DeWitt talks about his newest novel, a propulsive, playful fable for grown-ups. We also get an update on the film treatment of his 2011 runaway hit, "The Sisters Brothers".

C. Spike Trotman got her start in comics with the web series “Templar, Arizona,” about a slightly irregular town filled with junkies, millionaires, strange subcultures, and weird religions.

After realizing that no one was publishing the kind of stories she wanted to read — stories about people of color, queer people, people dealing with the everyday issues of being human — she decided to start her own publishing house, Iron Circus Comics. She has since used Kickstarter to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for a half dozen graphic novels and comic anthologies, including two collections of erotica comics written by women ("Smut Pedler"), a horror anthology ("The Sleep of Reason"), and two books about living life with less called "Poorcraft."

Producer Aaron Scott spoke with Trotman about the growth of webcomics, the state of diversity in comics, and her love of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

We asked her to recommend several webcomics for anyone interested in wading into their world. You can find her recs at: http://www.opb.org/news/article/c-spike-trotman-gives-voice-to-underrepresented-characters-in-web-comics

We chat up Shelley McClendon about the new performance venue she is preparing for a mid-October opening - The Siren Theater.

n the galaxy of graphic novels, Craig Thompson is a singular talent. His books don’t just tell different stories: they take place in entirely different universes.

He burst onto the scene with the semi-autobiographical work about his move to Portland called “Goodbye, Chunky Rice.” Its delightfully quirky writing and cartoony style won him the Harvey Award for Best New Talent.

He followed up with the incredible autobiography “Blankets,” about growing up in a fundamentalist Christian family in Wisconsin. The 600-page tome was a game-changer, sweeping the comic awards and redefining the literary depths a graphic novel memoir could plumb.

Then Thompson completely changed gears with “Habibi,” an epic allegory set in a modern Arabian Nights fantasia.

Now, he just released “Space Dumplins” on Scholastic Books. It’s the zany adventure of a girl who has to save her family from giant planet-eating whales whose excrement has replaced oil as the universe’s fuel. Did we mention there’s a sartorial talking chicken named Elliot?

We reached Thompson in his home in Los Angeles, where he moved earlier this year. Our conversation spanned his blue-collar roots, the friends who inspired the characters in “Space Dumplins,” and what attracted him to writing a children’s book. Also, he reads his manifesto in the voice of the character Gar, the lumberjack father who harvests space whale, well, “dumplings."

This week: we travel from the front lines of forest fires to the trailer parks of outer space. It's all in a day's work for the Labor Day weekend.

Graphic Novelist Craig Thompson
We start with the singular Craig Thompson. His incredible, 600-page autobiography “Blankets,” about growing up in a fundamentalist Christian family in Wisconsin, was a game-changer, sweeping the awards and redefining the literary depths a graphic novel memoir could reach. Then Thompson completely changed gears with “Habibi,” an epic set in a modern Arabian Nights fantasia. Now Thompson has released “Space Dumplins.” It’s the zany adventure of a girl who has to save her family from giant planet-eating whales whose excrement has replaced oil as the universe’s fuel. Did we mention there are sartorial, talking chickens?

How Do Bands Decide?
As you check out the fall concert calendar — you probably noticed we have some big acts coming to town, like Madonna’s first visit in years — have you ever wondered how bands decide where to book stops on their tours? Our pal Mitchell Hartmann looked into it for Marketplace.

Musician Craig Finn
Best known as the frontman of the Hold Steady, Craig Finn is famous for his storytelling, both in his songs and between them. He’s on tour this summer to promote his new solo album, “Faith In The Future.” During a live session for OPB Music, Finn performed the song “Newmyer’s Roof” and told the story behind the music.

Alien She
This weekend the Museum of Contemporary Craft and the Pacific Northwest College of Arts opens the exhibition called “Alien She” designed to unlock the history and impact of the Riot Girl Movement. The curators tell us about it.

Painter Rachel Davis
Rachel Davis’s newest exhibition, “A Trace History,” explores the interplay of ancient and modern China. In her whimsical watercolors, skyscrapers spring up as tall as mountains, and trucks go barrelling over land while terra cotta warriors wait buried below the surface. It’s a juxtaposition close to Davis’s heart. Both of her adopted daughters were born in Central China. Davis told us about how she’s riveted by the speed with which China has hurtled ahead during her daughters’ childhood here.

The Astoria Music Festival Gets A New Board
The festival’s onstage presence can be peaceful and sublime. But offstage, there’s been some drama. The Festival’s entire board announced in late July they were resigning, en masse. This week, a new board has signed on. We talk check in with “Daily Astorian” reporter Erick Bengel for an update.

A Jazz Life
Our sister station KMHD runs a series called “A Jazz Life,” where jazz artists and fans talk about moments when a musical experience changed their lives. They’re starting up a new season with this story from Jennifer Mayerle, a Portland-based marketing content strategist, who happened to sit behind an idol at a small New York jazz club.

Wallowa Fiddle Tunes Camp
One day in July we were driving through the small town of Wallowa in the far Northeast corner of Oregon on our way to Joseph to record a show from the Fishtrap writers’ retreat. As we drove past the school, we couldn’t help but notice the front lawn was filled with tents. What was the reason for a full-scale summer camp out at school? Meet Fiddle Tunes Camp.

Fire Fighting Meets Photography
Alan Thornton’s photography career has taken him from the deserts of the Southwest U.S. to distant lands like Turkey and Cambodia, but there was one shot that he could never get close enough to snap: a forest fire. So this spring, Thornton took a wildland firefighting course. Since then, he has found a new job working as a photographer and a firefighter. You can hear to the full conversation on Think Out Loud.

One day in July we were driving through the small town of Wallowa in the far Northeast corner of Oregon on our way to Joseph to record a show from the Fishtrap writers’ retreat. As we drove past the school, we couldn’t help but notice the front lawn was filled with tents. What was the reason for a full-scale summer camp out at school? Meet Fiddle Tunes Camp.

If you like what you hear, Fiddle Tunes Camp are sponsoring a big music festival in Enterprise this weekend called the Juniper Jam.

Watercolorist Rachel Davis' graceful meditations on changes in China's built environment.

(credit: "Balance", Rachel Davis, 2015. Courtesy of Charles A. Hartmann Fine Art)

The old adage may say, “Don’t judge a book by a cover,” but don’t tell that to the designers at the Tin House.

The Portland publisher release about a dozen books a year, and it has started to win attention and awards for its covers. Last year, its illustrated version of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” won one of the more prestigious graphic design awards in the industry: It was selected by the trade group Communication Arts for its 2015 Design Annual for book design, and it was the only book to be included in the Typography annual.

We visited the famous tin-sided house in Northwest Portland and spoke with art director Diane Chonette and designer Jakob Vala in order to get a behind-the-scenes look at the process behind their success.

Their newest work, “Dryland” by Portland author Sarah Jaffe, is out this week. Jaffe will read from it at Powell’s Books on Sept. 2 at 7:30 p.m. To celebrate, there will be Voodoo Donuts with blue plaid frosting in the pattern of the cover.

Our "How To" episode: how to design a book cover, how to correctly use the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic,” and how to revive your relationship with the arts.

1:06 - This week, members of the nonprofit Business for Culture and the Arts closed up shop. The group’s members worked for nearly 30 years to build bridges between the arts and business communities. But the board and members voted Thursday to dissolve operations, handing over some of its programs to the Regional Arts and Culture Council, RACC. We look at what a healthy business/arts relationship might look like.
9:52 - Portland comics artist and illustrator Terry Blas's dad was born in the U.S. and his mom in Mexico. He used to use the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” interchangeably, but he doesn’t any more. This summer, he published a comic on Vox-dot-com about how he explains his heritage. And, as of this week, it’s been shared over 170-thousand times.
14:43 - The son of a professional treasure hunter, Nate Fasold hunts down famous guitars played by the like of Elliott Smith and Kurt Cobain from his shop on North Mississippi Avenue.
23:06 - Tonight is a fundraiser for the next stage in Portland MC Mic Crenshaw’s African Hip-Hop Caravan. It's a group made up of hip-hop collectives across the continent, including in Cape Town, Harare, Arusha and Nairobi, that aims to talk about the current state of African hip-hop. Crenshaw tells us about his last caravan trip.
33:17 - Sure, you shouldn't judge a book by a cover. But don't tell that to the designers behind some of the excellent and award-winning covers at the local publisher Tin House. They lay out their hands-on process.
39:43 - The Britt Music and Arts Festival in Jacksonville commissioned a new work about Crater Lake by composer Michael Gordon. Gordon co-founded Bang On A Can, a music festival and collective, and his compositions have been performed around the world by the likes of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Kronos Quartet. Think Out Loud's Dave Miller talked with Gordon about the lakes serenity and violence.

With a long-time advocacy group winding down operations, what's going to bridge the gap between metro Portland's business and creative communities?

Photo credit: Third Rail Repertory Theatre)