Yours truly is honored to be guest curator for a showing of comic art by Wisconsin artists at the Lawton gallery at UWGreen Bay, titled Cheap Thrills: 20 Comix Artists From Wisconsin. The show was suggested by Dr. Stephen Perkins, head honcho at the Lawton gallery after he saw a showing of work at the Firecracker gallery in Madison which was curated by David Mueller, Coth, and me. “Wow!” he said at the time, unaware that organizing cartoonists is like herding cats. Twenty cats, er, cartoonists will be featured in the show including many familiar to Riverwest Currents and UnderCurrents readers. Cartoonists from those publications include Coth, Dug Belan, Dan Hernandez, David Beyer, Jr., Lynn Lau, Laura Maker, Breena Wiederhoeft, John Will Balsley, J. Jason Groschopf, Matt Chicorel, Jennifer Janviere`, Chris Miller, and yours truly. Also included is underground comics founding fathers Denis Kitchen, of Kitchen Sink Press, formerly of Wisconsin, and Peter Poplaski who splits his year between Green Bay and France, where he yucks it up with R. Crumb. James Kloiber of Shepherd Express fame will also be featured along with Max Estes, who has had two books done up by Top Shelf Productions, and rounding out the crew are Tim Demeter, Josh Dorsha, and Justin Madson. The show opens Thursday, September 13 with a bang, and runs through October 4. Yours truly will be giving a talk on opening night and a walking tour of the show offering scrutinizing, scandalous details on the pieces and plenty of bon mots. Kickoff time is 5PM, reception ends at 6:30PM. There are a few related events. Comic Book Confidential, a documentary about the history of comics, will be shown Wednesday, September 19 at 6:30PM in the University Union Phoenix Room C and is free and open to the public. A DIY Comic Book Workshop will be taught Saturday, September 22 starting at 11AM in Studio Arts Room 411. The workshop will be taught by comics gurus David Beyer, Jr. and yours truly. David is the creator of The Twisted Adventures of Stinko, which is featured right here in the Currents, and he is often described as being “the world’s most dangerous cartoonist.” We will be teaching some basic comic theories, and the attendees will help create a comic book which everyone will get a copy of. The workshop is free and open to all. Contact Stephen Perkins to enroll at the gallery hotline, 920-465-2916. Lastly, there will be a lecture by Mary Layoun of UW-Madison on the cross cultural history of comics Thursday, September 27 at 6:30PM, Phoenix Room A, free and open to the public.