Oly Comics Fest

Ah, the comic convention. The phrase brings to mind so many images: sweaty middle-aged men in superhero logo shirts selling longboxes full of meticulously bagged comic books, lines of fans with stacks of books waiting to be signed (and later sold on eBay), young women paid to dress up in Wonder Woman suits and entice the throngs of passersby into booths of collectibles...

Unfair preconceptions, perhaps, but not without a grain of truth. In a hobby that's increasingly the province of long-time fans and companies trying their hands and multimedia cross-promotion in the worlds of Hollywood and video games, the large conventions must obviously reflect these trends.

The exceptions, and the respite from superhero monoculture, come from smaller conventions, the ones oriented not at the so-called mainstream of the hobby, but the ones that elevate artistry above commerce and celebrate the craft as opposed to it's marketing.

Enter Olympia Comics Festival. You could not ask for a more grassroots, diverse, non-commercial (to the degree that any convention can be) event. You probably couldn't ask for a smaller event, either. Hosted by Olympia's Danger Room Comics, the May 20th festival encompassed events at several venues in downtown Olympia.

The festival kicked off with a stage show at the Capitol Theatre. We arrived a little bit late, but still managed to catch most of it. We walked in in the middle of a slideshow, featuring the event hosts (the staff of Danger Room) narrating a slideshow of panels from typically silly Golden Age DC Comics stories. This segment included dramatic readings of the tale of Batman Jones and a story about Jimmy Olsen trying to eat a submarine.

Next up was, for us at least, one of the main events. Guests of honor Jessica Abel and Matt Madden did a Q&A session with the event's MC, talking about everything from their recent books (La Perdida and 99 Ways To Tell A Story, respectively), the process of getting those books published, and their current work as teachers and textbook authors.

The main stage show was rounded out by a series of sketches based on the idea of a "comic book news show" (ranging from amusing to perplexing, with the overall air of a middle school talent show), and a comic character impersonation contest, with attendees giving their best versions of Mary Jane Watson, Charlie Brown, any Adrian Tomine character, etc, etc.

We took a lunch break at Cafe La Voyeur, an excellent lunch spot and bar with a healthy selection of vegan food, and made our way back to the Olympia Center, where the artist's expo portion of the festival took place. I can safely say that this was one of the smallest events I've attended. The entire expo consisted of a ring of tables around the outside of the room, and a half-dozen tables clustered in the center. The entire place was slightly larger than a high school classroom. Not that this was a bad thing, though. After feeling overwhelmed at the constantly expanding APE convention, an event of this size was sort of refreshing. It made it possible to get a good look at every table and chat with any of the attendants without feeling like you missed out on anything, or overlooked anybody you were interested in.

The biggest "name" there, other than the guests of honor, was Roberta Gregory, of Naughty Bits fame, but most of the cartoonists represented there were part of the burgeoning minicomics scene, and most of the material for sale was small-run, photocopied, or hand-printed type of works. I ended up spending around $20 and walked away with a few minis of varying sizes and prices, from the $3 Hate Me gag book by Jonathon David Hanh Vu Hill, to the $6 book Paralysis, by Hellen Jo.

We ended up leaving after a shopping trip at event sponsor Danger Room Comics, due to an onset of inexplicable exhaustion. This meant we had to skip out on the panel discussion, signing, and other events later that afternoon. But it was a worthwhile trip, and very healthy to see an small event like this, focused on the type of work that most people will never see. It's sort of encouraging to know that there are people out there making events like this happen, and attending them, and getting excited about stapled and photocopied books of cartoons.