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  • Star St. Germain

The Stumptown Comics festival is this weekend—I've got an article about it in the paper this week, but the gist is that the festival has done some great stuff over the years, and that there are some organizational and institutional issues that need to be addressed moving forward.

I came close to not writing about the festival at all this year because their schedule wasn't released until Friday, April 19—for those of you playing along at home, that's a mere week before the festival itself, timing that totally fucks over any media outlet planning to preview the festival in a coherent way. It's particularly weird given that this is the festival's 10th anniversary, and that this year saw the launch of upstart new shows like Rose City Comic Con and the Projects. Good year to do a little outreach, maybe boost the show's profile a little, yes? But no.

But setting all that aside for a sec, the show itself is usually a lot of fun, and this year features some awesome guests (Becky Cloonan, Bill Willingham, Dash Shaw, Brian Hurtt), some solid panels (a Meathaus reunion, a Judge Dredd panel with a screening and fan film screening), and plenty of workshops and panels with great local writers, artists, and editors. The full schedule is here.

I've got four pairs of weekend passes to give away—email me with "Stumptown passes" in the subject line by 9 am tomorrow for a chance to win 'em.