibitor at MIX, Palmer will feature the first two issues of “The Godins” and debut the collection “Sucker Monster Creatures” made up of monsters Palmer draws as part of a daily blog of the same name.  He and fellow exhibitor and MCAD grad Anna Bongiovanni will also feature their collaborative work “The Feast.”

Palmer is thrilled by the sense of community at MIX and the opportunity it offers to meet new people who are into comics. “It’s the most direct way to get feedback from people who aren’t your friends,” he says.

Athena Currier, actionathena.com

MIX doesn’t just represent traditional comics; it also includes artists like Athena Currier, a Minneapolis artist who has published her Action Athena comic online since March 2008.

Starting in her sophomore year at Hampshire College, Currier began posting new updates to her autobiographical webcomic, which she describes as “funny, slice of life” every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. “I was interested in the idea of something that would give me a schedule and make me more disciplined,” she says.

Three years later, Action Athena is still going strong, and Currier will debut her first printed collection of the webcomic, “Action Athena: The First Three Or So Years,” at MIX. She will also have print versions of two smaller comics: “A Couple of Dogs and the #4: Some Stories of Getting to My First Job in Minneapolis” and “Revenge: A Sketchbook Project.”

“I’m really excited about the room I’m in,” Currier says of MIX, where she will share a booth with fellow local webcomic artist Britt Hammerberg. “There’s some really great autobio comics, and I’ll get to stalk some cool people.”

Grimalkin Press, grimalkinpress.blogspot.com

Many comic publishers will also appear at MIX this weekend, including Jordan Shiveley, editor of Grimalkin Press. Operating for four years, Grimalkin publishes small-run comics by artists who publishers “may have overlooked” or who don’t have an outlet to publish on their own. Artists like Box Brown and Dave O’Shell as well as upcoming work by Phil McAndrew are all part of Grimalkin’s catalog.

The local press also emphasizes handmade printmaking in the construction of its publications. “We try to get into the mechanics of books as art objects,” Shiveley says.

Regarding MIX this weekend, Shiveley says, “I’m most excited to get to see people from the publishing industry who I don’t get to see as often,” noting other comic publishers like Anne Koyama of Toronto’s Koyama Press, and Chris Pitzer from Virginia’s AdHouse Books.

At MIX, Grimalkin will exhibit its catalog and host artists Jeremy Sorese and Kevin Huizenga at its booth. Shiveley will also participate in a panel on comics anthologies on Saturday, discussing Grimalkin’s “Hive: A Somewhat Quarterly Anthology, “ which has featured artists from all over the United States and the world in its five issues so far. 

The Minneapolis Indie Xpo will be Nov. 5-6 and is free and open to the public from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. each day. For more information, visit Minneapolis Indie Xpo’s website.