From left to right: Chris Ware observing, Joe Matt and Ivan Brunetti up front. 

An all-star cast of sequential masters showed up at Quimby’s on Saturday, June 16th, brought together in support of Joe Matt.  Chicago was the second stop on Matt’s promo tour for his latest book, Spent, which will also include the San Diego Comic-con International and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. 

Matt was the scheduled guest speaker with Brunetti as questioner and moderator.  Notable audience members did include Chris Ware and Jeffrey Brown among others.

Sadly I had to leave early to catch a train, but these are my notes on quotable, notable words from Matt to Brunetti.  The confidence of friends in the presence of strangers:

 ”[All of my drawings are scaled down for publication by 85 %.]”

“[I thought with drawing small] everything I drew would be real fast and easy.” 

“I wanted the focus [of Spent] to be on porn addiction.”

“I don’t like to talk like ‘Oh I’m an addict.’”

“I always want a relationship.”

“Since I moved to L.A. I go out every single day.”

“I don’t have a car; I just ride my bike everywhere.”

“No one out there just wants to hang out and draw in comic shops.”

“I like a grid because…if you stick with a static grid, the reader…doesn’t get distracted by the craft of the medium.”

“This is embarrassing.”

[re: jokes in comics] “You can only have five or six moments…You can’t laugh that constantly.”

“My original artwork has so much white out…watered down so you can’t even see it.”

“I always chase after my physical ideal.”

“I don’t keep a sketchbook at all…I enjoy writing more than drawing.”

—Sarah Morean