Donna Barr's Blog, page 13

Emerald City 2015 - Bestest Friends

Proof I was at ECCC 2015In my Ka-Blam shirt, again. Told other artists at Emerald City Comicon about the $10 print deal for wearing and promoting the shirt. They liked.
Wow, what a show. Four days next year? Madness! But in a good way.
Had an infection that ALMOST canceled the show for me, but the right antibiotics for the strain of nasty I'd contracted finally put me on my feet for the 4 hour drive and the load-in. I don't count the ferry ride from Bainbridge Island - it's too relaxing. It's just the Road Trip.
So wasn't quite together a lot of the time. Those of you who saw me bouncing off the walls in Con Mode were watching the last sizzles at the bottom of the battery before I crawled back to my table - and at one point, under it. 
But I got to meet a lot of old friends and make new ones. Roberta Gregory was sharing the table with me, with her new "True Cat Toons." Bruce Taylor shared her half of the table as author AND booth babe, so we weren't so locked down. He was really in sales mode, and moved some books. Then again, he always is.
Didn't make a lot of sales - but that's not really what the shows are for any more, are they? Especially now, with the internet. And I was concentrating on promoting the Clallam Bay Comicon (CBCC). MIGHT we be honored with the presence of Linda Medley, author of "Castle Waiting"? We have Roberta Gregory ("Naughty Bits," and many others), of course, who is always a splendid addition to any show.
My "How To Draw A Horse Correctly" panel went well. I was a bit confused by the new overhead technology, and kept sliding out of the screen - tape the pad of paper in place next time! - and trying to remember how the old panel went. 
The original was called, "How To Draw A Horse Right, Damnit!" but ECCC Familied it up. 
I'm planning on holding it again at the CBCC, and if all goes well, it will be filmed and loaded onto Youtube, so you can all watch it.
At the end, those who stayed - most of 'em, I think - came crowding up to remind me I'd promised to pass out the sketches. And I gave them the "passes" to the CBCC - you know, the one with no admission fees - and wished I'd remembered my comics for the panel. 

One young man said, "This is the best thing I've been to all weekend!" which surprised and pleased me. A woman showed me her sketchbook, and it looked like she'd been xeroxing my sketches from the air! Not to give away the farm, but expect a comic book about Rome.... with the horses drawn correctly.

I should point out that my riding chops are nothing to write home about, so thanks to audience members who ACTUALLY know how to ride. As a kid, I just jumped on whatever woods colt was going and went off through the woods, while the pony's owner looked out the back window and said, "Huh. No horse. Must be off with the kids in the woods again." Rope bridles and hanging onto a mane are no substitute for the Vienna Riding school. 

I had SOOOOO much fun being able to yack with Michael McAdam (old friend and former Peach Pitt)​ at ECCC 2015. However, I apologize for making the man go red as a balloon in his face and almost choking to death laughing. He said, " 'I'm bored" should be on my tombstone, and I said, "No, I want the line from Desert Peach #3: "The slut used duct tape." 

New fabulous smart friend Meghan (booth babe and sound design) for the people by our table said the most dangerous words in the world are "I'm bored." Because I'd said, "I got bored and learned to crochet," while pointing out my new beret.
Damn' infection. I'm making all kinds of health changes THIS year, to keep me moving for upcoming years. The girl is 63 this year, but I'm not quitting. Not yet. Us artists and writers die at the drawing board and the keyboard, you know. When we're not out clearing potato sprouts out of the kale beds or catching the chickens trying to scam us.

Next year: Emerald City made purring noises about my presenting the horse panel again - and possibly, "How To Hold Your Own Comicon." Cross your fingers.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Emerald City 2015

In my Ka-Blam shirt, again.


The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Goodbye, Leo

In 1995, some kids in a Bremerton street were playing with kittens like they were toys. Let's leave it at that.
Leo and FearlessLeo was one of them. Tiny, white, with wispy soft fur and sore sunburned ears. Got him home, and he ate, and then drank and drank water, ate as much as he could hold, and passed out on the couch asleep. 
Reason for name: He had a charcoal upside-down V on his head, a "mark," and St. Mark's animal is the lion, so, of course - Leo. I'm a Leo, too. The mark faded over the years, until he was completely white.
We had a lot of desperate rescue cats underfoot. Food and water sat on the kitchen floor. We were busy. By the time anybody noticed what had happened, Leo had ballooned up into the Fat Boy he'd be the rest of his life. In his last days, he was called regal.
Leo and BluebearMany of you remember the lordly, bossy, white - and possible - Turkish Van who purred up at you from the couch or floor when you came in the door. He terrorized a block watch meeting with great glee and verve. And a dead bird. More on that, later.
He was mother to all the new cats, especially to two tiny kittens nicknamed The Potatoes - Fearless and her brother Shadow. He even let Shadow suckle on him. Shadow and Fearless kept him warm and snug until the end.
Fearless and Leo.


On March, 2, 2015, he passed from us in front of a wood stove, on an old Marine blanket, after a year of fluids and medication and treats. He got a last summer in the sun in the back yard. A local store drained beef-liver blood so he could have it to lap up in a bowl. It did him good.
He probably died as the sun topped the ridge. His blanket was still warm.
So many people in social media  - old friends and new -  wished Leo well, and genuinely helped with suggestions and instructions. 
We miss him so much.
Maybe more later. Leo sleeping in the yard.
Goodbye Leo. Goodbye, sweet man.



Big Mo, Leo, and Jim in the yard.
Leo in bed. Red is his color. Vampurr!
Beef blood drained by a local store for the old man.
Note the tiny red Van Dyke.
The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Little Comicons Spreading on the Peninsula

Took me three hours driving each way, and in the dark, but Steve Strout's Comic Swap Meet in Chimakum was worth it. Check out that link to see the guest list.
This is Steve's second event - if I don't miss my guess - and took place in the Tri-Area Community Hall. There was plenty of space for local artists and publishers, plus a separate gaming room. My Ka-Blam tshirt, and one of the books -
helping me get comics-sized reprints (with extra
color pages) into the hands of the readers!
Get 'em at Indyplanet.
Steve's show is more traditional comics and gaming, while my Clallam Bay Comicon is more like the more modern Short Run in Seattle. None of them charge any admission, and tables go for very low prices.
The small-show local model allows costs to be kept down, and local people to enjoy a comicon. This is important, these days, when people can't get or afford the bigger shows like San Diego and Emerald City. The pace is less frenetic, and people get to really talk to readers, buyers and other artists. 
I have to admit I started my comicon because I wanted one I could literally walk to. Since I do most of my shows online, mine is about bringing comics out to a rural area, where people can learn and love. Now Chimikum has their own show, and we all need to get the word out, not only to us - and we're willing to go the distance - but to the local folks.
Small towns go from suspicion and fear of nerds, to welcoming all these nice people who bring money into the economy. This is why it's important to mention to any business that you're with the comicon. They'll want you back! And you'll support local nerds against the bullying that is slowly beginning to crumble. 
See you all in July - check out the 2015 link above!
The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

ShortRun Hooked

Me and Mark.I am so going back to ShortRun, the Seattle Indie comics, zines, blah blah festival. It was a chance to see old friends again, like Mark Campos, here. 
Roberta Gregory shared the table with me, and wished she'd brought more of her Cat Toons books. She had to leave for work after a couple hours, but I could have sold a lot more of those books. Unlike my books, which take a lot of marketing - and cough drops - Roberta's books sell themselves.

Got to see Gary Groth, the surviving owner of The Comics Journal. He'd just written a long article talking about webcomics, so I clued him in that webcomics are like the old periodicals - but free or for low cost - that build a market for hard-copy collections. He'd never heard of ProjectWonderful, and after hearing my description of the micro-payment ad-bidding format, said he wanted to look it up, so there's more grist for the TCG mill. Maybe a more up-to-date article in the future. Always love seeing Gary, old buds from way back.
The show was held in Washington Hall, a handsome building from what looks like the turn of the last century, or the 1920's - someplace in there, when women wore a lot more beads.
Speaking of "wearing," everybody stepped it up for the show. They were dressed in their best. And unlike so many fan groups, it's a place where the question of the safety of women and children never even came up. When I mentioned it, people were, "Oh - yeah. You're right." Everybody's treated as an equal. 
Of course the show is run by three women, which makes it like my Clallam Bay Comicon. Us girls aren't in love with the process. We just want to put on a good show and enjoy ourselves. Like my show, ShortRun has no admission fees.

Wonderful books and art and people. And the bake sale - which includes gluten-free goodies. And that hot coffee you need to keep going for a Seattle show.
Ka-Blam!This is me in my Ka-Blam Tshirt. Earning more printing money. The Indyplanet reprints were a great hit, and I walked out of there with a much skinnier bundle of $1 bills - they'd been exchanged for a great run of sales. 
ShortRun, as I understand, was originally for zines and hand-bound books and pamphlets. But as the show has expanded, so has the definition. Since print-on-demand can turn out any number of books - even though there is no end to the number itself - it's, technically a short run of books. Again, girls aren't in love with any process, but the show itself.
After the show and a supper break, everybody was back to watch The Shivas perform their infective version of punk surf-rock. I know I kept warm, bouncing up and down. Couldn't stay for the whole show, but it was sold out, so I could give my place to a young woman who was next in line.
For those of you who need a near-by place to eat supper, Seattle's R&L Home of Good Bar-B-Que is just up the Yesler Hill, on the north side of the street. But when they ask which sauce you want, say "Mild." No, really. There's no reason the place shouldn't be packed for ShortRun.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Coloring Afterdead

Coloring all the black-and-white Afterdead stories for use as webcomics.
The color files can then be used on Amazon's Createspace for full-color books at a decent price.
Here's the second page of "Keeper," and the Desert Peach discovering that, wherever he may be now, there be harpies.

The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

My Part In The New Volunteer Army

Okay, I gotta admit this.

I'm the one drew "Sam Volar."
You're going, Who? What? Huh? 
Not a big surprise. A very minor moment in military cartooning, my contribution to the Army's trying to redesign itself after it finally got it through its thick head that the draft wasn't to everybody's taste. 
It's the new face of the Volunteer Army - the people who were tired of the draftees calling them "Lifers."
And yet there is irony. You think I did this voluntarily? As the Madigan Hospital Commanding General's Little Pet Teletype Operator, I got told I was going to enter, and that was an order.
The hospital had discovered I could draw, so if any of you from 1971-73 at Fort Lewis remember the posters, cards, signs and general cartoon slathering around the post and the hospital at the time, blame me. I was as volunteered, paid-extra, trained-up as a WAC drill instructor - in other words, not at all.
However, when my cartoon was chosen for the face of the new campaign, I did get a $50 US savings bond. And to shake the hand of the Fort Lewis commanding general, who was all happy, because he liked girls so much he would even come to the WAC company teas.
Which savings bond came in handy when Sergeant Major Stines came around growling during one of the bond campaigns to know if I had a Savings Bond, and I could answer that I did.
Thank you very much, Sergeant Jerry Gift, for blowing my cover and laughing, "Sar'n Major, she WON that!"
I'm lucky I still HAVE an ass. Command Sergeant Majors have SHARP teeth.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Sifting Out The Stalkers

Recently, I did a dumb-shit radio interview while I was drunk.
Now, in the entertainment world, we creatives can get drunk off our asses, and nobody hurts anybody else. Nobody gropes, or attempts to rape, or uses drunkenness as an excuse. Dark Horse once put on a party that could have been seen as a Creative Vision Quest, or a Really Stupid Idea, depending on the attendees. They rented a suite, and filled the hot tub full of ice and bottles of some pretty decent beer. Then they let the creatives loose on it.
All I remember is having a lovely time. Somebody says me and a fellow comics creative professional - a woman - were in one of those eye-locked brain-to-brain fests, talking about... well, godlets know what. Probably distributors or print shops, if I know us. But neither of us remember it. No, guys, drunk women don't start kissing like in your fantasy - they eye-lock and blather and laugh really hard.

And not another person there took advantage of us while we were high. Not man, woman, young or old. We were completely safe.
During the radio interview, I got side-swiped, by people who had obviously planned it. The first thing they did was to try to claim there were No Feminists in Comics. While I was still going, "WTF?" they turned it around to all of us going and getting a beer. I was all for that; you can distract me from anything by bringing up alcohol. After all, my fellow creatives won't do anything bad to me.
But halfway through - when I was nicely buzzed - I discovered that one of the people on the interview was a person who is known as an entertainment-industry stalker. 
I should have simply hung up in the middle of the interview. But I'll talk to anybody, I was in the happy condition of trust that alcohol puts me into, and I tried to ignore him and his friends fixating on his balls and shit. 
And then they brought the story around to some school teacher who'd had it off with a student. I made a sarcastic remark or two, mostly about how they were equating what was admittedly stupid on the teacher's part, with brutal, controlling rape: "I mean, what did she use? A beer bottle?"
Since then, I've had more stalkers showing up, trying to use the interview on me. But is all to the good. Anybody - including on their comments page - who sides with them - are people who, on Facebook and at conventions, that we are forewarned about. Anti-feminists. Guys who hate women being at comicons except as tits to grab if they get the chance.
I have a lot of decent friends in this industry, and none of them would have done such a thing to anybody. But now we can watch these morons out themselves. And defriend them, and warn each other about them. 
Stalk me, you stupid fuckers. Why not just paint a virtual target on your own forehead? And now everybody knows who you are, and who you associate with.

Yes, you have Freedom of Association - but if you hang out with the Klan, I think I'd warn all my black friends about you.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

2015 Clallam Bay Comicon Panels and Events

Email me to make changes or put in a panel or event. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. Make up your own stuff, find your own panelists. You're grown-ups. PANELS ARE ONE HOUR - unless you want to arm-wrestle one of the other panel moderators (email links included). 
Panel and event details will be added as they come in.
SUNDAY 10 am - 5 pm
Noon-1: Lunch break. We have a kitchen. Potlucks and shairsies welcome.
MONDAY 10 am - 5 pm
Noon-1: Lunch break
5:00 pm: ALL participants heave to and make the Lion's Club ship sparkle!
Participant DetailsThe Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

2015 Clallam Bay Comicon

Sticker art - only a dollar - andpanel moderators and table bosses get one for free!You don't HAVE to buy one, but it proves youattended. All the 2012-13 tshirts werestolen at Emerald City!
Hi, folks! And we're off and running for the 4th year! I need to correct all this stuff by the end of July 2014, so keep an eye on it - and please comment, so I can correct.


Promote your attendance or your shop with the (download link - will be up soon), featuring our logo, Kelpie! If you want to use logo/mascot "Kelpie" for tshirts, buttons, etc., and make some money, contact me.
First, con reports: The 2013 Comicon Report The 2014 Comicon Report Facebook pages: (Year) Clallam Bay Comicon. IE: 2013 Clallam Bay Comicon, etc.
Now - the 2015 information: 
FACEBOOK LINK  (If you want to keep up with ongoing discussions, ask questions, organize a sales rep or living space or panels).
July 11-12: During and after Clallam Bay/Sekiu Fun Days 10:00 am - 5 pm Saturday, Sunday. 

MINIONS: If you want to do something at the show, go ahead. Our official movie is "Despicable Me," My official title is "Gru," and if you get yourself hurt or arrested, we'll just laugh and point.
ADMISSION for public: free. "We don't need no stinkin' badges." You're all special guests to us. And don't have to prove you're pros or amateurs.
BOOTH FEES: $25 ($27.00 Paypal).   CONTACT for payment instructions.
The newly renovated building - nice job, Lions!WHERE:Clallam Bay/Seiku Lion's Club90 Bogachiel StreetClallam Bay, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, United States (Take Highway 112 through Clallam Bay. After the hard left, look for liqour store on the right; Bogachiel Street is the next left).
LINK TO PHOTOS OF MORE SPACES ACCOMADATIONS AND HOUSING  OFFICIAL CONVENTION HOTEL: Winter-Summer Inn Bed and Breakfast 360 963 2264Get your ass in gear - the inn only has so many rooms, and if they're not filled by February 11, 2015, Sandy will start to rent them out to other people!!! And she prefers US. Other Local rooms and stuff. And also  Neah Bay  AND the  Couchsurfers Event Link!  Stay with fascinating local people - or if you are a FLP - sponsor a comics/media/art/writer in your own home. Camping: Sam's RV Resort has camping. Includes laundromat, near shopping area; Phone: 360 963 2402 Bay Motel caused problems for some of our people in 2014, so if you contact them, discuss it.
EVERYONE WELCOME. If you do comics, poetry, gallery art, jewelry, paint cars, bake pies, sing, do stand-up, sculpture, hip-hop, light shows, whatever - bring it. Cosplay wanted for the parade. AND HORSES!
HOW TO GET HERE: Take a flight to Port Angeles on Kenmore Air, then take the Forks bus to the the Clallam Bay connection at Sappho.  Yes, Sappho. Bus details at Clallam Transit. Or take Olympic Bus Lines from Seattle. Coming from Portland, or other points south? Take the WEST side of the Olympic Peninsula, Highway 101: Good roads, scenic, food and fuel - and MUCH less traffic, even in July.
GETTING to Neah Bay and back, if you'd prefer not to drive every day - contact Olympic Peninsula Errand Service, for Janet or Adam: (360) 640-4583 NOTE: Neah Bay is a First Nations town, and DRY. And you don't want to drive THAT road after enjoying some wind-down juice.
AWARDS: Who are we to judge? If your fans love you and buy stuff, you win.
PROVIDED: space, electricity, bathroom. More Wi-fi is 24/7 at the library, right around the corner. LOTS of table space!
SPACE: Dealer's Room: main club building. Gaming and music: outside covered porch. Panels: outside covered porch. Parking: around Lion's Club, Old Fire Hall and Clinic parking lot. LINK TO PHOTOS OF MORE SPACES


PANELS and EVENTS Link  First come, first gets to have their say!
GAMES: You want games? Find a Gamesmaster and contact us to be put in the Panel schedule.
CATERING: We have a NICE kitchen available, so if you want to bring and sell food, take care of your own licensing or whatever. Or, if you're a participant, and just want to cook and share - we have a 'fridge and ovens and coffee pots. 
CHARITY: Comicon needs a charity. Contact us.

BEST, safest, most scenic route if driving: Highway 101 around Lake Crescent, then Highway 113-112 to Clallam Bay (slightly longer, but recommended).
FIRE DISPLAYS: If you want to play Burning Man, contact the District Five Fire Department.

FOOD AROUND TOWN
LAST-MINUTE PRINTING: Already on the peninsula and forgot something? Need a large print order at the last minute? Olympic Printers are the guys.
CHILDREN: watch your own.

TRASH: Container in Lion's Club kitchen. SEPARATE THE CANS.
FACILITY CARE: No tape of any sort on the wall. Respect the Lion's Club's wall displays. We all chip in to clean up at the end of the show. It don't take long.

Don't set yourself on fire.
EXHIBITORS (Listed once paid $25 to convention):
1: Donna Barr's A Fine Line Press AND Clallam Bay Comicon Central.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...