#zinequeens

Get to know your vendor!

Josh Trujillo creator of Lost His Keys Man Comics

• If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Telekinesis is the big one I have always wanted, but the psychic nosebleeds would be gross.

• How did you decide on "Lost his keys man comics"? "Lost His Keys Man" in a character I have been drawing and doodling for pretty much my entire life. It only seemed appropriate to name my current comic offerings after him.

• Love Machines has received some interesting attention and is even on comixology, what is that like for you? It's great that Love Machines has found its footing! I found it difficult to describe the series early on because so few of the stories had been released. As it becomes better-known in comic book circles I'm hoping to find a place for it in stores, which is the big challenge for self-publishers.

• What can you tell us about Love Machines and Death Saves? Although both Love Machines and Death Saves are anthology collections of short comics they couldn't be more different. Love Machines has a softer approach but some of those tales are broad in their scope. All of the stories are written by me, and I work closely with the artists for each. Death Saves is the roller coaster ride, and has a lot of action spread across its 17 stories and 40 collaborators.

• What can we expect to see from your booth this year at the ZineQuest? I grew up in the Inland Empire, so I'm very excited to take part in a show close to home. Really I'm most interested in meeting some of the readers from the area, and the other artists and writers participating in ZineQuest. Events like this are very important since there are so many people interested in comics who can't make it to a big convention for a variety of reasons.

Get to know your vendor! Amanda Meadows from    The Devastator

Q&A!!! GO GO GO!!!

• If you could have any superpower, what would it be? We'd take invisibility, but we wouldn't use it for creepy stuff. Just to watch strangers lathering up in the shower.

• Can you give us a brief introduction on what you do? We are The Devastator and we make funny zines and books for humans! We poach writers and cartoonists hail from The Daily Show, The Onion, Adult Swim, Fantagraphics and Marvel to author our books and zines. Also, we're the only all-comedy publisher in the US -- crazy, right?

• The Devastator has attracted some very impressive attention. What was that like for you as creators and for the zine itself? It feels really good for a day or so, and then we're like, "Who will praise us next?" Kinda like cocaine! Real talk though, it's great to get good reviews and press, but sometimes that can make us seem bigger than we are. Our challenge has always been turning those "good vibes" into support for our press by folks buying our books and zines. The Struggle.

• What inspires you in creating the zine? The ideas for our books and zines often come out of hangout sessions we have with our authors. We relax, order a pizza, and tell them they can't eat any until they make us rich with genius humor book ideas! So far, that plan has been unsuccessful. Oh, you want a true answer? We really love pop culture, but even more so, we love comedy in print. Being lovers of the form pushes us to do stuff we don't see anywhere else.

• What can we expect to see at your booth at the ZineQuest? Stacks of hilarious new books and zines, including our latest comics & humor anthology The Devastator: Space Epic. You'll also get to meet one of our funniest new authors, Mike Levine (The Onion, Heeb, McSweeney's)!

Get to know your Vendor!!!!!!

World get ready to meet: Dave Baker

Let the Q&A BEGIN!! • If you could have any superpower, what would it be? telekinesis, probably!

• Can you introduce us to you Zine? I make a Zine called Professor Cuties about a diminutive college teacher who has to move in with an anthropamorphized rabbit woman and a super intelligent piece of mud.

• What is it like as a writer working with an artist rather than being able to do everything yourself? Well, I do both. I write and draw professor cuties. And I just write Suicide Forest and This Is Not A Girl Gang. Working as a writer is fun cause you get to bounce off of someone. It's all about figuring out the best way for both of you to tell the story. As opposed to when I write for myself it's all about figuring out the best way to work within my own drawing abilities.

• What is your favorite moment in Action Hospital so far? My favorite part of Action Hospital is the issue that follows a merman who's cursed to never be allowed back underwater. He has to walk around Newmerica for the rest of his life. Haha. It's less strange than it sounds when you boil it down to one sentence.

• What can we expect to see at your booth this year? I'll be selling my graphic novels horrible little people, Awesomenaut, unite and take over and suicide forest, and my mini comics this is not a girl Gang, and professor cuties. As well as prints and some illustrations.

Get to know your Vendor!! Sabrina Dropkick from ----> EAT Art DIY

• If you could have any superpower, what would it be? You know what, the first thing that came to mind wasn't actually a superpower, but I would really fucking love it if I could keep a fucking plant alive. It's bad. Like, I've killed cacti. And I didn't really care but then a friend recently told me how much weed you can yield from a single plant (I think it was something crazy like 5-7 ounces!) and now I'm just like, fuuuuuck, I want that in my life!!!

• Can you introduce us to your zine? (Is there any actual eating involved?) HAHAHA. Well there's usually donut eating after the monthly EAT Art open mic! EAT is an acronym so the name really means "Education & Activism Through Art". EAT Art is a zine distributor (and like I said, we host an open mic every first Friday at Book Show in Highland Park, plus sporadic workshops). Right now we're slinging zines from five artists - "Mania, Madness, and Markers" is a one panel comic series about mental illness by my BFF back in Philly, Dani Bronson, "Monochromatic Dreams" is an adult coloring book by Binx, "Cute Animals" is this fucking adorable zine by 7-year-old Birdie and it's a buncha drawings of, well, duh, cute animals. I've got three zines from 12-year-old Iliana - "The Mustache Who Played Roller Derby" which is a sorta autobiographical account of her learning how to play derby and then the second issue is about entering middle school, and her other zine's called "9 Ways to Know You're Near a Unicorn". Then I've got my own shit, of course - "Celibate Slut" is a memoir series chronicling my journey through Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, and "The Little Fat Grrrl From Philly", which has morphed into this story/activity book (there's word searches and mazes!) where each issue tackles a different topic like body image and depression.

• What inspires you in creating your zine? When it comes to making my own zines, it's always been really important to me to share my stories for my own growth, but also to open up the conversation for others who are dealing with the same kind of shit. And when it comes to distribution, it just makes me super fucking happy to watch people learn the value of their art, especially with distributing the kids' zines - it blows their fucking mind that people not only love their work, but that they can make a couple bucks too!

• What do you like about attending Zinefests? I really love the sorta unspoken rule that zine fests are just one big safe space. So much of the work comes from really personal, vulnerable places and I love how it creates this opportunity for dialogue about things that a lot of us can't really talk about on an everyday basis, especially to random strangers.

• What can we expect to see at your booth this year? Everything I described in the second question! And hugs!