Clallam Bay Comicon HOME

7th annual 2018, July 14-15: WHY WE CHANGED THE DATES. 

Our Guest Creative for 2018 is Carla Speed McNeil, best known for her wonderful long-running series Finder.  A GofundMe campaign will help cover her costs. 

In Carla's own words:

"Every time I step off my beaten path I hatch out a new story. I'm curious to see what Clallam Bay will put into my mental gumbo. I'm always excited to meet creative people and talk about the mechanics of what we do, whether they're people of long experience or newcomers. If I can spark a new cartoonist to get started, or a veteran to start something new, that's the best thing in life to me."

Carla Speed McNeil, born and raised in Louisiana, now lives in Maryland with a husband and five kids, three of them with tails. She's been writing and drawing and loving comics for over twenty years. She can only do one thing per day, but she does it at full gallop.

ATTENDEES PLEASE SCROLL DOWN WHOLE PAGE

Creatives Alley 2018 
1. Carla Speed McNeil - Lightspeed Press
2. a. Donna Barr and Convention Info
    b. Larry Lewis Minicomics
3. Jake Richmond - Modest Medusa
4. Edd Vick's Mu Press and Aeon Press
5. Kalen Knowles, Seattle Cartoonist
6.

DEALER TABLES:   $25 whole 6-foot table; $15 half table. Dealer contracts: THIS PAGE. Payment cancellation deadline is May 1. You are expected to know and be responsible for your professional and licensing obligations for use of copyright, food sales, etc. Participants will clean and straighten hall after show closes Sunday; keep the Lion's club happy. 

Gaming and Cosplay: Quiet versions allowed in the hall; noisier ones outside on the covered porch.

PANELS, DEMOS AND EVENTS: Make one up, choose a time on the schedule at the bottom of this page, email details to: donnabarr01 at gmail dot com 

Lion's Club building

WHERE IS THE COMICON?

Lion's Club

90 Bogachiel Street

Clallam Bay, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, United States 
PARKING: around Lion's club and in the clinic parking lot behind the club. See further photos for details. 

AWARDS: Your fans are your reward.

AREA LODGING RESOURCES LINK for the Olympic Peninsula. 

OFFICIAL CONVENTION "Hotel": Winter-Summer Inn Bed and Breakfast 360 963 2264 - The 3 lower rooms are being held for the convention. Tell Owner Sandy Tsiang you are with the comicon, or you may be turned away. The upper suite - up to 7 guests - is available to anybody, and there is no deadline on reserving it. It has a fireplace and kitchen, big deck and killer view. NEW NOTICE: The Winter Summer Inn s up for sale, and may remain a bed-and-breakfast, or become a private home. Check with the Visitors Bureau for other accomadations, if needed.

Inside the Lion's Club hall. Respect it.

OTHER ACCOMODATIONS. 

FOOD AROUND TOWN - and neat places to eat and stay.

HOW TO GET HERE: Driving from Seattle: Ferries, then highway 101 until Neah Bay/Clallam Bay turnoff at highway 113.

Olympic Bus Lines from Seattle to Port Angeles.                                     Clallam bus "Strait Shot" (cheaper, faster!) Bus Schedules. Once in Port Angeles, catch Forks 14, then Neah Bay/Clallam Bay 16. Tell your drivers, ask for advice.

Outside porch - for music and noise.

Printing: Olympic Printers, Inc. Email order, pick up while driving through Port Angeles. Will also ship UPS.

WI-FI is 24/7 at the library, right around the corner, also at various businesses and the Visitors' Center.

FACILITY CARE: No tape of any sort on the wall. Respect the Lion's Club's wall displays. All with tables chip in to clean up at the end of the show. It don't take long; they love us for it.

LEGAL NOTES: Donna Barr is the only official Clallam Bay Comicon Administrator. (Evan Sveum, of Forks' Home Slice Pizza and Comics, is ghost emergency administrator, ONLY.)

Parents and/or guardians are legally 100% responsible for their children and/or wards. Everyone else is legally 0% responsible for those same people.

The Clallam Bay Comicon is held in association with the Clallam Bay/Sekiu Fun Days.  

FULL SCHEDULE:

Events: All events of a panel or discussion or demo nature are held at the two large tables at the front. Announce your panels. No one else will monitor them for you. Amateur Hours are tentative; they can be canceled with no notice if published or self-published professionals need that time.

Saturday schedule:

10:00 am: Clallam Bay Comicon opens for Set-up.

11:00 am: Clallam Bay Sekiu Fun Days Parade. To participate, meet in Shell parking lot.

12:00 Noon: Clallam Bay Comicon opens.

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm: Amateur hour. See above.

6:00 pm: Fish-n-chips-n-beer feast at the Clallam Bay Inn. 

Dusk: Clallam Bay/Sekiu Fun Days Fireworks, in Sekiu (Viewable from Clallam Bay beach)

Sunday Schedule (time allotted for beach walk, good breakfast, church, etc.)

11:00 am: Clallam Bay Comicon opens for set-up.

12:00 noon: Clallam Bay Comicon opens to public

4:00 pm to 5:00 pm: Amateur Hour. See above.

5:00: Clallam Bay Comicon closes. Dealers put away tables and chairs and clean the Lion's club.

For the archives:

The 2013 Comicon Report

The 2014 Comicon Report.

The 2015 Comicon Report

The 2016 Comicon Report 

The 2017 Comicon Report

2016 Clallam Bay Comicon Con Report

Fun Days climb-inside salmon (Leanne Franson)

First of all, Dara Korrati beat me to a con report, and my only excuse is I escorted our special guest creator, Leanne Franson, and her son Tautau back to Port Angeles before returning on the bus. Here's her report, and it's a fun one, with great photos of the con and the area - and links to her concert and recordings at the show! 

Me, Anna and Dara at the
Fun Days Parade
(Leanne Franson)

As usual, this is mostly a photo blog, so enjoy! Some of these photos are mine, some Leanne's. 

Leanne gets paid! (Dan Barr)

First of all, even though the campaign ended with the convention, we'd like to thank everybody who got involved with the GoFundMe campaign to help defray Leanne's expenses. You came through like champs! Here's Leanne getting her checks in front of the garden in my back yard.

Friday night, we showed "Bezango, Washington," with the permission of the directors. The film consists of interviews with Pacific Northwest cartoonists, and Northwest cartooning history. There were only a couple of local people, but one of them said she'd had no idea how huge the comics community was - especially in the Pacific Northwest. 

Roberta Gregory adding to Leanne's drawing
(Leanne Franson)

The con itself started with the Fun Days parade. We're changing the con starting time to noon, because everybody goes to the parade first. Didn't matter if it was raining, we had a great time anyway. We're not made of sugar, we won't melt (thanks, Mom).

Leanne Franson, our Canadian guest, was interviewed and filmed by Jason Roberts, who came down from Neah Bay specifically to promote this comicon. He really added to the show. 

Rod Espinosa, who couldn't attend, instead sent us a box containing his "Adventure Castle" game. I've never really gamed, although I've worked as a gaming illustrator. 

AC turned into a crowd-pleaser, drawing in adults as well as children. We played it whenever things got slow - which wasn't very often. Tautau Franson, our guest artist's son, was a very helpful game master. We've decided that "Adventure Castle" is the official convention game, and will feature at our show from now on.

Me at Leanne's table (Leanne Franson)

Last year, one of our librarians painted a Be-A-Superhero standup for their comicon. Her name is Pam Force, which we thought appropriate. We all had fun posing with it. 

Every year, somebody's table goes hot, and they make all the money and get all the attention. This year it was Dara Korrati's table, mostly because she had such a fascinating recording demo. Congratulations, Dara! Now run over and watch her singing her version of YMCA as "USSR," karaoke style, and hear us all joining into the chorus. 

Me, TauTau, my books
(Leanne Franson)

We're thinking, perhaps, instead of having individual demos or panels, we have everybody bring something cool they can show the attendees and other artists how to do. The tables are six feet long, so there should be plenty of room for books and CD's and the demo, too. It certainly seems to help with sales.

Social report:

I brought a box of spam musubi, which I'd learned to make in Hawai'i, and when I'd microwaved my own piece, everybody wanted one. So now I have a potluck food people like! 

The Canadians invade! (Leanne Franson)

Of course, after the first day's show, we headed down to the Clallam Bay Inn, where Cara - our favorite cook and barkeep - was waiting with the best fish and chips on the planet, and good booze. She wanted to know why there weren't more of us. We'll have to bring the fans too, next time.

Adventure Castle!
(Leanne Franson)

Afterwards it was off to the beach for the Fun Days fireworks in Sekiu. It was cold and cloudy, so the blasts got smoked over too quickly, but the beach fireworks made it all worthwhile. 

Me, TauTau, our official
con game
(Leanne Franson)

Most of the convention artists are local, and so could drive back home after the show, but Leanne and TauTau stuck around for the Dead Dog party at the Sunsets West Co-Op. 

I'd never eaten there, and was amazed by the fresh, innovative food and low prices. I had a burger "snack" that was really huge, and cheap - and Leanne and Tautau plowed through two helpings of bean stew, fried eggs and tomato salad. Not only is the food good, but you can step over to the store and choose chips, bread and drinks to add to your meal. And if you love the condiments, including locally-made hot sauces, or my sea salt, you can buy them in the store, too.

Dara's concert
(Leanne Franson)

The whole town sees us as adding to the local economy. We're welcomed and anticipated, now. No, the show will never be big - but it brings joy to the townsfolk, none of whom see anything wrong with nerds any more. So if we haven't done anything else, we've done that. 

Dara and Anna at
the Clallam Bay Inn
(Leanne Franson)

But - Leanne has hinted she might even be back in coming years. If nothing else, she's discovered how easy it is to get to Seattle, so perhaps she might add to some of our Seattle comics and other book and art events.

David Lasky has hinted he might do a "giant comics jam in Clallam Bay." I'm gonna help if he means it. He comes up to teach at the libraries - so maybe we can get him too!

The Dead Dog Party
(Leanne Franson)

The Clallam Bay Comicon will always be part of the local history, now, and our artists and attendees have all made that happen.

Leanne and TauTau on Slip Point
(Leanne Franson)

And now for the final shots - at the closing ceremonies on the beach.

NOM! Salmon berries & thimble berries
(Leanne Franson)

Leanne cosplays as the Canadian flag.
All our beach are belong to Canada.
(Leanne Franson)

2016 Clallam Bay Comicon almost here!

Just a reminder, to all my colleagues - the Clallam Bay Comicon is next week! July 9-10, 2016. I hit my GoFundMe goal to fund Canadian creator Leanne Franson's trip, and have now raised the goal higher, to make it even better. We already have a guest creator - from Europe - for 2017, but if anybody wants to line up for 2018 - it's first come, first served. And yes, I'll be running more campaigns to find travel funds. So if you want Patrick Stewart of Johnny Depp, you better tell 'em now, because my con ins a Squeaky Wheel con - it rewards the pro-active. If it's pretty or they can eat it, they'll buy it; tables are $25 a pop and first-come, first-served, too. Hit the con link above for all the details!