Tag: comic shops in Portland

Finding the Silly at BwiP Con

Dear Liza,

When I was growing up, a “Convention” didn’t sound like very much fun. A big room full of businessmen talking about business. Ugh.

Comic Conventions helped change that. The Stumptown Comics Festival, in 2004, included a Comic Art Battle which was described as a “combination of Pictionary and wrestling”.


BwiPCon at Books with Pictures had lots of silly, as well.

Since it was an outside event, there were bubbles. Really big bubbles. Seeing a hundred people through the lens of a giant bubble is something I never even knew I was missing!

There were dogs.

Since it was comics, there were costumes.

There were trees, and a garden.

And sometimes there were bubbles and dogs and trees all at once!

I look forward to BwiP 2!

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Visit to Books with Pictures

Dear Liza,

This weekend Auntie Bridgett and I walked down to Auntie Katie’s bookshop, Books with Pictures. Her shop was full of happy, comic-loving, mask-wearing people!


We got to find some books by artists and authors we knew and see the new decor.

We had gone to visit for her a reason, though.


The lovely mural on the side of her store got tagged with graffiti last weekend. Auntie Bridgett wanted to see if she could help repair it.

There are several reasons this is going to be difficult. The mural was painted way back in 1997, so the paint has faded and will be very hard to match. People in the neighborhood LOVE it, so you want to do a really good job. Also, the surface of the wall has cracked in a few places and needs to be mended. More immediately, our weather is predicted to be too wet and cold to paint for the next two weeks.


After Katie and Bridgett figured out what the next steps will be, we headed home. As we walked past the back of the shop, we noticed the new shed Katie has had installed to hold the supplies for the new food trucks, which are hopefully coming in spring.

It was a great visit, and we had a nice piece of carrot cake and cup of tea at Palio, right in the Ladd’s Addition, before catching the number 14 home.

Love,

Grandma Judy