I have been doing things…

Some of the things I’ve been doing and not mentioning here are Dicebox updates. Though I’ve actually had help in that department: here is Billy Mudron’s The Illustrated Dicebox. And my updates, including today’s, can be found here. (Note: all of the above is NSFW)

But what’s been keeping me really busy these past few weeks (besides the day job) is my work as part of the Stumptown Comics Fest organizing committee.

As you all probably know, Stumptown was this past weekend and it went really swell. I’ve added my photos to the Stumptown Comics Festival 2008 Pool but have no real report to make. Instead, I direct you to the observations of others: Dylan’s, Ivy’s, Bill’s, Sara’s, Barry’s and Brenna’s - part 1, part 2 and part 3. More reports are appearing about the web, you can find some press reviews right here.

I was actually out of it most of the weekend and missed a lot of great things, including most of what was offer in the exhibit hall. One of the events I deeply regret having missed was the Comics Art Battle at Cosmic Monkey Comics Saturday night.

Photo by stutefish

Above is a great picture of Team Web: Christopher Baldwin, Dylan Meconis, Barry Deutsch and Bill Mudron. Or, as I like to call them, my people. Actually these folks really are my people, I have shared residence (and a bathroom) with all of them at one point or another. Nevermind than Dylan, Barry and I all updates our comics on Wednesday and take part in the same “collective storytelling experience” (aka, a role playing game) Oh, hey, and all four have done Dicebox fill-ins for me. Crazy.

It might be later than you think!

Or, why I hate Daylight Savings Time.

Okay, in other news, I finally got my Dicebox update done for this week, being a revamp of Part 7: Chapter 3. And there are notes. And, cause I promised, the old pages.

As you might notice,Scenes are Chapters now, and what were Chapters are now Parts (I’ll rename the archive pages appropriately as I revamp). And these pages are far from being from the beginning, as they are pages 192-195.

This was so I could include them in the current show at the PCPA Art Bar curated by Kaebel Hashitani:

MEANWHILE…: An Exhibition of Comic Book Art, featuring artists from the Stumptown Comics Fest, a collection of comic book pages, covers and crossover art. Featuring artwork by Ryan Alexander-Tanner, Jon Ascher, Matthew Clark, Paul Guinan, Seamus Heffernan, Garret Izumi, Indigo Kelleigh, Carolyn Main, Kip Manley, Jenn Manley Lee, Larry Marder, Dylan Meconis, Erika Moen, Bill Mudron, Sarah Oleksyk, Jesse Reklaw, Craig Thompson, Jim Valentino and John C. Worsley.

The ArtBar and Bistro inside the Antoinette Hatfield Hall. 1111 SW Broadway at Main St. Portland, OR.

The art will be up for the next couple of months. The opening reception was this past Thursday–which I had to miss myself due to a fever. I hear it was swank.

And, if you’re reading this in LiveJournal, you’ll notice a cross-post footer at the end of this post. That’s because I have a brand new website, JennManleyLee.com. This will be replacing the ol’ Jennworks site–I’ll be implementing the redirect code and everything later today. It’s a brand new design with a much more satisfactory art gallery.

This only took me, oh, four months to do and it’s still not 100%–some wonky formatting and broken links in the early journal entries from my old Moveable Type blog among other things. But I’ve figured out most of the bugs and believe I’m done breaking the code. So.

Random news bits

First, Stumptown was a blast–thanks Indy! And all volunteers, including Jeremy and the hubby who manned the door all day.

You can see various photo reports at the following links:

Kris Dresen’s Portland Roadtrip 2005 Report (scroll down for it)

Bill Mudron’s LiveJournal

The Mercury Studio Blog

Christopher Baldwin’s Bruno homepage

You might also have noticed that Christopher is taking a three month hiatus from comics. I heartily approve. One needs some alone time apart from one’s muse now and again. I think we’ll see a much feistier C. Baldwin come January 1st.

There’s an interview with me up at Sequential Tart.

Self-defence with a Walking-stick–a penultimate Kip webpage if ever there was one. I mean, check out those boaters!

Lastly, did you know that Kris Dresen sings to herself as she waits for the person she called to answer the phone? Gosh, I didn’t.

For the record, I didn’t make that claim.

According to the Oregonian, comics is part of what makes Oregon World Class. Can’t say I disagree.

Oddly, I’m mentioned in this paragraph:

Graphic arts scene: When it comes to bright lights and emerging stars, Portland has a higher density than any solar system in the galaxy of graphic arts. Local heavyweights include two of the best guys in mainstream comics: Greg Rucka and Brian Michael Bendis, the top dog in the Marvel universe and Seth’s hero on “The O.C.” Of course, there’s comic creator Craig Thompson (some critics called his “Blankets” the best graphic novel of 2003). And Joe Sacco (see below). Not to mention the celestial illustrators at Mercury Studio. Other fascinating satellites: Shannon Wheeler (”Too Much Coffee Man”), Colleen Coover (”Small Favors,” the world’s cutest “girlie porn comic”) and a vibrant Web-comic scene with Jenn Manley Lee (”Dicebox”) at its gravitational center.

Let me stress I never made that claim nor am I sure what gave anyone that impression. Not that I’m displeased to have been mentioned, mind.

Apparently, my day-job is also World Class.

Also, Stumptown Comics Fest 2005 got mentioned in today’s Oregonian.

And what the heck, the pre-write up from the Portland Mercury.