Sneaky Simon's Cat.

Check out the new print collection of Simon's Cat!

Sammy!

(Spotted on an air pump at Wawa, Baltimore Pike, Clifton Heights, PA.)

SPX 2009 Haul

It's a good thing that I brought a nearly-empty suitcase to this year's Small Press Expo over the weekend. Otherwise it would have been very difficult to cart my haul back up the coast!

If you followed my Twitter stream, you'll know that I had an absolutely fabulous time at SPX 09. I got to meet some cartoonists for the first time, caught up with old buddies, had a great volunteer shift (Michael, you are a most excellent volunteer coordinator!), ate a falafel the length of my forearm, and had a heavenly eggel sandwich. Saw the Ignatz Awards on Saturday night, and two really good panels on Sunday: "Source-Based Comics" and "Comics and Community". I also lounged around and slept in a bed that was 36 square feet of awesome.

The only thing I regret about the weekend is that I didn't socialize a bit more on Saturday night, but I wasn't up for the Karaoke Karavan trip. It would have been nice to talk to people off of the convention floor. Oh well. Guess I still need to get over that social awkwardness and learn to say "hi" more.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of photos because it was difficult enough balancing a bag full of comics while navigating the packed exhibition hall. Also forgot to take a picture of the 36 sq. ft. of awesome bed. (Did I mention it came with six pillows and huge fluffy comforter, not one of those gross, heavy old-style spreads?)

Here's my list of freebies and purchases from the weekend. After totaling it up, I realized that the final cost was much less what some of my friends spend on a fancy-schmancy dinner, and certainly less than what some people drop on action figures and toys at CCI. Plus, this is money I feel great spending because it supports a medium I really enjoy, and know that the creators spend hours and hours, days, weeks, years on their projects. Somehow I derive more satisfaction from dropping $3 on a minicomic than I do a slick floppy from Marvel/DC.

Still, it's going to be sandwiches, a box of granola bars stuffed in the desk, and water for work lunches the next month.

Look for reviews in the upcoming weeks.

• Masterpiece Comics / R. Sikoryak
• You'll Never Know * Book One: A Good and Decent Man / C. Tyler
• Sick: A compilation zine on physical illness
• Always Comix 5: The EVIL Issue
• Neptune / Aron Nels Steinke
• Schrodinger's Cat "Fortune Teller" style comic
• You Have Killed Me / Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones
• The Pie Project: A super scientific experiment about cool people and pie
• Katrina Came Calling: A Gulf Coast Deployment / Josh Neufeld
• Map of My Heart / John Porcellino
• King-Cat Comics and Stories #70
• My Brain Hurts Volume Two / Liz Baillie
• Shelter: A Trees & Hills Anthology
• Seeds: A Trees & Hills Anthology
• Outbound 1: The Science Fiction Comics Anthology
• Inkdick #7 and #8 / Pranas T. Naujokaitis
• Buzz #3 / Corine Mucha
• American, Eh? / Heather Bryant
• Welcome to the Dahl House / Ken Dahl
• Hey Pais: Cat-erion Collection & The Best Thing in the World
• Ten Thousand Things to Do #5 / Jesse Reklaw
• Sweetwater is Not an Asshole Tribute Book
• Biography: SCAD Sequential Art Anthology 2009
• Papercutter #11
• What Makes a Man Dress Up Like a Bat? (Anthology)
• Kevin Days a Week - Year Two / Kevin Burkhalter
• WIZZYWIG V1 and V2 / Ed Piskor
• Pinstriped Bloodbath: An Anthology of Gangland Violence by Chicago Cartoonists
• Breathers Book Four / Justin Madson
• So... Buttons #1 and #2 / Jonathan Baylis
• Toupydoops #6 / CJ Julian & Kevin McShane
• The Legettes Sneak Peak
• North: A Graphic Guide to Pittsburgh's North Side
• Jobnik #7 / Miriam Libicki
• Inkstains Sampler from the School of Visual Arts
• SCAD Sequential Art Student Sampler V. 1
• Mutant: A Funny Book

Hey kids, COMICS! SPX 2009 is coming!

If you’re anywhere along the Northeast Corridor, or within a couple hours driving distance from Washington DC, I urge you to check out the Small Press Expo 2009 in a few weeks.

Basic info:

Where: Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, North Bethesda MD (Easily reachable via the Metro Red Line to the White Flint station, followed by a walk across the street.)

When: Saturday, September 26, 11am-7pm and Sunday, September 27, 12noon-6pm

Cost: One day admission $10 / Full weekend admission $15 (In the words of Alfred E. Neuman, CHEAP!!)

What: Hundreds of small press and independent cartoonists (NO Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, etc.) and publishers hawking their work! Interesting panels and Q&A sessions with important indie creators! The Ignatz Awards! Check out the amazing Exhibitor List!

This will be my third SPX, and my first as a volunteer. I always leave the SPX poorer but with a heavy load of all sorts of sequential art, from photocopied minis and self-published collections to books from the major indies that haven’t hit the stores yet. It’s a very friendly event with about 3000 attendees in a nice, air conditioned hotel hospitable to creative types with nerdy eyeglass frames and inky fingers.


(Poster by Gahan Wilson, a featured artist at SPX 2009.)

"I'm very scared for this world"

Watch it and pass it on. We can't afford to wait.

Signs of the failing economy

Along Baltimore Avenue in Springfield (Delaware County, PA), there are many abandoned car dealerships. Driving past one this morning, I noticed that someone had left an interesting message inside the empty showroom.



Look a little closer...