Bremerton Zine Fest 2023

 Weird and hot, in a city park, but satisfying, and promising more for the future - that's the Bremerton Zine Fest. I was later at Pat Moriarity's art gallery show, also in Bremerton, at the Ridgeline cafe (no photos posted of a gallery show, of course). But photos of a few friends are included at the bottom of this post. It was really nice to see Pat again, and David Lasky - both long-time colleagues and dear friends. 

Got to talk to the Parks people, the Zine Fest organizers, and the Bremerton mayor, about maybe hooking up with SquatchConPA, so the two shows support each other and each other's communities. You know me - Little Miss GoBetween.

This really should be a better report, with more and better labeling, but it was 91 degrees Fahrenheit all day in that field, and hot for the rest of the evening, and the brain don't do so good in the heat. Every time I regret moving up to Clallam Bay, because it's so far away from my friends and industry, the weather reminds me of why it was a good idea.

I'll do a better job in the podcast. I'll add that link as soon as it goes active.

Emerald City Comicon 2021 - MEET UP and UPDATES

This post will be updated as scheduling comes in.

Will Emerald City Comicon 2021 - December 2-5 - happen? Do we know? Since we can't, I got me a 4-day pro badge anyway. They're not expensive, so Just In Case works.

I'll be in Seattle for four days - Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The first two days, I'm staying away from the convention, because, you know, COVID. So Thursday and Friday, if you don't do the convention, we can say hi in person! I'll be organizing meet-ups, parties, and listing events, whether they're part of ECCC or no. I go home Monday morning.

If you have any event you'd like me to attend, or a dinner, or a party, let's list it here, so I can get really organized.

See you in December! OOH, Christmas decorations.

ShortRun 2019 Powerhouse

I can only share one photo because I simply didn't have time to take any more!

Bruce Simon and Me - I told him all
about Ka-Blam, the best floppy printers
for the best prices.

Never in all my years going to hundreds of conventions has the floor been hotter. 4,000 people crowded into the Fisher Pavilion in the Seattle Center, and they were there to BUY. They wanted books, tshirts, facetime - they were in the moment, and ready to party. Thank Goodness my Square reader was working!

The photo is of Hoo-Hah publisher Bruce Simon, who offered, among other books, a truly well-done collection of the classic Out Our Way cartoons from the 1930's. We got on so well we've shaken hands on sharing a table next year, if ShortRun will have us both back! 

I told him he MUST submit the Out Our Way books to the Pulitzers this year, in the publisher category. The books meet all their criteria, especially being a very well-done collection of a wonderful American series.

He came up from Berkeley, and was unprepared in a number of the business points of running a table at a show, because - according to him - the comics scene in San Francisco is badly faded. 

I told him to run right over to this site and look up the Clallam Bay Comicon and start the process of running his own one-person minicon. The secret to this is, after about seven years of what is really quite easily organized, somebody else will want to take it over and expand it, as happened with the CBCC, which has morphed into the Forks RainCon. 

So, anybody in Berkeley or environs who wants to help out, look up the book on Amazon,* where there's always a contact email block.

*(I'm sorry for that - so many of us put our books on Amazon before it went asshole).

I missed the afterparty again because I was just so exhausted. I have a lung infection, and am on antibiotics. So I can't drink anyway! I should have just made up my mind to Uber* home, but I'd only used Uber once, and my brain was fried from the intense show. 

**(AND I will have to transfer to Lyft, because Uber's CEO is calling the murder of a journalist by his Saudi shareholders a "mistake." We know what Friends' Rachel had to say about mistakes. Which is sad, because I really like Uber.)

I did make it to the Fantagraphics afterparty Sunday evening, which featured an interesting music/animation from Berlin.

Sunday, there were two great ShortRun events downtown and on Capitol Hill, featuring Shortrun authors. And did I just pick up an opportunity to talk at the University of Washington? We'll see.

ANYWAY, I was dreading the bus ride back home on Monday, but not because it was a bus ride- Clallam County Busses are fabulous - but because it was Veteran's Day (Properly called Armistice Day, before America got mad about losing the Korean War), and rural areas get stupid. 

BUT - it turned into an opportunity to POSSIBLY start the gay pride festival in Port Angeles. I can't share how, because it's Somebody Else's Story.

But I can share how I walked by the old vets selling vet stuff in front of the Safeway and said, "We're going to try to have a gay pride parade in Port Angeles." 

Their answer? "All RIGHT!"

I will certainly be back to ShortRun next year, especially if I can run at least a quarter table. That's a privilege.  

Clallam Bay Drink and Draw

(Next Clallam Bay Drink and Draw is Sunday, July 21, 7pm to 9ish, at the Clallam Bay Inn Upper Room)

At Raincon, it was suggested we start holding Drink and Draws - the comics industry traditional meetings where we - well - drink and draw.

I'm the only one showed up for this first one, but the bar patrons were very supportive and interested. They were playing good, bluesy music on the big modern electronic thing that was too techy to be called a juke box. But I'll call it a juke box for want of a better name.

I had a pounder of the beautiful Pacific Pineapple cider, and finished this page.

Will putting up announcements on reader boards, and community announcements in local papers, every month.

Since I was the first attendee, I get to say when and where.

Every third Sunday of each month, 7:00 pm to 9ish, at the Clallam Bay Inn. No fee - just chip in for beer or whatever you want. If you want an APA - amateur press association minis - chuck in a few dollars for copies and layout.

If you're in the APA, I'm making sure an extra copy goes to the San Diego State University Love Library Special Collections. A place to store issues - and academic cred.

Clallam Bay Inn has also brought back waffle fries, by popular demand.

Tip your barkeep

ShortRun 2018

First of all thanks to the ShortRun staff. Their on-floor map included a tribute photo to dear Mark Campos, whom we lost under such tragic circumstances this year.  
They know what they're doing, and this just gets better and better every year.

Wearing my Ka-Blam tshirt for my $10 printing bonus!
Best POD company going for floppies, especially.

Secondly, thanks to The Stranger for advising the attendees to bring CASH and loads of it. The books and other goodies FLEW off the tables.

Yes, we all have Square, and yes, it works offline, but comics is comics - and you know what we run on. We'll bring a wad of Washingtons if you'll bring a wad of Jeffersons, and we'll swap.

Valerie Niemeyer

Valierie Niemeyer made a great show pal. She and her mom were so much fun and so full of energy. Her mom came with snacks! And Valerie's work is lovely. Especially her skeleton unicorn, just right with Halloween and Day of the Dead just behind us.

What can I say? ShortRun is one of the best comics conventions anywhere. It's small - crammed into the Seattle Center Flag Pavilion - and more and more of us are buying a quarter table, just to get some space.

 

Look at that floor!

 

The show when it was just getting started.

The Fantagraphics Store party was great, as always, thanks to Larry. Even better. Carol Tyler was there to celebrate her new book about growing up with the Beatles - and led a singalong that reminded us just we all knew just where to say "OOOOH" and go up the scales.

Missed the Vera party - but am going to schedule my trip better next year, so I'm up for it, instead of falling apart.

This show is too good.

I can't guarantee I'll get a table space next year, but signs are good.

FIRST Opttacon - 2018

The show floor - and me earning printing cash

from K-Blam.com - where you want to go for

high-quality POD comics floppies at only about

$1 more than 1980's prices.

What a great show! Held in a convention hall in a beautiful park in Sequim, Washington.

Even though I've been going to entertainment conventions for decades, I never really looked in on the gaming track. Gamers were always quietly concentrating in their own room, I was working my table in the Artists Alley, and Never The Twain. 

I had no idea what fun, happy people gamers were (and smaller bad swab groups like those that caused Gamergate didn't make me eager to know them. Another black mark against those schmucks).

The hall was packed!

What an eye-opening. The gamers were totally welcoming to Roberta Gregory and me, the only comics people at the show. Two of them eagerly listened to how to turn their game into a comic book while avoiding pitfalls and keeping the costs down. Of course I recommended Ka-Blam.com for printing!

I even played a game called Conspire - originally attracted to it because all the players were wearing homemade tinfoil hats. Did we ever have fun! We were the noisiest game in the room because it's a very simple roll-playing game. We started with "Who broke the coffee shop blender?" and ended up involving a stolen meth shipment and the FBI. We were laughing so hard!

(For those of you begging me for years to make a Desert Peach game - just plug the characters into Conspire. You will not be disappointed. I would love to hear from you, and see photos and videos of you playing the Desert Peach Conspire. I wonder if anyone would like me to run one at any of the shows?)

Horses who wanted carrots.

I learned that only the figure-makers in gaming seemed to be able to do horses well. NEXT year - if we're very lucky and all parties are pro-active - there MAY be an actual horse at a horse-drawing class. There are hints the horse will arrive carrying a cosplayer. We shall see!

Congratulations to Port Angeles's own AnimeKat and Jeff Tingelstad for organizing and filling up a bang-up first year gaming convention. 

As a comics person, I advise us all to get in on the action. Roberta made most of the sales, but I was there to connect our two nerd worlds. And I think I was quite successful. 

View across the fields.

So be on the lookout for next year, and all our nerdcons on the Olympic Peninsula, including the Forks Raincon and my own Clallam Bay Comicon.

Roberta and I stayed at a very cool AirBnB just west of Sequim. It's a horse-and-dog rescue farm! And all the animals are spoiled and happy. As usual, the rest of this report is a photo essay. Just to give you a taste!

Roberta on a stroll from the house.

 

Park grounds - viewing pavilion

 

Park pool

Park pool

 

The 2018 Comicon Report

Winter Summer's Inn's Sandy Tsiang, our wonderful
BNB host, with Amy Thomson, Edd Vick,
and Guest Creative Carla Speed McNeil.

Carla and her art and me in my Ka-Blam tshirt -
Ka-blam is BEST for POD floppies1

This must have been our best year ever, at the Clallam Bay Comicon. 7th year, and the 6th in the Clallam Bay Lion's Club. 

Guest Creative Carla Speed McNeil got jump-started for her art and career - the girl just had cabin fever and needed a vacation! Everybody really enjoyed her talk about how to get started in comics and stay in comics. It was a riveting talk. Girl has been BUSY!

Jake Richmond, the creator of the webcomic Modest Medusa, showed how easy and fun it is to start making webcomics, as well as facing the challenges of finding time to create, build an audience, and make a living.

Saturday concluded with the costume and cosplay contest. The only particants were the Curtis family, but they put on a lively show. Carla judged them and they got lots of prizes, donated by the Clallam Bay Visitor's Center, the Sunsets West Co-op, and all the tabling creatives.

Sandy as the Red Hat's Night Lady. Yes, the RH's threw
heavy-duty vodka shooters again.

Of course, the evening ended with dinner at the Clallam Bay Inn, whose waiters were kinda shocked how well we tip. We have friends. After that, it was fireworks in Sekiu, watched from the Clallam Bay Beach.

On Sunday, Larry Lewis reprised and expanded on his original demonstrations of making and selling minicomics. Minis and zines are the ground zero for getting started in the comics world, and everybody from Robert Crumb to Neil Gailman has done some form of small, inexpensive self-published booklet or pamphlet. Larry's form is almost like origami, covered with tiny, intricate images and lettering.

Carla, me, Edd and Amy at the Clallam Bay/Seiku
Fundays parade, Saturday. We're just watching.

Clallam Bay's Dennis Hondorp, who recently retired as the production coordinator/buyer for independent set building, shared his life in the film industry. His talk began as an historical overview, and he seemed a  to feel a bit left out - until he began to tell backstage stories about well-known actors and got a shock - not only did the audience KNOW about the "Seven Degrees to Kevin Bacon Game," but considered him a coupe in making points in the game. 

The Ribbon Sisters! We couldn't resist buying
parade pretties from an enterprising
costumer crowner selling her wares.

With the input of the audience and other creatives, he ended up sparkling and excited as anybody newly in the industry. He volunteers at the Clallam Bay Visitor's center - and says to come down and ask him anything about working in film!

Kalen Knowles offered a crazy new game at his table - a form of exquisite corpse, the body parts chosen by rolling dice. It looks like crazy fun.

The next day, I took Carla and Roberta Gregory all over Neah Bay. Photos below!

Carla giving her talk Saturday.

The Stranger ad, funded by a grant from the Olympic Peninsula Visitor's Bureau, brought in three times as many guests. So - money well spent, guys!

With the success of RainCon (Forks) and Optaccon (Sequim), I was GOING to stop running the comicons, but with the Curtis family volunteering to take over costume contests, and everybody all excited about NEXT YEAR - well, I guess you all better start watching for 2019. I'll rev up right after New Year's - but get your rooms fast if you intend to come. We're STILL TINY.

Enjoy the rest of the photos! I usually just continue the blog in the captions.

Jake Richmond, Modest Mouse

Carla sits in judgement of cosplay.

The Curtis family takes the cake!

Dinner at the Clallam Bay Inn, with
new owners who are our new friends. We tip GOOD.

Carla and I after the fireworks,
frazzled but happy.

Larry and his minicomics expertise.

Kalen Knowles and his crazy new Exquisite Corpse dice game.
Roll for body parts and he'll drawn them!

Folks attracted by our Stranger ad!

Everybody wants to hear what Dennis says
about the film industry.

Folding our tents.

Carla and the white King I bought from
Jack Mackerel Fish Company. NOM.

Carla - with her gift shop finds - and Roberta
at the Neah Bay Museum.

Roberta, a Frank Smith totem pole,
and Carla at Washburn's mercantile.

The Crab Shack - Neah Bay's newest restaurant.

The site of the Spanish fort, and the vet's memorial.

Wydaah Island

Traditional Makah style
totem at Hobuck beach.

The Hobuck ceremonial center.

Our girls at the center.

Hobuck beach.

Take Home Fish Company

They can ship fish - but out now.

Carla at Seal and Sail Rocks.

Edd Vick and Aeon/MU Press