The Oregon Convention Center will host the eighth annual Stumptown Comics Fest April 16 and 17.
Celebrating true pulp fiction at the eighth annual Stumptown Comics Fest
The Oregon Convention Center will host the eighth annual Stumptown Comics Fest April 16 and 17. It is the largest creator-focused comic book festival in the Pacific Northwest, and one that Floating World Comics owner Jason Leivian says Portlanders can be proud of.
“This comics fest is very unique,” Leivian said. “There are still some dealers, but unlike most conventions, it is much more focused on celebrating indie comic creators.”
In the week leading up to the Stumptown Comics Fest, Floating World Comics will host a series of special events aimed at putting fans in touch with these heroes of the comic book underground.
On Wednesday, April 13, Carla Speed McNeil will appear at Leivian’s shop to sign copies of “The Finder Library.”
“She began self-publishing ‘Finder’ in 1997,” Leivian said. “It’s a massively original sci-fi series that quickly gained a cult following. It stopped for a few years, when she could no longer afford to publish, but now Darkhorse Comics have collected the first 22 issues into this one volume.”
Thursday, April 14, is a double-billed extravaganza featuring exhibitions and personal appearances by Benjamin Marra and Michael Allred.
Allred is the creator of the legendary “Madman” comic book series, and the evening’s festivities will also serve as the unveiling of two new works by the artist. The massive 1,000-plus-page “Madman Atomica” collection will be available for the first time at the event, as will the “Madman Giant Size Super Ginchy Special.” Leivian’s enthusiasm for Allred’s appearance is palpable, his excitement for the artist’s new comics obvious.
“It’s really cool to have him here,” Leivian said. “I’ve been reading his comics since I was seven years old. The ‘Madman Atomica’ collection that’s being released that night commemorates the 20th anniversary of the series.”
Allred’s comics are not all that has Leivian excited for Thursday.
“Michael is a huge karaoke fan, and he’s bringing his set up down to the shop for the event. He’s got the best Bowie collection,” Leivian said with a grin.
Leivian’s obsession with comics goes back 20 years, and for the past five, his Northwest Portland shop has worked to spread it, catering to fans of the obscure, the handmade and the just plain hard to come by. Bookshelves stocked with expansive volumes of manga, graphic novels and Marvel titles contrast racks overflowing with comics of every pedigree and price range. The highest and lowest of the art form are represented in a pastiche that lives up to the origin of the shop’s name.
Seventeenth-century Japan witnessed a fusion of high and low art forms previously unheard of, and a singular literary obsession of the period seemed to capture the pleasures, excitements and malaise of city life: the floating world. Ukiyo, in Japanese, was the metaphorical identity given to the red light district, where urbanites gambled, caroused and drank amongst a backdrop of the kabuki theaters, brothels and tea houses of Edo (now Tokyo). “Awakening to the high, returning to the low,” was a slogan of Edo period poet Matsuo Basho, who pioneered the expression of common life through classical Japanese poetry and prose.
Perhaps none of the week’s events captures this spirit quite as well as Benjamin Marra’s exhibition, which accompanies Allred’s on Thursday, April 14 at 6 p.m. Marra is the creator of “Night Business,” “Gangsta Rap Posse” and “Incredibly Fantastic Adventures of Maureen Dowd,” all distillations of the very lowest pop culture sensibilities of decades past, reinterpreted in shockingly earnest fashion.
“Night Business” is a tale of strippers, drugs, murder and street violence that manages to hit on nearly every cliché of 1980s VHS action cinema. Yet, an improbable sincerity emanates from the pages of “Night Business.” Like the overwrought melodramas of Douglas Sirk, Marra’s genuine affection for his craft transcends cliché, as he lovingly excises all that was boring about 1980s action cinema, leaving only the best and most enjoyable parts. Leivian likens him to a comic book Quentin Tarantino.
“He’s totally serious about comics, but he comes off as being kind of silly,” Leivian said. “He kind of takes all the best bits of cheesy comics and condenses them to come up with something really fun.”
Floating World’s prelude to the Stumptown Comic Fest ends Friday, April 15, with an appearance by Chicago comic book artist Jeffrey Brown. Brown is best known for his book “Clumsy,” which chronicled a long distance relationship. His personal, intimate style and focus on awkward cuteness have earned him a legion of imitators, but few who manage his deceptively simple style so well.
The Stumptown Comics Fest celebrates the unique nature of Portland’s love for an art form that awoke from the low, only to rise to its current height of artistic legitimacy. Reflecting on the name of his shop, Jason Leivian exudes a sense of satisfaction over upcoming events that seem to fit for reasons beyond the fact that the earliest manga came from the floating world.
“I just always thought it fit very well,” He said. “Comics were once very low brow, just like writing about material things was once considered low brow. But I like the idea that through art you can experiences spirituality through the material world.” ?
Floating World Comics
20 NW 5th Ave. #101
Wednesday, April 13, Carla Speed McNeil
Thursday, April 14, Michael Allred & Benjamin Marra
Friday, April 15, Jeffrey Brown
