Greetings, Ink Slingers, Pencil Pushers, Digital Doodlers, and Wordsmiths,
KEVIN’S BIRTHDAY VISIT!
Late notice, but if you’re free to visit some:
Sunday, August 23, 5-7pm (or however long we go), birthday potluck gathering at Crone Memorials, 811 S Dudley Street, Memphis, TN 38104. {The city may be doing some work at the entrance to Elmwood next door, so please use the street or parking at Dillard Door next door.}
No presents, just PRESENCE! (Or if you want to draw something, I will love that.) My giant sketchbook will be there for folks to draw in.
Stay the whole time, or just a minute. Really, keeping it low-key, I just want to see the faces of my people.
(If you can’t make it, at least send a picture doing or eating something fun.)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/9hJGgqB9Fz1Mex5E8
Notes below about our dinner gathering, Con Cards, and outreach at Ave Maria is moved to October (let me know if you can go), along with a possible new outreach visit to the Alpha Omega Veterans Services soon! There is some new news about zines as well thanks to Dale, Lin, and Eric. Plus Therro the Kid is leading a class at Brooks Museum.
See you soon,
Your Favorite Toonboy,
Kevin Williams, MSCA Prez.
JETTA: TALES OF THE TOSHIGAWA EPISODE 2
Premiering August 22, 2026, at 9pm CT. Don’t want to miss it? Follow the link and click “notify me.” https://youtu.be/HpnxDj0S1_4?si=2K0Yqlb3Cwiz_Yyi
More news from the Toshigawa Universe: https://mailchi.mp/390fdfdda76e/toshigawa-universe-august-12936698?e=1f576167f4
COYOTE VS ACME VIEWING?
I’ll be at the earliest viewing of Coyote vs Acme at Malco Cinemas on August 28, 2026 (tickets go on sale the Wednesday before). I’ll post on the MSCA Facebook page for the time and location of the show as well as a link to the tickets.
Coyote vs. Acme is a 2026 American live-action animated comedy film directed by Dave Green, written by Samy Burch from a story by Burch, James Gunn, and Jeremy Slater,[6] and starring Will Forte, Lana Condor, Tone Bell, Luis Guzmán, Martha Kelly, P.J. Byrne, Kenneth Choi, and John Cena. Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, and Jim Cummings provide voice roles for the film. The film is based on the 1990 The New Yorker magazine article “Coyote v. Acme” by Ian Frazier (itself using elements from the Looney Tunes franchise), and follows Wile E. Coyote as he enlists a billboard attorney to sue the Acme Corporation for repeatedly selling him alleged faulty products.
AFROFUTURIST WRITING AND ILLUSTRATION WORKSHOP
August 29, 2026, from 11am – 3pm, Therro the Kid is presenting a workshop called Afrofuturist Writing and Illustration: Dreaming Amongst the Waves & Drawn from Another World at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 1934 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee 38104. Details below, but you can register here:
https://www.simpletix.com/e/afrofuturist-writing-and-illustration-drea-tickets-286275?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=august-at-your-art-museum&utm_content=making&utm_source=EVERYONE&utm_campaign=abcb480415-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_08_04_03_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-abcb480415-153437332&mc_cid=abcb480415&mc_eid=8790186184&fbclid=PAT01DUATfgihleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA81NjcwNjczNDMzNTI0MjcAAae-Egc9U_-_rUNjaWlwLbma6oeNGr2r-mjWRMcYq9krR15VtITTaiMhmiWl2Q_aem_0ZolplLaM7eGXa9rFrdNeA
Description
Afrofuturist Writing and Illustration: Dreaming Amongst the Waves & Drawn from Another World
Saturday, August 29, 2026 | 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
$85 All Day Pass for Non-Members | $75 All Day Pass for Members
Your All Day Pass includes admission to BOTH workshops and access to a catered sandwich bar for lunch between sessions.
$50 Single Workshop Pass for Non-Members| $45 Single Workshop Pass for Members
Imagine a world and bring it to life in this Afrofuturist writing and comics workshop led by award-winning writer Troy L. Wiggins and Memphis illustrator Therro the Kid. No writing or drawing experience is needed.
Dreaming Amongst the Waves
Begin with a gallery walk through David Uzochukwu: Bodies of Water, where photographs of hybrid beings and otherworldly landscapes will inspire characters and stories. Troy will share how art fuels his writing, then guide you as you invent a world and draft speculative fiction of your own.
Troy L. Wiggins is an award-winning Memphis writer and editor whose work has appeared in Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda, Memphis Noir, and the Hugo and World Fantasy Award–winning FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction. Read More.
From coast to coast, from sea floor to top soil, human dreaming is a natural system with the ability to reshape the tides. In this creative world making workshop, inspired by David Uzochukwu’s groundbreaking Bodies of Water exhibition, using spirit, place, and storytelling to build a poignant future-vision of idea, identity, and place. .
What is Creative Worldmaking? Worldmaking is the process of creating or imagining fictional, or hopefully real worlds using creativity, science, art, and real-world inspiration. You will use your imagination and be inspired by the artworks featured in Bodies of Water to create a new world, and tell the story of this world using description, plot, and characterization.
Drawn from Another World
After lunch, Therro the Kid will help you turn your story into a comic. Design a character, choose a key moment, and learn how to arrange it on the page. Live demonstrations and beginner-friendly templates will help you get started, whether you draw regularly or have not picked up a pencil in years.
Therrious Davis, better known by the nickname Therro is an illustrator and a graduate of the Memphis College of Art. An Orange Mound native, his community truly shaped his view of the world and his work. His work can be seen in various murals across the city of Memphis, The New York Times, NPR, and in the Urban Arts Commission’s ‘Movable Collection.’ Read More.
This session will explore launching individual creative endeavors by utilizing visual development. Artists in this field establish the specific atmosphere, visual language, and aesthetic direction for animation, gaming, and digital media.
Learn essential skills for generating concept art, designing characters or worlds, and applying color schemes to initial character drafts, objects, and environmental arrangements. During this workshop, participants will employ these principles to craft a central protagonist, create small-scale sketches of a narrative moment to define the overall ambiance, and produce a primary frame illustration based on the sketch that most effectively communicates the narrative.
You will leave with an original character, a short story, and an illustrated scene that brings your imagined world to life.
Your All Day Pass includes admission to BOTH workshops and access to a catered sandwich bar for lunch between sessions.
Please contact us ahead of time for any dietary restrictions or allergies.
MSCA MONTHLY DINNER GATHERING
On the first Tuesday of the month, September 1, 2026, we will gather at Garibaldi’s Pizza, 3530 Walker Ave, by the University of Memphis, from 6 – 8 pm. Some of us show up a little earlier sometimes if you want to come early.
Katie Jones connected us to the Alpha Omega Veterans Center, and they are looking for comics – original publications by us, old copies of comic books and graphic novels – and if you have any you can donate, please bring this to the next dinner meeting and give to Kevin.
Also, bring along art to show and money to buy food. Garibaldi’s has great pizza, pasta, sandwiches, beverages and more.
We look forward to seeing you again!
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3kRSvDH7tB7hbzJF9
CON CARDS BY GREG CRAVENS
The following night, September 2, 2026, you can hang with Greg Cravens and play some Con Cards at 6pm at 901 Games on Broad Ave, come hang and play with Greg Cravens’ Con Cards. Will you win the prize?
SEC/NCS DISCUSSION WITH GREG CRAVENS
Check out this interview with MSCA/NCS member Greg Cravens as part of the monthly gathering of the Southeastern Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society:
https://youtu.be/5UeiS-7TIiw?si=8lizE_z5CNxgW0se
Greg is the NCS’s membership chair, and was recently up at the groups 80th Anniversary Reuben Awards and NCS Conference weekend in Columbus, OH. MSCA member Tim Jones (“Sour Grapes”), alum Michael Ramirez (Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist), and southeast chapter member John Rose (“Barney Google” and Snuffy Smith”).
A few of the special guests were Cathy Guisewite (“Cathy”), Jeff Smith (“Bone”), and Jim Davis (“Garfield”). Keep an ear out for the “Comic Lab” podcast episode recorded there over the weekend by hosts Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar.
OTHERWORLDLY FUNDRAISING INTERVIEW
On Sunday, September 13, 2026, at 11 am, Kevin Williams will be interviewing actress, singer, and puppeteer Emily Marsh during the online convention.
https://youtube.com/@otherworldlyfundraising?si=rDwUirD4nUpzcNN_
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SKETCHY: MSCA ZINE 2027 Issues
2027 represents our 40th anniversary, and part of that will be the next publication of the TGTBATS zine with the release or the issue in March or April 2027. So the deadline will be the January 2027 Dinner Gathering. Lin Workman will be the editor of this zine. We’re looking to publish MSCA history, but also want to see examples of your earliest work since 1987. It can be a now/then comparison of a reworking of an cartoon, an evolution of your character, or a Memphis or cartoonist/artist themed toon.
The second issue will be a dinosaur theme edited by Eric McMeans who is the perfect editor for such a thing (Raptor Boy comics anyone?)! This is slated to be released in September 2027 with a deadline of June 2027.
If you haven’t added to the dino and other jam pieces please do at the next dinner gathering.
Now is the time to start reserving your pages! $3/page to play gets you one full issue per page, $1 per zine after that. If you’d like a copy of the page template please email MSCA publications at mscapub@gmail.com and we’ll get one sent over to you.
Original MSCA zine editor Dale Martin has offered to host another “best practices” workshop to help explain scanning at BW vs. grayscale vs. color, how to paginate, and more. The first one Dale hosted was very informative and helpful in continuing to create zines for the MSCA, as well as Lin and Eric’s own zines. If you’d like to be a part of the MSCA zines or create your own, “stay tooned” for more info on this upcoming zine workshop. Thanks, Dale!
OUTREACH – AVE MARIA HOME VISIT
We’ve been invited back on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, from 3 – 5 pm. Do I have anyone else able to come with me? I know the time is odd, but it’s just enough time before they go to dinner. LET ME KNOW if you can come, please. Would like to have a few of us go.
Ave Maria is at https://maps.app.goo.gl/rgV6cYVaXRf6UchaA
After, we can go to dinner at Pop’s Comfort Kitchen at https://maps.app.goo.gl/azBZgEoAe7QG5Qa96
STAGE & SKETCH at THE DIXON GALLERY AND GARDENS
Dale Martin shares: the 2nd Thursday of every month, from 6-8 pm in their education building (4339 Park Ave.). Past models have included wrestlers, belly dancers, and cosplayers. Organizer Shelda Edwards (@legendofshelda) keeps things fresh each time. The location is at https://maps.app.goo.gl/DMR1XHZV4wAzuMCt8
Sept. 10, Oct. 8, Nov. 12, & Dec. 10, 2026.
NOVEL BOOKSTORE JUNIOR DRAWING CLUB
Jamie Wells shares that The Junior Drawing Club is a free event for all ages (recommended for ages 5-15) that takes place one Friday a month from 4–6 PM in the Event Space at Novel Bookstore.
There are always many tables full of blank paper, coloring sheets, pens, pencils, markers, crayons, colored pencils, and other arts and crafts equipment. Snacks, water, and music will also be provided. For those who need it, there is always an optional prompt. Everyone can draw whatever they want.
It’s not always the same Friday each month. Here is the schedule as set so far:
September 11th (prompt: draw a word)
October TBD
November 20th
December 4th
ROGUES GALLERY
Rogue’s Gallery Memphis is returning October 11th with Rogue’s Gallery Memphis Strikes Back sponsored by Nae-Nae’s Comics at Abandoned Antiques’ event space in Millington TN from 1pm to 5pm. The MSCA‘s own Lee Raggs is our poster artist for this year and we are opening up the event this year to include vendors, artists, a cosplay contest, giveaways, and more.
Sign ups are opening up on July 31st. Sign up at www.RoguesGalleryMemphis.com at the google form in the link.
SALES OPPORTUNITY!
Jee Vahn Knight is CEO of the Baron Von Opperbean & the River of Time interactive experience happening at 101 Island Drive, Memphis, TN 38103 (in the former Mississippi River Museum), and hopes to create an inventory in their BVO Gift Shop of local comic art, plush, books, etc., which she plans to buy outright to display in their shop. Reach out to her at jee@bvoexp.com, and to see more about the program visit: BVO | Baron Von Opperbean and The River of Time | Memphis, TN
CATS FOR ADOPTION
The kittens may have all been adopted by the time you read this email, but their mom (in the collar) and her brother (the whiskers turned solid black overnight it seems) still need a home (or homes). Reply to this email if you’re willing to give a good home to some really nice cats! (The boy has been fixed, by the way.)
GOOD HEALTH NEWS!
From MSCA alum Bob Kimball:
I just had a telehealth meeting with my oncologist regarding a body scan I had Tuesday. No new cancer! He said if he was to give me a grade, it would be an A!
Bob has been busy creating new art such as these amazing Universal Monster portraits.
And he’s been back playing bass at gigs with the Nashville based band Phoenix Rising– rock on, Bob!.
See more of Bob’s artwork at: http://greatbigrobot.com/
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
September 1, 2026 – 6-8pm Dinner Gathering at Garibaldi’s Pizza, 3530 Walker Ave, Memphis, TN https://maps.app.goo.gl/rgV6cYVaXRf6UchaA
September 2, 2026 – 6pm Con Cards at 901 Games on Broad Ave. in Memphis, TN
September 12, 2026 – Memphair Pop Culture Art Market at the Hightone in Memphis, TN
October 3, 2026 – Nashville Comic Arts Festival at the Vanderbilt Public Library in Nashville, TN https://nashcomicsfest.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/october-3-2026-save-the-date/
October 6, 2026 – 6-8pm Dinner Gathering at Garibaldi’s Pizza, 3530 Walker Ave, Memphis, TN
October 7, 2026, from 3 – 5 pm Outreach at Ave Maria Home
October 11, 2026 – Rogues Gallery Memphis www.RoguesGalleryMemphis.com
October 16-25, 2026 – Memphis Monster Market pop-up shop at The Medicine Factory in downtown Memphis, TN
November 3, 2026 – 6-8pm Dinner Gathering at Garibaldi’s Pizza, 3530 Walker Ave, Memphis, TN
November 21-22, 2026 – Memphis Monster Con at Agricenter International in Memphis, TN
December 1, 2026 – 6-8pm Dinner Gathering at Garibaldi’s Pizza, 3530 Walker Ave, Memphis, TN
September 2027 – WKNO Art Show Exhibition, themed around “literacy,” including students from Katie Jones’ own class, and will happen in the gallery/lobby of WKNO https://maps.app.goo.gl/3YRSJy5v8e1qB3aZ8
Print and save the dinner gathering calendar below:
MSCA Snail Mail:
MSCA
P.O. Box 770397
Memphis, TN 38177
If you have any event or art project news you’d like to share you can email me at midsouthcartoonists@gmail.com, or if you’d like to promote your podcast or Kickstarter campaign, you can email “Drawing Funny” podcast host Lin Workman at podcast(at)drawingfunny(dot)com. PDFs of your comics or zines can be emailed to me there, you can send a physical copy to the MSCA address above, or slide by one of our MSCA monthly dinner gatherings at Garibaldi’s Pizza on the 1st Tuesday night of each month from 6-8pm.
The podcast is free to listen to and there are no sponsors or ads- just interviews with comic creators, shout-outs to other podcasts, MSCA and industry news, info on fun local events, recommendations on cool items…and an occasional shameless plug by Lin. You can listen on Spotify, Apple, or most other podcasting platforms.