Keeps Getting Petter And Petter

(Mom:) You ought to call your grandma, she’s starting to fade. Memory issues etc. // God, I’m not ready to confront a close relative’s death. / Such pressure! As if she’ll die any second now, and my phonecall will be a race against time! // Hi grandma, how’s it going? Niko her– / Hey! Long time no talk! Blah blah blah / …Yes, right! // One may notice which parent I got my pessimism and paranoia from.

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TIPS TO A NEWBIE ZINE AUTHOR! // 1. No skill level requirements! / The whole idea of zines is that everyone is allowed, capable AND has a right to make comics. / If you got something to say, say it! / But what if I DON’T have anything to say? (Or not enough material.) / Well, there are no length requirements to a zine either. HOWEVER… // 2. Team work rules okay! / Make a double-cover split with a buddy! When you brainstorm together, even small ideas can become big – even big ”enough” for a ”full-length” zine. / Come up with a mutual theme, share tasks on a single story (script, [sketch], drawing…), go nuts on an energydrink-soaked all-nighter… ANYTHING GOES!

What if my zine stinks after an hour or a year? / Let me tell you a story. // THIS is my first zine. Highschool copy machine, circa 2009. / It had high-brow humor about the human condition, as well as vulnerable personal stories about self-loathing and cynicism. // A year later, I DESTROYED every single copy. / Jesus Christ what EMBARASSING teenage angst garbage!!! // But I’ll tell you this! On that exact day in 2008 or 2009 or whatever, I was so damn PROUD of my VERY FIRST zine. / It was ham-fisted, it was inconsistent, it was, well, a zine made by a teenage boy. BUT THE WORST WAS OVER. NOW I HAD THE KNOW-HOW. THE EXPERIENCE. TO DO MORE, AND BETTER.

TODAY, my threshold to come up with, plan out and finish a zine is ZERO. / And just like I dislike my old work simply because I have grown as an artist, there will always be some asshole who dislikes your work, NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU ARE. // (Friend’s conservative father reads ”HeteroseXual Animals.” / A-hem!! // And just as certainly, in ten or twenty years, I will read my current zines amused, embarrassed and most of all PROUD that I started my journey SOMEWHERE, instead of waiting for the ”right moment.” The ”right moment” will never come, because EVERY moment is the right moment! / SO GET TO IT! YES YOU CAN!

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Translated for my possible new foreign readers’ convenience! I translate my blog entries quite seldom nowadays because I’m a piece of shit like that.

Helsinki International Comic Festival 2015! // I took far too many zines with me. / The fuck are we supposed to fit all that into my trunk. / No idea, lol. // 270-ish zines to be exact? Less than a half would’ve been plenty enough. / OH WELL. // Pasta and red wine at friend’s house. / The liberal bubble of Kallio, Helsinki.

Nothing much on Friday. / It’s impossible to enjoy the show in the main tent. / (Murmuring and incomprehensible noises from main stage) // Happy hour it is! // Later in Karhupuisto park: / Feels weird to have friends from different social classes and (sub)cultures. / (Classical music and Madonna, screenwriter of a famous Finnish soap opera) / (Punk rock, watches the soap opera) / Please tell me spoilers, will ya? / No fucking way. Ismo will stay, though. / As if I should somehow be embarrassed for either one of them. Stupid brain! Some sort of caveman atavisms or something.

SMALL fucking PRESS fucking HEAVEN for fuck’s sake! // People loved HeteroseXual Animals #2. // Comic blogger meeting was crowded! Couldn’t ask for self portraits because my sketchbook was full. / I’m your super-fan! You drew me horribly! My first album just got published!* // 6,90€ for a fucking beer!?

(*: Viivi Rintanen – Mielisairaalan kesätyttö [Suuri Kurpitsa])

Official afterparty at Dubrovnik was expensive as shit so us bloggers and Namifetsi the queer-feminist zine participants went to Karhupuisto. / (Discussion about sex, drugs, gender, racism and pee-pee and poo-poo.)

On Sunday we had to leave quite early, so I left 60 zines for Jiipu to sell. They sold 21! And will sell more at their invite-only comic release party in Tampere. // Hey Anssi, we’ll come to your car a few minutes late. / K.

OLI IHANAT KEKKERIT ENSI VUONNA LISÄÄ NAMIA FETSIN TÄYDELTÄ NAMINAMI UH AH

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