Mpls Indie Xpo comic by John Allison

I lifted the name of my comics festival from cartoonist John Allison. He is the best at comics in the UK and possibly the world. John drew the comic from which I excerpted the panel above, and it was that very strip, which convinced me to create the show in the first place. Just as reading an article about Bazaar Bizarre prompted me to found the Craftstravaganza, reading this comic was my flashbulb moment when I thought, "why not here? Why not me?" And committed to doing an indie comics expo on the spot.

Anyway we opened online registration this week, and I duly announced the opportunity to our Twitter followers and mailing list subscribers. The response was immediate and overwhelming. Within a day we had filled a third of our available tables and artists were enthusiastically sharing the news.

I was thrilled to see the groundswell of support from local cartoonists. I absolutely geeked out, though, when I saw MIX being discussed on Twitter by R. Stevens (of Diesel Sweeties fame) and John Allison himself. Whether or not they actually attend, catching the attention of two of my favorite comic artists was a personal high for me.

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