Olympia Comics Festival 2012, pt. 7

I love this concept of providing an improv performance comic

http://maxkarlkey.com/

http://www.stumptownunderground.com/

 

Sean Christensen

 Max Clotfelter

Hamburger House

Olympia Comics Festival 2012, pt. 6

The gang at Sparkplug are so energetic I could not get anyone in focus.

I am guaranteed the greatest comix conversations at Profanity Hill, complete with background knowledge on Newave Comix, The Evergroove State College cartoonist history, and the Seattle scene.  Always a welcome sight in Olympia.

 Intruder and Tom Van Deusen

The Intruder is carrying on the Seattle comix tabloid tradition of the Seattle Simpleton of the 1970s, and the Seattle Star of the 1980s.

 http://gnartoons.blogspot.com/

 

Ron Austin and Louise are filmmakers interested in Pacific Northwest cartoonists. Ron and I have spent the last three weekends in mutual comix activities: The Evergreen 40th, Mini-Comics Day, and now this. Meanwhile, my lawn has gone crazy!

Two tables assigned to Jonathan Chaffin, J. Scott, 41st Johnson, Breena Wiederhoeft, Fiona Avocado, and Aaron Brassea.

Olympia Comics Festival 2012, pt. 5

How can you not love the Olympia Comics Collective? Why, I bet they'd even let me join if I wanted to, and I am a professional non-joiner. I like their creative energy.

 http://tugboatpress.com/

 

It was nice to meet Charlie Daugherty again. He's a fellow Evergroove alum. Keep your eye on this guy.

Eight and Half by Eleven Comics

With the advent of Project ELF, having an Eight and Half by Fourteen Comics would be very expensive

 http://www.studiojfish.com/

http://blog.family-style.com/

Olympia Comics Festival 2012, Pt. 4

TFR Industries

Unfortunately, not all my phone photos survived. For some reason, my shot of the only other Old Guy with any sort of history in this genre at the event, Wade Busby, failed to emerge. But you can see his elbow here.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MoniqueIsWeird

Comics by Chelsea Baker. However, that nice unidentified person behind the books is not Chelsea.

Rzie Labs

Nathan Wirtz

http://olycartoonists.wordpress.com/meet-the-toonists/

Olympia Comics Festival 2012, pt. 3

What comix gathering wouldn't be complete without someone walking around in a giant cartoon suit based a character invented by someone I knew in the distant past?

My Favorite Portland Troublemakers!

http://turbooverdrive.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tim-Goodyear/155112131176562

 http://www.kinokogallery.com/

 http://www.ebbits.net/

http://www.markmonlux.blogspot.com/

 http://www.ducknbeaver.com/

I am guessing this name comes from the two mascots for Oregon's big two college sports teams. 

 

Neoglyphic Media

Olympia Comics Festival 2012, pt. 2

Two SWs, Shannon Wheeler and Steve Willis

I like this gig where the Danger Room guys assign me the task of interviewing great cartoonists at the Olympia Comics Festival. I used to interview and document cartoonists a lot during my City Limits Gazette days and didn't realize how much I missed that aspect of mixing librarianship with comix until the last couple years when I got roped into helping out in Oly.

This was probably one of the most seamless interviews in my experience-- mostly due to Shannon's impressive self-awareness as an artist and his willingness to speak frankly. I didn't feel like I had to pull nails out of this guy. He is a very modest, likeable, thoughtful and talented artist with a good stage presence. We really clipped along and covered a lot of ground in short time. Shannon is a cartoonist who has gone through a fascinating evolution in the last couple decades and is well worth following.

[Photo taken by Casey Bruce]

Olympia Comics Festival 2012, pt. 1

 

The 2012 Olympia Comics Festival, the 11th year this event has taken place, was dedicated to our comrade Dylan Williams.

I didn't catch the stageshow portion this year, but I made it to the Olympia Community Center in time to get a shot of the set-up. In the foreground is librarian Kelsey Smith, from Timberland Regional Library. She is a real champion of our art form and deserves some kind of medal for her efforts to promote comic art and self-publishing as a method for expression for people (children and adults alike) who like to draw and write.

 http://www.withsprinkles.org/

 http://www.cupofstars.com/

 http://www.snakebombcomix.com/

Fran Victor attempts to find a quiet place to collate DVD covers

Olympia Comics Festival is Coming!

Whiteboard by (I hope have this right) Avery in the Danger Room advertising the Olympia Comics Festival! I have been given the assignment and honor of being the MC at the Shannon Wheeler discussion at 2 pm.

Olympia Comics Festival 2012

The Oly Comics Fest is around the corner! This year I'll have the honor of conducting a discussion with the amazing Shannon Wheeler at 2 pm.

I met Shannon at a past Oly Comics Fest, and am looking forward to hearing his story in much more detail. Hope some of you Morty the Blog readers can make it.

Mini-Comics Day in McCleary, Pt. 1

Yesterday I hosted the McCleary site for National Mini-Comics Day at our local Community Center. During the first hour, from 9-10, I was totally alone, listening to whatever creature it was that was living in the wall or ceiling of the building. Knowing my time might be crunched as the day went on, I used the opportunity to put together my minicomic for the day.

There should be a name for those strands of paper that are a byproduct of trimming newly printed minicomix. When I mentioned this later, I think Jim Gill suggested "mippitts."

So, this is is one the fastest minicomix I have ever produced, exactly 44 minutes from conception to the finished 10 copies. It is untitled.

The greeting table, including promo material for the Olympia Comics Festival, to take place June 2!

The first contingent arrived at about 10 from Seattle! Paul Tumey and his son Reid, Frank Young, and Jim Gill. I was thrilled to finally meet all of them in person and grateful they made the long trek to the hills for this.

All three of the cartoonists above have known each for a long time since they first met in their native Southeast U.S. I loved the way they fit together when they talked. It was like listening to well practiced tag-team comedy with a real mutual respect and affection.

Paul Tumey and I first corresponded back in 1990. Paul can be counted among one of the more thoughtful cartoonists I've known, like Joe Zabel, Scott McCloud, Hank Arakelian, and several others. He has several websites, my favorite being Screwball Comics.

Frank Young is a very funny fellow with a thousand voices. Also, he is a former editor of the Comics Journal and is juggling enough blogs to qualify him as a circus act.

Jim Gill and I have been corresponding since 1996. He was the first person to ever post a Morty Comix on Internet. Plus, and I cannot say this about anyone else I know, he actually knew someone who was eaten by an alligator!

Frank and Jim have a website called The Jim and Frank Podcast, and if you think radio comedy is dead, you need to visit this site first.

As the day progressed more people trickled in. I think we had a grand total of a dozen people in the six hours of the event. In the background of this shot you can see Bothell, Washington cartoonist/filmmaker Ron Austin and his partner Louise setting up as part of a project they have in mind. I met Ron last week at Evergroove's 40th Anniversary.

Bryan and Amy collate and staple a minicomic that was really wonderful. Part of the whole idea of this event was to attract non-comix artists to the art form, and these two created a very nice work entitled This is the Story of Ludwig. My brother's modesty prevents him from giving me permission to post it, but maybe one day he'll relent. I'm serious, I think these two put together an elegant little 8-pager. At least WSU will get it, so it won't be entirely lost.

Hey, if I can sing "I haven't seen my underpants in weeks" in public, which I did in Elma after this event (as Jim Gill can bear witness), certainly this mini can be shared with the world. But, I'll respect Bryan's wishes.

Figuring out the logistics of printing back-to-back pages on my copier can be maddening. I loved how Frank lapsed into one of his comic radio voices while figuring it out.

Jim posted a nice short bit on YouTube where I talk to three brothers about how to construct a minicomic.

On some levels this event was a success since we had a lot of energy from creative artists who also happened to be nice people. Sarah popped in (and traded stories with Jim about being former residents of  Port Townsend), but apart from the two of us, no one else from McCleary showed up. And I have to admit I was disappointed none of the locals bothered to come. But, this is far from the first time I have felt like a literal voice in the wilderness out here, so I can roll with it.

There was some talk as we wrapped up that maybe next year in the 2013 Third Annual National Mini-Comics Day, a happening might take place in Seattle and I could go up there. I would love that! But at least in 2012 the tiny hamlet of McCleary can now officially take a place in the history of Mini-Comics Day!

I'll be posting the comic art results of our creative efforts in the next chapters. Plus, there will be a surprise participant from McCleary's sister city in Ohio-- Cincinnati, home of goetta!

Upcoming events

April 17: A lecture on The Evergreen State College, Baby Boomers, Photocopy, and Newave Comix at Evergroove for "The Women's West" program at Evergreen.

May 18: A "Fishbowl Seminar" celebrating Evergroove's 40th anniversary with: Craig Bartlett, Drew Christie, Matt Groening, Megan Kelso, Tommy Thompson, and yours truly. The bad news, they are selling tickets for the whole multi-day event at $150 bucks a pop and it does not appear as of today you can just come to this event alone at a discount.

May 26: Mini-Comics Day is a national event, and I'll be hosting the McCleary venue. Apparently, I have gone crazy.

June 2: The Olympia Comics Festival. Don't know yet what I'll be doing at this shindig, but I do plan on being there and if nothing else reporting on the artists.

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!