The year has been great for TCM. Each month the shows keep getting better. This was true for June, an All Comics reading that occurred 2 days after the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo. There was a full crowd comprised of many other comics creators and self publishers. The readers all brought their A game. There were costumes, puppetry, collaborations and character voices. Here's what you missed.
Sage Coffey made her reading debut with us, marking the first time she'd read in public. It didn't show as she owed it. Sage introduced the reading asking the crowd to join in and help chant along with each panel. This was supplemented by a slew of snake puppets and capped off with an explosion of paper confetti. Great job to kick of the night. Plus she drew the show flyer which was a well loved hit.
Sean Mac read second, sharing with a comic about the Castlevania videogame series. He gave each character a funny voice, such as a fitting high pitch screech for the villain Dracula.
His reading brought many laughs and of course applause.
Two Cookie vet Rachel Foss read third sharing her brand of personal comics dealing with relationship, love and loss. The last two comics she shared were collaborations between writer Melinda Macentire. Rachel shared Melidna's text, short stories about dating, which were followed by her comics inspired by the text. The two will unveil their collaboration at this year's Milwaukee Arts Fest, so check out that this month if you can.
Closing out the night were the duo of Mike Freiheit and Isabella Rotman each reading a part from their split comics Good Cat/Bad Dog. While one read, the other acted out the animal muse: Mike was a dog, and Izzy was a cat. The comic was a commentary on how humans to communicate with animals in a different way than we do to others. It was a pretty high energy reading from both artists.
Everyone then hung around outside after the reading, talking or saying goodbye to end the CAKE weekend. It was exactly the atmosphere that TCM breeds. Glad so many keep supporting the reading series. Its a testament to what the community is and who makes it up. That's probably why next month in July TCM is able to celebrate it's 6th year anniversary. Stay tuned for that lineup and hope you can make it out. Until then, have a good one.
-Johnny Misift (host and curator of Two Cookie Minimum)
