2012 Small Press Expo (SPX) - Day 1

I arrived at 11:30, the show opened at 11. I spent my first hour-and-a-half wandering the show floor. I was very tentative at first when it came to approaching tables. Eventually I got over my skittishness and started talking to creators.

I didn't have any extremely memorable conversations but I did see some things I liked. I focused on what was on the tables. Many creators looked up but didn't try to say anything to me unless I made eye contact with them. Others were a little more forward. Some gave me a look that made me feel that I wasn't the sort of person with whom they wanted to interact.

I stopped by Jesse Lonergan's table. He had a big stack of original art. It was all part of his dance-themed sketch-a-day project: Dancer a Day. Most of the characters in the sketches were from Marvel and DC comics. He was selling them for $20 a piece. I considered buying one but in the end decided not to. I also decided not to tell him what I thought of his graphic novel, Flower and Fade, that I bought from him last year at SPX. I wasn't real wild about it, in large part because I had a hard time relating to either of the primary characters in the story.

I wanted to go to a panel at 1 PM but I missed the beginning and it was standing room only by the time I got there. Instead I found a seat in the hallway outside the panel room and took stock of what I saw on the show floor and what I wanted to buy. After roughly 20 minutes I went back to the show floor, looked around some more and bought some stuff.

Herman the Manatee Vol. 1 (Gets Hit by a Boat) by Jason Viola - I considered buying the latest volume (Herman the Manatee Has Had Enough) but decided to start at the beginning instead.

Jay's Brain by Jason Viola - anthropomorphic brain = genius idea

Leftovers (1,2,3) by Jason Pittman and Shelly Briggs - Sounded like a neat concept, I liked the look of it, and the price ($8 for the set) didn't seem unreasonable

The Exodus by Jason Pittman - free with the purchase of the Leftovers set

Bee Sting by Matthew D. Smith and Jeremy Massie - Redneck noir, or at least that's the way it was described to me by one of the creators.

Maggie the Mechanic by Jamie Hernandez - I've heard so much about Love and Rockets over the years and finally decided I had to give it a try. It was a toss up between this collection and Heartbreak Soup. I considered buying both but settled on just this one, for now.

In addition to buying stuff I also attended and recorded three panels. I have yet to check the recording to see how they have come out. Provided that they are for the most part intact I will post them here in the near future.

Institution Building and Comics with (l-r) Cheryl Kaminsky, Caitlin McGurk, Tom Hart, Sara Duke, and Tom Spurgeon (moderator)

Drawing Out Childhood - Summoning Childhood Experience with (l-r) MariNoami, Derf Backderf, John Porcellino, Julia Wertz, and Mike Dawson (moderator)

Comics as Children's Literature with (l-r) Renée French, Mark Newgarden, Brian Ralph, Françoise Mouly, and Philip Nel (moderator)