Despite the heat, the 2025 Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) was expecting about 2000 attendees over the two-day show, per organizer Chris Lopez. The show was held June 28 and 29 at the Irish American Heritage Center. This year was its first at the location, with hopes to return next year. One hundred and forty-two exhibitors were scheduled to table, and CAKE is free to attend and run by volunteers.
CAKE began in 2012, and after a three-year pandemic hiatus, it returned in 2023 and 2024. It was my first time there, although I’d heard good things. I’d decided to attend when Sarah Becan (Let’s Make Bread!) mentioned in her newsletter she’d be tabling. (Love her cookbook comics!)
I quickly realized my mistake in not bringing a tote bag when after visiting the first seven tables I saw, I’d bought something at four of them. Thankfully, I’d driven and could drop purchases in the car — the venue had free parking!
Also a wonderful show feature I’d never before seen: the comic program had a section to record your purchases. If you bought a certain amount, you got a free poster and button. Great idea to encourage buying, and for those of us keeping track for tax purposes, a self-made receipt list.
(The program was also sturdy enough to make a workable fan. It was very warm inside, and a bit crowded, but everyone was forgiving when bumped into amongst the table aisles.)
I wasn’t there long enough to take in any programming, but the panels and workshops covered a variety of topics, from “Trans Comics Artists Showcase” to “Figure Drawing” to a “Risograph Demonstration and Workshop.”
Most attendees and exhibitors were masked, as requested by the show, and most tables took some kind of digital payment, with Venmo being a popular choice.
CAKE: Minicomics galore!
There were minicomics galore! Most exhibitors were artists; the only publisher I took note of was Uncivilized Books, where I got a chance to catch up with Matt Madden. He’s prepping for the 20th anniversary of the essential 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style later this year, but in the meantime, I picked up his Six Treasures of the Spiral, released six months ago.
Another old favorite creator there was Eddie Campbell, who now lives in the area. He’d self-published The Midwest School of Cartooning (1900-1940), which looks highly informative about comic strip history. As he said, self-publishing means fewer arguments with the publisher.
It was a pleasure to see several artists I’d met earlier this month at TCAF. I’d felt then that a few years off the convention circuit meant I’d missed a generation, so it’s nice to build those familiarities up again — and pick up more books from some artists I’d discovered there.
Another few interesting-looking comics I picked up were:
The minicomic “How to Be Sad: An Illustrated Primer on Grief and Loss” by Whitney Wasson — it’s a topic all of us will have to deal with, but I’d never seen anything like this before, and given this year, I could use the advice.
“The Seeds of Discontent: Tobacco and Jimsonweed in Ould Virginia: An Ethnobotanical History by Tim Ballard” — a somewhat ridiculous title, but it suits the style of the material, and I like non-fiction comics. It’s an odd piece, given that the content is 16 pages and two are bibliography, but it’s in color and an intriguing topic.
Monkey Chef: A Love Story by Mike Freiheit. It’s an autobiographical graphic novel about loneliness and dating while working in South Africa making food at a primate sanctuary. I’d just read Love Languages, which is also about cross-cultural romance, so there might be a mini-trend happening here.
One last note: CAKE also had a table of contact information called the “International Exhibitors Display”, with “work by artists who couldn’t make it to CAKE this year due to the unstable political climate in the United States.” That’s a good idea and reminded me of hope for a time when travel becomes safer again.
English (US) · 