http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/stumptown-comics-fest/Content?oid=2462429 Comments On: Stumptown Comics Fest by Carolyn Main and Riley Michael Parker en-us Copyright 2013 Portland Mercury. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Portland Mercury readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Portland Mercury. webmaster@portlandmercury.com (Portland Mercury Webmaster) Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Fri, 24 May 2013 11:15:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by Brad the quarterback]]> Fri, 28 May 2010 17:43:59 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Amused_One]]> Fri, 07 May 2010 12:57:37 -0700 Portland Mercury Comic book fans to Mercury: "You have no right to publish what you want!"
Mercury to readers: "We don't care what you think, or if we've offended you!"

Both are wrong. But the one true thing about the Mercury is it's taking the Stranger's path to being a paper that is down on everything, unless it is about someone that works for the paper or is dating them. I hoped it wouldn't happen, but it seems DS's tentacles can reach at least 200 miles. Your sardonic whit and insight into what only you know is cool is so refreshing!
Posted by tired]]> Tue, 04 May 2010 19:50:03 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by dylansparkplug]]> Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:22:05 -0700 Portland Mercury
The strip art looks okay. But the writing didn't work. Comic fans = nerds? Oooh...how cutting edge! This just in: retired people like to eat dinner at 4pm buffets! Ha! You know what I'm talking about, people. Good stuff.
Posted by Joe E. Tatas]]> Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:44:04 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by JasonMarcy]]> Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:41:40 -0700 Portland Mercury
Lighten up people. It's free press, which is better than getting no press at all. Which, I have a feeling, will happen next year.
Posted by wheeler]]> Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:18:45 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by dylansparkplug]]> Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:12:47 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Senator Pancake]]> Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:02:51 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by lawduck]]> Sun, 25 Apr 2010 10:36:41 -0700 Portland Mercury
As a co-creator of the comic currently causing so much ruckus on this website, I have no obligation to explain or justify any of the content that you find so objectionable, but as a friend of Carolyn Main and Alison Hallet, I do in fact feel the need to jump into this conversation. Alison approached Carol and I to make this comic because she knows of Carolyn's deep-rooted connection to the Stumptown event itself (you have no doubtedly seen her handing out awards to all of you professionals in past years), and our love of independent comics. We were honored that she came to us to do this feature, and excited about including as many references to our favorite characters and artists that we possibly could, while still making something that was entertaining and self-contained as a story. We went through a lot of ideas, and the one that jumped out at us as being the most fun to make was the one where all of the comics came to life and fought some unkown enemy, as it would make for a lot of unique pairings and give us lot of room to show off the character designs of our favorite artists and comic creators. However, we were in no way interested in giving all of these artists visual handjobs - we buy their books, we promote their work among our circle of friends, they have our support - so we thought instead of blowing kisses up their skirts that we would make harmless little jokes at their expense, some of them a tad meaner than others, but all of it out of respect. For example, the meanest joke in the piece is made at Jeffrey Brown, and I personally am big fan of his work and own all of his books. I love Jeffrey Brown, all three of us do, which is why Carolyn and I mention his name and give him his own panel that he shares with Nicole Georges and Greg "Clutch McBasterd," two more journal comic artists (local) that we love to pieces. You should also know that the second panel in the comic, the one about Craig Thompson, originally contained the line, "Blankets... how appropriate, all the damn thing did was lull me to sleep," a line that was cut to apparently protect you, the reader, from what most consider mild snarkiness (now that I've whitnessed all this hubub over nothing, I can see why it was cut). This is what we call a joke, people. You can say it's dumb, or cheap, or too easy, but I think it's funny, and what makes it even funnier to me, is how much I love that book. I have purchased Blankets three seperate times in my life but don't own a copy, because I keep giving it away to friends who need it. That's how much that book means to me. I give it to people I care about when they are in a bad place emotionally. If Craig Thompson sees this, and is offended by this joke we made, well then fuck Craig Thompson. As much as I like his work, if he can not take a joke, and if his fans can not take a joke, then I want nothing to do with any of them. He's famous, he sells lots of books, I've bought three of them at twenty-nine bucks a pop - I think I've paid the price to make a joke, and one would think the boy could handle it.

Through the process of making this comic, Alison Hallet was very supportive of both Carolyn and me, and clearly understood what we were going for. She knows where we are coming from and gets the joke of the piece, and she believed, as we all did, that the general audience would see through the schtick and recognize how much we like, respect, and care about comics. Our first draft of the story was 32 panels, and it had a lot more references, positive and "negative", and made more sense as a story, but we had to cut it down for space. It was out of our hands, there was no more space to give us, and because of that none of us could publish the comic we wanted to publish the way we wanted to publish it. Carol and I even turned in an alternate comic to try and eliminate the problems with sizing, but it just didn't have the same zip (and believe it or not it was even "meaner" than what's in the paper now, but you must remember, this is when we assumed that the Portland comics crowd had a sense of humor). So with no other options, the three of us took a hatchet to our original comic and ended up with what is displayed before you. Not our best work - it says "Words by Riley Michael Parker" but that is hardly even the case anymore - but considering our limitations, I feel like we did a swell job (and there were MANY limitations, in size, content, et cetera, from sources outside of mine, Carolyn's, and even Alison's control). Now I'm not about to get it tattooed on my back or anything, but I am proud of the comic, and everyone involved with it, and feel no need to apologize to anyone about its content or tone. It could have been better, but that could be said about just about everything. And here we are.

Also, it's pretty. Carol did a fine job with her line work - Fone Bone looks like Fone Bone, Boilerplate looks like Boilerplate - and they all fit together fairly well. I noticed that some of the people leaving rude comments about our comic are other comic people who already don't get along with Carolyn and/or me for other reasons, and that just cracks me up. The Mercury didn't ask you, they asked us. You don't like our comic, we don't like yours, or you, and that's why you didn't end up in one of our panels. Get over yourselves. Move on.

And keep the insults coming, if that's what you feel you need to do. We have a sense of humor and can laugh it all off, and we all know internet fanboys have nothing better to do, which is how you became internet fanboys in the first place. We know our intentions with the comic, the respect that we hold for the industry and for the creative people working within the medium, and we stand by our work. My only regret is that we cut most of the "mean" jokes from the final product, as I now wish we would have left them in and really given you something to bitch and moan about.

So long Mercury readers, I'm off to have a cocktail and get on with my life, as I suggest you do as well. And to you my dear Carolyn Main and Alison Hallet, if either of you wonderful, talented, and accomplished young women want to join me for a drink, well you know where to find me.
Posted by R.M.Parker]]> Sun, 25 Apr 2010 02:52:56 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Faustian Fancy]]> Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:03:32 -0700 Portland Mercury
I can only wonder how batshit crazy you would all get if one of the nerds turned out to be Santa dressed up in a furry costume.
Posted by That British Guy]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:27:37 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Andie Main]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:07:15 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Geoff Vasile]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:10:14 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Scott Allie]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:46:36 -0700 Portland Mercury
Lastly, just because you've thrown some doodles into your stupid little emo diary doesn't make you a comic creator. Oh, Portland.
Posted by Eat a Bag of Farts]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:46:49 -0700 Portland Mercury
There are a LOT of people who work very hard through-out the year to come to this show (and others like) it to help make rent and food money. This isn't just a club meeting or a giant portland comics scene pat on the back... for some this show is a boost to their livelihood. It's their jobs... some spend real money and real time to invest in making the products they sell and in getting to attend. I don't think its out of bounds for many of them to want that to not be perceived as a just a gross joke or reduced to a stereotype in front of the largest potential audience they might have. Self depreciating humor is one thing... this doesn't have that. Its just dumb.
Posted by Ryan HIll]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:43:52 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by juliadoll]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:27:54 -0700 Portland Mercury http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto…
Posted by Alison Hallett]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:19:05 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by scrappers]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:47:59 -0700 Portland Mercury
Calm down people. The comic was drawn by a nerd for nerds. If you don't understand self deprecating humor than perhaps you should stick with Family Circus.
Posted by kiala]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:44:18 -0700 Portland Mercury
Stop taking yourself so seriously.
Posted by ROM]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:30:50 -0700 Portland Mercury Posted by Graham]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:15:13 -0700 Portland Mercury
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudron/4546528176/

I've seen some claims online that it was the Mercury editor that forced Parker and Main's hand towards making the comic more mean-spirited than what it was originally supposed to be, but after seeing a few panels from the original version floating around online, it's obvious that it was Parker and Main's original intent to be hipper-than-thou mean-spirited jackasses from the start.

I'm the last goddamned person on the planet to think that the Stumptown Comics Fest should be treated with awed reverence, but this comic (when combined with this week's "OMG COMICS=NERDS DUR HUR" cover) was just a big mistake.
Posted by Bill Mudron]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:44:42 -0700 Portland Mercury