Short Run Comix Festival

THANK YOU SEATTLE!!! After a stormy start, we had an incredible festival day with over 4,200 people attending!

Exhibitor applications open again on June 1, 2024.

Add yourself to our mailing list for deadline reminders and updates on upcoming local programming.

Short Run Comix Festival

The 2024 iteration of Short Run will come with a new venue and a slightly revised name.

With a plethora of zine fests and art book fairs being held around the country, we believe it’s a good time for us to commit our show solely to alternative comics/comix!! There are so many good comics being made all over the world and we want to double-down on what we do well, bringing you some of the best of what’s out there.

We know that some of the most innovative and exciting work in comics is happening in hybrid forms. Zines and art books with comic content, image + text story-telling, and graphic illustration will still be considered. There will be zines and art books that will fall into a gray area – that is why every application is carefully reviewed. Read more…

Table Map

Cancellations: Huệ Nguyen, Madeleine Jubilee Saito, Dustin Garcia, Fieldmouse Press, Ana Woulfe, T. Edward Bak

Additions: Molly Lecko Herro, Pam Wishbow

Health & Safety Information

[Updated for 2023] If you haven’t been to a previous Short Run festival, you should know that we are unlike a mainstream “comic-con” in many ways. We are a free, one day festival that takes place in a large, 12,000 sq. ft. space on the ground floor, with tall front windows and a high ceiling. There are no smaller break-out rooms. There will be a few hands-on activities like zine-making or screen printing, but the main focus will be on the exhibiting artists showcasing their work at tables on the festival floor. Approximately 250 artists will be there, and we expect attendance to be about 4,500 people spread out over 7 hours. Read more…

Year In Review (so long 2022!)

It happened! We successfully held our 10th anniversary Short Run Comix & Arts Festival after a 2-year postponement! 200 exhibitor-artists (from all over the US, and 6 other countries) filled Fisher Pavilion, and over 4,000 people attended over 7 hours. Despite it being a very rainy weekend, Saturday was mostly sunny and clear, and at one point there was a rainbow!  Exhibitors reported record sales, which meant Seattle came out to support these artists that have been so isolated without the festival circuit. THANK YOU SEATTLE!!! 

Read more…

Posted on by kelly
Categories: News

DASH GRANT recipient 2022 – Julia Wald

Local artist and illustrator Julia Wald is this year’s DASH GRANT recipient! We were really excited about her story synapsis and hyper-color drawing style of her upcoming comic, Uncle Scam’s Army Navy Surplus, an autobiography of their first job out of school in Buffalo, working at an army navy surplus store where they sold military gear to doomsday preppers, zombie cosplayers, and neo Nazis. This first part of a much longer story will premiere at Short Run on Nov. 5th. Read more…

Trailer Blaze 2022

Trailer Blaze 2022 really, truly happened after a 2 year postponement, and it made the experience even more special. 

This year we welcomed new residents Veronika Muchitsch (UK), Melanie Stevens (OR), Krusty Wheatfield (CA), Lenora Yerkes (DC), Janna Morton (MD), Rachel Scheer (Seattle); invited artists Lydia Fu (IL), Katie Fricas (NY); alumni, local mentors Mita Mahato, E.T. Russian, Lauren Armstrong, Megan Kelso, and Kelly Froh.  Read more…

SHOW UP – monthly artist talks

We want artists to get to know each other better, through their work and processes, and to invest in each other more fully as a year round community. Artists will stand up and stand by their work, and present it to other people, instead of working mostly in isolation with no feedback or support. What does being part of a community mean? That we all live in a geographical area, or that we are invested in the progress and success of our peers? Let’s inspire each other! 

Read more…

Posted on by kelly
Categories: News

Short Run Comix & Arts Festival Catalog

As consolation for another year passing without a festival, Short Run has published The Short Run Comix & Arts Festival Catalog, which features 40 new releases from WA State comic artists, authors, and zinesters, ads for small print and publishing businesses, plus DIY projects and local stores. This free, 16-page newsprint catalog, designed by Jacob Covey, will be mailed all across the US. Read more…

Where to get our new book

Pick up a copy of our new book Decade: 10 Years of Short Run Comix & Arts Festival at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, Elliott Bay Book Company, Push/Pull, Floating World Comics in Portland, Silver Sprocket in San Francisco, and Spit and a Half online distro.

What a great idea! The “Comics Festival” has become such a crucial and integral part of the comics community over the past couple decades, and while there are plenty of social media posts and con-reports that surface online, the experience is pretty ephemeral. Seattle’s Short Run Fest has solved that by producing this gorgeous, full color year by year look back at their festivals and events over the past ten years. – John Porcellino

If you cannot pick it up in person, it’s also on our Etsy page for $27 (US shipping included).