When people hear the word comics, they usually think of the Sunday “funnies” or the Garfield comic books that are out there. Comics are sometimes considered a “lesser” art due to it’s comedic take. No doubt that a lot of comics are on the funny side but there is also a lot of work out there that takes a serious look at life. Then there is the underground Comix movement, which can go in any direction.According to Wikipedia:Comics (via Latin, from the Greek “Κωμικ-ός”, kōmikos, of or pertaining to “comedy”, from kōmos “revel”.^[1]) is a graphic medium in which words and images are utilised in order to convey a narrative. Comics can contain little or no words, and consist of one or more images, which may either illustrate or counterpoint^[2] the text to affect greater depth. [sic]Underground comics (or comix) are small press or self-published comic books that began to appear in the US in the late 1960s. The comix community was centered in San Francisco, but also included important artists and publishers in New York, Chicago and Austin, Texas. Prominent artists associated with this movement include Vaughn Bode, Robert Crumb, Kim Deitch, Jim Franklin, David Geiser, Justin Green, Roberta Gregory, Rick Griffin, Bill Griffith, Rory Hayes, Greg Irons, Jack Jackson, Jay Kinney, Denis Kitchen,Jay Lynch, Victor Moscoso,Dan O’Neill, Ted Richards, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, Art Spiegelman, Foolbert Sturgeon, Robert Williams, Skip Williamson and S. Clay Wilson. Please take the time to check out these entries in wikipedia and see where they take you. My husband, Daniel J. Olson, has had a life long interest in comics. He started going to Shinder’s as a kid and started collecting these tiny books full of color and dialog. He then went to work for Shinder’s off and on for 10 years. In parallel, during high school, I too found the Tank Girl comics and movie (my favorite, by the way). I also had the graphic novels Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman due to my deep interest in WWII and the Holocaust. Once we were dating the craze of turning comics into movies became popular again. I learned who his favorite super hero’s and comic characters were and those he did not like. Spiderman yes, Punisher no. He was also interested in graphic novels such as Blankets by Craig Thompson and Maus I & II. During my MFA studies in Arizona, Dan started drawing again. He hooked up with my fellow colleague, Liz Young, to create comics for her MFA thesis show. This lit a fire under his ass and he has been drawing nearly every day. Since Liz’s MFA show, he has started a website/blog, bewilderedkid.com, where he places a weekly web comic that he writes, draws, inks and colors. Upon moving back to St. Paul, MN, he joined The International Cartoonist Conspiracy group and has been a part of every show and attends the Minneapolis monthly jam. He even was part of starting the St. Paul monthly jam. He even has roped me into helping him write stories for one of his characters, Super Maxi Pad Girl. We hope to have a couple of more stories out in time for Fall Con along with some other surprises. OK, so this blog is pretty much me bragging about my husband and the work he has been doing but I also want to plug the Conspiracies newest show…Lutefisk Sushi, featuring Kevin Cannon from Big Time Attic. The opening reception is Friday, May 2 from 7 PM to 10 PM. and the show runs from May 1 - 31 at Altered Esthetics Gallery. If you can’t make the reception you should check out the show!