On Your Marks #1

Various Artists, Short Run, Seattle (USA), November 2013, 32 pages, black and white, $ 4.

The next event organized by Eroyn Franklin, Kelly Froh and Janice Headley in Seattle gives me the opportunity to mention with considerable delay On Your Marks, an anthology released last November during the Short Run festival, which brings together the small indie press from Seattle and the surrounding area. Founded in 2011, the festival has gradually expanded to a series of initiatives, such as this anthology edited by Max Clotfelter. Behind a cover by Chris Cilla, On Your Marks contains one-page comics by Aaron Mew, Aidan Fitzgerald, Andrice Arp, Asher Craw, Ben Horak, Bobby Madness, Darin Shuler, David Lasky, Elaine Lin, Ian Sundahl, Jack Hayden, James Stanton, Jason Fischer (with two pages), Jason T. Miles, Jennifer Parks, Julia Gfrorer, Kaz Strzepek, Kinoko, M. "Moseley" Smith & Reuben "W." Storey, Marc Palm, Michael Litven, Pat Moriarity & Rick Altergott, Patrick Keck, Robyn Jordan, Sean Christensen, Tim Goodyear, Tim Miller, Tim Root and Tom Van Deusen, in addition to the aforementioned Clotfelter, Franklin and Froh. As for the contents, they range from Horak's typical and irresistible humor to Van Deusen's small and detailed panels in Herman and Lucy, from the seance described by Julia Gfrörer to Strzepek's romantic sci-fi, from Lasky's superheroes to Altergott-Moriarity's cats.

The event I mentioned in the opening of the post is Gridlords showcase. Gridlords is a collective of artists from Portland, who is reaching Seattle the next 21st of June for a night presented by Short Run. The showcase will include readings, music, screenings and a lot of other performances by Andrice Arp, Theo Ellsworth, Asher Craw, Daria Tessler Ross Jackson, Zach Erickson, Lillie Craw, Alex Chiu and Mediums (Elysia Avery Nason, Daria Tessler, Sean Christensen A.B.T. & Aaron Dischner, with a "space disco opera"!). And then November 15th there will obviously be a new edition of the festival, with John Porcellino as special guest: the deadline for applications is the next 31st of July.