January 03, 2004
The Creative Class Of Portland's Graphic Novelists
Today's Statesman Journal has an Associated Press piece on the apparently "growing scene" of graphic novelists in Portland:
Portland and its suburbs are home to comics publishers Dark Horse, Oni Press and Top Shelf Publications. Artists and publishers say that Portland is a quieter scene than other comics hotspots, such as Seattle and New York.
"It's a place where you can daydream," said [journalist Joe] Sacco, who travels the world for his work. In peaceful Portland, he said, "You can step out of your house and think while you’re out on the streets."
The piece references "[b]udding comics author" Craig Thompson; Sacco ("who studied journalism at the University of Oregon"); and Greg Rucka ("writing titles for DC Comics’ Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman series -- the first writer to tackle such a hat trick since 1974").
Somewhat parenthetically, Sacco has a nice comment that essentially applies to this website as well, in which he argues that everyone's background, prejudices, and point of view undercut the journalistic ideal of objectivity: "Why can’t we go to a journalist and say, 'Tell us what you think?'"
This is not a scene with which I have any contact, and in fact somehow managed to leave behind the world of reading comics and graphic novels awhile ago. But I know there's obviously a larger local cartoon, comics, and graphic novel scene than merely what is reflected in this article -- because the local weblog scene tells me so, as evidenced by Barry Deutsch, Kevin Moore, and Jenn Manley Lee -- just to name the three with which I am at least vaguely familiar.