Izzy Challenge #5
50 States Jam: Izzy Tours America
16 page black and white digest book
Available in the online shop for $1.00 (no postage necessary)
Also available at these locations:
Chicago, IL: Quimby’s
St. Louis, MO: Star Clipper
Columbia, MO: MU Bookstore, Get Lost Bookshop, Rock Bottom Comics
How it was done:
This book uses contributions from 50 artists from 50 different states to create a collaborative jam featuring Izzy the Mouse. The idea is that Izzy’s touring America and in each of the 50 panels Izzy visits a different state.
I got the idea for this jam from a comedy improv game called slideshow. I translated the idea into book form in the following way:
Participants were also asked to keep to these guidelines:
- Keep content “all ages.”
- Non state specific content is ok.
- Selective erasing of Izzy is ok.
- Return the panel in a month.
I found participants in all kinds of ways, but the internet helped a lot. However, I did use the postal service to send panels around to participants in order to make sure everyone was from the state that they said they were from. Participants received a free copy of the completed book in exchange for their contribution. The project took about a year and a half to complete.
More sample pages are in the online store.
List of contributors:
Alabama – Kirk Creel
Alaska – Lee Post
Arizona – Keith O’Brien
Arkansas – Kenneth Siemens
California – Jeff Plotkin
Colorado – T. Motley
Connecticut – Isaac Cates
Delaware – Margaret Crosby
Florida – Mark Morehouse
Georgia – Jon Chad
Hawaii – Jon Murakami
Idaho – Steve Willhite
Illinois – Joshua W. Cotter
Indiana – Tom Cherry
Iowa – Brian Payne
Kansas – Dale Martin
Kentucky – Steven Doty
Louisiana – Jason Reeves
Maine – Michelle Souliere
Maryland – Michael Munshaw
Massachusetts – Larry Johnson
Michigan – Matt Feazell
Minnesota – Danno
Mississippi – Darren Schwindaman
Missouri – JB Winter
Montana – Jason Jam
Nebraska – Scott Stewart
Nevada – Aberrant Press
New Hampshire – Colin Tedford
New Jersey – Mike Storniolo
New Mexico – Danny Green
New York – DC McNamara
North Carolina – Mark McMurray
North Dakota – Jason Siebels
Ohio – Max Ink
Oklahoma – KC Green
Oregon – Justin Kelly
Pennsylvania – Steve Peters
Rhode Island – Jack Turnbull
South Carolina – J. Chris Campbell
South Dakota – Sarah Morean
Tennessee – Kevin Williams
Texas – Barry Rodges
Utah – Nick Perkins
Vermont – Mogan Pielli
Virginia – Brien Wayne Powell
Washington – Mark Campos
West Virginia – Raven Perez
Wisconsin – Tea Krulos
Wyoming – Gloria Pike
Thanks to everyone who helped me put this together!
A special thanks goes to pbwiki for hosting the jam site as it was being developed. (Visit their website to sign up for your own free wiki.)