Image courtesy of the artist.

Cartoonist Lynn Johnston discusses her nearly 30-year run with For Better or For Worse (1979–2008)—one of the most beloved comic strips in North America—at this talk that also features live drawing by Johnston as well as an interview by special guest Jessica Campbell. Johnston made history in 1993 by creating one of the first openly gay characters in a strip, and her unique approach to aging her characters in “real time” made the comic deeply relatable to its readers. A Canadian-born artist and humorist, Campbell works in comics, fiber, painting, drawing, and performance and teaches comics and comics history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and DePaul University.

Noah Van Sciver is an Ignatz award-winning cartoonist and author who first came to comic readers’ attention with his critically acclaimed comic book series Blammo. He is a regular contributor to MAD Magazine and has created many graphic novels including The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln, Saint Cole, the Fante Bukowski: Struggling Writer graphic novella series (Fantagraphics Books) and recently released One Dirty Tree (Uncivilized Books), a graphic novel of his childhood memories in the Mormon church. In this presentation, Van Sciver will will demonstrate different techniques on coloring.

Emi Gennis’ renowned lecture on the art of hand-lettering is a highlight at Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) where she teaches comics, narrative practice, and illustration as a valued member of their comics-teaching faculty. She creates nonfiction comics and illustrated books, primarily on historical topics. Her work has been included in publications such as Bitch, The Hairpin,and The Nib, including two pieces reproduced in the Eisner-nominated anthology Eat More Comics: The Best of The Nib. In 2016, her autobiographical story Baseline Blvd was nominated for Slate‘s Cartoonist Studio Prize. She is also the editor of Unknown Origins & Untimely Ends, an anthology of nonfiction mystery comics.

Photo by Matthew James-Wilson.

The legendary and still very young Canadian cartoonist Michael DeForge arrives for the first time as a special guest for an afternoon of drawing, talking and signing: all in support of this weekend’s focus on the work of his friend and publisher, Annie Koyama. This is DeForge’s sole appearance at CXC 2018 and we hope to make it a special one. His comics and illustrations have been featured in Jacobin, The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Believer, The Walrus and Maisonneuve Magazine and he has numerous minicomics, webcomics and anthology contributions. His published books include the series Lose, Very Casual, A Body Beneath, Ant Colony, First Year Healthy, Dressing, Big Kids, Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero and A Western World. Michael de Forge’s completed daily comic, Leaving Richard’s Valley, is archived and available to read on Instagram.

SÕL-CON 2018 will take place on September 27-28 at Hale Hall on the Ohio State University main campus. SÕL-CON works in partnership with the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and CXC/Cartoon Crossroads Columbus event that will take place on OSU’s campus from September 27-30.

Schedule of Events

Meet the 2018 SOL-CON Exhibitors