Shiot Crock Sixteen on sale now!

(Wrap around full color cover by Jean Baugnon.)

Hey pals.  So, like I edited an anthology of minicomic/alt/indie/underground comics/comix/non-moving-picture stories and personally, I think it's fantastic.  You should go buy several copies.  Shiot Crock is a series of comics anthologies born out of The Comics Journal's message boards.  It has been called the official unofficial anthology of those message boards.  Over the years it has featured many international cartoonists that have gone on to world wide fame/infamy.  The first fifteen versions of the anthology were available only to the contributors and a select few comics industry folk.  Now, for the first time ever, you the common man/woman can witness the glory/horror that is Shiot Crock for just ten American buckos. (Plus shipping and/or handling.) 

This triumphant edition features work from Jean Baugnon, Ed Quinby, David Robertson, Sean Robinson, Lupi, Dino Caruso, Paul Houston, Jeremy Massie, Mark Campos, Cory Fuka, Joe Kletz, Shannon Smith, Josh Latta, Kurt Beaulieu, Mike Hunter, Karen Lucus, John Platt, Barry Rodges, Henry Eudy and Michael Klopner. 

The book is a 128 page digest sized black and white trade paperback with a full color cover and 124 pages of comics.  The content is intended for ADULTS ONLY.

Please order seven copies from Crooked Finger Press today.  

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

The Dollar Bin: Friends Assembled Vol. 3: The Wedding Special

The folks over at The Dollar Bin put out a new minicomic in time for HeroesCon.  I'm not going to say a lot about the book because I actually have a one pager in it. (All you need to know about it is that I hang with Smurfs.)  I mainly just want to mention the book as a way to take a moment to hype The Dollar Bin.  They do comics podcasts, reviews and all that junk but they also post the audio from a lot (or maybe all) of the panels from HeroesCon.  I usually miss panels because I'm at my table so I really dig the chance to hear this stuff after the fact.  So far this week I've listened to their "Breaking into Comics" and "Comics as Career" recordings.  They were great.  I learned some things and picked up some good ideas.  So, check 'em out.

As far as the book itself goes, it's a good looking anthology minicomic with a lovely cover by Josh Latta.  This is their third book like this and they all look nice.  The theme of this book is marriage.  J. Chris Campbell has a nice one pager in there.  I really like the stories from Henry Eudy and Adam Casey.  Can't get enough of those guys.

I assume that when the guys recover from HeroesCon that they will have copies on sale in their store so bookmark the site and check back in a while. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

HeroesCon 2010 report.

(Mike Mignola exclusive stolen from the HeroesCon blog.  I would post photos of my own but I forgot batteries for my camera.)

I had a really great time at this year's HeroesCon.   I am still creatively energized but physically exhausted by the show.  I go into these shows with four goals; 1) expand my audience as a cartoonist/writer, 2) expand file under other's audience, 3) expand my network of comics pals and 4) have a good time with my existing comics pals.  I totally exceeded my expectations on three out of four of those goals.

As Shannon Smith cartoonist/writer/self-publisher I had a great weekend.  Possibly my best ever.   My Indie Island table stayed pretty busy.  It was never crazy but it was steady.  I kept expecting a lull during which I would I could leave my table and check out the rest of the show but the lull never came.  It was steady open to close both Friday and Saturday.  I sold a lot of books and did a good amount of sketches.  I'm not saying that I had customers lined up to the back of the room but the folks that did pull out the cash usually bought multiple items.  My Brush & Pen book just keeps on selling.  I need to knock out another one of those suckers immediately.  I had a good amount of repeat customers.  I was worried about that because I missed last year but folks remembered me.  That's very nice.  Thanks comics buying pals!  Hope you liked the books.  I also had a handful of copies of the Shiot Crock book I edited and contributed to on hand.  I did not really promote it or anything.  The copies I had were really just for contributors but I did show it to a lot of folks and the response was really great.  I'll post a more official announcement about the book soon. I also had a one pager in the Dollar Bin's new anthology that debuted at the show.  I was very happy with how it turned out. 

As Shannon Smith file under other critic guy I was very busy.  I had a lot of folks bring by books to submit for review and a lot of folks come by that just wanted to say hi and talk about comics.  Lots and lots of positive feedback about file under other as well as some interesting ideas I may or may not ever have time to look into.

As far as expanding my network of comics pals goes, I should have done a lot better.  I was just too busy.  I had a long list of folks whom I wanted to say hit to but I only managed to scratch off a few names.  It was just too busy.  Several of my favorite cartoonists were sitting right there on the same beach of Indie Island and I did not manage to even look at their books or say hi.  Soooo many guests.  Oh well.  Next year.

As far as hanging out with my pals goes everything was great.  Most of my pals were right there on the same chunk of Indie Island.  Rob Ullman, J. Chris Campbell, Josh Latta and Brad McGinty were nice enough to let me follow them around and even crash in their room.  I had a nice dinner with those fellas along with Ben Towle. Later on we met up with the Dollar Bin gang and a bunch of other folks to watch a bunch of cartoons that Brad had made.  That was a knee slappin' ha ha funny good time.  I also got to hang out with Patrick Dean, Robert Newsome, Sally Bloodbath and a bunch more of my favorite folks I've met through Fluke.   Everything was super laid back and fun.  Everything just took care of itself all weekend.  No stress.  No worries.  The hardest thing I had to do all weekend was show up.  So thanks guys.  I really appreciate it.

Extra super mega thanks to Shelton Drumm, Dustin Harbin and all the HeroesCon gang for having me as a guest.  Everything was so smooth that I really did not need any assistance but every time I did interact with the Heroes Con staff I was treated like a king.  Thanks team HeroesCon!

Random links I found or was sent:

Some thoughts from Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter.  I got to speak with Tom a little as the strolled through Indie Island.  Such a nice guy.  Some of my pals got to hang out with him a bit Saturday night.  I'm totally bummed that I had to leave early and missed that.  Tom gave me and the Shiot Crock book I edited a mention.  Thanks!

The Comics Reporter's collective memory list.

Photos and report from Michael Neno.

Jamie Cosley's mini report.  Jamie was on my list of folks to go say hi to but every time I went by his table he was pretty busy.  Next time.

Ben Towle has one, two, three reports.  I  sat a few tables down from Ben.  Love his books and follow his blog so it was really cool to be able to have a nice quick dinner with him and other pals.   I plan on making a request at my local library for them to stock his new Amelia Earhart book.

Comics Worth Reading: Day 1.  Day 2.  Wrap up. Johanna Draper Carlson is another name on my list of folks I would have liked to have said hi to but failed.

The Beat: Part 1.  Part 2. Part 3.  I actually did manage to say hi to Heidi so that was cool.

AdHouse has a Flickr set up and a report.  Chris Pitzer is another name I failed to check off my say-hi-to list but I did get a look at Joey Wieser's new Cavemen in Space book.  Really nice.  Joey came over and say hi all by himself so I did not have to do any work at all to check him off my list.  Hooray.

Second Period's tumblr has some photos.

Pink Kryptonite has field report full of words.

John Kivus has a bunch of good stuff here.

Henry Eudy's report.

Rob Ullman's haul. (I'm jealous of a couple of things there.  I hear those Nathan Sorry books are good.)

Josh Latta has posted a report which contains the best photo of the show.  

Rich Barret has a report up.  I don't know if I met Rich or not but I sure did hear a lot about how good his Nathan Sorry comics are.

Roger Langridge has a post up.  Scroll down below it to see some awesome Muppet/Thor art. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Visit file under other on Indie Island at HeroesCon this weekend. (And bring your comics.)

And by file under other, I mean me, Shannon Smith.  I will be at HeroesCon in Charlotte NC this Friday and Saturday, June 4th and 5th.  I will be on Indie Island table AA-429.  My important announcement as far as file under other readers go is as follows:

ATTN: SMALL PRESS AND MINICOMICS CREATORS-- IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR BOOKS REVIEWED AT FILE UNDER OTHER, PLEASE BRING ME A COPY AT HEROES CON.  EVERY BOOK I AM GIVEN WILL BE REVIEWED EITHER IN A POST-HEROESCON ARTICLE OR IN AN INDIVIDUAL REVIEW. 

I've done this a few times in the past and it usually works out really well.  You, save on the postage of sending out a review copy and I get material to keep file under other rolling for the rest of the year.

Now, I know there are folks out there that will see this and say, "hey you jerk, I sent you stuff a long time ago and you still have not reviewed it".  I know.  I know.  I'm behind.  But I'm going to catch up.  2010- the year I catch up.  Honest.  You just wait.  You'll see.   Your books will be reviewed and you will totally forget the months and months you were up all night wondering when oh when will file under other review your book.  Just wait.  You'll see.  It will be great.

Another file under other related idea I had for HeroesCon was to bring some samples from my huge minicomics collection.  I'm going to bring the Good Minnesotan 4 preview copy with me for folks to check out.  If there are other comics you've seen reviewed here that you might want to see then please use the comments feature below and let me know.  The sooner the better. 

I will also be bringing a hand full of copies of shiot crock sixteen hot off the presses.  (pictured above)  shiot crock is the unofficial anthology of The Comics Journal message board.  It contains a bunch of great cartoonists, several of which will be on Indie Island.  shiot crock is generally a very small exclusive project with a tiny print run so I think this is the first time additional copies will be made public.  I will only have a handful on sale at the show so get there early.  I am the editor/publisher of the book and I also have a few pages of comics in there.  It is a 128 page trade paperback sized book with a fantastic color cover for just $10.  I will not make the official publication announcement about the book until sometime after HeroesCon so consider this an early bird special.

I will also be at the show not as file under other but as just plain old Shannon Smith.  Plain old Shannon Smith is also a cartoonist and I'll have a bunch of my books there.  I'll have Shannon Smith is Addicted to Distraction #1 which I have never had at HeroesCon before.  I'll also have Small Bible, Brush and Pen, Bag of Savages and a bunch of mini minis.  I also have a comic in the new Dollar Bin anthology.  I was in last year's book too.  You should be able to track down the Dollar Bin gang for both of those books.  I plan to have some original comics pages there for sale.  I will do free pencil sketches.  I'll do inked drawings starting at $5.00 depending on how time consuming the request is.

So, if you are going to HeroesCon then please drop by.  Since we are in Charlotte, I'll even talk NASCAR  with ya.  And if you are not going to HeroesCon then what is wrong with you?  It's the last great American comic-con!   You need to go.  If you read this blog then you must like small press and minicomics.  If that is the case then you really need to visit Indie Island and check out all the great folks there.  I wish I had more time to go through the guest list and tell you who I am excited about but it's pretty much the entire Indie Island page.  So, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Hope to see you there.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Linkage:

HeroesCon

Indie Island

Guest list

shiot crock sixteen 

p.s. By the time I get to the show Friday morning I probably will not have slept in a couple of days so, I might be a jerk.  Sorry.

p.p.s  If you are trying to find me, I look exactly like this...

Check out the Kickstarter for Good Minnesotan 4.

This is not really a review but rather a recommendation to check out the Kickstarter for a book before it actually exists based on my previous enjoyment of the Good Minnesotan books.  I have a copy of the preview addition of Good Minnesotan 4.  It will probably be after HeroesCon before I can give it the review it deserves but I will say that it looks great. I love the little box of books idea and I'm a big fan of several of the contributors.  I think this is a project worth getting in on as a comics customer.  If you don't have any of the Good Minnesotan books yet then I suggest getting in at a level where you will also get one of the previous issues.  I don't want to tell anyone how to spend their money but if you like good comics in a really cool package then I feel safe in saying that you will get your money's worth from the Good Minnesotan folks.

Check out the Kickstarter page here. 

An additional sneak peak is here.  

Related linkage:

The fuo review of Good Minnesotan 1.

The fuo review of Good Minnesotan 2.

Good Minnesotan 3 on the fuo best of 2009 list. 

2 D Cloud.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith