Hey! Tomorrow is the first day of Stumptown! Prepare to wander the aisles and rifle through everyone’s comic books. I’ve been to a few fests and I’ve learned that people who seem like they don’t want you to read their books are just socially hindered (they really want you to read their comic books) and people who do want you to read their comic books but feel strange with you just standing there reading them are pretty much par for the course. It’s not easy to vend your dreams, dudes.

This year Stumptown put everyone I’m interested in pretty much in the back. This is probably like when zoos put the polar bears in the back so you have to walk through a bunch of unknown animals to get to the thing you really want to see (O-Rang-ooo-tang?).

Because all the coolest stuff is back there, hunh?
  • Because all the coolest stuff is back there, hunh?

So here's my primer on the kids in the back.

CORNER SPOT


Table 211

Revival House Press puts out books with pretty wild art. Consider flipping through Malichai Ward’s new release Real Life or Drew Beckmeyer’s Everything Unseen to see if you’re into where this press is headed. Revival House will be represented by Chris Cilla & Tim Root. Root does the Stumptown Coffee ads which are consistently awesome and something I read like a weekly comic.

212
Secret Acres
puts out a lot of cool books like Joe Lambert’s I Will Bite You and Theo Ellsworth's Capacity. Speaking of Theo, Ellsworth himself will be manning the Secret Acres booth!

209
Press Gang
is a publisher collective comprised of Family Style, Floating World Comics, and Study Group Comics Books. Floating World has their own booth so the Press Gang booth is manned by Study Group's Zack Soto and Family Style's Francois Vigneault.

A-TEAM

A-9
Jesse Moynihan
- I just interviewed Jesse Moynihan for his comic reading performance at tonight's Gridlords. Moynihan has been running his psyched-out/hermaphrodite aliens/mythic Grecian and Biblical legends web comic Forming since 2009. The first part of this epic was collected recently into a beautiful book by Nobrow Press. Hey, TV nerds! Moynihan also works as a storyboard artist for the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time.

A-12
Farel Dalrymple
— When I first read issues of Dalrymple’s Xeric Grant-published comic Pop Gun War I assumed he was a genius super star that everyone knew about & loved. His illustrations of Johnathan Lethem’s Omega the Unknown have only further convinced me of this idea.

A-13
Eroyn Franklin
- I have heard so many great things about Seattle's new Short Run Festival which Franklin founded last year. She is known for her primarily political comics about modern injustices and her most recent book Detained chronicles her investigations into NW immigration detention centers.

A-17
Nicole Georges
- sort of taught me to make comics. Or rather, she taught the first section of the Comics Certificate Program I completed through the IPRC. A constant educator and giver to the children/next generation, Nichole's comics are often culled from life to embolden those who read them. She's known for her Invincible Summer comics and should have her most recent Bad Roomate Zine anthology for the fest.

A-23
Breena Wiederhoeft
- If you haven’t read Wiederhoeft’s Picket Line but think you would like to read a strange tale involving a man that resembles a T-Rex, you maybe want to stop by Wiederhoeft’s table for perusals.


B- GIRLS!


B-20

Leda Zawacki - pulls crazy fairytales from her brain and produces books at the rate of ten Portland crafty girls. I am convinced she sleeps on piles of zines instead of a bed. Her thick ink work impresses me very much.

Lucy Bellwood - is a serious chick to watch out for. She likes to make comics about tall ship sailing and being British. Her comics are very expository and cheerfully informative.

Sarah Mirk — Well, hello, it’s Sarah Mirk. What is she doing on her hiatus from writing for The Mercury? I bet she’ll be hocking her famous history comics and talking about the modern relationship book she’s writing that I kind of need right now, Sarah.