Linework NW was this weekend and yes, yes, yes fantastic. And if you're wondering where photos are of the two dudes in charge, François Vigneault and Zack Soto, they just never stopped moving long enough to photograph! (Photo above by official Linework NW photographer, Caroline Smith)
At the Opening Party (at Reading Frenzy) Ed Luce tells Edie Fake a secret.
The back gallery held a lot of gorgeous Jim Woodring and Michael DeForge art.
Shannon O'Leary (of Publisher's Weekly and the Big Feminist But) finally meets cartoonist Annie Murphy, who is also in No Straight Lines.
Sam Alden sees his first comic 'with a spine'! Haunter from Study Group 12 (currently available via their Kickstarter)
Party people (who would soon be my captives during dinner): Jonas Madden-Connor, Caity and Danithan Meija of Foxing Quarterly, red-headed Anna Pederson (our former Fanta-intern-turned-warehouse muscle), and colorist Ryan Hill. (photo by fest staff, Sam Marx)
It was absolutely packed! (photo by fest organizer, François Vigneault)
We popped by Bridge City Comics down the street. Guess which New York Times Best Selling author & cartoonist will be signing there for his second Fantagraphics book this November? 
Our sweet set-up.
Father-daughter comic shopping is pretty cute. Chris Roberson and Georgia find their fun in the classics like the brand-spankin' new Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Trail of the Unicorn and Batter Up, Charlie Brown.
Linework NW staffer Sam Marx grabs the yet-to-be-released-in-stores, Buddy Buys a Dump by Peter Bagge. The collected Hate comics are the first ones Marx read as a kid, you can get them in print or read them digitally via comiXology (the first issue is free for a limited time!).
Julia Gfrörer returned to Portland to sell the last few copies of Black is the Color, here she's on a panel with the fantastic Tom Neely and Farel Dalrymple. (Photo by Caroline Smith)
Special guest and Fantagraphics' cartoonist Jim Woodring's line just WOULDN'T QUIT the whole show. 
Woodring also brought his huge nib and Linework NW had a little fundraiser for anyone who wanted to try to draw with it. Did you know he has to BOIL the dried ink off the nib? And here I was just using some Windex like a chump. (photo by Caroline Smith)
Diana Schutz, Dark Horse editor, stepped behind our booth for a minute to hawk our wares (she's a fan of the classics) and then ran into Shawna Gore and her half-clone.
A whole lotta Seattle people came down to Portland for the show like this line of dudes: Nate, Dave, Gavin and Dean. Kinda in love with their candid, posed, candid, posed pose (unrehearsed but I think this isn't their first rodeo).
One of Jacob Covey's schoolmates came by the booth to 'WOW, HOLY SHIT look at this DESIGN' on Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey Treasury. Ladies of the press, Allison Baker (Comic Book Resources) and Shannon O'Leary (Publishers Weekly) came by for a squeeze.
Austin's best new micropublisher, Foxing Quarterly, hangs tough with some beautiful issues with art direction by Jim Rugg and a cat print by Dash Shaw.
Sloane Leong and some manga fans drooled over Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano. A few people mourned the fact they had bought the book from Amazon and were waiting on it instead of buying from us directly, "I could be reading it right now!"
Craig Thompson just had to come by and visit with Jim Woodring for a bit (in case, you know, anyone he was eating dinner with that night wondered why he was late).
And finally, one of my favorite reoccuring con sightings are the young kids that read Johnny Ryan. Like, DEVOUR it. His mother was unfazed by any phallic or vaginal imagery in it. Parents, am I right?!
The show was non-stop. It was a tad hot since we were in the back but such fun to engage with fans of Fantagraphics' cartoonists and books in general. 
Norse Hall was beautiful and I'm already sad that Linework NW will probably move somewhere larger next year but Zack Soto and François Vigneault know aesthetics.
The after-party at Em Space Book Arts Center was slammin' with pizza, beer and so many letter presses – I was honestly a little apprehensive with amount of food around the equipment but everyone was pretty respectful. Portland State University Vanguard reporter, Andrew, gets the low-down on the show from Danithan and Caity of Foxing Quarterly.
Anna helped out at the table for a good chunk of the day and Seattle cartoonist Damon Gentry offered his food-getting services countless times. Thanks for having us and being so darn sweet to us, Portland. Fantagraphics will be back!