SPX and other weekend goings-on
SPX is easily my favorite comic book related event. SPX is the Small Press Expo - a comic book convention on a far smaller scale than the increasingly bloated San Diego ComiCon but in my opinion, a lot more affection for the medium as a whole. You won't find toys, clothes, movies, or other licensed material there (not to say those things aren't fun, because of course they are), and you won't find too much material with a superhero slant, but you also won't find porn stars or really loud videogame booths either. So it's all a trade-off.
For a relatively paltry 8 dollars, you get in for an 8-hour day of vendors selling their comic books and panels. Every book there is by an independent, small press, or self-published (or maybe even self-PRINTED). The largest publishers you get are Oni, Top Shelf, Fantagraphics, and Drawn and Quarterly. All of them are publishers I respect a great deal, but the fact is their combined market share in the direct market probably only climbs to about the 10% mark. There's very little (non-existent really) in the way of the growing bookstore market. No presence by publishers like Random House. Also, very little manga. A few artists with a stylistic inkling towards the Eastern market, but no representation by TokyoPop or Viz or any other OEL manga publisher.
So what you're left with are people that have stories they REALLY want to tell. And that's not to say there isn't high-level talent there. I had very nice talks with Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim) and Steve Lieber (Whiteout). And that right there is the special difference between SPX and a convention put together by Wizard or one of the larger events such as the NY ComiCon or the MegaCon, and so on down the line. Yes, you physically CAN talk to creators at any convention, but the opportunity to talk to any given creator isn't always there. There's so much to see for attendees, and so busy a schedule for the talent - signings, sketches, selling their wares - that it's hit and miss as to whether you will get to talk to anyone on a meaningful level.
SPX fills itself into one massive mezzanine hall at the Bethesda North Marriott (I imagine it will move to a slightly larger venue in the next few years) and it's pretty much perfect. You don't go there just to buy some books and disappear. You don't go to any table and have back issues to sort through. Instead, everything for sale is there on the table, and you really benefit yourself by taking the time to talk to the creator about what their story or stories are about and their creative approach and so on. It's very educational and you can make some fantastic connections. Whether that later turns into a collaboration or a friend to exchange stories and advice with is up to you.
One of my highlights included meeting Kate Beaton of History Comics web-fame. Kate said several publishers have contacted her about printing her comics, and I would love to see more folks learn about her fantastic, funny comics. She was kind enough to give me a sketch and took a request. I asked for Teddy Roosevelt and Thomas Edison as friends, but Kate wasn't sure what Edison looked like. I was more than happy to "settle" for a rad Roosevelt. Don't worry, Benito, I'll get around to posting it. I was thinking of you, buddy.
I also picked up Joey Sayers newest comic, Thingpart #6. I strongly recommend checking out Joey's site and purchasing Teen Power or one of the I'm Gonna Rip Your Face Off books. Very, very funny stuff. Joey has been writing stuff for MAD lately, and these days, that's a feather in anyone's cap.
I also bought the laugh-out-loud Ninja-X book by John Campbell. Funny guy, very friendly. He seemed genuinely surprised and happy that someone knew he'd have work in the new Hector Plasm book.
There were many other great comics, too many to list everything that looked good. One of the better "deals" I got was at a table of Savannah College of Art and Design students. Apparently the comic illustrator students put together a thick anthology every year. I got the 2007 and 2008 ones for a measly 5 bucks each. Good deal. I also picked up Pixu by Becky Cloonan, Gabriel Ba, and Fabio Moon. Becky signed it for me and she was great.
I took a picture with a gorilla and with James Sime, owner of Isotope, one of the best comic stores in the country. James was so friendly. He just loves comics and flies across the country just to see what kind of creative stuff folks are showcasing on the East Coast. He was there with his girlfriend, also a comic creator. James wanted to take two pictures with me. One where he was a male model and one where I was. I don't know why, but it was funny to me and I hope I get a chance to talk to him again.
I'm very shy about name dropping, so I pretty much never tell folks who I know and instead if they ask about me, I like to talk about the DC Conspiracy and what we do together, or maybe my comics writing class that I teach. There's a new (FREE!) paper here in DC called BASH MAGAZINE, by a great guy John who splits his time between living in the DC Metro area and Kentucky. He self-publishes a monthly paper full of alternative comics. We got to talk and he knew about the DC Conspiracy and the class I teach (the paper runs an ad for my class) and we had a great talk. I'll be trying to submit something there in the near future. He's going to expand the online portion of the site to include daily comics from all sorts of creators.
I spent the first couple of hours at the con with Krissy who picked up some cool books and helped advertise our friend Rafer Roberts' book, Plastic Farm, by wearing a rabbit mask. I also wore one intermittently. Rafer got a lot of friends to do that and it did help drive interested people to his table. He's a clever guy when it comes to marketing. Krissy took off after a while because her mom is visiting, but I spent the whole day there. From 11am to 11pm, basically. There were a LOT of DC Conspiracy members there, many with table space. Therefore, plenty of friends to hang out with and talk to. And I helped organize the after-hours idea of all going to Rafer's room for pizza and beer afterwards. There was easily between 20 to 30 of us up there at any given time.
I had one of the best days. I found interesting books, talked to great, talented people, and got to hang out with friends for the entire day. It was a real blast and I'm very proud of many of my friends in the DC Conspiracy. Several of them got table space for the first time, including Becca with her Girl Ninja comic, "Mango" Chris with t-shirts, comics, and photo prints (beautiful stuff), and even one of our newer members, Steve, one of my first students at the Writer's Center. Steve lucked out by being placed right next to Bryan Lee O'Malley. Sure, sometimes his table got blocked by people interested in getting their Scott Pilgrims signed, but he also got a lot of foot traffic that translated into some sales. It's also a great POV to see one of the bigger creators at SPX and to witness just how BUSY the guy is, cranking out sketches and signatures all day long. Something to aspire to.
Sunday was another fantastic day, but on a far smaller scale. I went to my friends Ted and Dana's condo to watch the Patriots/49ers game, since Ted is a 49ers fan with a nice, big tv and the satellite package for all the NFL games. My friends Marcel, Rob, Erin, Jim, and Danielle were all there too and we just had a perfect afternoon of drinking wine and talking football. They were very complimentary of Krissy because of the high-end Randy Moss jersey she got me that I get to wear on game day. I'm lucky to have such a sweet girlfriend who actually likes getting involved in the things I like like football and comics. In turn, I'm in love with her band, American Sinner, and her paintings. Her drummer returned home from work in Afghanistan as a translator and they had a really fun time with band practice this past weekend. They have at least two shows this month including a Halloween-evening one I'm really looking forward to - an opportunity to wear my Boba Fett hoodie!
I wrapped up the evening with a new TVZ podcast recording session. We got into a fascinating discussion during our portion talking about Fringe. Listen for it, when it's out later this week. We go off on a few related tangents and I think it's the strong portion of the show.
For a relatively paltry 8 dollars, you get in for an 8-hour day of vendors selling their comic books and panels. Every book there is by an independent, small press, or self-published (or maybe even self-PRINTED). The largest publishers you get are Oni, Top Shelf, Fantagraphics, and Drawn and Quarterly. All of them are publishers I respect a great deal, but the fact is their combined market share in the direct market probably only climbs to about the 10% mark. There's very little (non-existent really) in the way of the growing bookstore market. No presence by publishers like Random House. Also, very little manga. A few artists with a stylistic inkling towards the Eastern market, but no representation by TokyoPop or Viz or any other OEL manga publisher.
So what you're left with are people that have stories they REALLY want to tell. And that's not to say there isn't high-level talent there. I had very nice talks with Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim) and Steve Lieber (Whiteout). And that right there is the special difference between SPX and a convention put together by Wizard or one of the larger events such as the NY ComiCon or the MegaCon, and so on down the line. Yes, you physically CAN talk to creators at any convention, but the opportunity to talk to any given creator isn't always there. There's so much to see for attendees, and so busy a schedule for the talent - signings, sketches, selling their wares - that it's hit and miss as to whether you will get to talk to anyone on a meaningful level.
SPX fills itself into one massive mezzanine hall at the Bethesda North Marriott (I imagine it will move to a slightly larger venue in the next few years) and it's pretty much perfect. You don't go there just to buy some books and disappear. You don't go to any table and have back issues to sort through. Instead, everything for sale is there on the table, and you really benefit yourself by taking the time to talk to the creator about what their story or stories are about and their creative approach and so on. It's very educational and you can make some fantastic connections. Whether that later turns into a collaboration or a friend to exchange stories and advice with is up to you.
One of my highlights included meeting Kate Beaton of History Comics web-fame. Kate said several publishers have contacted her about printing her comics, and I would love to see more folks learn about her fantastic, funny comics. She was kind enough to give me a sketch and took a request. I asked for Teddy Roosevelt and Thomas Edison as friends, but Kate wasn't sure what Edison looked like. I was more than happy to "settle" for a rad Roosevelt. Don't worry, Benito, I'll get around to posting it. I was thinking of you, buddy.
I also picked up Joey Sayers newest comic, Thingpart #6. I strongly recommend checking out Joey's site and purchasing Teen Power or one of the I'm Gonna Rip Your Face Off books. Very, very funny stuff. Joey has been writing stuff for MAD lately, and these days, that's a feather in anyone's cap.
I also bought the laugh-out-loud Ninja-X book by John Campbell. Funny guy, very friendly. He seemed genuinely surprised and happy that someone knew he'd have work in the new Hector Plasm book.
There were many other great comics, too many to list everything that looked good. One of the better "deals" I got was at a table of Savannah College of Art and Design students. Apparently the comic illustrator students put together a thick anthology every year. I got the 2007 and 2008 ones for a measly 5 bucks each. Good deal. I also picked up Pixu by Becky Cloonan, Gabriel Ba, and Fabio Moon. Becky signed it for me and she was great.
I took a picture with a gorilla and with James Sime, owner of Isotope, one of the best comic stores in the country. James was so friendly. He just loves comics and flies across the country just to see what kind of creative stuff folks are showcasing on the East Coast. He was there with his girlfriend, also a comic creator. James wanted to take two pictures with me. One where he was a male model and one where I was. I don't know why, but it was funny to me and I hope I get a chance to talk to him again.
I'm very shy about name dropping, so I pretty much never tell folks who I know and instead if they ask about me, I like to talk about the DC Conspiracy and what we do together, or maybe my comics writing class that I teach. There's a new (FREE!) paper here in DC called BASH MAGAZINE, by a great guy John who splits his time between living in the DC Metro area and Kentucky. He self-publishes a monthly paper full of alternative comics. We got to talk and he knew about the DC Conspiracy and the class I teach (the paper runs an ad for my class) and we had a great talk. I'll be trying to submit something there in the near future. He's going to expand the online portion of the site to include daily comics from all sorts of creators.
I spent the first couple of hours at the con with Krissy who picked up some cool books and helped advertise our friend Rafer Roberts' book, Plastic Farm, by wearing a rabbit mask. I also wore one intermittently. Rafer got a lot of friends to do that and it did help drive interested people to his table. He's a clever guy when it comes to marketing. Krissy took off after a while because her mom is visiting, but I spent the whole day there. From 11am to 11pm, basically. There were a LOT of DC Conspiracy members there, many with table space. Therefore, plenty of friends to hang out with and talk to. And I helped organize the after-hours idea of all going to Rafer's room for pizza and beer afterwards. There was easily between 20 to 30 of us up there at any given time.
I had one of the best days. I found interesting books, talked to great, talented people, and got to hang out with friends for the entire day. It was a real blast and I'm very proud of many of my friends in the DC Conspiracy. Several of them got table space for the first time, including Becca with her Girl Ninja comic, "Mango" Chris with t-shirts, comics, and photo prints (beautiful stuff), and even one of our newer members, Steve, one of my first students at the Writer's Center. Steve lucked out by being placed right next to Bryan Lee O'Malley. Sure, sometimes his table got blocked by people interested in getting their Scott Pilgrims signed, but he also got a lot of foot traffic that translated into some sales. It's also a great POV to see one of the bigger creators at SPX and to witness just how BUSY the guy is, cranking out sketches and signatures all day long. Something to aspire to.
Sunday was another fantastic day, but on a far smaller scale. I went to my friends Ted and Dana's condo to watch the Patriots/49ers game, since Ted is a 49ers fan with a nice, big tv and the satellite package for all the NFL games. My friends Marcel, Rob, Erin, Jim, and Danielle were all there too and we just had a perfect afternoon of drinking wine and talking football. They were very complimentary of Krissy because of the high-end Randy Moss jersey she got me that I get to wear on game day. I'm lucky to have such a sweet girlfriend who actually likes getting involved in the things I like like football and comics. In turn, I'm in love with her band, American Sinner, and her paintings. Her drummer returned home from work in Afghanistan as a translator and they had a really fun time with band practice this past weekend. They have at least two shows this month including a Halloween-evening one I'm really looking forward to - an opportunity to wear my Boba Fett hoodie!
I wrapped up the evening with a new TVZ podcast recording session. We got into a fascinating discussion during our portion talking about Fringe. Listen for it, when it's out later this week. We go off on a few related tangents and I think it's the strong portion of the show.