Portland Area People Should Go to Artist's Alley Show on August 7th


Last year, a nifty small comics festival showed up here in Portland called "Artist Alley." I wrote a brief preview of the show and had a great time, catching up with some of my friends in the local indie comics scene like Kel McDonald and others who were in for the weekend, such as Colleen Frakes and Blue Delliquanti. It was a cool little show, held in the parking lot behind a coffee shop/comic shop, the Spitely Bean.

Not all shows get a year two, but Artist Alley is back for more and if you live in the Portland area and love indie comics, I highly recommend you come by tomorrow between 11am and 5pm. The shop itself has a ton of indie comics, ranging from self-published works to just about all of the in-print Retrofit titles, all of Spike Trotman's publishing line, and much more. Heck, the only "mainstream" work they have are a few stray Image titles here and there.

But the main reason to come tomorrow are the creators. Here's a complete list, and I'll highlight a few for you below:

  • French Toast Comix, aka Becky Hawkins, does work with both sketches and watercolor, primarily in the range of autobio comics. I've seen most of her work via links from others, so it's about time I dig in and read in more depth.
  • Genué Revuelta is the colorist for Full Circle, with Taneka Stotts and Christianne Goudreau and is the artist for Love and Sprockets. She also works on her own comics and should have some fun stuff, though I'm not sure quite what. The thing I do know is that the colors on Full Circle are AMAZING.
  • hopskotch SunDAY is one of those cool people that work within both the comics and zine scene. They'll have a fantasy comic and other stuff on sale tomorrow for your reading pleasure.
  • Kel McDonald is an incredibly prolific writer, artist, and editor, with everything from the long-running Sorcery 101 (now in print collection form, too) to one-shot projects to the Fairy-Tales series that's illustrating folk takes from across the world. Kel's an amazing person whose work is always of the highest quality, and if you're new to her work, get started tomorrow.
  • So What? Press is Dave Kelly's small press, known best for Tales of the Night Watchman. There's also other comics to find here, so make sure to stop by the table.
  • Valentine Barker's prints are eye-catching and cool. If you've got wall space, you need one of them. Seriously. You can see small versions here...then buy one tomorrow!

I hope to see you there tomorrow! I'll be wearing my Jim Woodring t-shirt most likely, and will be arriving via Trikeceratops, probably around 11am to beat the heat. No matter when you go, I hope you have a great time and buy great comics!