Sorry for the long wait, true believers! (Don't sue me, Stan!) Just back from Minneapolis for the new indy comics show MIX. [Minneapolis Indie Expo.] Simply put, i had an amazing time. Big ups to organizers Sarah Morean and Andy Krueger for a very fine debut. They have a swell slideshow on their homepage (embedded below); which also has pictures of the book signing with Will Dinski, Aaron Renier, and Zak Sally at the astounding Big Brain Comics (run by the affable Michael Drivas).

There was a massive local comics contingent at this show, including: Will Dinski, Kevin Cannon, Tim Sievert, Vincent (King Mini) Stall, Lars Martinson, Tom Kaczynski, Sam Hiti, Zak Sally, Brett Von Schlosser, Tyler Page, Reynold Kissling and a bunch of the students i saw at MCAD as well. Special thanks to Barbara Schulz for bringing me to MCAD, and to Ursula Murray Husted... thanks for the ride! . People, i don't know if you're seeing a pattern here, but this is one helluva scene!

Also in from out of town were Aaron Renier, pimping his brand new (and incredible) book, The Unsinkable Walker Bean, Jeremy Tinder, comics legend John (King Cat) Porcellino and Noah Van Scriver. Nice to meet Noah! Jon (True Swamp) Lewis and Karen Sneider had a table. (I picked up Karen's Gags For Kids mini-comic, and i love it!) JP Coovert and some CCS kids were out. This place even had vegan donuts, courtesy of The Donut Cooperative!

Dylan (Sparkplug) Williams and BT Livermore made it out from Portland. I partied with boss Brian Heater from Daily Cross Hatch! Brian's got lots of coverage from MIX at the site, don't miss it! His recap is excellent.

Here's a couple pictures of Michael Drivas as we rode bikes across the mighty Mississippi River! I was riding one of their new Nice Ride 3-speed bikes. Pay with a credit card, and i rode ALL around the city, picking up and dropping off bikes all over, for about $5 a day. It's no wonder MPLS recent usurped Portland in the ongoing Best Bike Cities contest. What a super cool piece of city planning that works.

Here's Tim Sievert, Tom K., and Aaron Renier looking for trouble!

I also ate at some VERY good sustainable eateries all weekend. In uptown i had an unbelievable avocado sandwich at Tao Natural and Organic Foods Cafe. The next day i had a great burger at Common Roots Cafe. And then on the last night, i fabulous veggie sandwich at Brasa. All places had a good vibe too.

And finally, ultra-mega thanks to Sarah Morean and Will Dinski for making, hands-down, THE coolest signage Top Shelf has ever had. Feast your eyes, folks. (Note: these hand-made letters are at least 12" tall!)

• An important announcement from Jack Crack. (Adults ONLY!)

• Our friend Myla Goldberg has a spiffy new website. She's a terrific writer — in fact, let's let her tell you all about it:

"After years of dedicated Luddism, I have made a decisive step into the late-twentieth century with a spiffy new website, www.mylagoldberg.com, which tells you all about my soon-to-be-released novel, the old books, the upcoming tour, and other tidbits intended to be amusing.

"Not only that, but I now also have a public Facebook page, which I believe brings my technological savvy to roughly 2004. Visit me there at www.facebook.com/MylaGoldberg, where you can say that you 'like' it, and we can 'talk' to each other on the 'wall.'"

• The fine folks at Blank Slate sent me Mawil's newest English-language release, Sparky O'Hare: Master Electrician. This is some super fun comics, about a diminutive little rabbit who's very presence seems to fritz out any gadget he's near. And true to Mawil form, the girls in the office where Sparky works are entirely sexy and cute. Mawil is a cartoonist who is woefully under-appreciated in North America, so do your part, read his work, and spread the word. Also worth note is his Top Shelf book Beach Safari.

Will Dinski "leaves his fingerprints" all over his exclusive interview at Things From Another World!

Here's a bitchin' print Will made with Aesthetic Apparatus to promote his new book.

Oregon Cartoon Institute collaborated with filmmaker Karl Lind and Crumb scholars Patrick Rosenkranz and Charles Boucher to create this guide to R. Crumb's Oregon influences. We're calling this installment Carl Barks + Basil Wolverton = Genius R. Crumb.

Good Comics for Kids does James Kochalka at ComicCon.

ComicCon is now again in the review mirror. This year, for whatever reason, i was really zen the whole trip, after a depressing Thursday. (Staying mostly sober might have had something to do with this.) In any case, i had a great time.

We had a boatload of peeps at our booth. And it was hoppin' all weekend.

Matt Kindt pressing flesh. (And two con sketches.)

Jeffrey Brown

Nate Powell, pimping last year's Eisner Winning Swallow Me Whole.

James Kochalka Superstar! (With Kathyrn and Stuart Immonen in the background.)

Surrogates team Brett Weldele and Rob Venditti.

Sean Michael Wilson selling a copy of AX to Maeby (Alia Shawkat) from Arrested Development.

• Here's me and some droid friend of R2D2. (Who IS this green R2 unit?)

• James Kochalka made it back to ComicCon! Here are his fabulous American Elf strips from the show.

And with release of his SuperF*ckers collected edition, i thought this would be a great time to trot out the Super Awesome theme song video.

We're always in our clubhouse getting high
SuperF*ckers!
Everybody wishes we would die
SuperF*ckers!

Here we come
like a bomb
everybody run and hide!

Our dicks are stuck in the Playstation 3
SuperF*ckers!
Everybody wishes they could be
SuperF*ckers!

Here we come
like a bomb
Everybody f*ckin' run and hide!

• Henry Chamberlain posted two video blogs on Top Shelf at San Diego for CNN. (Thanks, Henry!)

• Talked with Emily Brundige, who turned me on to her terrific student short film, Pubertina.

Pubertina from Emily Brundige on Vimeo.

• Jim Demonakos (he of Emerald City) gave me the new Kirby Krackle cd... yet more fabulous nerd pop-rock, sporting another sweet cover by the great Jim Mahfood.

[Debut disc.]

[New disc.]

Dig on their music vid for "On and On."

• Speaking of Jim Mahfood, here's some snaps i took at the live art party at Soda Bar, sponsored by Things From Another World and Nerd City, featuring the work of Jim, Scott Morse, Mike Huddleston, Ray Fawkes, King Gun, Jason Shawn Alexander, and some really cute talented girl they didn't list in the press kit.

• Here's a beautiful site — the keg room at The Yard House at 4th and Broadway. Mmmm... beer....

• And finally, the last people standing in our neck of the woods on the floor, were the always delightful Mike & Janice of Fantagraphics.