You Should Go to Short Run in Seattle on Saturday, November 15th!



When I started letting people know I was moving to the West Coast, one of the questions I was asked is, "Will you be coming to Short Run?" I knew about the show, because of comics friends who have tabled there, and I had the pleasure of reviewing the Short Run anthology from last year. This year, assuming the weather holds, I intend to be at the show, my third indie-themed show (Linework NW and the Portland Zine Symposium being the other two), since I moved out this way. I hope you'll join me there.

Held on Saturday, November 15th from 11am to 6pm in Washington Hall, in Seattle, Washington, Short Run is a curated indie comics show with a strong focus on creators from the Pacific Northwest, particularly Seattle (of course). They actually have events going on all week, but the big shebang is on Saturday when everyone will be tabling and it ends with a party (that I will sadly miss, as I need to take the Bolt home to Portland).

The guest of honor is none other than zine/mini legend, John Porcellino, who, if you weren't aware, has a new documentary about him out, "Root Hog or Die," a graphic novel due from his King-Cat publisher Drawn and Quarterly, and of course, his periodic single issues. It's great to see John getting the recognition he deserves, and he anchors a stellar line-up of creators.

I wanted to do more on the people coming to the show, but I picked up some additional work so that means I didn't have much time this week to do individual profiles.* (I may still try, we'll see.) Here are a few of the highlights, however. Links will take you to their websites:

  • 2D Cloud, one of our favorite publishers, with work by Noah Van Sciver and others.
  • Colleen Frakes is a long-time friend of Panel Patter, working on her own minis and in collaboration. She has a new collection out of some of her various short pieces, reviewed here.
  • Ed Piskor lives near Pittsburgh, PA, my old stomping grounds. He's the guy behind Hip Hop Family Tree, which is an awesome, scholarly look at the history of the genre.
  • Fantagraphics  is some book publisher out of Seattle. Perhaps you've heard of them? We talk about them a lot.
  • Josh Simmons draws a lot of creepy shit. He's got a new sketchbook, published by Oily, which should be available at the show.
  • Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg  was an early favorite of mine from when I started getting into mini-comics. Her most recent comic is on turning 30, which is a great year to reflect on.
  • Liz Prince is another great creator we've talked a lot about over the years. She should have Tomboy, her memoir about growing up as a non-trad girl, and you should buy it. Our review.
  • Mari Naomi also has a new memoir out, covering various parts of her life she's chronicled elsewhere and collected in Dragon's Breath and Other Stories. Go buy this one too. Our review.
  • Nobrow Press is still very new to me, but they put out some amazingly high quality niche books, including a new one that's a graphic biography of Robert Moses, the brains behind the UN Building, She Stadium and other landmarks in New York. I hope to review that one soon.
  • Sparkplug Books, run now by Portland's Virginia Paine, will have two new books at show, Reich 12 (the final issue of this long-running mini-comic biography by Elijah Brubaker) and Vortex, a comic that I can't wait to see in person, along with their other books, which include The Anthropologist by our Whit Taylor.
  • Yeti Press will combine the profane and the pretty, depending on the book. This small press has a very unique set of titles, and you should definitely see if they might be for you.

In addition, our very own Rob Kirby will be tabling (I finally get to meet him since we started working together this year) with his own work, and the Ignatz-winning anthology Queer, which he edited.

I wish I had more time to talk about this show, but basically, if you love mini-comics and indie presses OR you want to see what comics has to offer that's not found in your local comics shop (a decision that changed my comics-reading life forever with SPX in 2008), and you live in the Seattle area, come to Short Run this Saturday. I just about guarantee you'll have a good time. Hope to see you there!

*We're all volunteers here at Panel Patter. We work as we can to talk about the things that we love about comics.