(The Intruder #10 launch party happens tonight at Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery at 6 pm. It's free.)

After years of dormancy, Seattle's comics are launching into a period that could become even more vibrant than the late-'90s heyday when James Sturm, Tom Hart, and Jason Lutes were all living and working out of a four-block radius on Capitol Hill. Need proof? Well, you can tell a city's comic scene is blowing up when an unofficial flagship anthology arrives, and over the course of 10 issues, Intruder has become just that kind of publication.

The ad-free tabloid quarterly—it's about an inch taller than copies of The Stranger—is free in various comics-friendly locations, though you can (and should) buy a yearlong subscription at intrudercomics.com for $12. The Intruder aesthetic, if there is one, is young and punky and dense. Editor Marc Palm invites Seattle-area cartoonists to contribute a page for the magazine, and that no-submissions policy is what keeps the quality so high.

Tonight, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is hosting a launch party for the 10th issue of Intruder, kicking off a monthlong Intruder retrospective show in the gallery. This is the kind of event that identifies a moment in time—all through Emerald City Comicon, local cartoonists were shaking their head in wonder at the scene that had suddenly, effortlessly erupted all around them, and Fantagraphics' nod of approval makes everything seem official.

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