SPX 2008

Monday, October 06, 2008

The Small Press Expo came and went and all I have to show for it is a stack of comics. Before I get to my favorite books of the show, a couple of observations:

1) Big crowd this year. Could hardly move down the aisles at times.
2) Everyone I talked to seemed to be up from last year. It's hard, economy's slowing down, and wallets are tight but I guess a $2-mini with substance is a better buy than a $3.50 supes book that's part 1 of 6.
3) Kramer's Ergot #7...I've been pushing my library to get it even though it'll be a pain to stock and would mean they'd probably have to pass on five other graphic novels. After seeing the preview book I'm OK with passing, for now. Whereas some stories really took advantage of the 16x21 format, a good chunk of the stories seemed to just be regular 'ole comics with more panels on a page. I'm sure the book is going to be fantastic but times are rough and I wasn't wowed with what I saw.
5) I got to see the mock-up of Matt Dembicki's Trickster anthology. Gorgeous book, 24 stories, and a proposed $15 price-point. Now there's an anthology I can get behind.
4) Restaurant choices in "Bethesda North" really, really suck. This year we had a pre-Ignatz party in Plastic Farm's room complete with pizza and many cases of beer. Much better than roaming the White Flint strip-malls.

Ok comics!

Best in show seems to be Nate Powell's Swallow Me Whole. I may be a bit biased here (I'm working with Nate on a Sam Cooke graphic novel) but it's gorgeous, a fantastic read, and it did win the Ignatz for Outstanding Debut book so I'm not alone with this one.

I think outstanding design goes to Kelli Nelson's Iblis. A full-color mini with a beautiful silk screened cover and stitched with a couple of bolts.

Best value goes to SCAD's Sequential Art Anthology 2008. $5 for 200-pages of great comics - take that, manga!

Outstanding mini goes to Joshua W. Cotter's March Hare 8. Between this mini, his Project: Romantic cartoons, and Skyscraper's of the Midwest Joshua's becoming one of my favorite cartoonists in comics. Speaking of Skyscraper's of the Midwest, AdHouse had the $20 hardcover collection for sale at SPX. I was tempted to buy it even though I have all the issues. I ultimately passed because, you know, economy.

Anyway, I also got...

Asshole #2
The Pirates of Coney Island #6
Plastic Farm: Fertilizer
Plastic Farm #13
The Wonders of Science
Warrior 27 Summer '06
jobnik! Collected edition
Infandum! Ad Infinitum
Infandum! #3
Pirates of Mars
Poison the Cure #1 and #2
Pixu
Satori
The Last Island
The Abstract
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less #1 and #2
Mugged by the Gods
Discovered 2007
Blar
Fluke #6
Hell City II and Die, Pumpkin, Die ashcans

Some I paid for, some were gifted to me, some were comped to anyone who wanted one, but I'll be reading them all over the next couple of weeks.

Labels: comics, spx