Wow, that was kind of amazing.

The thing at Lula was really wonderful. More so than I could have even hoped. I don't think I got to talk to half the people I wanted to, because it was packed like sardines. There was already a line outside before the doors opened. Huge all encompassing thanks to the folks that made it possible: Jason and Lea and Susannah at Lula (and the servers and cooks who all made it seamless), John and Zak for making fun of each other in public, The Kyles (O and B) for their lovely meditations on fatherhood and that pesky generational gap, Liz from Quimby's who had the job of writing out everyone's credit card information and fending off angry fans when the book was gone. Amy Honchell who let me take half her work down for a night. Aleks for hooking up the sound system. Who else...? It's hard to say because it almost felt like everyone I know in this damn town was there. Kind of choked me up for a second. Y'all rule. For real. THANK YOU.

Minneapolis

Some of the hairstyles I wore as a punk kid in Minneapolis in the eighties:

1) skater bangs
2) long stringy hippy hair with Axel Rose bandanna
3) flopped over mohawk
4) flopped over mohawk, dreaded
5) big fire-engine red mess

Come to Magers & Quinn in Uptown tomorrow (Thursday) at 7:30 for my reading. I'll bring pictures.

Chicago Multi-Media Comixplosion, Lula Cafe, Tuesday August 30, 7-10

Contrary to what got printed on the poster, the Chicago Big Questions Release Party and Comix-plosion is not next week. There were issues – a few of which had to do with me being better at drawing pictures of birds than I am at event planning – that forced a switch. The event is still taking shape, but there will be several special guests doing readings, some music, finger food (we're working on, among other things, doughnuts, in honor of everyone's favorite bird food), cheap beer, slightly pricier cocktails, original art on the walls, and Quimby's will be there selling books. It'll be at Lula Cafe off Logan Square. Details to follow. Here's the announcement on Quimby's site.

Next: Needles & Pens

Heading up to San Francisco this morning (Tuesday) for the reading and opening at N&P, 7-9:30. The show features several originals from Big Questions, including two covers, a bunch of full pages and several single panels and other scraps. It's the first time I've actually made any material from the book available since around 2005.