Donna Barr's Blog, page 8

San Diego ComicFest, 2017

A couple years ago, the Dean of Special Collections at San Diego State University had invited me to lunch. 
I finally arranged a trip, with Roberta Gregory, to have that lunch, and to get Roberta's work into the Special Collections, too. 
Since I was going anyway, I was assisted in finding a San Diego convention to attend, to make the trip even more worthwhile - especially for southern California fans who'd been asking Roberta and me for years when we'd be back to a show. Pam Jackson of SDSU found us the San Diego ComicFest
(I take this opportunity to thank everybody - because there were so many of you!)
The lunch was such a success, and the subsequent tour. Soon, SDSU will be able to offer to students and the public Roberta's lifetime of fabulous art and comics. In the course of the SDComicfest, we hooked up other artists and writers to be included in the convention. Overall, a very successful meeting! 
Roberta Gregory, Linda and Phil Yeh.Now for the comics fest: It's a small comics show, in a small hotel - and an absolute gem. 
The artists' alley was chock-full of artists solving their own artistic problems, and very little fully genre work. And actual authors - the people who have a single-vision comic and do it all. 
Comic Fish Studios had me in for a surprise teaching moment, where I taught the class how to write, draw a horse, and hold a comicon like mine. Thank you to all the students and their teacher!
Comics gang and Chinese foodThe party room was fun, the funny superhero drinks names, like the Kirby Krackle, were tasty but dangerous (kudos to the junk food, despite the horrible French Fries). Roberta Gregory, and Phil and Linda made it even more enjoyable.
Chinese dinner on the first night, with a table filled up with old and new friends. 
Of course, I wore my Ka-Blam T-shirt, at least part of the time, so folks would know who do the best - well, really the only - almost-traditionally-priced print-on-demand floppies. 
They're as close to perfect as you can get in this industry. And if the price is a buck more per book compared to the '80's, the quality is ten times better, color or black and white.
We had lots of fun with big paper-mache and fiberglass animals on the floor, including a T-rex head, with which everybody was getting photographed being gobbled up.
T-Rex off the leash!A giant tiki head loomed over the central lobby floor, and a King-Kong head and hand gave everybody the opportunity to act like they were endangered Fay Wrays.
Roberta Gregory and I were featured at a panel in which we discussed our life's work, and I auctioned off the remnants-constructed Nasty Woman Pussy Hat. Here's our winner! 
Huge thanks to Anina Bennett and the technical staff for making our little thumb drives work with computers and projectors. And thank you, Anina, for leaving a rose on the table I shared with Roberta Gregory. So thoughtful!
Nasty Woman Pussy Hat winnerRoberta and I ended the convention with a dead-dog party in the hotel bar, where missing ingredients and a helpful bar-keep named Mike reconstructed a modern version of the sticky old Desert Peach cocktail. 
Rose from Anina Bennett!The new and much less sweet version is (in a big wine glass): A shot of Drambuie, a shot of peach vodka, top it up with champagne or other sparkling wine. Many straws let lots of people sample it safely. It was voted a winner. Thank you, Four Points Sheraton!







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

Pussy Hat for San Diego Comicfest

Meow!Hi, folks! I was commissioned to do a Pussy and the Brain hats for a fine fan and his wife. I had leftover yarn. 
So I made this Alley Pussy hat, the ears of which don't match because the yarn was different sizes. 
I'll give it away at a lottery at the panel at the San Diego Comicfest, Monday, 11:00 am, room Palm A, with Roberta Gregory and Anina Bennet, among others.
 Here's the schedule. The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Help Fund Diana Kennedy's Trip to the Clallam Bay Comicon!

Aldo and John and travel plansA French town's cultural organization and a French Lion's Club are helping long-time comic book author and illustrator get to the 6th annual Clallam Bay Comicon! But she could use a little more help for this very long, and quite ambitious trip, and we're doing it under the Creative listings at GoFundMe. For all the news, the story and how to exchange your dollars for her art - and mine! -  Here's the Link! 
Watch for future press releases and updates!The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Captain America's Hotpants.

I'm an alumnis of Ohio State University.
There was another shooting of educated people, and this time it's at my university.
Ohio State sponsors the Bill Ireland Comics Symposium. 
I've watched as my colleagues in comics have gone to enjoy this get-together. I haven't gone, because I'm getting less well all the time and my art and books are at San Diego State Special Collections, which is a shorter plane trip, if I ever make it down there again. 
But since it is obvious that there is a war on the educated, am I going to have to go to Ohio State and the next symposium? In solidarity?
I would go without a gun, of course. Because I am not a coward, and the reason for having a weapon invented for war - to kill people - is because of fear. 
And I call upon my friends and colleagues to STOP trying to "get along" with these Nazis. These people hate the educated, they hate nerds, and they hate artists. They want us DEAD, and they've killed more than a few of us.
Do not tell me this is a "humdrum mass murder." One of the superhero people who was originally a friend of Facebook actually used that phrase, and tried to excuse the Confederacy and its contribution to the hatred of the educated. 
I also call upon my comics people - especially you Captain America fans - to understand that we can't just sit around and go after the historical Nazis. We have a more vocal and dangerous population of these monsters in our midst, every day. You need to step it up, look in the mirror of your country, and recognize and fight this culture for what it is - SLAVERY.
I don't need to make any excuses. I draw and write the Desert Peach, and now Afterdead. The latter being what happens when we "normalize" the Nazis. As America seems to be desperate to do, right now.
It is full-on war on the educated. It's Bleeding Kansas. We need to bring the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg back to the culture that wants us dead. Not with guns - but not with understanding, either. Because the only way to understand a culture that is still wanting to support its ancestral use of slavery is to call them out on what they are.
If nothing else that, if they need to go steal other people to work to death for them - they must be so lazy it's amazing they still know how to breathe.
In the West, the full-on anger that they can't just go and commit genocide on the Indigenous, that they can destroy native communities for profit, is the other evil half of our history. People are suffering and dying.
Captain America - Your Pants Are On Fire.

Just In: Fellow Put-Up-With-No-Shit Liberal Activist Lee Hillhouse just posted this: "Last time things didn't work out so well for collaborators."


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

Emerald City 2017 - ONE DAY ONLY

Emerald City Comicon is HUGE. And at a show as big as that, we artist alley types just get locked into place and end up being swallowed up in the show. Bringing the boys
So - this year, Roberta Gregory and myself are only attending - as regular walking badge-ees - on Friday, March the 4th. We won't be together all the time - we're not joined at the hip! - but watch for her as well as me that day. 
We have no specific plans, except to see as many colleagues and friends and just cool stuff - and panels! - on the floor in one day as we can. 
So at the end of the day, we'll be tired. I know I'd like a cup of tea and Roberta will probably be up for one, too. 
And - there are more small comics events going on outside Emerald City that year. Please let me know - contact links on this page - about any cool stuff any time that weekend. Prism Comics usually has a party, and last year there was a small artist-alley-type show downtown, that was an incredible lot of fun, full of the upcoming artists and their work.
Am I treating Emerald City like I used to treat sci-fi shows? Maybe, yes! But I'm bringing a lot more business cards.
See you in 2017! Ships in the night, stars and cargo.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

George Jartos Memorial Mermaid

A long-time cartoonist and member of Seattle's Cartoonists Northwest, just passed away.
This is based on his best-known cartoon. In the original, the water and land are full of garbage. It looks better in my cartoon because George helped change that for the better, although we can still see the smoke stacks in the background, smoke beginning to fade.
This is pen-and-ink and watercolor on paper - with just a touch of digital cleanup.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Science hag - Full color bumper sticker!

Here it is! The new version of my Science Hag bumper sticker, but in full color. With sun and stars! 

Hit the link to buy it!The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Social Security Pays For Jobs

Beautiful corner workThat's right. The moment the Social Security came in, we started to fix up a house that badly needed it. We started funding contractors all over the place. Windows and roof, too, because we very badly needed them replaced.
So - if you're a small business and you want to keep that money flowing - and keep health insurance off your back - support Social Security and the ACA.
This is our latest - and pretty much final contractor (cross fingers) project. A new back porch. The old one was rotting away under our feet. 
We went with Burdick Construction. Dan Burdick is our guy. And we were happy to pass on the tax money we'd paid over the decades to him. He's the best.
New back porch - small & nice


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

ShortRun Seattle 2016

WOW. ShortRun Seattle audience hard at play
Best show yet from the all-woman team! Note the photo - only partial - of the herd of amazing artists, writers, all-creatives, pin-and-tschotzke-makers. The tables - even those crammed together, four artists to the space - practically sparkled with color, innovation and just plain fun.
I barely had time to zip around the floor passing out souvenir/badge-sticker/business cards for the 2017 Clallam Bay Comicon. 
I wish I'd had time to attend the drawing and animation events, some of them no more than a table and some floor and window space, but chock-full of action, joy and creativity. You notice I'm not using the word "talent," as though creativity is some easy magic spell. Creatives have to work to get where they're going, even if the power of that work is obsession. My Resting Bitch face
Now for a work photo. Me wearing my Ka-Blam t-shirt. Because when I do that, and post it, I get another $10 printing money! I might use the war chest I've built up with this excellent company to put together a smaller, SECOND Afterdead collection until I get some more pages done. 
Now some photos of good friends and long-time colleagues. One of our new young compatriots said she was excited to be sitting next to the old-guard bad-asses. So let me show you some of the baddest! 


Here's Roberta Gregory and Dave Lasky, setting up, and revving up for this powerful one-day show. Roberta Gregory - Dave Lasky
And here's Dave, as superhero as it gets on a floor full of originals and single creators.
I didn't get a shot of Linda Medley, who spent a lot of time at Roberta's table, next to me. :( 
I had copies of the new Afterdead Full-Color collection, volume one. Wesely and Ash, here, bought up pounds of collections including The Desert Peach, Stinz and the Afterdead collection. I'd like to thank Square-Up and their offline mode for making everybody's credit cards work without having to find working bandwidth!
Super Dave!Weseley and Ash weren't the only people wearing great outfits. Everybody had stepped it up, wearing their best Seattle rain street fashion. A lot of nice rubber boots and some lovely embroidered hoodies.
Sadly, I missed both the Fantagraphics and ShortRun parties, but that's pretty much because Roberta and Linda and I ended up both nights at Roberta's,  talkinga and sharing stories and eating leftover Hallowe'en cakes, shortbread skulls and drinking blush wine.  Wesley and Ash - best show customers. 

Considering the long drives and shopping I have to make both ways, and the intensity of ShortRun itself, it was just as well. And a lot of fun!Of course, everybody was well aware of the presidential election, and one girl showed up with a hat I had to get a photo of. You gotta love her wry expression as the Gringette agrees with the sentiment.  Best political gear







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

Hallowe'en Party and Haunted House, 2016

Hallowe'en and the Haunted House, in Clallam Bay. A party on wheels.
Started down at the Three Sisters of Clallam, listening to "Therapy Session," a local deep country band. No Nashville, here. The kitty costumes and Viking helmet fit right in. Zombie clown and John Lennon
The Sisters and their family wore a clown theme. My formal zombie clown outfit fit right in.
As usual, there was a great potluck. It's all about food and music up here.
And then - the Haunted House! Put on by Hessmart, the little store-deli-coffee shop-liquor store. In the empty space next to their store. Yes, it's the Haunted Strip Mall.
Hallowe'en FeastMe and John Lennon went together first, to test it out. And came back with tales of getting practically the piss scared out of us. The halls were long and frightening, twisting on forever, and peopled by figures who knew how to fake and follow. I was screaming and giggling, John engaging.
We ran back to the party to encourage/recruit/entrap other victims!
Then Dressy Dog - who had never been to a haunted house in her life, and was terribly afraid to - teamed up with other partiers Queen of Hearts and MaskMan, with Zombie Clown holding her hand, and went back.
Dressy Dog did great! She got scared silly, and said she felt happy when she was most scared. She was a very brave little dog! Hallowe'en Home
And then John Lennon, who'd waited outside, scared us all again.
We headed back to the party, and more music and food. Favorite dish: Pink Lady. Basically, strawberries and Cool Whip, whipped up together. 
What fun! The Girls put on a great show every year.
And I wish the guy who played John Lennon would just stay in character all year. The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...