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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 2011)
JM. 30 WWW JUSTOUT COM JANUARY 7 2011 Gnerds Unite! Briar Hollow w eb com ic creators eye higher learning BY RYAN J. P R A D O P IZZA & S A N D W I C H E S LOCAL M IC R O B R E W S COCKTAILS 716 N W 21ST PO R TLA N D . OR 5 0 3 . 2 9 5 . 4 ‘9 4 ,4‘ 3 4 3 5 N. LOMBARD 503.383.5014 W W W .M ELrP O R T LA N D .C O M m W .M 0CKCRR5T.C0M Voted Willamette Week’s TOP 100 Just Out is ta kin g tw o w eeks o ff for early spring cle a n in g . We ll see you b a ck in print on Feb. 4. Still bringing you the news do\\y at w w w .b c lly re sta u ra n t.c o m NE Fremont & Ml.K l’l).\ * 503 . 249.9764 JustOut.com happy hour• Sunday brunch• dinner Hendrix & McGuire tum .-*» O P T I C A L • ~ g Exams Available • On-Site Lab • Thousands of Frames • 1 Hour Service Eye exams by Dr. Nancy Buset -*m| Independent Optometric Physician 925 SW Taylor Street ^ PDX, OR 97205 ph: 503 228 2154 www.hendrixmcguire.com Best S e rv ic e Centrally located in downtown, Eyemed, Regence BC/BS, ODS and most other insurance. Best Selection <j\{evos (Resolution... ...to save money buy a bouse l ROBERT HOGG, CPA Mortgage Broker • Retired Air rone F in a n c ia l S e r v ic e s A Division of Pinnode (npitnl Mortgoye W W W .R H Fin an cial.n et a (nrp_________ Robert Hogg MIQ W lfl] mu RH Finonciol is not a tox consulting firm. » RH Fwoixid W r im AMIS 81315 Plooso s««li lox adwt from o to» ronwltant Imagine, it you can, a world where college less other gnerd (gay nerds, as defined by students languish in indecision, feigned apa Bias and Davis) efforts populating the fertile thy reigns supreme and the first flutters of ro comic underground of comics, Briar Hollow mance hinge on countless missed signals. Ev appears to have emerged as the only one eryone feels insecure about their place in the dealing not just with the racket of growing hustling hum of society. Twentysomethings up, but also the sensitive issue of anti-gay become embroiled in fiery debates over multi bullying. sided die RPGs, fantasy video games and fade The story for Bias and Davis begins about into sci-fi daydreams when life gets a little a year ago when Bias was a student at Pacific too real. If this sounds a Northwest College of Art, lot like r ‘al life, then the enrolled in a graphic novel picture of web comic series course. His final project Briar Ho'cw is becoming was to make a comic. clearer. “I came up with this idea Bereft of the superhero about these nerds playing a game and fighting about quotient—save for perhaps the possession of “super it,” says Bias. “I liked the resolve” to suffer the hur characters and I kind of kept going with it. It was dles of adolescence rela “More than anything, tively unscathed—the the first comic I think I we w ant this to be a brainchild of Portland art created characters for that ist Terry Bias, along with love letter to g a y kids I’ve ever put out there for lifelong friend Kimball people to really see.” Davis, is a sequential study and teens and their The first Briar Hollow of suburban slings and ar allies...Anyone w ho page went up on Bias’web rows. With half of Volume site in March 2010, follow feels like an outca st 1 having been posted on ing the recruitment of Da line, a vibrant, colorful and needs som ewhere to vis. The two have been decidedly nerd-chic world friends for more than 25 g o to feel a c c e p te d . has unfolded, laying the years, meeting first as chil foundation for the duo’s H opefully Briar Hollow dren sharing an affinity for second volume: the unveil sci-fi, video games and, of ca n be th a t p la ce ." ing of a gay character. course, comic books, in the Recently, established same neighborhood in -T E R R Y B LA S comics like Archie and Boise, Idaho. Batwoman generated headlines for their in “From an early age we were both sort of troduction of LGBTQ_characters into their interested in artistic things,” explains Bias. serials. In Vancouver, Wash., Darren Davis’ “[In Boise] you kind of have to go out and Bluewater Productions has pioneered the seek what you enjoy. There were a lot of trips gay character with HIV-positive superhero to the comics store and a lot of hours draw Zak Raven. And though there may be count- ing together and making up stories. Most