Comicsgirl

Posts Tagged ‘spx’

I’m currently “borrowing” an Internet connection and probably won’t be back to posting mode until Wednesday. But by then, I hope to have read my haul of comics and have my photos edited to as good as they will get.

Small Press Expo was a ton of fun. I hope all the exhibitors did well and all the attendees had a good time. It’s definitely like a big party. I wish SPX could go on forever (well, not really. It’s exhausting, but in the best way).

Oh, I would like to applaud Indigo Ink of Columbia, Md., for totally coming through for Small Press Expo. The story is probably too complicated to recount, but they were the unsung heroes of the show and went above and beyond. If you have things to print, check them out.

I got a little bit of a later start today since I lingered over brunch with friends, so I’ve only been here about an hour. It’s noticeably less crowded today, but it’s still buzzing with people. Also noticing that plenty of people are beginning to look tired — the collections of people sitting on the floor in the lobby has grown considerably. I have no issue with that — some of my favorite memories from last year is when I decided just to sit and read comics for an hour.

I am out of money. I am even out of money that I don’t actually have. But I am happy with my purchase. It would certainly be fun to buy more, but after MoCCA this year, I’ve been pretty well set for minicomics.

I like the diversity of the crowd — lots of women, both in terms of attendees and exhibitors. There is also a good amount of children, which I also think is great. Yeah, we’ve been joking all weekend about a certain demographic of people who comes to SPX (we were developing an SPX bingo … out of love, of course, out of love) but there is also a good number of people who don’t fit into that. I think that’s great.

This certainly is the friendliest show. I loved MoCCA and I’ll go again, but I think this is more fun.

I have a Picasa album of some OK photos from the show. I have a cheap little camera that doesn’t know what to do. I’ll be able to edit them a bit more on another computer. I just wanted to show some sights, including the volunteers who’ve been working hard all weekend.

It does seem like this show’s been really well attended so far this year. There aren’t any hard numbers for comparison, but I think it does seem that the move to Saturday/Sunday was a good one.

We are in the last couple of hours so I’m not sure if I’ll have another update, except for reviews. But I think everyone can agree that it’s been great. I’m sorry if you missed it.

I bailed at about 5 p.m., deciding to head back home to Arlington instead of staying with Tim in the hotel. That would’ve been fun but I was (and am) very tired. So I’m missing the Ignatz, which I’m fine with.

I did sit in most of the panel on YA and children’s comics. Some interesting comments, especially about how traditional book publishers know how to get their books shelved where kids can actually get to them (in other words, in the children’s department of a bookstore) and comic publishers don’t. (This was part of the reported problems with the Minx books.) Also that most comic publishers put “all ages” on books aimed toward, well, all ages, which includes children. Traditional book publishers know about age groups.

I thought all of that was interesting, that publishers that usually work in prose are better at getting comics into the hands of kids than comic book publishers are.

But the general consensus was that kids like comics. I’m waiting for the day when we start reading articles with headlines like “Comics: They’re not just for adults anymore.”

It remained very crowded throughout the day, which is good for the show but bad for browsing. I spent my allotment of money pretty quickly though (I have a few dollars left for minicomics). All in all, it was a great — if exhausting — day.

Tomorrow, I will bring my correct USB cable and post some photos.

It’s impressively crowded. Who knew this many people cared this much about comics?

I think it’s great, though, although it does make it a little harder to see everything. I have, though, managed to spend most of my money already.

Something I’ve noticed is that there seems to be a lot more fantasy-oriented comics here this year. The indie comics scene has been dominated by a lot of autobiographical stuff for a long time, and certainly, that’s still present, but I’m glad to see people branching out with the sorts of stories they’re telling.

I will be glad when the crowd thins out a little. We’re probably at the peak of the crowd for today.

I would love to post a photo to illustrate the awesomeness of Small Press Expo, but I forgot the cord for my camera. Or well, not so much forgot but brought the wrong one, and attempts to buy a new one have not been successful.

But there will be photos. Eventually.

First, I want to applaud the volunteer staff. I helped with registration last night and it’s great to see other people devoting their Friday night to this show. The hall opened at 7 a.m. this morning for exhibitors and volunteers were there (not me, though). I think attendees may forget that it does take people to run this show — it’s truly a labor of love for everyone. If you see a volunteer, tell them thank you for me.

(And also, volunteering is just excellent fun, which I think is reason enough to do it.)

So far, the place seems pretty crowded and we’re only about an hour in. I think the switch to the Saturday/Sunday schedule was probably a good one.

I’ve only walked the floor once (haven’t bought anything yet) but there is a lot of cool stuff here so far. I like the diversity of what I’ve seen.

I’ll report more later, especially after purchases have been made. And maybe I’ll solve that whole camera issue …

I reserve the right for this to all spectacularly fall apart, of course.

Starting tomorrow night, follow me on my Twitter account if you want up-to-the-moment reports on Small Press Expo. Or just wait until they all show up here through Loud Twitter at midnight each day.

I will also have a laptop in tow and hope to utilize the hotel’s wifi (of course, mind you, I’m not exactly sure how that’s going to work out. We’ll see. Like I said — these plans could all fall apart) and post useful, longer bits, perhaps with photos.

At this point, I at least have the Twitter thing down.

Anyway, it will be fun and I look forward to it.

Especially now that this has been taken care of (I have no explanation beyond “It’s all Dan’s fault.” Of course, to me, the answer to the question “Do you want to present a RoboPanda to Neil Gaiman?” is always “yes”), I can now focus on Small Press Expo.

I will likely be there the entire weekend, a guest of my good friend Tim Lantz (and yes, he knows his work isn’t quite what you see from a lot of exhibitors at SPX). I would love it if you stop by and say hi.

I have a few plans for the weekend in terms of blogging, but we’ll see what I can actually get together between now and then.

I will likely attend the Children’s and YA Comic Books panel on Saturday at 3:30 (which overlaps with the Brian Lee O’Malley presentation, sadly). I may attend a few other things as the mood strikes me.

I hope to see you there. I encourage you to be there if you’re anywhere within driving/train distance. It’s always a good time.