- Thanks for the Laughs, David
- Rebooting 3
- Rebooting 2
- But I Was Busy
- Placeholding
- Placeholding
- The Ballcaps of Western Kansas
- Get Over It
- A trip to Big S Burgers
- Tax Planning 1.05
- Orangeface
- Tax Planning 1.04
- Reading is Fundamental
- Tax Planning 1.03
- Tax Planning 1.02
- Quadtriptych Part 1
- Don't Read the Words Out Loud
- Tax Planning 1.01
- There's a Med For That
- Birds and Squirrel Brouhaha
- Seasonal Schizo: Marysville, KS
- Knee Deep
- First World Problems
- Wa Za
- L'd'l Newt's Static Mixer
- "The Jumping Off Place" 13
- "The Jumping Off Place" 11
- "The Jumping Off Place" 11
- "The Jumping Off Place" 10
- "The Jumping Off Place" 9
- "The Jumping Off Place" 8
- L'd'l Newt's Static Placeholder
- "The Jumping Off Place" 7
- "The Jumping Off Place" 6
- "The Jumping Off Place" 5
- "The Jumping Off Place" 4
- "The Jumping Off Place" 3
- "The Jumping Off Place" 2
- "The Jumping Off Place"
- True Dat
- Do de dum dum doop de doo
- Someone Get This Kid a Calendar
- Happy Newt Year!
- And a Happy New Year
- Peace Out
- Thanks, Jim
- You Don't Spit in the Wind.
- Effin Eagle
- No Post Today
- The Mysterious Mr. Keezer
- Public Service Announcement
- Hiatus Schmiatus
- Granny HaHa 1.3: Way Ha!
- Granny HaHa 1.2: All Bull, All the Time
- Granny HaHa 1.1: Everything Old is New Again
- WWW 1.4: Everybody Votes
- Ba Dum Bum 1.7
- Ba Dum Bum 1.6
- Ba Dum Bum 1.5
- Ba Dum Bum 1.4
- Ba Dum Bum 1.3
- Ba Dum Bum 1.2
- Ba Dum Bum 1.1
- King o' the World 1.12: They Grow Up So Fast
- Any Port in a Storm
- Cartoon Convention part 2
- Cartoon Convention part 1
- Place Setter
- WWW 1.3: Maximizing Monetizing
- well, thank you very much
- King o' the World 1.11: Props to Freddie Mercury
- King o' the World 1.10: Metaphysical Quizzical
- King o' the World 1.9: Too Much Information
- King o' the World 1.8: Special Thanks to All My Very Mint Colleagues. (Please don't sue me.)
- King o' the World 1.7: Back in the Saddle
- Ain't it the Truth
- WWW 1.2: Too Much Newt?
- WWW 1.1: Lumping It
- King o' the World 1.6: Good Question
- King o' the World 1.5
- King o' the World 1.4
- King o' the World 1.3
- King o' the World 1.2
- King o' the World 1.1
- Creative Processing
- No Chillability.
- Wally is Wuv
- Opening Salvo
Some explanations might be in order. I have been a member of an APA called “Cartoon Loonacy” for many years. “APA” is an acronym for “Amateur Press Association.” There are many APAs in existence, each one focusing on a particular topic. “Cartoon Loonacy” is an APA for fans and creators of cartoon drawings and other related topics.
OK, so how does an APA work? All of the APAs I’ve been involved with have functioned in the same way. There are fixed deadlines every year, usually quarterly. Each member assembles their own “magazine” of photocopied pages and sends them to a central mailer. The mailer collates all the contributions, staples them together, and mails the amassed results back to all the APA members. Then each member squeals with delight upon receiving their very own copy of a magazine devoted to stuff they really really like. It’s fun, cheap and incredibly time consuming, especially for the central mailer. Here’s to the central mailers of the world!
One could make a case that I’m violating some unspoken rule by posting my APA contribution on this site, but I think I dodged it by a hair. An APA functions as a sort of private club, where one can show work and make comments that you can be reasonably assured will not available to the general public. This can make for some great freewheeling discussions, and allows one freedom to be a total maroon. (This comes in handy for a lot of us.) Anyway, I didn’t post other member’s stuff… mostly. There was that faux jam page I call “Big 6”, but all the drawing were repurposed from other pages and everybody was properly credited on the piece. I don’t know. Some Surly Folks may make an issue of it, but I ain’t a-scared. I’ll take ’em on. And I’ll never do it again, if that’s the way you feel about it. Honest.
The idea of an APA is becoming rather quaint as the years pass. A large part of the sharing aspect has become eclipsed by the internet. I can show the same material to a much larger audience at no great cost. APAs, as I said before, are relatively cheap, but there are dues to cover club costs, the price of reproducing the pages (sometimes in color), the time spent collating each issue before sending it to the central mailer, and finally the huge postage you have to pay because you’ve massively missed the deadline and the package has to go overnight.
Still the APA has it’s own special value. It’s a unique object. It has a very limited distribution. It’s personal and club-like. One can hobnob with the elite, as there are often well-known individuals associated with the group, and it’s definitely honed to your personal interests. It’s fun, and I have been doing it in several different APAs for a very long time.
If any of this sounds appealing, there is an opportunity here. All long-running APAs have their regular long-term members, but there are often membership turnovers that result in positions becoming available. Sample copies can be usually obtained, and new like-minded folks can be added to the mix. If you’re interested in cartooning as a way fun thing to do, I can pass your contact information on to Loonacy’s central mailing team and we can get that ball rollin. Let me know and I’ll see if I can help you out. If not, please come back to Very Mint every day to see the most eclectic group of comic artists in the Midwest. and the east. and I think there’s one down south. but mostly midwest. west coast, too. All over the place.