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CONVENTION REPORT: SPX 2002 It’s now been 10 days since SPX ended, and I’ve almost got enough distance to put the entire event together in my head.
SPX, or The Small Press Expo, is held every year (terrorism permitting) in Bethesda, MD, and is the pre-eminent gathering of small- and self-publishers. Basically, everyone that’s in the back half of Diamond’s PREVIEWS catalogue, and everyone that can’t get in to said catalogue get together and sell their wares.
Joe Matt: Uh… What’s this song? Me: It’s Belle & Sebastian. It’s called I’m Waking Up To Us. Joe: Oh… Um, you know we’ve got some Chet Baker back here! I just gave the disc to Jason and… Me: Uh… that’s okay. Maybe after this disc. Suffice to say, we listened to no Chet Baker.
Speaking of convention organizers, online personality and reviewer Greg McElhatton (that’s pronounced Mackrel-Hat-On, apperantly according to a number of people I talked to this weekend) was head of the SPX steering committee this year, and did a pretty amazing job (as did everyone involved) of putting together an excellent, painless show. That non-stop grinning I refer to above, that’s as much the result of their hard work as it is the people I got to hang around with, so a round of applause goes their way. Particularly to Greg who was so run down by Sunday afternoon that he could barely stand…
 I
also met my long-time online friend (and former PopImage Editor) Brad Colins
who flew into the con from Australia. It’s always excellent meeting people
you’ve only known online, and Brad’s a great fucking guy. I only wish we
could’ve hung out more… ah, regrets… Anyhow, Brad if you’re reading, I really
am sorry if I embarrassed you at dinner Friday (and we’ll get to that in
a moment).
Once I’d introduced myself at the Cyberosia booth, I did a quick walk-around of the con floor, and I was really impressed with pretty much everything. This convention is generally filled with some of the most unique and hard-to-find material in the industry, and gazing on row-after-row of beautiful looking foreign books, and some gorgeously produced mini-comics, I could see that I hadn’t budgeted nearly enough money for purchases. Some of it would definitely have to come out of the alcohol fund…
Mini-comics genius Sean Bieri was also in attendance, and that was a really pleasant surprise as I hadn’t expected to see him. He had a couple of new comics since I had last seen him, as well as these funny little fake-wacky-packs for vegetarians…. I suppose you’d really have to see it for yourself. At any rate, JAPE, Bieri’s humour mini-comic, is pretty damned brilliant. You can order it directly from him, and because I’m into breaking fair use laws, I’ve reproduced one of the strips below without express written consent. Read, laugh, contact him at elefish@metrotimes.net to buy his work.
The Cyberosia table, where I actually spent most of my time (as they published My Book) was located right next to the Oni Press table. Although the head Oni fellows couldn’t make it out to the convention (something about being too old and enfeebled to make it to another comic convention this summer), their table was well-attended with creators like Jen Van Meter and Christine Norrie of the first HOPELESS SAVAGES mini-series, ARGOBOTS illustrator Mike Norton, and Neal Schaffer and Daniel Krall, the creative team for the new ONE PLUS ONE mini-series (although I should point out that writer Neal didn’t get there until Saturday, but we’re bending time a little bit here).
Jen and Christine were fabulous to hang out with, and when Jen ran off for a quick break, I got to be ‘replacement Jen’ for a little while. My aggressive sales technique (ah… retail) earned me a sale of the first HOPELESS SAVAGES TPB, and words of praise from Christine (“Wow, you should be behind the table at every convention.”) Of course, Jen eventually came back and although she was content to sit and talk for a little while (allowing me to continue to be replacement Jen), it was getting late in the day and I hadn’t made my way around the entire con yet… So I took my leave of the Oni fellows and headed over to…
I headed
over to Kris Dresen’s table next. Kris is the creator of MANYA and MAX
& LILY. She’s stopped by the Gays & Comics Forum a few times to
say hello, so I wanted to make a point of saying hello back. I’ve been
a fan of her work since… well, forever really, when I picked up a copy
of MANYA and the first There was more conning to be done, but I really needed a nap. An eight-and-a-half-hour drive from Toronto to Bethesda starting at 10pm the previous evening can really take it out of a guy. So I slept for an hour (and only an hour, thanks) and then made it back to the con floor. I ran into my friend Johanna Draper Carlson (of the website COMICS WORTH READING), Marc Deering (inker, former PI Staffer, and all around good guy), and Ed Mathews (the EIC of PopImage, and my gracious host for the convention). It’s at this point I’ll have to explain to you the concept of the Big Gay Dinner.
Having had
our fill of Mongolian food, we headed back to the convention bar, where
we were greeted by an absolute swarm of people. Actually, if I have one
gripe about this weekend, it’s the fact that the alcohol was really outrageous
overpriced. A gin & tonic cost me $8.40, which is in the neighborhood
of thirteen dollars, Canadian. Luckily, there were free drink passes floating
around, but unluckily it took me an $8 Gin & Tonic to find that out.
But enough grousing… I circulated amongst the crowd for quite a while,
saying hullo and how-do-you-do to all sorts of folks. I made a point of
having an intelligent conversation with Johanna, to make up for being
tired and uncommunicative earlier, and was handed a number of free drink
cards by the independent publisher’s best friend, Patrick Jodoin of Quebecor
Priting.
It’s at that point that I get really tired and head off to bed. This Journal’s on Page 4 and I haven’t even gotten to Saturday yet… I hope you’re still reading. :).
The wonderful thing about volunteering is that I got to personally sign in nearly 200 people to the convention. While that might not seem particularly special, I want to take this time to point out that the male to female ratio of folks I checked in was nearly even, and there were many different ethnicities and ages (from 3 months to probably 60 years old). It was really quite heartening to see the diversity that the show attracted, and day two of the convention continued my positive comics experience vibe.
I spent the rest of the day apologizing to Sally and Paul, talking to Chris Wharton more about the re-launched indy, taking in new mini-comics and full-sizes and what not, wandering the floor and enjoying myself. Here’s a few quick notes: One of the first people I ran into was Jose Vilarrubia, the photographer and artist responsible for work on VEILS and PROMETHEA and countless coloured pages for Marvel Comics. Jose is a fabulous human being, and was nice enough to show me more of his art from the upcoming Alan Moore projects VOICE OF THE FIRE and THE MIRROR OF LOVE. He's doing a brilliant combination of photography and digital imaging to make some incredible pieces for these books, to be published in 2003 by Top Shelf. Jose was actually sitting with one of Marvel's production fellows (I think his name was Chris) as well as Marvel Editor Andrew Lis, who made the trip to down to Bethesda with his wife Christine Norrie. Lis was proudly showing off the then-unreleased CAPTAIN AMERICA: RED WHITE AND BLUE HC which featured several off-kilter takes on Cap by some of the best that indy comics had to offer (many people have described Evan Dorkin's story as worth the price of admission on it's own). At any rate, Jose unfortunately couldn't stay at the convention very long, and it's too bad I only get to see him once or twice a year. He's a fabulously interesting person and we always have the most interesting conversations...
And then the con was over. It felt a little weird, after four-and-a-half-days of the San Diego Comic Convention to have people packing up their stuff and getting ready to head out after only two. In my quick survey of the con hall though, everyone commented on incredibly brisk sales, most matching or exceeding their sales at Chicago and San Diego, despite having less than half the time to do it in. That’s saying a hell of a lot for the show, and it reflects very well on the people who organized it.
We more-or-less immediately headed out to dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery, and our modest party of only 19 people was sat close together over four tables or so. Pretty much everyone from the Cyberosia-extended-family attended, and it’s at this point I’ll name them in the following photos. I apologize for not naming everyone before, but honestly there were a hell of a lot of you. :) Picture One: (l to r) Ed Mathews (PopImage), Unknown, Brad Colins (Revolving Hammer), "Old Scratch". Picture Two: (l to r) Unknown guy, Kristen Brown (Cyberosia), Scott Brown (Cyberosia), Andrew Wheeler (NinthArt), Antony Johnston (Rosemary's Backpack), Some Jackass, Phillip SomethingOrOther. Picture Three: (l to r) Kirsten (Drew Gilbert's Fiance), Some girl, David Gallaher, Some Guy, Some other Guy, Yet Another Girl, Drew Gilbert (Rosemary's Backpack). Picture Four: Mike Norton (Argobots) Mike Norton came and sat down with us (he also took all of the above photos, thanks Mike!). Apperantly his table had 19 people of their own, and he just wanted to get away for a while. I really like Mike, he’s really down to earth and just frighteningly talented… And forgiving, especially after I ragged him about some grey-tones last year… Heh. Ah well, hazards of having a big mouth I suppose. Still, run out and grab ARGOBOTS. The third issue has some especially brilliant art (I watched him draw much of it at the table all weekend). Following dinner were the Ignatz awards back at the hotel. I honestly didn’t care too terribly much about them going in, but they were really a fun little awards show. I won’t talk too much about them, they were much better covered elsewhere, but I will say that the nice Transvestite representing the coming re-launch of Factsheet Five made for an interesting person to sit next to. No one better to make snarky remarks with. :) Strangely enough, I actually picked up a comic book at the awards show. The first convention I ever attended was the San Diego Comic Con 1999 with Jimmie Robinson (I was colouring his series EVIL & MALICE at the time). Jimmie has been around the bay area doing comics forever, and so he sort of knew everyone at the convention. I was introduced to probably fifty people, while I was there, and I think the only one I actually rememebered was Derek Kirk. Heh. Anyway, one of those people actually rememebered ME, and her name is Lark Pien, who was actually up for an Ignatz for her LONG TAIL KITTY book. She gave me a copy of the newest, and she's incredibly cool and nice (as I didn't immediately rememeber her). Her comic was great too, actually, very subversively childlike with great art... Comics abound. You can find out more about Lark's work at http://www.qdcomic.com/artists/pien.htm.
There's nothing quite so embarrassing as hanging around a party after you've said goodbye. To that end, Sunday I ditched everyone else and hung around new people I hadn't spent that much time with this weekend. Here's to having different groups of friends! After a short walk up to the picnic (and I should point out that the brits were whining about said short walk), we wound up at the park and softball diamond. The Diamond Comics Team, arch-rivals of the small press team (and try not to think about that too long…) were warming up and they were actually quite good. I predicted early that the Small Pressers would get clobbered (as I have no heart) and was very pleased to hear that they only got beaten 3 to 2… Lunch time (a delicious bit of shredded meat, and since traditionally it's been a pig roast I'll assume it's pork…) was spent with a few fab people. First there was Carla Speed McNeil (who I mentioned about 2 days ago now). She regaled us with a sort of terrifying story of a misappropriation of FINDER, and I seriously hope she has intimidating lawyer friends. Help her may-not-exist-yet legal fund by buying copies of FINDER (that url again is http://www.lightspeedpress.com).
Actually,
I almost feel sort of bad about objectifying these men like this, as they're
both incredibly decent people… I was wearing my Peanutbutter & Jeremy
Shirt in the lobby of the hotel before we left, and all of these Alternative
Comics types were like… staring at me. It was odd. Like "Look, he's
wearing… the shirt!". I'm not generally a self-concious Parker is a nice guy too. So anyway, Speed left to take Parker to the airport (and you can find out more about that adventure at Parker's SPX Report), and I ran into my friend Sean Bieri again at exactly the same time. Aside from putting out my favorite mini-comics (mentioned above!), he was also decked out in a CINDERALLA T-Shirt (you've never heard of Junko Mizuno? Shame on you.). Sean is now officially super-cool. So we sat and I flipped through his sketchbook and the entire Michigan comics crew passed around the loot that they had acquired at the show. The Michigan types are… frick'n awesome, honestly. There's Matt Feazel, who's sort of like the King Of Mini-Comics, as far as I'm concerned; Rachel Hartman, who's AMY UNBOUNDED mini's successfully made the transition to a full-size trade paperback this year; Suzanne Bauman, who's work (for me) sort of defies description in it's approach towards subject matter and format; and a bunch of people I know I'm forgetting (and I do feel bad about that). There were actually quite a few very good mini-comics being passed around, but of course I don't remember anything about any of them… Gah. Very informational report, eh?
- Christopher Butcher For More On The Convention, read these Con Reports:
And For More Photos, view these photo archives:
Thanks to Ed, Sally, Mike, and Marc (and Jeff Parker) for the use of their pictures in the report, it really helps to have pictures to explain what the hell I'm talking about.
|
Standing
out among the people I ran into on Friday, Carla Speed McNeil, the lovely
and talented creator of FINDER was setting up her booth as I stopped by
to say hello. There seemed to be a moment of trepedation as she decided
whether or not to lay out all four of her Eisner nominations for this
year (very-much deserved, by the way). Luckily, she did, and here's to
hoping the official stamp of quality drew in a few more readers. Speaking
of "drawing people in", Speed was responsible for all of the
artwork on this year's Convention Badges. They looked realy fabulous,
and dropping them in the text here really wouldn't do them justice, so
Jason
Shiga is a very weird guy. That said, I love the hell out of his work.
He’s got sort of an idiot-savant thing going, and his sense of pacing
is really brilliant. I previously loved his Xeric-winning self-published
DOUBLE HAPPINESS, and was pleased to see his FLEEP book had made it out
for SPX. It involves a theoretical math problem, current events, and a
man drinking his own urine… Well, it’s better than it sounds. MUCH better,
actually, and you should strongly consider picking it up when it eventually
hits (better) comic stores everywhere… If yours isn't one of the better
stores, visit 
EPOXY
is probably the best comic you aren’t reading. It’s a one man anthology
by John Pham, and the gorgeous third issue is going to be solicited through
Diamond any day now. I bought everything I could from John (except for
a really nice-but-too-rich-for-my-blood garage kit) in San Diego, and
instead decided to do a short interview, harangued him for a sketch in
my sketchbook, and just shot the shit for a while. I really love EPOXY,
and I recommend it un-reservedly to anyone reading this. Head over to
Jeff
Mason and Alternative Comics. I actually meant to sit down and have a
chat with Jeff about the possible re-launch of INDY magazine, when he
immediately started screaming “Chris Wharton!” at me as soon as the words
left my lips. Apperantly, he was screaming FOR Chris Wharton, who’s the
new editor of Indy Magazine, which is going to be re-launched as an online
venture starting in February. Chris comes over and introduces himself,
and he listens to me babble tiredly about my ideas, managing to seem genuinely
interested. He’s a very cool guy, actually, and I’m looking forward to
the new venture. I want to inundate him and Jeff with a few more ideas
soon, but I was in CON MODE by this point and sort of eager to meet everyone
as quickly as possible.
I
stopped by and said hi to Tim Fish and Jay Laird, who’re regulars
on a the Gays & Comics Forum (which I co-moderate), as well
as their friend and table-mate David Ortega. Tim is the writer/artist
of CAVALCADE OF BOYS, a really great comic book about ‘the gay life’,
and 
MAX
& LILY book, WHATEVER THEY ARE at a convention on a whim when I was
younger. Kris had a new MANYA out and a new MAX & LILY mini-comic,
so I picked up both and grabbed a very, very cool sketch to boot. I’ve
already lent MANYA to a friend of mine to read since I’ve been back from
the convention, and she loved it. She’s been reading a lot of comics
lately, mostly Tomine and Clowes, and been adoring them too, but MANYA
seems to have hit the nail on the head. I think next time she has a birthday,
she’s getting a complete set… Let that be a lesson to you guys (and girl-liking
girls), MANYA is loved by women… and Kris Dresen isn’t too shabby herself
(not that I’d ever notice such a thing, being a gentleman, of course)…
Ahem. This whole paragraph is going to land me in trouble, isn’t it? Ah
well, I’ll go out with a bang and say that you should visit 
You
see, there are gay people in the comic book industry. Yes, I know, I didn’t
believe it at first myself, back when I’d only been exposed to WIZARD
magazine, but they’re here & queer and we all went out to dinner.
Well, all of us in attendence, at any rate. The always fabulous Aman Chaudhary,
he of FRIGHTENING CURVES and AMAN ABOUT TOWN fame and Ed Mathews, he of
KISSING STRAIGHT BOYS fame put the evening together. Of course, by the
time they put the evening together, it was a party of 46 people attending.
Those gays and their parties… Anyhow, we set off for the Mongolian Barbecue
exactly on time, despite the fact that some homosexuals who shall remain
unnamed were late by at least 15 minutes, and were in a pissy mood
about it for the rest of the evening… That’s alright Wheeler, I still
love you.
Life
is good, sometimes… and then you spot Bob Schreck talking to Aman and
Ed and the rest of your friends. Bob Schreck who you’ve sort of looked
up for a little while now and Bob Schreck who even your non-industry-friend-Scott
got to meet in San Diego and you didn’t... So I went over and hung out.
I mean, what would you do? Bob’s a helluva a guy, and a fun person to
drink with (he also drinks the girly-drinks as I do), and I’m glad I got
to meet him. Of course, where we were standing by the bar was getting
a bit full of people and I was getting jostled fairly regularly, so I
excused myself and headed further away where there were chairs and tables.
It’s
at this point I completely ignored Sally Pickles and Paul Hanna, who I’ve
known online for ages. In my defense, I blame it on the drink. Of course,
the next day I’m soundly chastised for this behaviour (deservedly so)
and spend the rest of the weekend apologizing). 
Saturday
is the big day at the convention as it’s the last day there’s a dealer’s
room open. Of course, I’m so tired from the drive and the drink the night
before, I end up sleeping in just long enough to be five minutes late
for my Friday volunteer shift… at 1pm… Gah. Karon doesn’t seem to mind
though, and I am immediately sat down in front of a cashbox with several
thousand dollars. It’s nice to know that despite being renowned as something
of a dick, I’m a trustworthy dick at the very least.
I’ve
never had three hours pass by so quickly. Three cheers to the lovely Tricia
Ellis (of the Warren Ellis Forum, no relation) and David Gallaher (ha-ha,
Ed kissed you) for helping it breeze by.
I
stopped by the MEATHAUS (meat-house) table and sort of said hello to the
vast assemblage of brilliant artists and writers there. Among them, which
surprised me, was Becky Cloonan. Becky is a brilliant illustrator and
I eat up her work like candy. She just finished a short story in REVOLVING
HAMMER for Cyberosia, MEATHAUS #6 for Meathaus, and is illustrating JENNIE
ONE for AiT/PlanetLar in January. She gave me all of her recent mini-comics/zines,
up to and including actually putting one together and stapling it for
me… They’re all really quite great (although SOMETHING PERFECT is still
my favorite). Hit up her web-site at 
I
ran into Ted Naifeh, who’s just finished COURTNEY CRUMRIN AND THE NIGHT
THINGS for Oni, and is following it up with a sequel as well as HOW LOATHSOME
with Tristan Crane for NBM Publishing. He gave me a very cool preview
booklet for the series, and you can find the contents of it up at 
Perhaps
the only real new find at the Expo, for me, was a knew Xeric-award
winning book called LUMAKICK by Richard Hahn. I was walking by his table
and drawn in by his very pretty watercolour covers and art pieces. The
first issue of his comic is due out this winter, and having it currently
in my hot little hands I’m very impressed with it. It’s a collection of
surreal short-stories, loosely tired together by the fact that they may
or may not be dreams of the dreamer depicted in the comics, or of Richard
himself. They’re all illustrated in a meticulous single-line-width style
that reminds me more of technical illustrations than comics, but in a
good way. These are interspersed with some very funny single-page
gag strips entitled CLEMENZA & TESSIO. Honestly, the entire package
is very, very solid. I’m a bit annoyed that it’s $5, but it’s 41 pages
and it’s really quite nice. Worth your money when it shows up in PREVIEWS
in a month or two.
Saturday
sort of lazily rolled into Sunday, with too little sleep and too much
to do. Saying goodbyes, picking up my clothes which were strewn about
the hotel room, smartly packing my SPX purchases into the additional bag
I brought with me, that sort of a thing… I was under the impression all
weekend that we were leaving the convention at around noon for the long
drive back to Toronto, missing out on all the fun third-day activities
like the picnic and softball and party and whatnot. I made a point of
saying all of my goodbyes Saturday night then, and they were sort of sad
goodbyes too. SPX is traditionally the last convention of "the season"
(which now starts in January, thanks to APE) so these are people you likely
won't see for another year (or in the case of my Australian friend, several
years). So, Saturday night was about the hugs and the waves and the kind
words, and Sunday morning was about finding out that the drivers changed
their minds and we could stay til 3 or 4.
Speaking
of attractive bits of man, Dean Haspiel was once again shirtless at this
convention. We were joking about this across a number of forums, and I
suppose Heidi Macdonald cornered him about it in an interview. You can
find the interview over at The Pulse (and it really is quite funny).
type,
but having James Kolchaka walk across a room towards you and then immediately
back just to see if you're wearing his shirt, that's kind of strange.
Kind of. But then I sat down next to Deano and he was all "You know,
that's a cool look, I really dig that" with the hat/shirt/sunglasses
combo. So, vain as I am, Dean became my sort of hero for the morning…
and here I am posting shirtless pictures of him. Maybe this is idol worship?
Maybe it isn't embarrassing the hell out of him? Who can say, really.
Nevertheless, Dean Haspiel is a catch, ladies…
So
we were sitting on the grass, in the sunshine reading comics and eating
tasty sandwiches, and damned if that isn't the way that all conventions
should end. And of course, it did have to end. Peter and Marcel came and
"got me", it was time to go home. So I said goodbyes (again),
got in our mini-van (now filled from floor to ceiling with comics that
Peter brought back to sell at the Beguiling), and two passengers lighter
(we left Jason and Joe Matt there… it was probably for the best). With
David Bowie's THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST playing on the stereo,
we took our leave of SPX 2002, peaceful and content.
