Tag: Comics and Collectibles

A Month Of Birthdays, Anniversaries, and Art Events!

June is going to be a busy month! Here are some of the events happening in and around the mid-south…

This weekend is a double birthday celebration for Memphis comics. On Saturday it’s the 36th anniversary of Comics & Collectibles over off Poplar (between Colonial and Perkins).

That same day, 901 Comics is celebrating it’s 6th anniversary of their midtown location at Cooper/Young.

The following Tuesday, June 7th is our next MSCA dinner meeting at Garibaldi’s Pizza over near the U of M. We’ll be getting together from 7-8:30pm, but feel free to slide by a bit earlier if you’d like- and bring your sketchbook or anything you’ve been working on lately.

That next weekend has a lot happening! Up in Metropolis, IL is the 44th annual Superman Celebration. This year they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of being the official home of Superman. It’s about a 3hr drive from Memphis and is located just across the Ohio River from Paducah, KY.

Back here in Memphis, the Anime Blues Con will be going on downtown at the convention center.

That Sunday, June 12th– 901 Comics East in Cordova will be having an in-store appearance by Red Ranger Jason Faunt.

Towards the end of the month it’s time for the Memphis Crafts & Drafts Festival Summer Market at the Crosstown Concourse.

Oh, and today is a couple of MSCA member birthdays. Happiest of birthdays to Mr. J himself- Chris Jowers.

Also, happy birthday to my wife and MSCA webmaster Nicki Workman! We’re both off today and are looking forward to doing breakfast and then getting out to take some pics.

We just celebrated our 12th engagement anniversary over the weekend. We got engaged at the 2010 Phoenix Comic Con. Love ya, Babe!

Oh, and happy (or unhappy) birthday to Oscar the Grouch who shares a June 1st birthday with Chris and Nicki!

Hope you all are able to get out and enjoy these events. If you know of any others please give me a yell.

Lin

 

Comics & Collectibles
4730 Poplar Avenue #2
Memphis, TN 38117
901-683-7171
memphiscomics.com

901 Comics (East)
8551 Macon Rd,
Cordova, TN 38018
(901) 249-7959
901 Comics (Cooper/Young)
2162 Young Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 421-8819
901-comics.business.site
Crosstown Concourse
1350 Concourse Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 203.-8300

Anime Blues Con
Renasant Convention Center (downtown)
255 N Main St.
Memphis, TN 38103
Metropolis Superman Celebration
Metropolis, IL 62960
618-524-2714
office@metropolischamber.com
Garibaldi’s Pizza
3530 Walker Ave
Memphis, TN 38111
(901) 327-6111

“Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!”- MSCA Dinner Meeting And FCBD This Week

Attention, Citizens..!

Lots of comic action happening this week in Memphis, so gas up your batmobile and dry clean your capes.

First up is our MSCA monthly dinner meeting at the U of M Garibaldi’s Pizza on Tuesday, May 3rd. We meet up  the 1st Tuesday of each month at 7pm in the big room.

I’d like to get a few member interviews so if you’d like to be on an upcoming “Drawing Funny” podcast episode I’ll be there a bit early so hit me up. Would love to talk toon with ya.

Bring whatever art you’ve been working on, favorite art book/comic or recent art tool purchase to show, or some promo swag to hand out. Also, feel free to bring a friend or family member, and be sure to bring a few bucks to order off the menu. You and your stomach will be glad you did! The meeting/meet-up is casual and open to the public. I’ll have some MSCA freebies with me, too.

Speaking of freebies…this weekend, it’s BACK! Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) 2022 is on Saturday, May 7 at local comic shops across the country and around the world. Check with your local comic shop to see ig/how they are participating, and if there are any requirements/restrictions. Here in the M-town all our local comic shops are participating- Comics & Collectibles, The Cellar, both locations of 901 Comics, and Jupiter Comics out near Moscow, TN.

The midtown/Cooper-Young 901 Comics location will be having a special in store signing appearance by legendary Ghost Rider artist Javier Saltares. Doors open at 9am! First personalized signature is free and $5 for every signature after. CGC witnessed signatures are $10 each. Sketch pricing depends on size and content.

That same day out east in their Cordova location (8551 Macon Rd, Cordova, TN 38018), 901 Comics will be having several local creators in-store which includes some of our MSCA members. Slide by from 10 AM – 7 PM and say hi to Jetta/Shinobi creators Martheus & Janet Wade, the Stoned Ninja team Gabriel DeRanzo and Greg Cravens, Matt Bowers the creator of the Memphis comic, artist and inker extraordinaire John Martin, and Richard Fields creator of Lucy! They will also have a 20% off sale that day.

Don’t forget that the  “Stoned Ninja” Kickstarter still has a few days left. It has lots of great tiers and incentives, and you can back this current comics campaign for as little as a dollar!

If you go out to 901 Comics East or to the MSCA dinner meeting see about getting Gabe or Greg to do a sketchcover for you.

ADJ Design’s Antonio and Tamika Johnson, the creators of the novic Bluff City Blues will be at Bookstock Memphis Area Authors’ Festival on Saturday, May 7th from 11 am to 3 PM at Benjamin L Hooks Central Library, 3030 Poplar Ave.

It’s free and family friendly- live music, food trucks and more!

Over the weekend I finished up the Star Wars display at the Hernando library. It’s been a while since Nicki and I have done a display in their west lobby. This one is to celebrate May The Fourth and Revenge Of The Fifth (or Sixth) and features some of our personal collection.

I found some stuff I was looking for, but there’s at least a few boxes of stuff I can’t find- mostly my original Star Wars action figures (blue and red Snaggletooth figure and original dozen) and some of the large dolls… I mostly just found Power Of The Force figures. They’re here somewhere either in my closet or Nicki’s. I’m sure I’ll run across them when I’m not looking.
If you’re in the Hernando, MS area and dig Star Wars and/or collecting stuffs please slide by and check the display out. It will be up for the month of May, and they are open Monday-Saturday. I tried to do a little from each trilogy, cartoons, games, novels and comics, and even added a Darth Vader sketchcard I did from my first Star Wars gig I did for Topps.
Nicki and I got together because of Star Wars and having mutual friends who dug it, too. It’s the first movie I not only remember seeing in the theater (the opening crawl/space battle🤯), but is also the only trilogy (OT) I know exactly where I originally saw them in Memphis. Unfortunately all three theaters no longer exist.
Oh, you can see (and buy) more of my sketchcards at The Cellar out in Bartlett, Tn. Check them out if you’re there for Free Comic Book Day. Lots of freebie MSCA swag to be had as well.
Hope to see you this weekend around the M-Town!
Lin

MSCA GCT Art Show Info Update

Okay, good news/bad news…

Bad news first– since there’s been an increase of COVID the art show at the Germantown Community Theatre has been delayed a bit.

The good news– that gives anyone who wanted to participate but ran out of time a chance for a few more weeks to get their art completed and turned in.

Here are all the details from the MSCA’s president Kevin L. Williams–

Hello, Fellow MSCA’ers,

This is the update on the MSCA Art Show at the Germantown Community Theater:

The performance was delayed due to Omicron Covid-19; but, will resume in February- as will the art show. Therefore, we have until END OF JANUARY/FIRST OF February to gather all artwork for the art show. This means if you were interested in participating, YOU STILL CAN! Just let me know.

Special thanks so far to Greg Cravens, Dale Martin, Jim Palmer, Terence Washington, and Lin Workman for submitting their art already! There’s still room for YOU, too!! They may have us out for “friends and family” night at the theater, too. Whether you’re in the show or not, don’t forget to PROMOTE it for everyone.

THE DETAILS OF THE ART SHOW ARE:
Sales: Artist keeps 60%, the theater gets 40%.
Artwork DUE BY FEBRUARY 8, 2022 (first Tuesday in February).
Make sure your art can be hung easily. (wire on back preferred)
Information cards: 3×3” with piece name, artist name, media, and price (include your website as well).

Do you have a profile/caricature on www.midsouthcartoonists.org in our Members Directory? If so, I’m taking your profile and caricature from there for the show. If not, send an email to me midsouthcartoonists(at)gmail(dot)com and Lin podcast(at)drawingfunny(dot)com so we both have your profile.
(And don’t forget to connect: www.facebook.com/midsouthcartoonists

The show will be hung and available for viewing February 17-27, 2022.

THEME OF SHOW:
www.gctcomeplay.org/complete-history
Something that parodies American History. It doesn’t have to be current events, but think “founding fathers” and what can be made funny about that?

With a ten year run in the West End at the Criterion Theatre, The Complete History of America (abridged) ought to be funny. And informative. And it’s both. In the short space of ninety minutes, Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor take us through 600 years of History, from Washington to Watergate, from the Bering Straits to Baghdad, from New World to New World Order – The Complete History of America (abridged) is a breakneck rollercoaster ride through the glorious quagmire that is American history.

Tackling such controversial questions as: Who really discovered America? Why did Abe Lincoln free the slaves? How many Democrats does it take to screw in a light bulb? – absolutely nothing is sacred in the authors’ unique satirical exploration of America’s past.

“History has never been this much fun. Or as delightfully mutilated.” Montreal Gazette

“This History of America should be a required course.” – Boston Herald

ART SHOW ART DROP-OFF/PICK-UP
Feel free to drop art work off at my work between 8am – 4pm Monday – Friday:
Crone Memorials, 811 S Dudley Street, Memphis, TN 38104 (Map above)

OR – let me know your address and we’ll make plans to meet there or somewhere so I can get artwork.

Be Safe, Be Happy, Be Well!
Your Pals,
Kevin L. Williams
& Muley the Mule

Kevin is working on trying to schedule another art show for later this year- fingers crossed! BTW- this is what the 3″x3″ cards should look like and how they will be placed. (Art by Greg Cravens.)

I dropped off my cartoon piece for the art show, and hope to try and get at least one more finished in time.

Speaking of dropping off art, I recently dropped off some of my latest sketchcards to The Cellar out in Bartlett. I sell them and my sketchcovers through the shop –2737 Bartlett Blvd.

If you haven’t stopped by to pick up some of the freebie MSCA and Drawing Funny podcast swag, there’s plenty to be had. I left behind some more stickers and buttons, as well as some MSCA sketchcard blanks. They are all free and located near the front entrance.

If you draw on any, please post pics on social media and tag the MSCA– we’d love to see what you create. (I had these printed back before we had the new website or our Instagram account- (at)midsouthcartoonists.)

Oh, you can also pick up some MSCA swag while it lasts at Comics & Collectibles (on Poplar) and 901 Comics (Cooper/Young). I’ll try to drop off some sketchcard blanks by each shop the next time I’m in Memphis. The freebies are usually near the register- just ask if you don’t see any.

If you have any ideas for celebrating the MSCA’s 35th anniversary please let us know. Not sure when we’ll be getting together in person at Garibaldi’s Pizza again. We had hoped to be back in the big room this month, but they had to cancel groups due to the upswing in COVID cases in Memphis/Shelby County. For now we’ll be doing Zoom calls/video on the first Tuesday of the month, unless we can safely meet in person somewhere. If you’d like to be on our Drawing Funny podcast to promote anything you’re working on or have it mentioned on the show and/or this website please let me know- podcast(at)drawingfunny(dot)com.

That’s all the news for now. Stay safe and stay tooned!

Lin