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By Victor Van Scoit The San Francisco Bay Area has some fantastic comic book shops, with each having its own take for hosting creator events. One such store known for their intimate signings and creative shindigs is The Isotope. They’re hosting two upcoming events this November that, should you live anywhere in Northern California, are worth checking out. […]

Print this out, in black-and-white or color. Bring to event. Get in free.  Don’t worry, there will be extras at the show in case you forget!

Clallam Bay Comicon, a small town comicon located on the Olympic Peninsula, has announced two special guests for their fifth annual show, to be held July 11-12, 2015, in the Lion’s Club building.

Returning once again is Roberta Gregory, noted cartoonist of “Naughty Bits” and various bio-comics.  Appearing for the first time will be Linda Medley, Xeric- and Eisner-Award winning creator of Castle Waiting!

So, what pray tell, is the Clallam Bay Comicon?

Well, here’s the map:

Yes, you can’t really get much smaller than that!  But, really, it’s a nice locale.  I attended last year, and it’s a great place to hold a comicon in the summer!  (Being on the water, the temperature drops to about 50°F at night/early morning, and the daytime temp is in the 70s.  Bring a hoodie.)  The show itself is housed in the local Lions Club Hall, offering a cosy and friendly “one-room comicon” with a low overhead!  All fandoms are welcome!  Four hours from Seattle (including a nice ferry ride), five hours from Portland, three hours from Victoria (with an even nicer ferry ride, since it’s Canadian).  It’s a low-stress show.  I’m returning because it’s a nice summer break, I get to hang out with some interesting people, it doesn’t cost a lot, and it’s loads of fun!

Here’s the guest list so far.  (If you want to buy a table, follow this link.  Oh?  How much does a table cost?  $25.  Twenty-five dollars.  Jackson and Lincoln.)

The fifth annual Clallam Bay Comicon welcomes special guests

The fifth annual Clallam Bay Comicon will be held July 11-12, 2015, in the Lion’s Club building in Clallam Bay, on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. The Comicon features anything creative, including but not limited to comics, all other arts and writing, film, music and dance.

Featured guests include comics veteran Roberta Gregory, creator of “Naughty Bits” and her recent “True Cats Toons,” and Linda Medley, creator of “Castle Waiting.”

Gregory will give a talk about how to draw cats. Medley will discuss fine pen care, and may share sneak peeks of her next book. Donna Barr, who is hosting the show, and is the creator of “The Desert Peach” and “Stinz,” will offer two talks: how to draw a horse, and how to hold an admission-free comicon in any community.

Once again, there will be no admission fee, and sales table rates are kept very low. The road trip through the woods past the Peninsula’s lakes and beaches – which has become an enjoyable feature of the event – is being planned now.

Peninsula businesses and communities are encouraged to offer welcoming specials or events to Comicon attendees, and to post these on the “2015 Clallam Bay Comicon” Facebook page.

For full information follow the links www.donnabarr.com

For the third year in a row, Donna Barr, creator of the Desert Peach and local activist, hosted the Clallam Bay Comicon in her local town of Clallam Bay, Washington, July 13-14.

How difficult is it to stage a show in a town of 363?  (Yes, that’s the population, not the attendance!)  She scheduled it during the local Clallam Bay Sekiu Fun Days.  She rented the local Lions Club meeting hall for $75.  She created a Facebook page to facilitate planning, and hosted the main page on her own website.  She charged $25 for a table, and offered free admission.  She invited people via Facebook.

Crazy?  Not any more so than hosting a comic con in a library, high school cafeteria, or church fellowship hall.  Yes, it’s a four-hour drive from Seattle, but Port Angeles is halfway, and the second half is through some forested mountains.  (I recommend taking the southerly route on 101 through Olympic National Park, and stopping at Lake Crescent Lodge.  (Site of a gruesome murder: a husband had dumped his wife’s body in the lake.  The cold water preserved the corpse, and the lake’s minerals turned her body to soap!))  Think four hours is too long to drive? It’s about the distance from New York City to SPX. (Without the traffic jams! And better scenery!)

Why did I fly out from New York City?

• I had known about this show from years past.
• The crazy “let’s put on a show” small town vibe caught my imagination.
• Donna Barr was in charge.
• It had been ten years since I had “gone Thoreau”, escaping to small town America for rest-and-relaxation.
• I’d never been to Washington state.
• The temperatures ranged from 50F at night to 70F during the day.

So?  What was my experience?

* If you don’t have a car, you need to stay in Clallam Bay.  The bus system isn’t that’ frequent.  I thought I could walk the two miles from my room/trailer in Sekiu, but with the curvy roads and minimal shoulder, it was a little dicey in broad daylight.  Half of the hike was along the beach/waterfront, but even that was a workout with the pebble beach.

* Clallam Bay and Sekiu are recovering from a downturn in logging by promoting tourism.  Sekiu promotes sport fishing with a big marina (get up early and wander the shoreline north of town!), while Clallam Bay is a bit more civilized.  Both towns (and the spaces in between) offer motels, RV parking, and camping.  (CAMP COMIC CON!)

* Aside from the low hanging clouds which dampened the fireworks on Saturday, the weather was ideal.  Pack a hoodie, or cosplay as Nirvana.  50-70F along the shoreline, chillier up in the mountains.  It does rain, but even in the winter, it’s just rain and wind.  (No snow.)  If you camp, plan accordingly.

* Five hours from Portland, four hours from Seattle, three hours from Victoria, by car.  There is an airport at Port Angeles, and a smaller one at Sekiu, but I’d recommend flying into SeaTac and renting a car or carpooling.  (Many thanks to Roberta Gregory, who provided transportation to me and Linden Cook of Project Wonderful.  Great conversation!  Next year, perhaps a podcast!)

* This show, as you might imagine, is almost stress free.  Every table is an artists alley table, and costs only $25, so you don’t have to worry about selling cases of comics.  Rooms aren’t too pricey, and there’s an official con hotel (actually, a bed-and-breakfast, which is even more awesome!)  RV and camping are cheaper.  (Check out these rates!) The Lions hall has a kitchen, and there is never a line for the bathroom.  You can either hotspot a wifi connection, or wander over to the library, which offers a picnic table when not open.  The local bar, co-op, and liquor store are just a few blocks away (about the same distance to the 7-Eleven at SPX).  Plus the Lions Club has a barbecue!

* This is a “big tent” show.  Comics are the focus, but anyone with a geeky background is welcome!  From her website:

EVERYONE WELCOME. If you make or enjoy any sort of books – including comics – movies, music, poetry, cosplay, Steampunk, gallery art, jewelry, paint cars, bake pies, sing, do stand-up, sculpture, hip-hop, light shows, make frybread, whatever – bring it. Everybody welcome for the 10:00 am Saturday parade starting from the Weel Road Deli (Shell parking lot).

Remember “Northern Exposure”?  You’ll find hints of that here on the Peninsula.  Donna started this, but now the attendees are beginning to brainstorm ideas.  SCA, a medieval hall for gaming, maybe even some makers.  Want to present a panel?  Pitch it to Donna Barr!

* Want to join?  Here’s the Facebook page for 2015, where the conversation is already ongoing.

If you’re not going to San Diego, or just want to escape to somewhere cool and secluded during the summer, consider Clallam Bay.  I’ll be making this a tradition, as I had a great time!  Yeah, I need to attend Emerald City some day, but that seems a bit boring compared to this.

Donna Barr is one of the more eccentric cartoonists to come out of the whole self-publishing movement — her signature book, DESERT PEACH, is about gay Nazis, for instance. Currently she’s working on a webcomic called A LITTLE DEATH, which illustrates readers written comments on how they think they’ll die. Like we said — fun but a little weird.