At first glance, this year’s Keepers are a ragtag bunch. Their mediums run the gamut from good old-fashioned pen and paper to the human body; their habitats are classrooms, venerable theater stages and rock clubs. But here’s where this diverse group converges: Each Keeper has talent to spare, and is an indispensable cog in the wheel of Twin Cities culture. For that, we have presented them with some fancy words, and a pretty picture in an attempt to flatter them into never leaving town.   Today’s featured Keeper is Robert James Algeo, who finds inspiration for his comics in spies, space and Springsteen.
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At first glance, this year’s Keepers are a ragtag bunch. Their mediums run the gamut from good old-fashioned pen and paper to the human body; their habitats are classrooms, venerable theater stages and rock clubs.

But here’s where this diverse group converges: Each Keeper has talent to spare, and is an indispensable cog in the wheel of Twin Cities culture. For that, we have presented them with some fancy words, and a pretty picture in an attempt to flatter them into never leaving town.  

Today’s featured Keeper is Robert James Algeo, who finds inspiration for his comics in spies, space and Springsteen.

At 28-years-old, Sarah Morean has gained a reputation, at least among the local comics community, as being the “comics queen” or “momma comics.” See why here.
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At 28-years-old, Sarah Morean has gained a reputation, at least among the local comics community, as being the “comics queen” or “momma comics.” See why here.

I lived in New York for seven years, and I came back one time, and I was talking to my friend’s dad. He was telling the story about Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant, this guy who basically started St. Paul and that St. Paul’s first name was actually Pig’s Eye Landing. I thought that was so crazy and weird. I’d never heard of that.  I started researching it as much as I could. There’s not really a whole lot written about it. People know that he existed and there’s things here and there, so mostly it’s just speculation. It just sounded like a great story. I took the framework of it, and now it’s about 100 pages long. It’s not exactly historically accurate. I kind of made up a bunch of it, but it’s based in historical context. I researched things, what was going on at the time, etc. - Cartoonist Nicholas Breutzman, speaking about his December Commission for METRO; read the full Q/A here.
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I lived in New York for seven years, and I came back one time, and I was talking to my friend’s dad. He was telling the story about Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant, this guy who basically started St. Paul and that St. Paul’s first name was actually Pig’s Eye Landing. I thought that was so crazy and weird. I’d never heard of that.  I started researching it as much as I could. There’s not really a whole lot written about it. People know that he existed and there’s things here and there, so mostly it’s just speculation. It just sounded like a great story. I took the framework of it, and now it’s about 100 pages long. It’s not exactly historically accurate. I kind of made up a bunch of it, but it’s based in historical context. I researched things, what was going on at the time, etc.

- Cartoonist Nicholas Breutzman, speaking about his December Commission for METRO; read the full Q/A here.

This weekend, The Soap Factory will be flooded with comic fans to celebrate the second annual Minneapolis Indie Comic Xpo, or MIX. The two-day festival will feature independent comics and cartoonists from all over, but it has a particular emphasis on the Twin Cities’ local comic community. With a program of exciting workshops, panels and tons of exhibiting artists and publishers, MIX will showcase a wide range of artistic talent and innovation in the world of indie comics. To celebrate the opening of MIX on Saturday, METRO decided to catch up with a few local comic artists and a local comic publisher about their incredible work and what they’re bringing to MIX. Read our interviews here.
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This weekend, The Soap Factory will be flooded with comic fans to celebrate the second annual Minneapolis Indie Comic Xpo, or MIX.

The two-day festival will feature independent comics and cartoonists from all over, but it has a particular emphasis on the Twin Cities’ local comic community. With a program of exciting workshops, panels and tons of exhibiting artists and publishers, MIX will showcase a wide range of artistic talent and innovation in the world of indie comics.

To celebrate the opening of MIX on Saturday, METRO decided to catch up with a few local comic artists and a local comic publisher about their incredible work and what they’re bringing to MIX. Read our interviews here.