James M. Kolka Classic Comics Exhibit

03/03/2026

Opening day for the 2026 Season will be May 15th, 2026. Once again, we will be opening with a BANG!! The Civil War Re-enactment will be taking place May 15th, 16th and 17th.

01/02/2026

12/25/2025

12/20/2025

🎄 The countdown to Christmas is on! Just 5 days to go! 🎅✨

As the big day approaches, let’s spread some holiday cheer. Enjoy this charming Christmas card created in 1949 by cartoonist Harold Gray, the creator of "Little Orphan Annie," who loved designing his own holiday cards for friends and family.

11/17/2025

10/28/2025

As many of us know, Little Orphan Annie isn’t just a beloved part of the Lombard community, she’s captured hearts all around the world! 💛

That love was put to the test on October 27, 1925, when the "Chicago Tribune" left Annie out of the paper. Within hours, the newsroom was flooded with phone calls and letters from upset readers demanding to know where their favorite red-headed orphan had gone!

The outcry was so overwhelming that the Tribune ran a front-page apology the very next day!

10/22/2025

Somehow, I have a new book in stores today!! FACING FEELINGS: INSIDE THE WORLD OF RAINA TELGEMEIER is now in stores everywhere. This is a collaboration with the (The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum), at the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. In 2023 the museum staged a massive retrospective of my work, with a special focus on the six primary emotions (the feelings!) and how comics channel them through words, pictures, sound effects, facial expressions, emenata, and various other elements of pictorial language. There’s childhood art, influences ranging from Bill Watterson to Lynda Barry, my old minicomics, and tons of behind-the scenes commentary to give the viewer a tour through the collection, as if I were standing there with you telling you stories and sharing my world.

Well, that’s what this book is. It’s the catalog of the show. Just about everything that was on the walls, the art and all the commentary, plus a few extra pieces, are in this special hardcover volume! Scott McCloud even wrote the foreword. We hope this is as good as a visit to the Billy to see the show in person, and one you can toss in a backpack and share with a friend wherever you go.

Endless thanks to everyone at the Billy Ireland for their collaboration on this project, with extra-special@thanks to Anne Drozd who imagined, curated, and designed it pretty much from the ground up. My editorial team at also took profoundly good care of the material, even pushing back the publishing schedule significantly to give it the time it needed to properly breathe. Sometimes good things take time. I have always loved “art books,” and art biographies, and autobiographies. I love artist’s stories. I know I share my stories often, but this is a different kind of story, more like what I share when I stand on a stage in front of an audience. More open and yet, somehow…more vulnerable all at once.

It felt good to create it. I hope it feels good to read it.

I recommend you ask for FACING FEELINGS at your favorite local indie, or visit bookshop.org!

10/09/2025

10/05/2025

10/04/2025

The Full Moon Maze will take place this Saturday October 4th and Sunday October from 7:30 pm to 9:00pm. Dates were incorrectly printed in the paper. Bring a flashlight and proper shoes. No open toed shoes or sandals.