Comics Symposium of Chicago

Even though SAIC doesn't have a comics department, there is a huge comics community here. As I think the School is the epicenter of the Chicago art community, it makes sense that that nucleus would cover the Chicago comics world to a certain degree as well. This was made especially apparent at the first ever Comics Symposium of Chicago. Two fabulous SAIC students, Sara Drake and Ingrid Olson organized the event which featured comics artists with varying degrees of experience under their belts, talking about making comics in ze Vindy Shitty. Professors and alumni in addition to a few folks who don't fit under said categories made up panels whose discussions were guided by moderators, who were also comics peeps. There were four events, each covering a specific topic. I was lucky to have been in attendance of the first discussion, Getting Out: Distribution and Self Publication, which featured the following funkinators:

Moderator:

Jeremy Tinder

Panelists:

Ian McDuffie

Joey Jacks

Sarah Becan
Anders Nilsen

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the other discussions, but one of my faves, Miss Beth Hetland did a great job of summarizing her involvement with the CCS with her rad diary comics. Check them out at her fabulous website!