So, this is interesting! Brand-new comics and illustration festival Linework NW announced the bulk of its lineup today. This isn't the full list of exhibitors, but it's a solid start, and I'm surprised and pleased to see some of the more indie-mainstream publishers (Dark Horse, Oni, Fantagraphics, Top Shelf) are involved, alongside a slew of other creators and publishers. There are a lot of unfamiliar (to me) names on the list, but fortunately the Tumblr announcement features plenty of linkage—a great place to start is with the work of hotshot special guest artist Michael DeForge.

It's by all accounts a coincidence that this festival's birth coincides so neatly with the Stumptown Comics Fest's demise—Lineworks was conceived as an alternative to Stumptown, not as an attempt to replace it—but it's very safe to say that this lineup, and the choice of the Norse Hall as a venue, feel much truer to the spirit of a creator-focused indie comics festival than Stumptown did in its last few years. I'm looking forward to it!