This year’s Stumptown Comics Awards are going to a juried format, and to do this…you must have a jury. The five judges form a local all-star team of creators, journos and retailing.
The Stumptown Comics Festival takes place April 16-17 in Portland, OR.
The Stumptown Comic Arts Awards have finally revealed the highly-anticipated roster for their award’s inaugural jury, consisting of celebrated cartoonists, local retail visionaries and comics journalists.
This year’s judges are:
Michael “Doc” Allred’s critically acclaimed character Madman has been published by Tundra and Dark Horse Comics before moving to his current home at Image Comics, where he’ll celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2012. Allred’s other popular work includes a 38-issue run on X-Force (later X-Statix) with writer Peter Milligan, and his creator-owned The Atomics and the mini-series, Red Rocket 7. His latest series I, Zombie launched with Vertigo in 2010.
Brandon Graham was a Northwest native before moving to New York and later Vancouver BC. In New York, he became a founding member of the comic arts collective MeatHaus and found inspiration for his Eisner-nominated series King City, which is now being published by Image Comics and TokyoPop. Brandon’s other published works include Escalator (2005) and Multiple Warheads (ongoing, Oni Press).
Laura Hudson is the Editor-In-Chief at ComicsAlliance.com, which was nominated in 2010 for an Eisner award for “Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism”. She also served as Senior Editor at the now-defunct magazine Comics Foundry, as well as being an Associate Editor at Publishers Weekly Comics Week.
Michael Ring is the proprietor of Portland’s own Bridge City Comics. Launched in 2005, Bridge City grew from Michael’s rediscovered love of the medium and was built on the knowledge he gained while working for the previous several years in the marketing department at Dark Horse Comics. Bridge City is recommended and supported by many in the local comics industry thanks to Michael’s extensive knowledge and expertise.
Jason Leivian started Floating World Comics as a store with the artist and the reader in mind. With the largest selection of small press and indie books in town, Jason keeps a steady balance with all the latest titles from the major publishers as well. His support of the local art comics scene shows through his own publication Diamond Comics, and the monthly art shows he presents in his in-store gallery space. His unique view to curating a comic store has earned him critical nods from The Oregonian, the Portland Mercury, Wired, and Flavorwire among others.
