A Frank Talk on the Olympia Comics Festival

Frank Hussey of the Danger Room was the subject of an interview about the origins and purpose of the Olympia Comics Festival broadcast online on Discover Thurston!

Some nice shots of the expo in this very brief piece, including a few seconds where Shannon Wheeler endures my questions.

The Weekly Volcano Interviews Frank Hussey

Alec Clayton of The Weekly Volcano interviewed Frank Hussey of Olympia's Danger Room in preparation for the TESC 40th anniversary cartoonists panel. The piece is available online!

I had a great time at the event! After the panel discussion Matt and I were filmed together outside by Evergreen staff talking about TESC. Not sure when or where that will eventually surface. I understand the panel discussion was recorded as well.

Vote Danger Room!

Hey gang, it's time to rally behind our favorite comic shop, Olympia's Danger Room in the KING Evening Magazine's poll of the "Best of Western Washington."

Give them a vote at this link.

Frank and Casey support our kind of comix, not only through their shop but also in their involvement in the Olympia Comix Fest. Let's give them some support back. They are underdogs here, mostly due to demographics since Oly is much smaller than Seattle or Tacoma.

Deadline is October 9th, but vote now!

Olympia Comics Festival 2011 Report, Pt. 5

Neo Trash Comix

Bad Breath Comics and Swellzombie

With Sprinkles, a new Alaska transplant!
Welcome to Olympia!

Three troublemakers from Portland who I hope to meet again soon
Ian Sundahl is the Mike Hill of the West Coast


Profanity Hill


Only a half hour to take down.
Frank from the Danger Room in the foreground

Comix from the Fest I'm sending to the WSU collection

Oly Comix Fest Poster / Drawn by Angelica!

Hey, that dog in the "Workshops" panel of this poster looks vaguely familiar!

Hope to see you there, o comix comrades! Saturday, May 21.

Historically Patrick, Frank and/or Chelsea have managed to twist my arm and get me to participate in some way or another, and this year is no exception. Apparently in Oly Comix Fest 2011 I'm handing out some weirdly named award.

Check out their webpage for more info.

A Visit to the Danger Room

That's Casey on the left, Frank on the right. These are the Danger Room guys. They love comix and have a section of shelves set aside just for us obscuro cartoonists, helping to get our comix out there without permission from the big publishers and distributors. They are both also keen observers of comix as social indicators.

As you can see by the photo, Frank is the chief storyteller, armtwister and Sam-I-Am here. Somehow he talked me into providing the store with Danger Room Reprint editions of over 120 titles in 2005. Actually, he also talked me into finally attending the Oly Comix Fest, and hey, I like green eggs and ham! I do, I like them, Sam-I-Am! So you can thank Frank for reviving all those titles and getting me out on the local comix scene in person.

The 2005 Danger Room Reprint editions are no longer available there, but I do supply them with copies of the recent material I've printed like Dog of Dawn, Dog of Dusk and Natural Functions.

Yesterday I dropped off a couple copies of We Rode With the Clowns and took these photos.

The Danger Room is also where I first met Chelsea Baker, another cartoonist who migrated to Oly in order to attend the Evergroove State College. Not only is she one of the organizers of the Oly Comix Fest, but she also contributed to We Rode With The Clowns. You can find her cartoons in Olympia Power and Light, a local biweekly.

201 4th Avenue West
Olympia, WA 98501-1003
(360) 705-3050

Danger Room News

The Danger Room, an Olympia, Washington comix shop has been around for well over a decade. The store has been a champion and promoter of self-published, small press, and alternative comix. Olympia's annual comics festival, hosted by Danger Room, has been unusual in that it is artist-centered. The vender tables are frequently manned by the creators themselves.

When Frank worked there he even talked me into reprinting special Danger Room editions of my old comix to put up for sale! And I did it! (in print runs of 5 copies each. No, none of those comix are there now) This guy must be a hypnotist.

Anyway, according to an email I just received from an employee, it is now official that Pat and Kendra have sold the Danger Room to former employees Frank and Casey. Should be interesting to watch how this impacts Oly's amazing evolution as a comix center.

Thanks Pat and Kendra (and Chelsea!) for your efforts. And best of luck to Frank and Casey.