Comic City, USA exhibition opens in Portland

[SteveDuin]

Sunday is the grand opening of the "Comic City, USA" show at the Oregon Historical Society in downtown Portland. The show features 16 of the artists and creators who have long called Oregon home, including Alex Schomburg, Carl Barks, Basil Wolverton, Joe Sacco, Colleen Coover, and political cartoonists Homer Davenport, John Callahan and Jack Ohman.

 

[SteveDuin]

Kerry Tymchuk, the executive director of OHS, gave me a quick tour Tuesday while the show was still setting up. The exhibition is not yet running at full color and volume but there's already a nice array of original art on hand, including this Wolverton piece:

 

[SteveDuin]

Here are several of the other highlights. These two Schomburg pieces are mine, a page of original "Jon Juan" art and a piece I picked up at San Diego in the early '90s:

 

 

 

[SteveDuin]

"Comic City, USA" doesn't pack quite the same punch as the "Art of EC" exhibition Ben Saunders assembled earlier this year in Eugene, but it's another reminder of how many comic icons have found a home in the Northwest over the years. A few closing shots:

 

 

 

 

 

[sfcityduck]

Steve,

 

Thanks for the head's up! Oregon is a hot bed of comic art exhibits what with the UO exhibits and now this. I grew up in Eugene, and go to the UO exhibits when I go back to visit famly, but looks like I'll have to make a trip to Portland next time I'm in Oregon.

 

Are you still working for the Oregonian?

 

Also, is Ohman still an editorial cartoonist for the Oregonian? I used to love his editorial cartoons in the Reagan years and remember his Crazy 8's record cover.

 

Finally, I'm really surprised the exhibit does NOT include some of other great Oregon comic book artists. Michael T. Gilbert and Mike Royer come to mind. Is there a list somewhere of comic professionals who reside in Oregon?

 

[Bronty]

Great Wolverton page!

[SteveDuin]

Still writing the Sunday Metro column on a contract basis, but I took the buy-out last December.

 

Jack is now at the Sacramento Bee, doing both cartoons and columns. He's still at the top of his game, winning the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons earlier this year.

 

I think OHS had its hands full trying to keep the list of comic icons to a manageable number. I wish they'd also found room for Dave Stevens, who went to high school in Portland.

[sfcityduck]

Steve,

 

Thanks for the response. I didn't know Ohman worked for the Bee and I live in SF!

 

The newspaper business is certainly tough these days. My parents both graduated from the UO journalism school and went to work for the R-G in Eugene. Lots of family friends who worked for the R-G, and some who went on the Oregonian. But, almost all have retired or left the business, some to become teachers, work on political campaigns, or PR.

 

Dave Stevens is definitely another guy who deserves mention on the list of notable Oregon comic creators. I'm not so up on the more modern creators, but a list that includes Barks, Wolverton, and Schomburg from the GA is not half bad. For some reason, I also think one of the notable Canadian white artists has an Oregon connection, but it may be Washington (I mean GA Canadian white, not Gilbert and his retro take). Obviously, a lot of creators have moved to Oregon, including Matt Wagner, Alex Ross, Bendis, Rucka, right?. I think Oregon may be a bit weak in the SA, as only Mike Royer springs to mind.