My hopes for Emerald City Comic Con weren’t high this year. I was fresh off of working San Diego Comic Con for the first time and feeling underwhelmed with the artist alley areas. As it turns out, I’ve been spoiled by ECCC—of all the conventions I’ve been to, they have the most robust artist alley. It spans the entire sixth floor and has artists of all kinds—big two pros, indie zine artists, that one person who sold me a beetle in a shadow box. And this year, despite the convention’s waffling on COVID precautions and my post-SDCC trepidation, I was still satisfied.
I was on a mission to gather new art for some blank spots in my house, but a rare hour alone gave me the time to browse for what I really want: zines. All kinds of zines. Beautiful big zines, Xeroxed little zines. And ECCC did not disappoint; once again, I’ve come home with a large stack of zines feeling immensely happy with my purchases. Here’s what I picked up this year!
“The Demon on Sourwood Mountain” and “A Pocket Book of Witchfolk and Demons” by Natalie Andrewson
“Sourwood Mountain” is a cute little story of a demon who’s escaped from a mountain and now lives in the outside world, gorging itself on fruits and spending time with fellow forest denizens. I had expected something a bit spookier with “demon” in the title, but the comic is actually quite sweet; Andrewson’s loose, flowy lines and cheerful blue and orange color palette makes it feel sort of joyfully, purposefully discordant. Maybe the demon doesn’t belong in this forest and is bringing a bit of chaos with it, but it’s a delightful sort of chaos—one I very much enjoyed reading.
“A Pocket Book of Witchfolk and Demons” is a little collection of illustrations of various folk Andrewson encountered as a child. According to the introduction, Andrewson typically met these strange magic folk during solo walks or bike rides, and they’d often pass on a bit of wisdom before moving on. These people—Andrewson’s own age and gender—were hard to see in the moment, but appeared clearly in her mind’s eye when the encounter was over. The illustrations, all in blue, are reminiscent of the creatures of fairy stories: generally benign, if strange, but their swords, horns, and sharp teeth make it clear you wouldn’t want to get on their bad side. This dreamy little zine adds a bit more wonder to the world, and I adored reading it.
“Saturn Returns No Matter What” and “The Shepherd’s Sword” by Ren Strapp
“Saturn Returns No Matter What” is an adorable little collection of Risograph comics originally published on Autostraddle and Ren Strapp’s Patreon. The color scheme and simple but expressive drawings drew me in immediately—Strapp does a wonderful job of telling beautiful and real snapshots of life in quick, digestible comics. Ranging from a hilarious six panels about looking at swords to a tearjerkingly sweet expression of the importance of community, the collection managed to make me both laugh and cry on the floor at ECCC.
“The Shepherd’s Sword” is the first chapter to an ongoing webcomic, described by Strapp as a “lesbian rivals-to-lovers comic about a werewolf, a retired Sword, and their adventure in a place that looks a lot like northern Appalachia.” With a description like that, I couldn’t resist picking it up. While the story and dialog are cute and fun, it’s Strapp’s gift for expressions that really make this one worth reading. Even just the cover, in which Wayne, the werewolf, grins devilishly down at the Shepherd, who stares up at her with steely determination in her eyes despite the sword pressed to her shoulder, showcases Strapp’s exquisite expressions. I feel like that description is all it should take to sell a person on it, but I found this intro to be both fun and intriguing—I’m excited to read the ongoing comic!
“The July Fashion Issue” by Keezy Young
Keezy Young is someone whose booth I look out for every year at ECCC—their artwork is dreamy and sweet, and full of beautiful nature visuals that appeal to my born-and-raised-in-the-PNW blood. In this pretty, breezy minicomic, Young artfully tells the story of a young trans girl who also happens to be a monster hunter whose clothes gift her powers. With sparing use of color amid black, white, and cream illustrations, their story is as warm, charming, and delightful as a summer afternoon.
“We Are All Superstitious” by Chan Chau
Chan Chau had a lovely assortment of zines at their table, but it was “We Are All Superstitious”—a romance story between two boys based on superstitions from different cultures—that drew me in. I’m a great lover of both romance and traditions, so this one felt like the natural choice to pick up. No regrets—it’s extremely sweet and charming, with the boys’ clumsy initial interactions giving way toward a beautiful sharing of traditions as viewpoints as their friendship and eventually romance develops.
“Mt. St. Helens” and “So I Am” by Kiku Hughes
There are a lot of great Twitter comics out there, but Kiku Hughes’ “Mt. St. Helens” has stuck in my memory as a particular favorite. This short, six-page comic is beautifully illustrated in bold, thick lines that give each illustration an almost stained glass-like appearance. Exploring the beauty and horror of living in proximity to a volcano as a metaphor for reinvention, this comic was an instant buy for me as soon as I recognized it.
Hughes’ table had little sticky notes with quick summaries of each comic, and “So I Am” caught my attention thanks to mentions of capitalism and body horror. While the summary was absolutely right it was horrific and interesting in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Hughes’ use of gutters to show isolation in space and isolation from humanity (in every conceivable sense) works well to emphasize the horror. It’s a very quick read, and, without spoilers, I find the end intriguing. Is it making a concrete statement about human nature, or is it provoking horror precisely because of a misunderstanding of human nature? Regardless, I found it thought-provoking and eerie, an excellent example of how effective horror can be in short form.
“Horror Movies That are Kinda Gay and/or Kinda Trans” and “Vampires I Would Make Out With” by Cy
Cy, who shared a table at ECCC with Kiku Hughes, is my new favorite zine creator. Both of these quick and dirty, black and white, DIY folded zines had me literally laughing out loud at the convention. Not only was the price far too cheap for what I got (both zines cost me a total of five dollars and a drawing of a monster), but I now have an insatiable craving for more despite the fact that Cy does not have a shop to sell me more! (They do, however, have an Etsy store, currently closed, with neat ceramic art.)
Both zines are fairly self-explanatory. “Horror Movies That are Kinda Gay and/or Kinda Trans” lists a few movies that fit that definition with an explanation of why. My personal favorite is the description for The Descent, which I have not seen—Cy’s explanation for “You’ll enjoy this if you like:” is “women. Women. women!!!!! Women[.]” Likewise, “Vampires I Would Make Out With” is a fairly straightforward series of vampires they would make out with and the reasons why. What’s not to like? Cy is a genius.
