Batton Lash created the long-lived legal duo Wolff & Byrd: Counselors of the Macabre in 1979, and the pair have appeared in magazines, newspapers, comic books, graphic novels and for the last few years in their own online comic. Batton also created the classic crossover comic, Archie Meets The Punisher, and has since written several longer stories for Archie Comics, as well as the regular Radioactive Man comics for Bongo Comics. But it's his self-publishing efforts with Exhibit A Press that have made Batton a convention staple on both coasts.

Several previous exhibitors are also returning this year as Special Guests, including Stumptown regular Graham Annable, Lucy Knisley, and Theo Ellsworth, whose insanely detailed artwork has made his graphic novel 'Capacity' a critical success, and who contributed the fantastically mind-bending artwork for this year's Fest poster!

Look for more Special Guest announcements in the coming weeks!

Signing up to volunteer is a simple, one-step process. Just fill out our handy on-line form, specifying your ability and your availability, and our Volunteers Coordinator will get in touch to let you know where and when your help is needed.

Trophies will be awarded in the following six categories:
DIY: For self-published, hand-made works
Design: For overall publication design
Writing: For exemplary writing, and compelling narrative
Art: For illustrations that clearly help the story
Web Comic: For comics and art which appeared initially online
Debut: For works making their worldwide debut at this year's Comics Fest
A seventh trophy, the Mystery Award, will be given at the discretion of the organizers of the awards.

To submit your work for this year's Trophy Awards, begin by filling out the submission form located online at http://www.stumptowncomics.com/awards. A $5 submission fee is required for each category in which you wish to submit a work for consideration, and a copy of the work must be sent to:

Trophy Awards
P.O. Box 40343
Portland, OR 97240-0343

or (if the work is digital) emailed to awards@stumptowncomics.com, before the April 15th deadline. All eligible works will be added to the ballot to be distributed to attendees at the Stumptown Comics Fest on April 24th. Votes will be collected throughout the day and tallied, and the Trophies will be awarded at the after party being hosted by Cosmic Monkey Comics in Portland, OR.

The After-Party is a tradition dating back to the very beginnings of the Fest, and has been hosted at Cosmic Monkey Comics since 2006. This year's party and Trophies Ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 24th starting at 8pm. The Trophies will be presented by Stumptown's own Shannon Wheeler and Carolyn Main, along with radio, film and comics Geek Celebré, Bobby 'Fatboy' Roberts (co-host of the local Cort and Fatboy radio show). After the Trophies Ceremony, be sure to stick around for the infamous Comic Art Battle, where Stumptown cartoonists square off, trading jibes, swipes, and ink-stained blows, competing for fabulous prizes and the adoration of the beer-addled crowd!

Inquiries about the Trophy Awards should be directed to awards@stumptowncomics.com.

The Exhibitors List for this year's Fest is now available, and I am simply amazed by the tremendous response we've already received! Nearly 100 tables are already registered with only ten weeks left until the show! We're continuing to receive bundles of registration packets in the mail, and we'll continue to confirm tables on a first-come, first-served basis. We won't be releasing any additions to the list until we can definitely confirm additional tables, though, so if you're sending in your form, and don't see your name on the list in the coming weeks, please don't panic! We just want to be absolutely sure that we've got room for everybody before we confirm any more exhibitors.

And that's not to say you shouldn't send in your registration forms, either! All registrations received over the available tables will be placed on the waiting list, and will have guaranteed space at next year's Comics Fest! So, get that form in now, kids! Time (and space) is running out!

Every year, the comics-loving residents of Portland, Oregon have one major event that they look forward to, and that event is the Stumptown Comics Fest. This year, on April 24th and 25th, Stumptown will bring the best creators, artists, writers, and publishers from all over the comics spectrum to the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel for a weekend-long celebration of the comic arts. The Fest will close out an entire month of events around the Rose City designed to display the depth and artistry of the comics medium.

Stumptown is excited to announce a variety of Special Guests and events this year, starting with appearances by Batton Lash, creator of the long-running Supernatural Law; Brooklyn-based artist and community organizer Dean Haspiel is the driving force behind the online-comics collective Act-I-Vate, and he'll be here with several other Act-I-Vate artists to regale us with tales of the early days of the group; Local artist Theo Ellsworth (whose visually stunning and critically-acclaimed graphic novel 'Capacity' debuted in 2008) will also be joining us as a Guest, and provides artwork for this year's poster. The Panel schedule for 2010 includes a presentation by Kate Beaton talking about her insanely popular historical humor comic Hark! A Vagrant!. Continuing the Stumptown tradition of providing access to the best comics industry resources, we'll also be hosting another round of Portfolio Reviews with editors and art directors from top local publishers Top Shelf Comics, Oni Press, Dark Horse Comics, and Fantagraphics Books. Additional exciting Event and Guest announcements will be made in the coming weeks leading up to the Fest.

Registration of new exhibitors is currently open for this April's Comics Fest, but after early pre-registration following last year's event available table space is limited. Interested exhibitors should download the registration form (available now at stumptowncomics.com/registration) and send it in with payment before the March 24th deadline.

Once again fostering imagination and wonder in the minds of the young and old; Stumptown Comics Foundation shares the love of Sequential Art within the Stumptown Graphic Novel Garden.

Joining the Stumptown Comics Graphic Novel Garden are Portland publishers Oni Press (Scott Pilgrim, Whiteout, & Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen) as well as Top Shelf Productions (The Surrogates, Essex County, & Swallow Me Whole). Come and experience all the world of comics has to offer with the graphic novel collection from Cosmic Monkey Comics. All that, and special events provided by Portland comic book artists and writers.

It all takes place October 10 & 11 at the Oregon Convention Center.

Stumptown Comics at Wordstock - A Format, Not a Genre.

Guests include: Jeff Smith; creator of Bone and Rasl and STCF09 special guest of honor, Craig Thompson; creator of Blankets, GoodBye Chunky Rice and the forthcoming Habibi, Farel Dalrymple; creator of Pop Gun War and illustrator of best-selling author Jonathan Lethem's Omega the Unknown, Matt Wagner; creator of Mage and Grendel; Gail Simone; creator of Unhinged and author of Wonder Woman, Brian Michael Bendis; author of Powers, Alias, The New Avengers and many more, Derek Kirk Kim; creator of Same Difference and Other Stories as well as Lowbright, and Mike Dringenberg; co-creator of Sandman and contributor to the Tori Amos comics anthology Comic Book Tattoo. Directors of the Foundation and Fund will also be in attendance.

Attendance to this excellently prepared traditional three course meal - salad, entree and dessert - is $100.00 per patron, and offers intimate seating at a table with one of our honored guests. Seating is assigned, and based on first-come, first served reservation by emailing to sts@stumptowncomics.com for an invoice. A vegan option is available upon request, evening casual attire or finer is requested of you. No one under the age of 17 will be admitted without a ticketed adult companion, and proper identification will be necessary in order to imbibe spirits. Thank you for your understanding.

Prior to the dinner and beginning 5:30PM, an open attendance cocktail hour will take place in the Rotunda lobby of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, during which Portland Mayor Sam Adams will read a proclamation declaring Portland the City of Comics for the month of April 2009 and during which ticketed guests will enjoy hosted appetizers, beer and wine. At 6:30PM only ticketed guests will retire to the dining room for seating, and dinner will be served shortly afterward.

This gala evening gives you the opportunity mix and mingle with the creators of the works you love, to ask the questions you've always wanted answered, and get some of the inside stories beyond the comics page, as well as insights into the careers and lives of the incredibly talented men and women who create them. Wine, dine, meet and greet; all to celebrate comics and kick off the sixth annual Stumptown Comics Fest held April 18 & 19 at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel, as well as add your strength to two organizations dedicated to the support of comic books.

Portland has deep roots in the comic-book publishing world, as it is home to scores of industry professionals and several of the nation's most prominent comics publishers (Dark Horse Comics, Oni Press, Top Shelf Productions, and Image--Shadowline). Moreover, the local comics community continues to see significant growth, which further bolsters the Rose City's defining ties to the creative arts and industries.

To champion and support Portland Comics Month, the Stumptown Comics Foundation has once again catalogued a staggering number of comics-related events in the Portland metro area for the entire month of April. The current list is is to be had at www.stumptowncomics.com/comicsmonth. Join us in this month-long celebration of sequential art--featuring the 6th Annual Stumptown Comics Fest, events from Multnomah County Libraries, galleries, bookstores, and organizations, and culminating in the annual nationwide Free Comic Book Day!

Watch a group of celebrated local comic illustrators working their craft as inspired by the MacTarnahan's Taproom atmosphere. Evenings creations will be auctioned off for charity. MacTarnahan's Beer Specials and raffle prizes.

Visit the MacTarnahan's website.

When
Wednesday April 1st, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Who
Guest artists:
Monica Toth
Virginia Paine
Brian Churilla
Natalie Phillips
Mike Lawrence

Where
MacTarnahan's Taproom
2730 NW 31st Ave.
Portland, OR 97210 | Get a Map
ph. 503.226.7623
info@macsbeer.com

To be considered for a Trophy Award, simply fill out the online form, submit it, and send two copies of each work—along with the $5-per-category entry fee—to the address below. The online nomination form is now available at www.stumptowncomics.com/awards. Please limit nominations to two categories per work, and note that no submissions will be considered after April 4th. Works should be no older than one year. Winners are chosen by balloted vote conducted on Saturday with attendees of the fest, and a display of all nominated works will be available for general perusal at the show. We ask that nominees, or someone representing them, attend the awards ceremony at Cosmic Monkey, as non-represented winners may be subject to good-natured mockery for absenteeism.

The awards categories are:

• DEBUT: For works freshly released at the fest. Come on out, little books.
• DIY: For self-published works showing exemplary spunk, energy, and ingenuity.
• SMALL PRESS: For publications between mainstream and DIY.
• WEBCOMIC: For exemplary works published on the web.
• WRITING: You know, the words.
• ART: You know, the pictures.
• DESIGN: Examines the quality of production. How a book looks, feels, and smells.
• MYSTERY: Not the genre, but the award itself! A secret panel of judges will select a book, website, person, project, or event for special recognition with this enigmatic award. No nominations are accepted for this award, though all are eligible.

Please mail your entries to Stumptown Trophy Awards '09, P.O. Box 40715 Portland, OR 97240 in time for an April 4th delivery, and make your checks out to The Stumptown Comics Foundation. Then come on out to the 6th Annual Stumptown Comics Fest at the Lloyd Center Doubletree (1000 NE Multnomah, Portland OR, 97232) on April 18th and 19th, and join the 3rd annual Trophy Awards shindig and ceremony at Cosmic Monkey Comics (5335 NE Sandy Blvd., Portland OR, 97213). Hope to see you there!

Shannon Wheeler
Awards Coordinator
wheeler@tmcm.com | 503.230.0123

Katie Moody
Stumptown Publicity
stumptowncomicsfest@gmail.com

The last of the confirmations are going out now, so if you did not make it in, and have submitted an application, you've been placed on our Waiting List. Should tables open up, we'll be assigning based on postmark and cashing your payment then. If you do not want to be placed on the wait list, please let us know and we will return or destroy held payments.

To those that weren't able to join the Stumptown Comics Fest as an exhibitor, we sincerely hope to see you as an attendee, the 2009 Stumptown Comics Fest is shaping up as the best one yet! As soon as dates and scheduling allow, we will post application information for the 2010 Fest.

The Stumptown Comics Fest would again like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone that supports the comics industry, from fan to creator to publisher alike. ¡Viva Comics!

See you all soon at the Double Tree Convention Hall, April 18 and 19, 2009.

The 2009 Stumptown Comics Fest is officially open for exhibitor registration. A handful of eagle-eyed attendees watching the show's website have already beaten the registration rush--which sold out last year's fest before the Early Bird Deadline--so don't delay!

Longtime exhibitors will notice some improvements to our pricing structure, aimed at encouraging the greatest number of cartoonists, publishers, retailers, and small-press enthusiasts to participate in the show. While the Early Bird window has been eliminated, its discounted $70 price for a half table (which includes one exhibitor badge) is now the standard price. A full eight-foot table (with two badges) will put one back $150, and additional square-footage will accrue additional costs. Extra exhibitor badges are available for $10 apiece. All the details are available in a handy PDF registration form at the Fest's online headquarters, stumptowncomics.com.

The registration and payment deadline is February 18th, 2009. Checks should be made out to the Stumptown Comics Foundation, and mailed with a completed registration form to:

SCF 2009 Registration
P.O. Box 40715
Portland, OR 97240

The goal of each year's Fest is to outdo the offerings, operations, and low-key awesomeness of the prior year. Last year featured record attendance, industry veterans alongside brand-new creators, tours of comics-related gallery shows, and a staggering number of events coinciding with the mayor's "Portland Comics Month" proclamation--all in addition to the Fest's full slate of workshops, panels, signings, portfolio reviews, fantastic guests, and the Trophy Awards. Stay tuned for the announcement of this year's Special Guests and brand-new workshops!

The Stumptown Comics Fest is an annual festival celebration of comics and cartooning art in Portland, Oregon. Our Sixth Annual fest will be held on April 18th-19th, 2009, at the Doubletree Hotel Lloyd Center, 1000 NE Multnomah St, Portland, OR 97232. Hope to see you there!

Alongside local cartoonists and writers--plus special Wordstock guests Mike Mignola (Hellboy) and Lynda Barry (What It Is) and notable creators Alison Bechdel (Fun Home) and Spain Rodriguez (Nightmare Alley)--local publishers Dark Horse Comics, Oni Press, Top Shelf, Shadowline, and Sparkplug will be participating in the fair's first "graphic novel garden."

In addition to the esteemed creators and publishers (and homegrown comics fest) to be found in Wordstock's graphic novel garden, a variety of workshops and demonstrations will be offered for interested attendees. Among them: Comics essentials, character design, silkscreening, hand bookbinding, and visual storytelling, as presented by cartoonists Farel Dalrymple (pop gun war), Theo Ellsworth (Capacity), Julia Gförer (As Befits a Man exhibition), John Isaacson (D.I.Y. Silkscreening), Jesse Reklaw (Slow Wave), and Jim Valentino (Image Comics co-founder). Other creators in attendance at the two-day festival include Elijah Brubaker (Reich), Theo Ellsworth (Always Somewhere Nearby), Joëlle Jones and Jamie S. Rich (12 Reasons Why I Love Her), Carolyn Main (Quickies), Shanno Wheeler (How to be Happy), Aron Nels Steinke (Crazy Cat Dance), Sarah Oleksyk (Ivy), Periscope Studios (various). Jesse Reklaw will premiering his new book, The Night of Your Life, from Dark Horse Comics. Demos and live drawing will abound!

Finally, in conjunction with the annual book fair, comic-book aficionados can enjoy First Thursday, author readings, and book premieres (plus exclusives!) at the Fuzzy Glamour Gallery show on Thursday November 6th. Join fellow comics fans and creators for eats, drinks, and funnybook hobnobbing from 6pm to close at 625 NW Everett St., #111!

As public, educator, and retailer interest in the art form grows, the Stumptown Comics Foundation will continue to provide answers, resources, and recommendations to local readers. Join us, or come by and say hello!

The Stumptown Comics Foundation is a not for profit organization devoted both to promoting comics and cartooning art and to celebrating the medium's rich culture in Portland, Oregon. Our Sixth Annual Stumptown Comics Fest will be held on April 18th-19th, 2009, at the Doubletree Hotel Lloyd Center, 1000 NE Multnomah St, Portland, OR 97232. Hope to see you there!

Shannon Wheeler
Wordstock Liaison
wheeler@tmcm.com | 503.210.0123

Katie Moody
Stumptown Publicity
stumptowncomicsfest@gmail.com
Website: www.stumptowncomics.com

Exhibitor registration is now open, with tables running $70 for a half, $150 for a full 8-foot table, and $200 per full table afterwards. Each full table comes with two exhibitor badges, and half tables come with one. Previous exhibitors will notice some changes to the pricing structure - namely that additional tables are more expensive than a single table. After the crazy demand for tables last year, we're trying to encourage more exhibitors to get fewer tables, to allow more people to exhibit.

The Registration deadline is February 18th, 2009, and tables went quickly last year, so be sure to register soon! After we receive your registration and you're confirmed a table, you'll be notified via email, and your name will be added to our Exhibitors' List.

Download the form here!