Stumptown Comics Fest 2010: Day One

– We arrived at the Stumptown Comics Fest 2010 around 11am yesterday, checked in and got our volunteer badges. Our first stop was the Dark Horse Comics booth to pick up some freebies (buttons, poster, etc) AND Dan showed off his tattoo to the guys, who took a pic and posted it on Twitter.

Dan's BPRD tattoo gets some love.

–We promptly ran into Joe M. – a friend and former co-worker who also has a strong obsession with comic books. It was a pleasant surprise. Joe is big into the Yelp community, and was attending a Food Cart event later that day, but he hung out with us long enough to attend the first panel.

– We made a beeline for Natalie Sept and Matt Howard’s table – they were selling some awesome buttons and prints. You can find their products on this website here: natmatt.org.

Matt, Me and Natalie

Awesome buttons from Nat and Matt - check 'em out!

– We browsed for a little while longer, and ended up at the Things From Another World booth – where they were selling a ton of Trade Paperbacks for 50% off. It was pure torture! Dan scored a BPRD paperback and I bought the Marvels paperback – each for about $10. You can’t got wrong, right?

– Then it was time for the Teaching Comics panel. I’ve put together some video from the event.

The video is not comprehensive by any means – the panel itself was nearly two hours, and the real meat of it happened towards the end, but it might give you a better idea of what it was like to spend two hours witnessing the intriguing conversations brought up by these folks. It felt like the beginning of something wonderful. The initial moments of a movement to make comic books a more respected literary tradition. The professors were just as compelling as the industry folks – sometimes more so. Featured in the video – James Sturm (Center for Cartoon Studies), Diana Schutz (Portland Community College), Brian Michael Bendis (Portland State University), Benjamin Saunders (University of Oregon), Trevor Dodge (Clackamas Community College, Pacific Northwest College of Art), Katya Amato (Portland State University).

Another exciting factoid – Portland State University has the ENTIRE DARK HORSE COLLECTION available for viewing. No really, everything. How wonderful is that?

– After the panel we grabbed some grub at the Lloyd Center food court. Had some awesome greek Chicken kabobs. It’s really convenient to have the mall within walking distance, BTW. Free parking and close proximity of food. We dropped off the lap-top and books we’d purchased at the car.

– Back at the fest we picked up a copy of Spell Checkers by Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones. Joelle was impressed with my phoenix tattoo and we chatted about it a bit (handed off London Bellman’s card). Nicolas Hitori de came up and drew a sketch signature. Fell in love with sketch signatures today – rarely get the opportunity at cons to get a whole freaking sketch!

Excited for the book, now just need to find a second to read it!

– We ran into the Alter Egos Society group, comprised of folks who dress up as unique costumed characters and meet once a month for pub-crawling. You can sign up to be a hero or villain, but you can only meet with that group. Once a year they get together for a truce. I’ve decided to be a hero, but Dan wants to be a villain. What a goober. Anyways, the folks were super friendly, and it was cool to meet them in person (as I already follow them on Twitter).

Heroes representin - think this is Sky Ray and The Sorcerer?

On the left - Alloy. Most impressive Cosplay suit I've ever seen!

– Then we started our volunteer shift. Dan and I got split up – I ended up standing in the DoubleTree Hotel lobby – handing out programs and answering questions. For the first hour it was great – I chatted with Carolyn Main, shook hands with Dean Haspiel and learned from Matt Howard that the Blazers won Game 3. The last hour, I ended up directing a good majority of the traffic to the Friends of the NRA dinner. Dan got the sweet gig at the table were the Awards Show Nominee books were housed. Meh.

– While volunteering – I did scope out Scott Adsit, Pete Hornberger from 30 Rock, in town for the Bridgetown Comedy Festival. AND ran into Edgar, another friend and former co-worker. I snapped this pic of Edgar and the 30 Rock Dude. I would have gotten one as well, but it seemed like Mr. Adsit wanted to jet. Here’s the pic:

Scott Adsit (Pete Hornberger from 30 Rock) and my friend Edgar

– We took a dinner break from 6:30pm to 8:00pm and then headed over to Cosmic Monkey Comics for the Stumptown Comics Fest 2010 Award Show and Arts Battle. It was a pretty amazing event, in a comic book shop that managed to house 100+ folks. More free beer and celebrating the incredible work done by local talent. Afterwards, the Art Battle took place. I don’t remember much of the event – I got ahold of a McTarnahan’s Spine Tingler and was done for. I’ll let the pics speak for themselves.

Spine Tingler - friend or foe?

Lots of people - Carolyn Main in a sparkly dress!

Beer and Boobies

Their book Boilerplate took home two awards, one for writing and one for art

Dan found the back room and long boxes. He looks happy.

The Art Battle ensues

Yes, that does say "anal."

Drunkenly accosted Matthew Southworth (artist, Stumptown) AND, we left shortly thereafter.

Thanks to Hisham – here’s a list of the Awards Show Winners.

Next up: Day Two!