On Saturday, Nov. 1, Seattle’s annual open-to-all indie comic festival, Short Run, was held in the Seattle Design Center. This year, over the course of the festival’s seven hour run time, over 3,600 people attended to celebrate the small press, self-publishing and indie cartoonists from around the world.
Ryan Cecil Smith is a professional background artist and indie cartoonist from Los Angeles who has been making comics since high school. Smith traveled from LA to table for the first time at Short Run this year. Smith felt the 2025 Short Run had more focused content than other festivals.
“It is mainly about books, zines and personal books written by the authors here. So everyone here has books or zines that they have made themselves, which is amazing. [In] some shows, there [are] a lot more posters or toys, and this is cool, this is better,” Smith said.
The event hall was charged with a welcoming energy, conversations flowed non-stop, new friends were made and old friends met again. Sam Szabo is a cartoonist from Massachusetts who has been attending Short Run and similar festivals for several years.
“I think genuinely the people that show up to this show, just as attendees are some of the warmest crowds I’ve ever encountered in my many years of doing the festival circuit. I’m really an hour in, and I’ve already had so many good interactions,” Szabo said.
One of the key features of Short Run was the encouragement of attendees to make comics. Short Run hosted its own apprenticeship program that led up to the day of the festival. Apprentices learned about comics and the program ended with a booth where they got to sell their artwork.
Neil Brideau is a cartoonist of 21 years and owner of the publishing house Radiator Comics. Brideau has been an advocate in the comic industry since 2012 and co-founded the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo. Brideau’s advice to aspiring cartoonists would be to just start.
“The best way to learn how to make comics is by making comics. All you need is a piece of paper and a pencil, if you want, a photocopier and some staples,” Brideau said.
