2011 Portland Zine Symposium
I stopped by the Portland Zine Symposium on August 6, 2011 and picked up another batch of comix and zines. One of the highlights of the show was chatting with Kelly Froh and Max Clotfelter, who came down to PDX from Seattle.
JR Williams was also in attendance, but not tabling this year. Kelly posted some great photos of the event on Slither.
Kelly's most recent work includes Weekend Casserole, a collection of her comics and drawings from Fluke Anthology #6, Not My Small Diary #14 &15, Paper Cuts Machine, and a few unpublished (?) pieces. Wonderful stuff!
Forevertron is a fanzine about the work of Wisconsin artist Tom Every (aka Dr. Evermor), who creates amazing sculptures out of scrap metal; including the 50 ft. high Forevertron, the world's largest scrap metal sculpture.
Recent works from Max include The Complete Warlok Vol. Two, a collection of cartoons and stories created in 1993, when he was 14. The content is outrageously violent with references to David Koresh, Janet Reno, GG Allin, and Glen Danzig.
Note: Covers are not proportional. Wing Man is actually smaller than Hole Shot #1!
Max was also selling Hole Show #1, a wordless mini created in Spring 2011. The second issue, created by Marc Palm will continue the strange adventure. Wing Man is a smaller than mini comix self-published in June 2011.
Deep Seed is a nice collaboration between Max (pencils) and Tim Miller (inks). It's fun to see Clotfelter's strange characters inked in a style that relies on more on varying line weights than his trademark crosshatching.
Kelly told me about the Short Run Small Press Fest coming up at The Vera Project in Seattle Center on November 12, 2011. She drew a great collection of gag cartoons for the promotional postcard. Here's a couple of them:
It was nice to see more pubs in the classic mini comix format at this year's show. With so many comix and zines going for more serious money these days, it gets expensive in a hurry. With $1 or $2 minis, it's much easier to try something new or support a continuing title. It think it was Marc Palm who had a couple of collections with his drawings and those of Tim Miller and Max Clotfelter. One I couldn't find a title for, and another called Kitchen Friends. Both filled with detailed drawings of brut humor and organic spewage. These may be for tabling only, but you could try contacting Marc through Swellzombie and ask if he has any 4 Eyes packs left.
Bert Benson of Art Bureau had a table filled with prints, postcards, comix and zines. I was able to snag a back issue, Art Bureau Eleven. There were only 500 copies printed and there aren't many left. Bert said the Art Bureau Comix anthology is also nearly out of stock, so check out the etsy shop to load up on some high-quality art works. You can keep up with the latest on the Art Bureau Blog.
Sparkplug Comic Books had a nice spread of their books at the show. I picked up a copy of Eschew #2, a beautifully drawn art comic by Robert Sergel.
I don't recall seeing Mindy Fisher's work before, but I was quite taken by her comix: They're Just Like Us! and my favorite Chicken Head Hit Lady. Her bird characters remind me of Sally Cruikshank cartoons. Fisher's artwork is available on Ornaglyphology/Big Cartel.
James Michael Williams was tabling with a collection of his comix. White Male Neurosis (2010 issue) was new to me. It's a funny, authentic slice-of-life about the people on the bus. Like all James' comix, it's well worth the fare.
12 Mutations, a super mini comix by Nikki Burch and Marc Palm. Quite a nice collection of disturbing images.
Chris Cilla was tabling with Tim Root, or at least a life-size cutout of Tim Root. I'd heard a lot of nice things about Cilla's The Heavy Hand and was finally able to flip through a copy. Once I saw the inside pages, I was ready to get it. Check out the ratings on Goodreads, but for my money this is bizarro comix at their best, which makes it a Midnight Fiction Favorite.
I picked up Drip by Cilla as well. It's a handmade comix that serves as a great introduction to Cilla's comix style and sensibility.
I also picked up a copy of Milkyboots #9, a comix diary by Virginia Paine, who works at Sparkplug Comic Books. I guess she's up to #13 now, but this was the first one I'd run across. You can get a feel for her work by checking the Milkyboots blog, which links to her Etsy Shop where you can buy things.
Patrick Devine has published two issues of a continuing adventure story comix called Calico Jack. If you like a good homemade science fiction adventure, you should enjoy this one. You can read online at Space Pirate Jack and contact Devine there about the printed issues.
The latest issues of the splitzine by Clutch McBastard and Nicole Georges were on hand thanks to Papercutter editor and Tugboat Press publisher Greg Means. The both cartoonists deliver a daily dose of auto-bio antics and commentary in one page episodes.
Josh Juresko has published three issues of his strangely funny Bad Breath Comics. You can see more of his artwork and order his comics from his website, which is named surprisingly, Josh Juresko.
Passage by Tessa Brunton is a beautifully drawn new comix, produced just in time for the zine symposium. It's published by Sparkplug Comic Books and printed by Brown Printing, the same outfit that prints Papercutter. Passage is a sometimes funny, sometimes melancholy memoir of growing up in a dysfunctional family.
It was good to see the amazing work of Tom Lechner again. He had just completed the third collection of Nightlife, a wordless comix based on dreams he's strung together in an ever-amorphous pictorial retelling of highly productive REMoirs. Be sure to visit Tom Lechner's Art for some amazing visuals and photos. (And order some of his amazing comix too.)
I'm not sure if Robin Enrico was on hand, but copies of Life of Vice #3 were. It's the final issue about gal pals Becky and Shelby's encounters with drugs, sex, and violence—or at least their repartee about them. $3 from the Life of Vice webstore.
Tim Root was offering several wonderful new crappy comics. Little Stories by Little People, a collaboration with his daughter and A Year is Just a Bunch of Days Strung Together, with more adult themes.
Rick Bradford turned me onto Carrie McNinch's continuing series You Don't Get There From Here a few years ago. I was happy to pick up issue #18 (wraparound cover shown above) and #19 (below) for $2 each from the Sparkplug Comic Books table.
Dragons! was the FCBD entry this year from Tugboat Press. It's an all ages collections of comics, puzzles, gags, and activities by over a dozen comikers, edited by publisher Greg Means and cover artist Alec Longstreth, who also contributed a 15-page story that anchors the book. Greg still had a fair number of copies on hand, so if you're lucky enough to catch up with him at an expo, be sure to latch onto one.
Karen Giezyng introduced me to the world of scooterists, through conversation and a copy of her Bumpstart #5, The Pacific NW Scooter 'Zine. (Cover by Noah Pfarr.) It's loaded with travelogs, interviews with scooterists, photos from meet-ups, a little advice, some classic scooter history, and more. Visit the Bumpstart Mag website to get order the current issue or the back catalog.
Loren Knack's Hoggetowne Runoff #1 was on sale for $2. At least a portion of this collection originally appeared online. You can check out The Beast in the Woods and Stay Warm in the Winter or Skunk Ape Transformation to get a sense of things. To order a printed copy or Knack's other comics visit the Hoggetowne Runoff comics page.
Matt Sundstrom's Second Chances features a 28-page wordless pictorial story about an office worker who's convinced life in the natural world is vastly superior to city life until his fantasy solidifies. A very nicely produced piece, from concept to delivery. And a good value at $3 from Fantom Forest.
And still my favorite comix anthology, edited by Greg Means, Papercutter #16. At the time of the show it was the current issue, but a week or so later issue #17 debuted.
The Portland Zine Symposium is a great show. If you're in the area in 2012, be sure to check it out.
Reports on the Portland Zine Symposium 2011