My new (children's) book: Susan's Mess

Just in time for SPX 2013 Small Press Expo in Bethesda this weekend Sept. 14/15 (and by just in time, I mean the minicomic version of this book is printing at Staples as I type this) I finished my first (full-color) children's book, Susan's Mess.

It's the story of Susan, who was the neatest girl in the world, and had never, ever in her life made a mess — even as a baby. Until one day... a MESS made itself.

I should note — since this is my political cartooning blog — that there isn't any overtly political content in this book, but I wanted to share it for those of you who might be interested. It's about a spunky little girl who is a bit TOO fond of cleaning her room and alphabetizing her books. (Like my daughter, she does happen to be from a biracial family — it's amazing how few kids in children's books are.)

Once SPX is over, I'll see how many are left for sale, and will also be putting it up as an e-book and print-on-demand book.

Event: See me at SPX in Bethesda, MD (Sept. 14/15)

Masheka and I (and the little one) are going to be tabling at the 2013 Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland on September 14 and 15. I'll probably be doing a lot of toddler chasing, but I may also have some new things to sell. You'll have to come by and say hello to find out!

Brooklyn Book Festival: Sunday Sept. 18 (Free!)

As I said previously, I can't make it to SPX in Bethesda, but I will be hanging out at Masheka and Keith Knight's table at the FREE Brooklyn Book Festival next Sunday Sept. 18:

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

10 AM - 6 PM

BROOKLYN BOROUGH HALL
209 JORALEMON STREET
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11201

MORE THAN 260 AUTHORS AT THE BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL

Larry McMurtry, Terry McMillan, Jennifer Egan, Eoin Colfer, John Sayles,

Joyce Carol Oates, Craig Thompson, Walter Mosley, Adrian Tomine,

Amitav Ghosh, Jean Valentine, Jules Feiffer, Senator Joseph Lieberman,

Rachel Hawkins, Sam McBratney, Jacqueline Woodson,

Jhumpa Lahiri, Mo Willems, Pete Hamill and many more

The Brooklyn Book Festival is the largest free literary event in New York City presenting an array of literary stars and emerging authors who represent the exciting world of literature today. One of America’s premier book festivals, this hip, smart, diverse gathering attracts thousands of book lovers of all ages.

Masheka at SPX this weekend in DC/MD + De Cunjah Man preview

So sadly, I won't be able to attend SPX this year after all--the baby (well, rampaging toddler) has recently rebelled against all forms of travel longer than a short subway ride, and insists on running around in circles dancing and screaming loudly at all times...

But Masheka and some of my Cartoonists With Attitude friends will be there. And Masheka has a sneak preview of his latest comic. Here's the scoop:

First, have a sneak peek at the first panel of my adaptation of 'De Cunjah Man' in African-American Classics: Graphic Classics Vol. 22 on sale December 2011.

Aaaaaaaand this weekend, September 10 & 11 in Bethesda, MD, I'll be at the 2011 Small Press Expo peddling books with Jen Sorensen and hanging out with Keith Knight and other cartoonist pals.

Unfortunately my better half, Mikhaela Reid, can't make it this year, so this will be my first convention without a buffer between my many neuroses and the public at large. Me nervous! Hope ya like sweaty handshakes and mumblecore!

Mikhaela & Masheka (plus Keith Knight & Jen Sorensen) at SPX 2011

Masheka and I will be tabling with our Cartoonists With Attitude pals Keith Knight (creator of "The K Chronicles" and "The Knight Life") and Jen Sorensen (of "Slowpoke" fame) at the always fabulous 2011 Small Press Expo. More details to come!

What: SPX 2011

Where:
Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center
5701 Marinelli Road
Bethesda, MD 20852
Subway: White Flint Station

When: Open to the public Saturday and Sunday, September 10 and 11, 2011.
Saturday: 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sunday: noon – 6:00 pm

Bonus photo: Here we are with CWAer Matt Bors at SPX in 2006:

Maybes: APE in San Francisco this year; new LGBT cartoon collection

Masheka and I may go to APE (Alternative Press Expo) on October 17-18 in San Francisco this year. If we do, I plan to put together a collection of my LGBT-themed political cartoons (which I've been meaning to do anyway).

Reminder: At MOCCA Art Fest this weekend

Masheka and I are at this year's MOCCA Art Festival sharing a table with our Cartoonists With Attitude pal Brian McFadden and the talented Melissa J. Gibson (Made by Melissa). We have mini-comics (new), books (old) and dolls and T-shirts.

Where?
69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue, between 25th and 26th Streets

When?
June 6th and 7th, 11am-6pm

Cost?
$10 per day
$15 per weekend
MoCCA Members: $10 per weekend

NYC event: Mikhaela & Masheka at MOCCA Art Fest June 6-7

Mark your calendars: Masheka and I will be at this year's MOCCA Art Festival sharing a table with our Cartoonists With Attitude pal Brian McFadden and the talented Melissa J. Gibson (Made by Melissa). We will have mini-comics, books and possibly dolls and T-shirts.

Where?
69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue, between 25th and 26th Streets

When?
June 6th and 7th, 11am-6pm

Cost?
$10 per day
$15 per weekend
MoCCA Members: $10 per weekend

Doodle fabric designs!

Click to enlarge

Masheka and I spent the evening making fabric designs out of some of his doodles. Fun, no? We're going to order the fabric through Spoonflower to make stuff for this year's MOCCA art festival (June 6 and 7 in NYC).

At WAM! in Cambridge this weekend

This weekend I'll be at the amazing annual Women, Action & the Media! conference hosted by the Center for New Words at MIT's Stata Center in Cambridge, MA. I don't have new books to sell, but if you're going you can always just say hello or buy a signed copy of my first book! Jen Sorensen will also be in attendance. As always it should be good feminist fun (plus lots of strategizing over the catastrophic collapse of print media that seems to be underway).

Event: Slideshow at SUNY Binghamton 11/8 @ 9:30 pm!

I realize this is late-notice, but if you happen to be a student at SUNY Binghamton or live near the campus, come check out our action-packed cartoon slideshow tomorrow!

Off to WAM!

I'm off once again to one of my favorite annual conventions, Women, Action & the Media! in Cambridge, MA. I actually designed the tote bag for this year's event, so I'm excited to see how it turned out (I'll try to photograph one for the blog). I'll have books for sale, of course.

Also in attendance will be fellow Cartoonist With Attitude Jen Sorensen. If you're going, be sure to come say hi to us, we'll be wandering about.

Mikhaela at SPX in Bethesda, MD this weekend

This weekend I'll be sharing an exhibitor table with CWA cartoonists Ted Rall, Jen Sorensen, Keith Knight, Masheka Wood, Stephanie McMillan, August J. Pollak, and Brian McFadden. So go there and buy our books 'n stuff! Also check out the SPX exhibitor list and floor plan here. Use it to stalk your favorite 'toonist.

SPX will be open to the public from 2 - 8pm on Fri., Oct. 12 and 10am - 7pm Sat., Oct. 13. Admission is $8 for a single day and $15 for both days.

9/28: Mikhaela & Masheka Cartoon Slideshow in Cambridge

Now that we're hitched, we're back on our mini book tour. Next stop: Beantown (or next to it, anyway!)

Your RSVP would be ever so kindly appreciated. And please feel free to steal this image/text/links and help us promote this event! Please!)

• Who: Angry cartoonists Mikhaela Reid & Masheka Wood
• What: Slideshow/signing/discussion for Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela!: Cartoons by Mikhaela Reid w/ a foreword by Ted Rall and Deep Doodle: Cartoons by Masheka Wood!
• When: Friday Sept. 28, 7 p.m.
• Where: Center for New Words, 7 Temple Street, Cambridge, Mass.
• Why: You'll be sorry if you don't!
• No, really, why? Because:

"Mikhaela Reid's cartoons are right *$%@ing on."
-- Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home

"Masheka Wood has powers way beyond mortal cartoonists. Get on his bandwagon now before there's no room left!"
-- Keith Knight, creator of The K Chronicles and th(ink)

Bushies are bum-rushing Cheney's secret bunker! "Ex-gays" are quaking in their closets! Abstinence educators are shivering in their shiny silver purity rings! Greedy CEOs are heading for the hills! Brooklyn-based cartoonists Mikhaela Reid and Masheka Wood are on a rampage—and no hypocrite is safe! Slideshow, discussion & signing.

ABOUT THE CARTOONISTS
• Mikhaela Reid's cartoons have appeared in The Guardian, The Villager, Chelsea Now, The Phoenix, Bay Windows, Metro Times, In These Times, Women's eNews, Ms., Funny Times, Campus Progress and Bitch. In 2006, Reid was named one of the Girls in Government/Feministing "Real Hot 100" and was featured in the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art exhibit "She Draws Comics: A Century of Women Cartoonists." Ted Rall calls Reid "an insurgent cartoonist: smart, irrepressible and unpredictable." (www.mikhaela.net)
• Masheka Wood grew up in Boston where he was warped by MAD, Night Flights, Garbage Pail Kids and Tex Avery cartoons. His lettering, cartoon and illustration work has appeared on MTV and in UVC (Urban Voice of Comics) magazine and The New Standard. Wood's cartoons were featured in a recent exhibit in Jackson State University, "Other Heroes: African American comics creators, characters, and archetypes." He was also a 2007 Glyph Award nominee for black cartoonist "rising star". (www.whatmashekadid.com)

Watch Me Read My Cartoons: Video from Green Brain Comics Signing

Couldn't make it to one of our book signings? Now you can experience it on the internet! Jon Hickey Productions put together a fantastic video piece of our June 9 signing at Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, in which you can see me reading some cartoons from Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela! and telling behind-the-comics-scenes stories:

Mikhaela Reid and Masheka Wood at Green Brain Comics part 1
Uploaded by jonhickeyproductions

And here's the Masheka Wood portion of the presentation:

Masheka Wood and Mikhaela Reid at Green Brain Comics part 2
Uploaded by jonhickeyproductions

Come see Cartoonists With Attitude in DC 7/7/07, or my cat will CRY!

Riley regrets that his lack of opposable thumbs precludes him from drawing angry editorial cartoons about the human military-industrial complex

The Cartoonists With Attitude gang storms the capital on July 7 with an edgy satirical cartoon slideshow and book signing!

• When: Saturday, July 7, 2 p.m.
• Where: Borders 18th & L Streets NW Washington, DC 20006 ( 202.466.4999)
• Price: Free!

Celebrate Independence Day weekend with a slideshow and signing with edgy, groundbreaking and controversial alternative cartoonists from around the country! Be there or the torturers, bombers, ex-gays and wire-tappers win! Meet:

• Ruben Bolling ("Tom the Dancing Bug")
• Matt Bors ("Idiot Box")
• Keith Knight ("The K Chronicles")
• Brian McFadden ("Big Fat Whale")
• Stephanie McMillan ("Minimum Security")
• August Pollak ("Some Guy With a Website")
• Ted Rall(Silk Road to Ruin)
• Mikhaela Reid ("The Boiling Point")
• Ben Smith ("Fighting Words")
• Jen Sorensen ("Slowpoke")
• Masheka Wood ("Not Just Knee Deep")

And in case you weren't aware, you should really read our group blog (also available as an RSS feed if you want to get all our blogs and most of our cartoons in one convenient place. We also have a not-so-frequently updated Cartoonists With Attitude MySpace page if you want to be our friend.

Pix from MOCCA: Cartoonists With Attitude, Alison Bechdel, Ampersand, random Morgan Spurlock meeting!

Ayo + Cartoonists With Attitude Masheka Wood, Brian McFadden and Mikhaela Reid

Legendary Fun Home author and Dyke to Watch Out For Alison Bechdel and Mikhaela Reid; Mikhaela Reid and Barry "Ampersand" Deutsch drawing each other faces

Muckraking filmmaker Morgan Spurlock with his copy of Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela!; Masheka Wood and Frank Reynoso; cover of on-the-spot commissioned birthday card for a George-Bush-averse one-year-old

Masheka Wood and Ayo; Brian McFadden and Keith Knight with free booze and food at the Top Shelf 10th Anniversary Party

Last year, the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art's Art Festival was a low point for many of us alternative political cartoonists--we felt so alienated, disconnected and unloved and sold so few books that we decided to form the group Cartoonists With Attitude to help get more attention at conventions.

Apparently it worked. I'm happy to report that MOCCA this year was a whole other comics convention beast. All kinds of great comics readers, cool sales, and awe-inspiring cartoonists to hang out with, plus some cool comics discoveries. The tough part was keeping any of the money we earned and not immediately spending it on other comics.

The convention was also packed with alums from the Attitudeseries of books Ted edited for NBM: myself, Brian, Alison Bechdel, Barry Deutsch, Neil Swaab, R Stevens, Scott Bateman and others. Clearly, it's all about the Attitude.

If you scroll through my whole MOCCA photoset, you'll see I also got to chat with Hilary Price of "Rhymes With Orange" fame, who was attending her first comics convention to promote her book Reigning Cats and Dogs. Hilary is syndicated and popular for good reason.

More later on some of the cool comics I picked up at the event!

Pix from Planned Parenthood "Let's Talk About Sex" Book Event

Planned Parenthood "Let's Talk About Sex" Book Event: Jessica Valenti and Mikhaela Reid
Originally uploaded by M1khaela.

The signing at Think Coffee with Feministing's Jessica Valenti (Full Frontal Feminism) and Amber Madison (Hooking Up) was fantastic. There were plenty of seats but it was standing room only, and the hysterical laughter I got in response to my slideshow made me feel like a stand-up comedian on a good night.

Poor Amber's bus broke down on her way to the signing, but we held off the crowd with an extended Q&A until a very long cab ride from Connecticut finally got her to the signing.

Note: I apologize for blurring out the close-up photos of naked women's crotches that we did the reading in front of--I like to consider this blog safe for school and work, or I'd have left them! I am such a censor, it's embarassing.

Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela Official Release Date Pushback to August 6

So I haven't had time to submit Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela to any reviewers or distributors yet, which means that although you can buy direct from the printer via Lulu.com and go to my early book tour events, the official release and distribution date is now August 6. I know this is confusing, but I've been advised by folks in the know that no one will review it unless I delay distribution until after I send out review copies. Good thing I haven't sent out my press releases yet!

The Cartoonists With Attitude DC event on 7/7/07 will be my last book event for a while, as Masheka and I are planning our wedding. The tour will restart in Boston in September.

NYC June 22: Let's Talk About Sex! Planned Parenthood book event w/ Mikhaela Reid, Jessica Valenti and Amber Madison!

Let's Talk About Sex! (If You're Into that Sort of Thing)

• Location: Think Coffee, 248 Mercer Street New York, NY (212) 228-6226
• Date: 6/22/2007 from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
• Hosted By: Planned Parenthood, choicevoice@ppnyc.org
• RSVP by: June 21, 2007 at 2:00 pm

A bold and brazen discussion with three writers who know their stuff:

Jessica Valenti, 28, is the founder and Executive Editor of Feministing.com and the author of Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters.

Amber Madison, 23, is currently touring colleges throughout the country giving sex talks, and has made a number of television and radio appearances in support of her book, Hooking Up: A Girls All-out Guide to Sex and Sexuality, most recently on NBC's Today Show. www.ambermadisononline.com

Mikhaela Reid, 27, recently published her first book, Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela, available June 4th, 2007. She graduated from Harvard University in 2003, where she studied social anthropology and photography and drew weekly political cartoons for the Harvard Crimson. www.mikhaela.net

Join us for a conversation about what's good, what's bad, and what's just plain weird about being young and sexual in today's America.

Note: I'll be doing a mini cartoon slideshow for this one, focused on the cartoons I've done about sexuality and reproductive rights.