I should have done this earlier this week but I got distracted by various things, such as sleep, food, and Resident Evil 5.
This past weekend was Portland’s sixth annual Stumptown Comics Fest held in a small exhibit hall in NE Portland, nearby the Lloyd Center Mall. I’m no comics expert by any means nor a convention connosieur, but I’d say it was a blast. As far as comic book related conventions go, I’ve only been to one other. That was last year at San Diego Comic Con, which is pretty much the mother of them all. Comparing the two conventions is like comparing a dorm room to Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace is a place everyone knows about and visits for the big names and history and energy. A dorm room is small, cramped, and is potentially full of friendly people you can get to know easily. That’s what I think Comics Fest was. It’s not high energy but it was personal. It was full of self published artists just trying to get people to know and see their stuff. Unlike Comic Con, it’s not full of corporate booths. In fact, I think the whole exhibit hall was the size of two or three of the bigger exhibits in Comic Con, maybe one if you could find the right one (there were definitely some big ass exhibit lots).
But since Comic Con is huge you’d almost think that it’s be an omnibus of entertainment. That’s actually what I thought before I went to SCF. The problem with a huge venue is that it actually dissuades the little guy. You don’t see many webcomic guys there short of Penny Arcade and PvP Online. You don’t see many upcoming talents selling their limited run screen printed comics. They just get lost in this huge wave of exhibitors or get shoved in the corner where there’s little to no traffic despite the exorbitant prices to get a booth spot at all.
Stumptown Comics Fest is so much influenced by Portland’s art scene and community, it’s hard to imagine it being any way else. It makes so much sense, it’s funny that I didn’t really know what to expect before I went when it should have been so obvious.
The most important thing I learned at SCF is fully understanding the person behind the art. It’s so easy to look at something and judge it on its own without thinking about the fact that a living breathing person not so much unlike me that I can hang out with (like at a party or a pier on the river) actually sat down and pour their time and soul into a piece of entertainment/art that I sit down and read. It’s really inspiring. It makes me want to get into art again. If there’s one thing about me relating to hobbies and arts is that I’m pretty non-committal. Meeting people with such passion for the art and the community really makes me want to work hard at a craft and produce a piece of work I can really call my own and that I can show people and be proud of.