MIX. Minneapolis Indie Expo. So much fun was had at this show. Lots of great catching up with friends. Met new ones, like Grimalkin Press' Jordan Shiveley. Little children literally freaking out over our Kids Club books. I try to travel light, but did come home with some good loot, including new stuff from Joe Biel at Microcosm, a sketchbook (and dinner!) from Annie Koyama, two new issues of Jon Lewis' True Swamp from Tom K.'s new press, Kevin Cannon's Beard Hero, and Tim Sievert's new mini-comic, The Clandestinauts. And more from Chris Pitzer at AdHouse. And some rad stuff from the impossibly cute posse of girls at Paper Darts.

Super props to Andy Krueger and Sarah Morean for rocking another great show.

Oh, and speaking of Tim Sievert, here's the wraparound cover i commissioned from him, for my new Fantasy/Sci-Fi themed sketchbook. Sweet!!

Stumbled across a nice little used bookstore called James & Mary Laurie Booksellers, on Nicollet Mall. Picked up a bitchin' book on Hollywood Westerns, a gorgeous, fully painted book on extinct animals, and a wonderful little illustrated book drawn by the great great Maurice Sendak, titled How Little Lori Visited Times Square (1963).

On the food front, found and ate at terrific all-sustainable eateries every day. They were all outstanding. Restaurants included: Red Stag Supperclub, Spoonriver, Brasa, and Sea Change.

• This isn't under the radar, but neither is it widely known that Renee French is working on a total revamp of her classic, out of print book The Soap Lady. Here's some notes she's been making in this massive undertaking. "I'm working on cleaning up the missing pages of handwritten text for the soap lady redux book. I have it stuffed with little postits."

• Geekdad talks Top Shelf Kids Club with Leigh Walton at Wired.

• Jeremy Eaton continues his spectacular metamorphous with his new art blog. His work is crazy good and always worth checking out.

• Here's a rough cover sketch for Jeffrey Brown's forthcoming, A Matter of Life graphic novel.

• Finally, in the whirlwind world of Jennifer Hayden, she's got a lot going on! [Aspiring cartoonists take note. This is textbook self-promotion.] Check it:

"Thursday, November 10, 7:30 p.m., I'll be speaking on a panel, "Backgammon, Blackberries & Barbarians" at the Princeton Arts Council in Princeton, NJ, with two other Princeton graphic novelists Galit Seliktar Barak (Farm 54) and Mike LaRiccia (Too Fast). The moderator will be children's author and graphic novel editor Galen Longstreth.

"Saturday, November 12, 8:00-11:00 p.m., it's the rescheduled-due-to-snow-in-October launch party for UNDERWIRE at Bergen Street Comics in Park Slope, Brooklyn! Yeah! Booze, bubbly, books, family members, live music, Sharpies, outta control.

"Wednesday, November 16, 7:00 p.m., my first UNDERWIRE reading in NYC, at BookCourt in Brooklyn! Dean Haspiel will MC, and I'll be joined by George O'Connor, reading from his gorgeous book Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory, and Leslie Stein, reading from her cool book, Eye of the Majestic Creature.

"Friday, November 18, 8:15 p.m., I'll be participating in a "Literary Death Match" at Bardot in Miami, FL, which I hope doesn't involve any actual death. I'll be competing with Mat Johnson (Pym), T.M. Shine (Nothing Happens Until It Happens To You), and Sandra Beasley (Don't Kill The Birthday Girl), hosted by Todd Zuniga. Judges will be Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Damned), Dean Haspiel (Bored to Death), and Justic Torres (We the Animals).

"Sunday, November 20, 11:00 a.m., I'll be speaking on a panel at Miami Book Fair International called "2011 Favorites and New Classics", with Vera Brosgol, Shannon Wheeler, and Matt Phelan, moderated by John Hogan and Jeff Newelt.

"Sunday, November 20, 4:00 p.m., I'll be speaking on a panel at Miami Book Fair International called "Comics and Autobiography" with Jason Shiga (Empire State) and Mark Kalesniko (Freeway), moderated by John Hogan (editor, Graphic Novel Reporter.)

"And check out my new blog post I wrote for Trip City, concerning chicken broth and motherhood.

And you can also check out my new webcomic S'Crapbook there, "Moments of Shirley"

I'd forgive someone who mistook this blog as Jennifer Hayden's blog, if only by way of the fact that she's always here, right? Well, i tell ALL of our authors that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and goshdarn if she isn't the squeakiest wheel on our big 18-wheeler!! (James Kochalka runs a close second in the squeaky wheel contest!)

In any case, Jennifer's webcomic S'Crapbook has a new home. She writes:

"I'm proud to announce that I'm part of a new web-based arts adventure called Trip City that launched today. Trip City is a multi-media virtual "arts salon", featuring music, and video, and comics by Dean Haspiel, Chris Miskiewicz, Seth Kushner, Jef UK, Nick Abadzis, Amy Finkel, Joe Infurnari, Nick Bertozzi, Kevin Colden, Jen Ferguson, Ron Scalzo, and The Perv Whisperer."

• And check out this interview with the whip-smart whirlwind of comics awesomeness Sarah Morean at Comics Reporter. Sarah runs the MIX show in Minneapolis, and it's in this interview where i myself learned this could be the last one. : (

From Gregory Benton and Top Shelf! [And make sure to check out Gregory's page at Top Shelf!]

"This map will be handed out to kids who attend the Halloween party at my son Eli's school. It lists the various activities, some of them kinda abstractly...

For instance, 'silly winds' is a ping pong ball race where you blow the ping pong balls with a straw."

• Here's a sweet new piece from Gregory Benton!

• Snow pummeled New York as i write this, so Jennifer Hayden's UNDERWIRE launch party tonight at Bergen Street Comics in Park Slope has been postponed. The party has been rescheduled for Saturday, November 12, at 8:00 p.m.

Jennifer writes:
"Many thanks to hosts Tom and Amy Adams, whose beautiful store, Bergen Street Comics, is located at #470 Bergen Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Just steps away from the 2/3 Bergen Street subway stop. You can also take the 4/5/B/Q trains to Atlantic Avenue, or the D/M/N/R trains to Pacific Street.

"There'll be beer, bubbly, and books! And you can meet a couple of real-live characters from my comix: my husband Steve and my daughter Charlotte. We'll also be serving Charlotte's favorite drink: Shirley Temples! And live music will be provided by Steve Hayden on his electric guitar, with possible accompaniment by me on my electric fiddle..."

An Underwire review from Under the Radar magazine:
"Jennifer Hayden's Underwire is so fucking inspiring. If that naughty word put you off, avoid this web-comic collection. It is filled with salty language while relating the intimate observations of a woman in her late 40s. Hayden's drawings of flawed and wonderful characters from her life are naive, but so very sweet. If Underwire looks like it's drawn by someone who might also write and illustrate children's books, that's because it is. The central character is the author herself, and she's a joy. She's bawdy, messy, raucous, and entirely human — as likely to sit around with her friends, slamming wine and gossiping, as she is to lament over her son leaving for college. She draws and thanks goddesses a lot (you might too, if you were a cancer survivor!), but she's also a witty sweetheart who loves her kids and enjoys banging her husband. One criticism is that her end panels come too abruptly, but that adds to the realism a bit. Oh, messy life! Hayden is seriously fun, alive, and inspiring — as an artist, a writer, a woman, and a human being. Brava!" —Kate Mercier

• In other news, just wanted to point out that our friends at Sparkplug will be tabling at several festivals in the next couple months: MIX on November 5th and 6th, Short Run Small Press Fest on November 12th and Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest on December 3rd. Look for more updates about these events in the next couple weeks!

"This map will be handed out to kids who attend the Halloween party at my son Eli's school. It lists the various activities, some of them kinda abstractly...

For instance, 'silly winds' is a ping pong ball race where you blow the ping pong balls with a straw."

• Here's a sweet new piece from Gregory Benton!

• Snow pummeled New York as i write this, so Jennifer Hayden's UNDERWIRE launch party tonight at Bergen Street Comics in Park Slope has been postponed. The party has been rescheduled for Saturday, November 12, at 8:00 p.m.

Jennifer writes:
"Many thanks to hosts Tom and Amy Adams, whose beautiful store, Bergen Street Comics, is located at #470 Bergen Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Just steps away from the 2/3 Bergen Street subway stop. You can also take the 4/5/B/Q trains to Atlantic Avenue, or the D/M/N/R trains to Pacific Street.

"There'll be beer, bubbly, and books! And you can meet a couple of real-live characters from my comix: my husband Steve and my daughter Charlotte. We'll also be serving Charlotte's favorite drink: Shirley Temples! And live music will be provided by Steve Hayden on his electric guitar, with possible accompaniment by me on my electric fiddle..."

An Underwire review from Under the Radar magazine:
"Jennifer Hayden's Underwire is so fucking inspiring. If that naughty word put you off, avoid this web-comic collection. It is filled with salty language while relating the intimate observations of a woman in her late 40s. Hayden's drawings of flawed and wonderful characters from her life are naive, but so very sweet. If Underwire looks like it's drawn by someone who might also write and illustrate children's books, that's because it is. The central character is the author herself, and she's a joy. She's bawdy, messy, raucous, and entirely human — as likely to sit around with her friends, slamming wine and gossiping, as she is to lament over her son leaving for college. She draws and thanks goddesses a lot (you might too, if you were a cancer survivor!), but she's also a witty sweetheart who loves her kids and enjoys banging her husband. One criticism is that her end panels come too abruptly, but that adds to the realism a bit. Oh, messy life! Hayden is seriously fun, alive, and inspiring — as an artist, a writer, a woman, and a human being. Brava!" —Kate Mercier

• In other news, just wanted to point out that our friends at Sparkplug will be tabling at several festivals in the next couple months: MIX on November 5th and 6th, Short Run Small Press Fest on November 12th and Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest on December 3rd. Look for more updates about these events in the next couple weeks!