Miss Moti enjoys a night out on the town, and meet up with lots of intriguingly disguised characters, in this page from the new Strumpet.
We are so pleased to welcome Kripa Joshi, the creator of Miss Moti, to our very first issue.
Kripa speaking at Laydeez; she's in front of a photo of her extended family in Nepal.
Kripa recently knocked everyone dead at the October meeting of Laydeez do Comics, London's premier spot for discovering new cartoonists (of both genders!)
Kripa with London comics folk John Miers, Megan Donnolley and Mike Medaglia.
At Laydeez Kripa discussed her Nepalese heritage and how her travels around the world - notably to New York, India and London - have influenced her work.
Even more wonderfully, Kripa agreed a few months back to create an image for us Strumpets to use as a Kickstarter incentive. If you love fairytale princesses and knights errant on a mission, then you might want to grab this print for your very own. It's not too late - although we've reached our goal the terms of Kickstarter are that we have to stay open for business until the day we promised - that's 11th November. Which means you're in luck! Check out our Kickstarter today.
One of the things that I'm most excited about in this first issue of the Strumpet is the fact that MARDOU, originator of the Whores of Mensa and one of our favourite cartoonists, is BACK with an 8 page story.
This story is vintage Mardou: subversively funny and vibrantly drawn (highlighted with her trademark zip-a-tone), offering a look into a gratifyingly unusual mind. Mardou rocks!
Are you a Mardou fan? Maybe you're a devotee of Kripa Joshi, Lucy Sweet or Megan Kelso? If you are - but especially if these are new names to you - may we suggest a pre-order? For a mere $10 you get a signed copy of the Strumpet air-mailed to you anywhere in the world, complete with a set of three buttons on a hand-stamped backing. Check out our Kickstarter page for more details - we could really use your support!
Ellen Lindner's cover for the first issue of The Strumpet.
Strumpet Issue 1 will début at this year's Thought Bubble Festival, 19-20 November in Leeds. We'll be launching the comic on 24th of November at the Miller pub in London Bridge. And we have a group of contributors to drool over: Kripa Joshi, Patrice Aggs, Tanya Meditzky, Jeremy Day, Mardou, Ellen Lindner, and...MEGAN KELSO!!! And more! AIEEE!!!!!
Right now we're taking pre-orders over at our Kickstarter page - if you want to be one of the first to reserve a copy of Issue One for your very own, I suggest you act quickly!
Kickstarter is brilliant - it's easy to use, fills the gaping distribution hole left by Diamond, and enables us to keep all of our titles in print (as well as pay for extra expenses like contributor copies, review copies, and postage). So please, have a think, and pre-order at the level you're comfortable with. All of the prizes are fab - and you'll be making a band of Strumpets very, very happy.
Hi everyone,
It's been a long, crazy summer here in Whores of Mensa HQ. We've been working on a secret project - the relaunch of our beloved collective as a brand-new annual.
Why the upheaval? No one likes upheaval!!!
Well, a lot has changed for us over the course of the seven years we've been publishing comics as WoM: personal stuff and professional stuff.
Our last issue made us think really hard about what we wanted to do, as a collective. It was great printing regular work by the three of us, but having so many fantastic guest artists for our blockbuster fifth issue felt like something we'd like to do again.
Over our travels in New York and Portland, we met so many great lady cartoonists. We got excited about the possibilities of bringing female creators from the USA and the UK together for a fun cultural exchange - an exchange that, due to the failure in the personal jet-pack market and the total washout of the transatlantic Tube system, could perhaps most easily happen on paper and on the internet.
To whit, we're creating a publication, and soon a website, that will take some small steps (or maybe even some big ones!) towards that goal. And it's called...
...THE STRUMPET.
Whores of Mensa will not be going away - thanks to the generous lift given to our fifth issue by our Kickstarter supporters, we've printed 400 copies of our Party Issue - the most ever of any single WoM issue - and it's still very much in print.
It'll be sold right alongside the Strumpet, keeping the WoM flame alive (if you're coming to the party late you can get your own copy here). We're also hoping to put together a book collecting all of our best work from our seven year stretch.
Many thanks to our intern Elliot Baggott for his hard work on our new logo!
Very soon we'll be taking pre-orders for our first issue of the Strumpet, and we're planning a London mega-launch in late November to which you'll all be invited. But in the meantime, please let us introduce one of our newest artists, the amazing Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg of Portland, Oregon.
We met Lisa when we bought Cut Your Hair 3, which is about her epic travels in China. We love her work and we think you might, too!
And here's a sneak peek at Lisa's story...
We'll be back soon with more Strumpets....stay tuned!
Nothing says love like farmer's market fresh caramel popcorn...ta Stephen!
Woo! It's been a crazy two weeks, with Whores of Mensa and the Comix Reader hitting two major indie comics shows - MoCCA and Stumptown - in two crazy weekends! Sarah McIntyre and Cliodhna Lyons were fantastic tablemates - thanks, ladies, for doing so much organizational work and making this super-fun trip possible! And thanks to Stephen Betts for taking the lion's share of these pictures!
Cliodhna, Sarah and I - looking awesome despite the jetlag!
First stop, the excellent Drink and Draw Like a Lady, organized by the wonderful Lucy Knisley. If you're ever in NYC, you need to check out 192 Books - there will be many, many books you'll want to get your paws on!
Here I am with the very accomplished author of Dolltopia, and fellow Angouleme denizen, Abby Denson.
As my mom would say, you need to eat. And here we are - Sarah, Cliodhna, myself and Sarah's good school friend Rose Jung, gettings a pre-con meal at Manhattan's Lyric Diner. Thank you, Lyric, for the salmon bagel big enough so that the second half became my lunch. Yum!
Sarah putting the finishing touches on our table...
At MoCCA you never know who you're going to meet. Here's Swedish comics star Joanna Hellgren, part of the group brought over by the excellent Editions Cambourakis. My husband Stephen's done some translations of her comics - they're amazing! Also in attendance were some delegates from Germany's Reprodukt press, along with a massive Scandinavian contingent - not to mention the fab fellows from Accent UK. It's great how truly international MoCCA is.
Calvin Reid, Gabrielle Bell, Joe Ollmann, Pascal Girard and Leslie Stein after their thoughtful panel - Almost True, about semi-autobiographical work. Calvin is such a great MC - he moves the conversation along wonderfully. And these guys had so much great stuff to say about the tricky process of turning your life into a comics narrative. Leslie's book, Eye of The Majestic Creature, is out now from Fantagraphics. Highly recommended!
Here we have Sweaterweather and Robot Dreams author Sara Varon getting interviewed, perhaps in a leadup to her new book from First Second, Bake Sale. Sara let us take a peek, and it is INCREDIBLE! Full color, and an absolute must for anyone who likes baking, boxing, travel, or just plain wonderful comics. It's out later this summer.
I love New York, because you never know what you'll see. Stephen and I popped along to a yarn shop to buy a gift for my mother, and were treated to huge knitted space diorama with this guy as the centerpiece!
Here's a glimpse of the frankly terrifying Multnomah Falls, the second-tallest waterfall in the US of A. Guess who got to walk up to the tippy-top - AIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
And on to beautiful Portland!
In a touch befitting its status as the Stumptown festival hostelry, the Jupiter Hotel had chalkboard doors. Sarah left this super-cool drawing for me! Thanks, Sarah! (For a good time, indeed! :) )
Here's our Stumptown table setup. The night before we'd been at the Guapo Comics and Coffee pre-con party. A great opportunity to catch up with local comics pals and see some amazing art! Portland has so many great comix shops - it's pretty amazing.
Our table standee...
An inspiring sight! Molly Crabapple labored away on a piece of original art for the entirety of the show.
Portland's excellent Floating World Comics, now the ONLY place in North America you can buy the Comix Reader!
Get in, Portlanders - get in!
Stephen and I met up with amazing local cartoonists Matt Sundstrom and Jen Sorenson for one last night out...and then it was goodbye, Portland! We were very sad to leave.
Many thanks to everyone who came out and supported us at both shows, and to the New Yorkers and Portlandians for their hospitality. Each festival was an adventure! I particularly enjoyed exploring the Pacific Northwest...what an amazing place!
