Small Press Expo 2011

Small Press Expo weekend started with a Roger Langridge signing at the Big Planet Comics in Vienna, Virginia that Friday. For all his zany writing, Langridge is a quiet soft spoken man with a lovely accent. I was able to thank him profusely for the enjoyment I received from Thor: The Mighty Avenger. I also bought a trade of his Muppet Show series from Boom and picked up the Snarked #0 freebie. He added a little Kermit the Frog sketch when he signed the Muppet trade. I also bought a copy of Bendis and Oeming's "Takio" on the recommendation of several friends.

On Saturday, I took the Metro up to Bethesda for the Small Press Expo. I was only going for the one day. Metro had a ton of track maintenance planned for the weekend, which made the commute tricky. So I arrived an hour or so after the show opened, confronted by two long lines. One was for registration and the other I later learned was for a Craig Thompson signing. But the registration line moved swiftly and soon I was joining the throngs in the exhibitors' room. The floor was crowded on Saturday. There were times it was hard to move around, much less stop to look at tables. Some of the aisles seemed narrower than usual. I bought very little this year. I'm still not sure if it's unfamiliarity in the indie comics world or simple buyer's apathy on my part.

I found Fanfare/Ponent Mon's table and bought "Zoo in Winter" by Jiro Taniguchi. Fanfare produces gorgeous editions. The paper they use really makes the black and white illustrations pop. This is the their first hardcover Taniguchi and well worth the money. The story is about an artist becoming an apprentice to a mangaka and the long hours involved. The constant rolling deadlines where you finish one project only to have to start another was very very familiar to me. I was surprised and disappointed to hear that Taniguchi's "Walking Man" had gone out of print. I was glad I had bought a copy at SPX a few years back.

I only managed to get to the "Secret History of Women in Comics" panel with Diane Noomin, Alexa Dickman, Robyn Chapman, and Jessica Abel. Heidi MacDonald moderated the panel. Ed Sizemore recapped the panel in his con report and Maggie Siegel-Berele posted a quirky sketch. What struck me were a few things. None of the cartoonists on the panel cited any particular role models. There was no women they looked to saying "Yes, you can be a cartoonist". That requires a certain amount of confidence and determination to say "I'll do it anyway". Both Abel and Chapman teach cartooning and they're seeing the next generation coming down the pike. While the manga influence has crested a bit, it sounds like their students' interests are even more varied now.

As a Golden Age fan, I enjoyed Alexa Dickman's contributions. She isn't a cartoonist. She's a fan that realized how little information was available on female comics creators and started the Women in Comics wiki project. She also runs the LadiesMakingComics tumblr with regular profiles and market alerts on female comics creators. In the "Ten-Cent Plague", David Hadju lists 800 comics creators that are no longer working in the business after the Wertham scares. Over a hundred of those names are women. A good chunk of them worked for places like Fiction House. Others hid behind other names. Tarpe Mills, the creator of Miss Fury, is actually named June, for instance.

There was also a good deal of friction in the panel. The women seemed to struggle with whether they wanted to be identified as just cartoonists or forever tagged as "female cartoonists". Heidi MacDonald even opened the panel expressing her distate for the need for "women in comics" panels. Jessica Abel commented on the disconnect she saw between the welcoming cons and community she encountered versus the male-dominated anthologies. It's the old question of whether doing projects like "Girl Comics" and "Womanthology" helps or hurts in the long run. I wasn't left with a clearcut answer either.

After the panel, I delved back into the exhibitor hall. The aspect I love about SPX is seeing the breadth of comics, the different formats and shapes. So maybe it's not surprising that the two other things I picked up play on papercraft in some fashion.

H. Lela Graham is a bookbinder and ceramicist by training. Because she hasn’t had access to a ceramics studio, she’s been spending more time on the bookbinding. I spotted her bound books on my first tour around the room and finally stopped to chat/browse later. She had all different sizes from the tiny ones to the larger ones. It was fascinating how a different leather/skin gave the book a different feel. There was one I picked up that was a calfskin that was *so* soft, whereas a darker prettier colored leather had a tougher hide. She’d fashioned some of her small ones as necklaces, so I bought one. This picture shows the necklace opened up.

After catching up with Johanna Draper Carlson and Ed Sizemore (and sampling Johanna's tiramisu), we took one last swing through the dealers' room where I acquired "In the Parlor Room" by Jeremy Sorese. Ed had showed off a copy and I was drawn by the covers and the artwork. I loved the cutout inset inside. The art is very over the top and stylized in places. The table was tucked in one of the back corners, so I must have missed it in my early crawls. I was disappointed to discover later I'd also missed more origami comics from Ken Wong.

SPX has already announced they're expanding next year with 50% more space. I do hope it allows them the opportunity to space the exhibitors better and allow some new people a chance to shine. Hopefully next year I'll be in more of a mindset to take some chances too.

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Small Press Expo 2010

I've already talked some about my experience at the Small Press Expo on the Manga Out Loud podcast, but I thought I'd add in a few details I invariably forgot to mention.

Last year I wound up going in the wrong direction on Metro. This year my luck continued with the wrong train in the right direction. The Grosvenor train ends a stop before the White Flint station. Fortunately all I had to do was wait for the next train and resume my journey. I boarded the Shady Grove train only to find Ed Sizemore on his way to SPX. The North Bethesda Marriott & Convention Center was only a block or two away from the Metro station, so it's a perfect location for locals.

The registration line was long but it moved briskly. The exhibitor's room was quite packed this year. I found it quite crowded; there was only one double wide aisle you could easily move through. Most of the bigger publishers like Top Shelf and Fantagraphics were given corners or endcaps, so they were able to spread out their wares. Some of the more popular webcomics artists were all in the same far right aisle together, so it was difficult to browse or move. Someone had wisely opened up a side door for Kate Beaton's line; she was signing and sketching throughout the day.



This year I was only looking specifically for one thing: NBM's The Broadcast. I've always been fascinated by Orson Welles' infamous "panic broadcast" of the "War of the Worlds", so the idea of a story using that as a backdrop fascinated me. The cover artwork is by Franscesco Francavilla, but the interiors are a sketchier ink-washed style by Noel Tuazon. Eric Hobbs' NBM blog includes sample artwork of Tuazon's style.

I was grateful for my various friends at this con. As mainstream as I tend to be, I'm really unfamiliar with most of the indie comics crowd. I recognized a few names from last year or if they've had some online recognition. I love people pointing me to new stuff I might have ignored otherwise.

I'd seen some of Carolyn Belefski's sketches on twitter after Baltimore Comic Con, so I was delighted when I discovered she was at SPX. She was working on a Wizard of Oz sketch while I chatted with Joe Carabeo, her partner-in-crime. The Legettes was described as burlesque dancers as spies; from a slight skim, it reminds me a little of Charlie's Angels maybe from Bosley's perspective. But I wound up buying both The Legettes and their new Carnival anthology. Right after the con, Carolyn Belefski was nominated for a 2010 Lulu in the Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer.

The unique thing about SPX is the diversity of formats. SPX had everything from tiny mini comics to hardbound graphic novels and everything in between. Everyone is trying new and different things with the comics medium. In that vein, I discovered Ken Wong's origami comics. He's found a nifty way to turn little mini comics into three-dimensional objects, mixing traditional sequential art with papercraft. What's neat is he picks the right shape for the right story, whether it's Pandora's box or a 2D for a D&D story. I bought the Schrodinger's Cat, which is one of those old "fortune-teller" folding games I remember from when I was younger. When you unfold it, he's included all the different cats from comics. We wound up talking about other kids' games like Cat's Cradle and how each generation seems to reinvent the wheel only to discover their parents and grandparents played the same games when they were younger.

I didn't buy all that much. I was coming off my heavy spending at Baltimore Comic Con, so I tended to hold back a bit. I do regret not stopping by Roger Landridge's table if only to tell him how much I'm enjoying Thor: The Mighty Avenger. I also regretted not stopping by Rob Ullman's Atom-Bomb Bikini table; as a sports fan, I like his pinup sweater girls. Unfortunately I root for completely the wrong hockey team (go Caps!), so it might have been an awkward encounter.

I also attended two panels. The first one was the "How We Judge" critic's panel. I didn't attend the one last year, so I was curious how this one would turn out. With seven panelists on board, it was quite a challenge to get everyone's viewpoint in, especially with only a few microphones. I tended to disagree vehemently with the more literary approach to comics criticism. Even when reading Girl-Wonder's bloggers, I sometimes zoned out when they included lengthy discussions on feminist or gender theories. I guess I tend to take a more narrow view of what constitutes canon – how a story fits comics as a whole, historically, yes, but more how it relates to that particular character/team/creator. I don't tend to factor in larger literary ideas. I don't think I'll ever be high brow enough for that crowd.

One topic that has cropped more recently is the newcomer/outsider reviews. With graphic novels becoming more and more mainstream, they're getting reviewed in different places, some by people with little or no knowledge of comics. Even for regular comics reviewers, it's nigh on impossible to read or cover everything. Reviewers have specialized and sub-specialized; even manga reviewers tend to stick to their niche. So when reviewers venture outside that niche, it's a risk. Chris Mautner had just reviewed Fantagraphics' release of Hagio Moto's collection A Drunken Dream in a tone that smacked a lot of regular manga readers the wrong way. Johanna Draper Carlson still sees the value in those newcomer reviews. I think there are ways to approach the subject that are respectful of both current and non-comics readers.

Near the end of the day, I went to the "Comics for Younger Readers" panel moderated by Johanna Draper Carlson. The early part of the panel talked the technical approach: how to work with educators and libraries, what constituted kid friendly art styles and so on, while the end included some reading recommendations. The panel split on how consciously they intended to marketing to kids. Aaron Reiner tended to just let the story come out, whereas the Metaphrog couple tended to strongly gear their books towards children. I loved hearing their perspective. Their experiences teaching comics in Scotland was fascinating. Libraries and schools there tend to be stuck in the "comics are for kids" mentality. Also they mentioned that teen books there are fairly patronizing and condescending. They saw more problems inherent in coddling children from difficult subjects. Americans tend to be protective of younger reading habits. But as was pointed out, it's much easier to flip through a graphic novel and find objectionable pictures than it is to sit and read say a 400 page Harry Potter novel.

Raina Telgemeier talked about the challenges of working with Scholastic. The book market was much closely tied in with age demographic, so if she's writing about middle school protagonists, she's writing for that market, no exceptions. She's had to adjust her new work from being set in high school, because of those publisher expectations. Both Raina & Metaphrog actually had positive things to say about working with some editorial control/oversight, rather than the indie comics model of "Oh, I'll write whatever I want to". There was a different challenge inherent in working within those strictures.

The convention was double booked with a medical conference. A wedding reception was also setting up for Saturday night, so there were all these glamorous gowns contrasted with our jeans and t-shirts. At least our group wasn't dressed in costumes.

Would I go back to SPX? On the double plus side, the con is local and inexpensive. The day passes make the con very attractive to newcomers, too. On the minus, small publishers don't always publish as quickly as others, so finding new material is sometimes a challenge. Changing the con to October may also help me, assuming Baltimore Con stays in August again.

On the whole, I enjoyed the experience and having the chance to hang around my friends and talk about different comics for a change.

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Small Press Expo

So Saturday I spent part of the day at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland.

I had all the best of intentions getting over there really early. Metro had other ideas. Everyone was on the Orange Line heading into town for the National Book Festival. Then I went in the opposite direction I needed on the Red Line. That was just the way my day was going.

The North Bethesda Marriott & Convention Center was very easy to find from the Metro. I actually followed a crew with their set of boxes and anime messenger bags. I suspected I was in the right place. Registration line was nearly non-existent an hour after they opened, the pluses of going to a smaller con.

One thing I was determined to do when I arrived was to find the Fanfare/Ponent Mon table. For those outside the manga reading sphere, they're a smaller publisher that prints "quieter" and arty manga in gorgeous editions. They've published a lot of Jiro Taniguchi, including "Walking Man", "A Distant Neighborhood", "Summit of the Gods" and "Quest for the Missing Girl". They've also published Hideo Azuma's autobiographical "Disappearance Diary". Having found said table, I had to decide what I wanted, a rather tough and daunting decision. I went with "Walking Man" and the two volumes of "Distant Neighborhood". Alas I couldn't afford the entire selection, as tempting as it was.

After my first tour through the exhibitor hall, I also managed to lose my badge/lanyard. I'm still not sure if it fell off in the dealers' room and what exactly. Thankfully the registration people took pity on me. It wasn't like it was a horribly expensive con, but still was a mite embarrassing.

I only attended one panel while I was there, the "Comic Strips: Online and in Print" panel, which featured R. Stevens, Kate Beaton, Erika Moen and Julia Wertz. They talked about the challenges of creating webcomics and then publishing them in print formats, any adjustments they made and how the audiences are different. They also addressed technological issues with RGB/CMYK conversions. They addressed the more basic issues of merchandising and "why publish it in hard format at all?" Moen & Stevens provided the most useful information in the panel, both technical and just outright enthusiasm. Moen published hers as a book because she loved books, not necessarily because her audience demanded it. She had compiled a collection over a three year period, so while she left most of her line art intact, she had gone in and corrected the colors and Photoshop errors. When discussing pirating issues, Stevens admitted one way he got around it was merchandising pixel socks, certainly a unique item in the Exhibitor Hall. And they were cute socks, I have to say. Kate Beaton was utterly mobbed at her table.

By going around the con with other people, I stopped at tables I wouldn't ordinarily notice. The "Let's Be Friends Again" guys had some hysterically funny (and very politically incorrect at times) cartoons. I might not have looked at Dresden Codak if a friend wasn't such a fan. I'd heard about Owly for Free Comic Book Day, but nothing prepared me for the cute little baby hats or Owly sketches. Super Spy's Matt Kindt sat at Top Shelf's table doing commissions in water colors, putting the finishing touches on a gorgeous Marvelman/Miracleman commission.

On my last tour of the exhibitors hall, I acquired the noirish "You Have Killed Me" by Jaime Rich & Joelle Jones from the Oni table and the Finder trade "King of Cats" from Carla "Speed" McNeil. I'd last seen her in 2005 when my writers group helped sponsor a graphic novel event at the local Barnes & Noble. That crowd would have been perfectly comfortable at SPX.

That comfort level is something I'm not sure I could ever manage. I'll be flat out honest. I am a mainstream comic book girl. I like my superheroes and my four color goodness. Small Press Expo catered to a very different crowd and a very different mindset. That said I was surprised how friendly and outgoing everyone was. I didn't feel odd or unusual as a girl.

What I appreciated was their enthusiasm for their work and the sheer variety out there. I liked seeing all the different formats from Dresden Codak's massive posters to the little "Sundays" books. Being so used to things in floppies or trades, it was nice to see comics imagined in other ways. On the whole, I enjoyed the experience and perhaps next year I'll try to spend more time there.

I do think you need to go to SPX willing to open your mind and take a few chances. See what strikes your fancy, whether art style or format or colors. There was something for nearly everyone.

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