It was a real treat last weekend after the long COVID pause to get to go in person to Short Run, Seattle's Comix and Arts Festival. This show features many independent, small press, and self-published comic creators and artists. Lots to discover! Here's one:
Great to see illustrator/artist Pam Wishbow there. I love her woodcut-like graphic style and her use of symbolic, historic, and folkloric imagery. In addition to cards, books and posters she creates the coolest and most imaginative items: mini clay tablet curse breakers, haunting House Ghost cards sets, scratch-off fortune cards, enamel pins and more. The Short Run show is over but you can still get stuff directly from the artist:
Another new-to-me artist I saw at Seattle's Short Run Comix & Arts Festival is Jesse Lonergan. I really like his loose brushwork and very painterly coloring and backgrounds. My wife Deb picked this handsome small-format, duo-tone book Faster (Bulgilhan Press, 2021). She says: reminds me of Herge and the work of Jean Graton, the artist of "Michel Vaillant," a classic racing comic from the 1950s to the present. Very strong action drawing. Lonergan has done projects for Heavy Metal, Star Wars, and even a bio-comic of Willie Nelson. Can't wait to find more of his work!
Another artist's work that caught me eye –literally–was from Liz Cervantes. Something was glowing and gleaming magically at her table at Short Run. She had watercolor prints with now-you-see-it, now-you-don't secret imagery. I bought this landscape scene with silhouetted figures that dramatically changes under UV light: a glowing UFO appears to beam up the figures and the sky fills with stars. Really fun! (Reminded me of Warren Ellis & D'Israel's excellent SVK SiFi comic from 2011 with hidden UV ink printing).
And if you will allow this bit of Knepotism, Laura Knetzger was also at the Short Run show with her series of Bug Boys books published by Penguin/Random House. These all-ages graphic novels feature the adventures in friendship of two best-buddy beetles. The books sold out at the show but you can still get all three volumes of Bug Boys thru Amazon—where they earn solid five-star ratings.
