Memo to myself: remember the name “White Plain.” That’s the subway stop to get off at that leads to the Small Press Expo, on the Red line from Union Station. Even though I came to the show last year, I forgot where to get off at, and I had to stare at the subway map for a few minutes before narrowing it down from “I’ve got no friggin’ idea” to “It’s either this one or that one.” I still miss the Holiday Inn on Wisconsin Avenue. That rickety spiral staircase… the ballroom… all the great restaurants. The new location, the Marriott, is terrific, though, and much, much closer to the subway – although the choice of restaurants in the area isn’t as great. What can you do…

This year I left the recorder home. No more scrambling around like a lunatic for interviews. It’s back to an overall report and reviews for me. I discovered quite a few webcomics collections this year, which is nice. Something about reading comics online is still off-putting for me. Not that I’m incapable of doing it, but it’s still a format that takes some getting used to, and I think the strip format may help in that regard. The trades I bought all had either strips or single-page formats. Taking online comics in small bites suits me for now – and of course, reading them in big volumes.

Most of my usual friends were there, including one of my favorite comics couples – Paul Sizer and Jane Irwin. I like talking about their comics, not just because they’re my friends, but because they are both immensely talented and savvy comics creators. If I never met them, I’d still promote the hell out of them because their books are that good. Believe it. Readers of this blog know from Moped Army, but he also does Little White Mouse (which I did a column about when I interviewed him years ago) and the upcoming BPM, a GN about New York nightlife. I got to read an early draft of the script, months ago, and here he showed me some of the inked and colored pages, and they look dynamite. He’s integrated his art with original photographs of the New York streets that he took when he was here over a year ago and the effect is wonderful. Can’t wait to see the finished product.

Jane, meanwhile, is the creator of the Vogelein series of books, including the new one, Old Ghosts, which came out this year. Once again, I got to see a preview last year, so I had an idea of what to expect, but the finished product is even better. We hadn’t seen each other in quite awhile, so at one point we went out for pizza and had lunch on the outdoor terrace across the hall from the exhibition room. (I can’t emphasize enough what a wonderful luxury this is, especially to have it so nearby!) We talked, among many other things, about the new book, and at one point I did kinda wish I could’ve recorded this, because Jane is so insightful and wise, but it’s alright. I wasn’t interested in capturing the conversation for posterity.

To bring this back on topic for a moment: Why do black creators generally seem less interested in shows like these? When I go to the more commercial shows like the New York Comic-Con or San Diego or whatever, you see plenty of brothers and sisters both behind the tables and roaming the floors. When I go to indy shows like SPX, or MOCCA or SPACE or APE, we’re much fewer in number (ECBACC and Black Age @ Chicago being the exceptions, naturally). Why is that? Do we feel more comfortable being small fish amidst a sea of Marvel/DC detritus, smuggled away in Artists Alley? And if so, why? I know from the small press books by black creators I’ve seen that a number (not all) tend to aspire to capture that Marvel/DC audience, and it shows in the subject matter and art styles. If that’s the case, then the commercial cons might be better suited for them, but if that is the case, then one might find oneself wondering why there isn’t greater diversity of genre in the black small press. There are some immensely impressive black indy comics in the action-adventure/sci-fi/fantasy mode, but at the same time I’d hate to think that people like Steven Walters and Masheka Wood and Spike and Felipe Smith are anomalies.

Either way, there’s no reason why the black small press should shy away from SPX and shows like it. I can say with authority that these shows did so very much to boost my confidence as a creator, primarily by being around other creators and learning from them. It’s something to think about.

Anyway, after the show was dinner at the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet down the street: me, Jane and Paul, Pam Bliss, Denise Sudell, Jen Hachigan, Suzanne Baumann, Carla Speed McNeil and Lee Atchison from Sequential Tart (which is where I know most of these people to begin with). Then it was on to the Ignatz Awards, where among the highlights included a guy in a gorilla suit accepting an award and Perry Bible Fellowship’s Nicholas Gurewitch attempting to translate the gorilla’s speech. You had to be there.

Overnight at Denise’s where her three cats stirred up a brand new allergy I never knew I had before! Actually, I had exhibited signs of it before, including the last time I was at Denise’s, but I wasn’t entirely sure it was for real. It’s for real. Somehow, I have developed an allergy to cats late in life – which really sucks because I love cats! Still, Denise made me feel at home like she always does. That’s why I love her.

Final good-byes the next day at the hotel and it’s back home again we go. It’s SPX. After all these years, it remains the high point on my con tour.

Reviews to follow.