ISSUE 12:  FOOD & DRINK – DEADLINE APRIL 1, 2025

We are looking to do issue #12 this spring, and are currently looking at doing a “food & drink” themed issue (think bars, restaurants, family dinners, first dates. grocery shopping, liquor stores, FDA, competitive eating, hangovers, diets, recipes, etc.). As of right now we’re scheduling an April 1st deadline for art entries…no foolin’! This should give us plenty of time to get the zine edited and to/from the printer in time for this year’s Memphis Public Libraries’ Comic Con in May.

If all goes well with this issue, then we are planning to publish our “unlucky 13‘ issue sometime in the fall (fingers crossed and knock on wood). Submission details and a template will be provided for anyone who is interested in participating, and it’s first come on pages until we have the issue filled.

TGTBATS Issues #10 and #11 are out and are available around town at Comics & Collectibles, The Cellar Tabletop Games And Comics, and both locations of 901 Comics (midtown and east) for $3 each issue.

GB&S “FUNNY PAGES” ISSUES REVIEWED!

Dale also shares: Hi guys – hope you’re staying warm & that your new year is off to a good start!
Here’s a little video review (starting about 43:16) of our “Funny Pages” issues! Special attention was given to Jim & his Sam Ray tribute, Katie, and Jason’s comics, but kudos to all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taTNX22LJLU
By the way, if you have any review contacts you want to share, send ’em my way, and we can ship them a copy. Cheers, dale.

MSCA CON CARDS – by Greg Cravens

Greg shares:  For MSCA members- we’re thinking we should do a deck with US on it!  We can have a bunch made up, twelve of us would be characters on the cards, and we would make up three Event Cards for our MSCA deck (Maybe “Napkin Sketch Draw-Off”, or “Con Booth Design”, or “New Publisher Pitch”, or any of a dozen more things you can suggest).

Decks would be available to anyone who wanted to buy them to play, or to sell at their convention booths, or any other cartoony reason.

ConCards is a matching-and-counting card game designed to do a lot of things!

For players, it’s designed to be played fast and easy all over a Con, releasing players from a Gamers Room.  It also serves as a collector game- as winners take a card from the hand’s loser.

For game shops and gamers booths at cons, it’s a chance to stock and sell multiple decks of a fast-paced, family-friendly game, making multiple sales after the first deck sale makes new fans curious about adding decks to their game.

For creators who get decks with their own characters and events, it’s a new product to offer at your booth at conventions, or on your website. As the game is played, your property’s characters and logo are spread to more gamers as your property’s card decks change hands during play.

Want to know more and order your own personalized decks to sell or give away as marketing?  Contact Greg or the MSCA.

Attached above is the Con Cards template shared by Greg!!

JETTA 25TH YEAR CELEBRATION BEGINS HERE! 

From Martheus Antone Wade: This episode of Wade’s World is episode 1 of our 25th year celebration where I get to interview my son, Anakin, on how he feels the road to comic and manga success is going! Join us as we talk about the ups and downs he has seen since he has been traveling with us to conventions and being a part of a creative family!
https://youtu.be/lGATBFRAQpU?si=TrxUNMIOZsDT4jpo

Read more HERE and HERE, or visit the Toshigawa Universe site HERE.

ANDRE L MILLER’S “REDEMPTION OF A DELTA BLUESMAN” ART EXHIBITION

Celebrating the life of bluesman Robert Johnson.
Details at: https://www.instagram.com/artbyandremiller_06?igsh=bng5OWhpbGpoYTE2

OPPORTUNITY: TEACHING AT THE COLDWATER MS LIBRARY

Not an MSCA event, but: Delaine Stoutenburgh is the Assistant Manager at the Coldwater Library and are always looking for new and different programs, both fun and educational, to add to their Summer Reading Program.

Delaine Stoutenburgh
First Regional Library
Assistant Manager-Coldwater
610 East Central Avenue
Coldwater, MS 38618

If you have any interest in sharing your cartooning knowledge with the kids in Coldwater, e-mail midsouthcartoonists(at)gmail(dot)com or visit our contact us page and we’ll put you in touch. Please let us know how much you would charge for an hourly program.

WHITEHAVEN BIG VENDOR EVENT – MARCH 9, 2025

This was shared to us for the MSCA Members to review and maybe partake in:

Welcome to the Whitehaven Big Vendor Event! Join us on Sun Mar 09, 2025, at 4466 Elvis Presley Blvd for a day filled with shopping, food, and fun. Browse through a variety of vendors offering unique products and services. From handmade crafts to delicious treats, there’s something for everyone at this event. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to support local businesses and discover new favorites. See you there!

There will also be unique & one-of-a-kind artwork to purchase & live musical performances.

If you would like to be a vendor/artist/performer, please fill out application @ www.BTMBS.com under events.
Vendor Fees: General Merchandise & Food Vendors $85
Info Only Vendors $50
Artist & Performers- No Fee
https://www.facebook.com/events/s/whitehaven-big-vendor-event/1775608829939392/

OPPORTUNITY: MID-SOUTH SOBER LIVING ART SHOW

This is not an MSCA event, however: Calling for art for our annual charity art auction!  The event will take place on Friday, March 28th at the Memphis Botanic Garden from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.  To donate art or purchase tickets, visit www.midsouthsoberliving.org  The event features art donated by local artists, hors d’ouevres, beverages, and live music.  Art donors receive two complimentary event tickets.  MSCA member is an annual art donor. Hope to see you there!  #mslart2025

FAMILY FINE ARTS NIGHT – APRIL 1

This event happens at the same time as our monthly dinner gathering at Garibaldi’s Pizza, but:
Bonnie Hopkins, an art teacher at Shelby Oaks Elementary, asks if one or a few of us can be there from 5:30 – 7 pm in the school’s multipurpose room.  She writes, “This event aims to promote the importance of the arts and share what parents and guardians can do to spark creativity in and outside the classroom.”  If anyone is interested, please let me know now so I can call on you closer to time but to also let her know that we have some folks interested.

MIDSOUTH MEGA-CON MAY 24 & 25

Coming May 24 & 25, 2025, to the Pipken Building, 995 Early Maxwell Blvd, Memphis, TN. This is the first ever MidSouth Mega-Con.  If you sign-up, please let me know so I can promote you with the MSCA!  Lin and I will have a table there for the MSCA.

https://www.midsouthmegacon.com/

MEMPHIS PUBLIC LIBRARIES 2025 COMIC CON

Dylan Miller from the Memphis Public Library recently sent out the application for the 3rd annual Comic Con happening Saturday, May 31, 2024, from 10am – 2pm at the Benjamin L Hooks Library (3030 Poplar Ave., Memphis).

https://www.memphislibrary.org/events/mpl-comic-con-vendor-application/

>She adds: MPL COMIC CON 2025 – VENDOR APPLICATION FAQ SHEET:

• Applying does not guarantee acceptance; applicants will be contacted to confirm participation. We reserve the right to decline applications that do not meet MPL’s standards and if we cannot accommodate you.
• Comic Con will be May 31, 2025 from 10AM-2PM. Vendors can start arriving at 8:30 AM to set up. Booths must be set up by 10AM and vendors must plan to stay for the entirety of the event. Failure to do so will be taken into consideration when applying for future vending opportunities at Memphis Public Libraries.
• In order to sell goods at this event, vendors must donate 10% of their earnings to the Memphis Library Foundation. The Memphis Library Foundation is the nonprofit organization that is funding this event. A MPL representative will be on site the day of to accept donations at the end of the event. Failure to make payment will be taken into consideration for future events.
• All participating vendors will receive a designated spot. We will provide one (1) table (72 x 30″) and two (2) chairs for each participating vendor unless otherwise requested and approved.
• Applications will remain open until May 17, subject to availability of space.

MSCA Ads

We’re planning to create some little ashcan pass-outs to advertise the club a little more, along with a jam art piece to create a new postcard.  This will include art from all of us!  Please let me know if you’re interested in playing along – this will be a pretty simple process.

MSCA PROMOTIONS

Please share any social media posts about the group so we can make sure plenty of people who might be interested know about us. The easiest thing to do is post the logo and a blurb:
Meetings are the first Tuesday of each month at 6 – 8 pm at Garibaldi’s Pizza, 3530 Walker Ave.  Promoting cartoons as art since 1987.  www.midsouthcartoonists.org

And don’t forget to snag some freebies off our promo table at the monthly dinners, or bring some to share with others.

MSCA LEGACY

If you have art you would like to add to the archives, please let me know.  Or bring it to the next dinner meeting at Garibaldi’s.

MSCA MENTEE

If anyone would like to start learning to take the helm of the MSCA ship (I’m not going to live forever!), let me know.  I would love to see this continue to sail forever, but need to mentor someone into the position to keep it afloat.

NEWS AND EVENTS

If you have any news or events, anything listed for the year, that would be helpful to share, please send it to me.  I’ll try to share extra information in the upcoming MSCA update emails, and definitely on social media.  Please send anything you’d like shared in these emails by the last Monday of the month.

If you haven’t sent in a bio and caricature of yourself (or a headshot of your creator owned cartoon character), please send that in so we can add you to our members directory page on the MSCA website. A toon jpeg, short  bio, and any website and social media links sent in an email to midsouthcartoonists(at)gmail(dot)com will work fine.

Thanks!
Kev