I traveled to Washington D.C. this past weekend to attend the 2006 Small Press Expo. This was my first year attending so I can’t comment on how the new venue compares to the old venue in Bethesda, but the Marriott was fine and seemed to be an adequate space for the expo. It was run smoothly and there was nary a Wookie or Stormtrooper Elvis in attendance. SPX also has the least amount of offensive body odor out of all the conventions I’ve been to. So there’s that.

And here’s the first thing you need to know: everybody is either from Brooklyn or Portland. Especially Brooklyn, it’s crazy. I imagine Brooklyn as a place where mini-comics are sold in vending machines and Brian Wood lives in an ivory castle reigning as a good king and providing the hipster commonfolk with free Photoshop CS2 cracks.

Here’s a rundown of the convention through my eyes…

1. In the middle of one of Tony Millionaire’s signings a fan smuggled him a beer in the guise of a rolled up t-shirt. Millionaire didn’t pay much attention to the fan, but no sooner was the beer in his hand than he took off one of his boots to crack open the brewskie. Hey, can you blame the guy?
2. I spoke for a while with GB Tran, the Xeric-award-winning creator “Content.” It turns out GB and I are old acquaintances from about 7 years ago. We were two of the five guys that were fucking around with comic books back in Tucson, Arizona (small, small world). We were both surprised to see one another, and I remembered that I had seen early pages for Content – which would go on to win the Xeric – 7 years back at the University of Arizona. I felt like I had one of those Lost flashbacks, triggered by the sound of a flying plane — whooooooosh. Anyway, it was good to reconnect with ‘ol GB. And yes, he now lives in Brooklyn.

3. I ran into Toupydoops’ Kevin McShane, who had a nice set up complete with a Toupydoops animatic and a couple classy banners. It was good to see a familiar Los Angeles face. You should support his book, by the way.
4. I met Jamie S. Rich at the Oni Press booth. Jamie edited some fantastic comics at Oni and is now writing excellent romance stories in both prose and comics. I also met Matthew Loux, creator of the upcoming OGN “Sidescrollers.” Matthew was a super nice guy and, I believe, is a graduate from SVA. He has a fresh art style and is one to keep your eye on.
5. The Center for Cartoon Studies was well represented at the expo. There was a bunch of young students/cartoonists that are clearly getting shit done and peddling their wares. I haven’t had a chance to go through their comics yet, but one that sticks out in my mind was a mini called Cooler Than Jesus that had a striking pink over tan cover.
6. Greig Clutch, creator of the awesome Clutch McBastard mini-comics, had a table next to Alec Longstreth creator of the equally awesome Phase 7 comics. Alec is from Brooklyn; Greig is from Portland.
7. The only surly creator I met was a foreign guy who didn’t seem to care whether or not anybody was interested in his work. He mostly just sat at as his table like somebody had a gun to his head.
8. Jim Dougan and Danielle Corsetto, creators of the Crazy Papers comic-novella, are two of the nicest people that you’ll meet. Danielle was drawing quick sketches and Jim was handling the attendees like a pro. They’re book is great and they deserve all the nice words and reviews that they get. Search out Crazy Papers (available at Meltdown).
9. I was utterly shocked by the number of female creators and attendees at SPX. It made me happy. It’s unusual to see as many females as there are males at a convention for The Comick Bookes. I met Carla Speed McNeil, prolific comic veteran of the Finder series. I think I picked up as many mini-comics by females as I did males and that’s just… phenomenal.
10. Every time I saw Scott Morse he had a brush in his hand. The dude is a machine and seemingly never stops drawing. If there’s anybody that’s in it for the love of the game, it’s Mr. Scott Morse.
11. Not surprisingly, Paul Pope was the hit of the convention. While sitting outside I overheard both tables that were flanking me talking about him. To my right, a woman gushing to her friends, “Did you see him walking down the hall?! I totally want to have his babies.” To my left, a guy addressing his friends like he’s discussing Salinger, “If you read Pope’s new essay, you understand the profound influence that manga-ka had on the formative years of his creative process.” At one of Pope’s signings I saw a particularly serious fan monopolizing him with a stack of comics for him to sign. Super Fan delicately pulled one of Pope’s earlier comics out of a mylar sleeve and began offering a rehearsed critique of the material. Pope politely let him finish, gave him an affable smile, and said, “Eh, I was 21 when I created this. What the hell did I know?” Heh.

I’ll update the blog with more SPX goodness as I remember it. Right now I’m still on East Coast time and was up at 6:30 this morning. Anybody who knows me – and my teenage sleeping habits – knows that this is somewhat tragic. In closing, in all honesty, SPX is now my favorite convention. I always try to look at the industry with the eyes of love, and after attending SPX it’s really easy to do that.

Posted under From the Editor