Skip to main content
Portland is known as a hub for the comics industry, as the home of Dark Horse Comics, Oni Press and dozens of nationally and internationally known artists. Now, that community has its own new hub with the opening this month of the Northwest Museum of Cartoon Arts at 322 NW 8th Ave.
A crowd gathered at the new museum’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 3, helmed by NWMOCA board chair Mike Rosen, who has been working on the museum for four years.
“To all the writers, artists, pencilers, inkers, colorists, letterers, editors and translators out there who have entertained, educated and amazed us for so many years, this is for you,” Rosen said.
NWMOCA will have its soft opening starting Wednesday, Nov. 5, with limited hours and then a closure from Nov. 21 to 30. The museum’s grand opening will be Wednesday, Dec. 3.
The museum’s debut exhibition is called The Pacific Northwest in Comics and features 5,000 square feet for visitors to peruse. The museum starts with a room on the “Heroes of the Pacific Northwest,” with work by Rupert Kinnard (a former associate art director at WW), Matt Wagner, Shannon Wheeler, Mike and Laura Allred, Charles Johnson, Michael Avon Oeming, Lark Pien, Aron Steinke and Ryan Alexander-Tanner.
Next up is a spotlight exhibit on Helioscope, the largest cartoonist studio in the Pacific Northwest, featuring work by 15 of its artists. Past that is a writer’s room, which is a place to relax and read. Some of the most challenging work in the museum is in the back, with two exhibits on the Gaza War: one on Crucial Comix’s new book Cartoonists for Palestine and the other on Portlander Joe Sacco’s comic War on Gaza.
In addition to highlighting the local comics industry, NWMOCA plans to be a teaching museum with a slate of workshops and book talks already scheduled for December. NWMOCA is close to other downtown arts institutions such as the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and Blue Sky Gallery.
“This morning, Portland adds another brick in the Portland museum district,” Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards said at the ribbon-cutting event. “I think of this as a place for helping Portland thrive, bringing people back into the core of the city and enjoying all of the cultural and arts riches that we have.”
GO: Northwest Museum of Cartoon Arts, 322 NW 8th Ave., nwmoca.org. 11 am-5 pm Wednesday-Sunday. $10 general admission, $8 seniors and veterans, 12 and under free.
