In its earliest incarnations, CAKE had the feeling of a sidebar to the popular Zine Fest, capitalizing and building on the cultural undercurrent of Chicago as a town for working cartoonists. And just as comix as an art form has moved from outsider to institutionally embraced, so has CAKE evolved to become not only a distinct print-culture fest, but a destination event which draws rising and already-risen stars alike, whether showcasing the death-tripping sex fantasies of Corinne Halbert’s “Hate Baby” or the astounding ballpoint color collisions of Emil Ferris’ much-lauded “My Favorite Thing Is Monsters.”
