DC Conspiracy’s SPX plans

I was able to check in with members of the co-op DC Conspiracy about their SPX plans - the biggest of which is debuting the free newspaper tabloid comic Magic Bullet #3.

 

Carolyn Belefski says Curls Studio will be at SPX - Table F3B.

 

CDC: Can you tell us a little about your books that you'll have with you at SPX?

 

CB: Curls Studio will have some of the latest Curls comic strips and new prints. In addition, we will have our comic books Kid Roxy, Black Magic Tales, and The Legettes available for purchase. We have a Black Magic Tales story in the free issue of Magic Bullet #3, which will be premiering at SPX and I will be doing sketch commissions.

 

CDC: You've attended the Small Press Expo in the past - do you have any thoughts about your experience?

 

CB: I've been attending SXP since 2004 and Curls Studio has been exhibiting since 2006. SPX is always a great gathering of folks interested in discovering new stories. There are books available at SPX that you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. Some are rare, some are limited edition, and others are so fringe that they may not be available at mainstream bookstores. The beauty of SPX is exploring the show floor and finding books that interest you. SPX shows people there's a comic out there for everyone.

 

CDC: What are you looking forward to buying or seeing or doing for this year's event? Or who do you want to see, to catch up on old times, or to have a fangirl experience?

 

CB: I am looking forward to hanging out at the table with Jim Coon and Joe Carabeo and saying hi to Raina Telgemeier, Katie Omberg, and the DC Conspiracy group. Most of all I am excited about the chocolate fountain after the Ignatz Awards.

 

Andrew Cohen writes in, "I'll be at SPX this year (table W7), with three new books:

 

- Dr. W #1 and #2, continuing the formalist anarchy

- Porter Black: Murder Under Midnight Suns, a satirical crime comic written by Art Haupt

- Surrealia: Chapter One, a kids' book for adults, written by writer/composer Billy Lopez.

 

"Every year, I always think about how I'd like to take a break from the table to go and see some of the panels and discussions, and every year I fail to find a spare hour or two to do so.  I hope I can change that track record, this year!"

 

R.M. Rhodes says, "I will be at SPX."

 

CDC: Can you tell us a little about your books that you'll have with you at SPX?

 

RMR: I've got the two new graphic novels in the Oceanus Procellarum series this year - Books 4 & 5. The whole series allowed me to do make a large-scale structure. Book 1 was the prequel. Book 2 was the main book. Book 3 was the sequel. Book 4 is the anthology of short stories based on the characters we've met so far. Book 5 is the apocrypha.

 

Artwise, these two books are just as experimental as the rest of the series. I had a different artist for each of the stories in Book 4, so the art looks more uniform from story to story than in previous books.

 

I even put together a sampler for the series that I'll be selling for a much lower price as a "gateway comic." If you like the sampler, you'll probably like the series as a whole. If not, then you're only out a few dollars.

 

CDC: You've attended the Small Press Expo in the past - do you have any thoughts about your experience?

 

RMR: SPX is a fantastic event. The staff is great to work with and the audience is always enthusiastic. The creative energy in the room from all of the passionate creators is very refreshing and almost tangible. It's the local show for those of us who live in the DC metro area and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

 

CDC: What are you looking forward to buying or seeing or doing for this year's event? Or who do you want to see, to catch up on old times, or to have a fanboy experience?

 

RMR: I always enjoy browsing the Fantagraphics table, even though they take all of my money. I enjoy catching up with the Trees and Hills group from Vermont - Dan Barlow and I always end up having really interesting conversations. I've gotten to know some other creators over the years - SPX is where I first met the Timony brothers, for example. I'm also going to try and catch up with some of the people I talk to online - Darryl Ayo is at the top of my list. And there are some people from the DC Conspiracy that I really only see at shows when we're working - John Bintz and his fiancee Meredith, for example.

 

Jamie Noguchi also answered my interview questions –

 

CDC: Can you tell us a little about your books that you'll have with you at SPX?

 

JN: I'm debuting my first book, Back to the Grind: A Yellow Peril Collection.  It collects the first year of the web comic along with some bonus strip commentary.  And anyone who picks it up at the show will get a QR code that will give them access to digital versions of the book which includes a detailed explanation of how I did the cover painting.

 

CDC: If you've attended the Small Press Expo in the past - do you have any thoughts about your experience? 

 

JN: Last year was the first time exhibiting at the show and I had a blast. Since I didn't have my book ready, I borrowed an iPad to show off my comics.  Got a lot of people to come by and swipe through and actually had some pretty good conversations about digital comics.  The show also convinced me that I needed to work my butt off to get my first book ready for this year.

 

CDC: What are you looking forward to buying or seeing or doing for this year's event? Or who do you want to see, to catch up on old times, or to have a fanboy experience?

 

JN: I'm pretty excited because this year, Super Art Fight has been booked to perform after the Ignatz awards!  We're all huge comic nerds and to get the chance to participate in SPX as part of programming is just too cool.  I've also never experienced the famed Chocolate Fountain so I'm looking forward to that.

 

From Evan Keeling, we find out, "The books I'm premiering at the show are…

 

Nancy Boy - 12 page preview - If Veronica Mars is a teenage Sam Spade, Nancy Boyle is the teenage version of Richard Stark's Parker. One girl.  One hockey stick.   Nine circles of suburban hell.

 

Everything sucks for Nancy.  Parents suck.  High school sucks. This town sucks.  So when the only person in her life ever to show her kindness is attacked and robbed, Nancy does the one thing she knows how to do: Fight back.

 

Nancy punches her way through an opulent but disturbed gated community as she searches for a stolen crystal owl. On her quest, she'll get a few bruises, but give out many more to the people who piss her off. 

 

And God help you if you piss off Nancy Boyle.

 

Fifinella Color Special - This is a collection of the 3 strips I've done for the Magic Bullet newspaper presented in color and oversized.

 

Tales from the District - A collection of the web comic I used to do for Brightest Young Things with the writer of Nancy Boy Jason Griffenhagen, about real life stories of people in DC

 

Early Adaptors Case Files: D-Bags of Ill-Repute - A slightly beefed up version of the Chester Gould influenced drawings that I premiered last year.

 

I will also have CrumbSnatchers and am waiting on reprint copies of the DCC anthologies and maybe some other random goodies.

 

This is my 6th year tabling at SPX and probably my 12th year going to SPX (maybe more). I have a great time at the show and love picking up new comics and roaming the aisles to see what people are doing.

 

I always like catching up with folks that I have met at other shows or previous SPXs and it's always good to hang around with the rest of the DCC crew. The main thing I'm excited for is finding new work that I haven't seen before and hopefully introducing my work to some folks who haven't seen it before.

 

Matt Dembicki answered my questions too:

 

CDC: Can you tell us a little about your books that you'll have with you at SPX?

 

MD: I will have the Eisner-nominated Trickster, Brewmaster's Castle (a favorite among D.C.-area historians) and Xoc, which are the last of the minis before Oni publishes the book next summer. My son, Adam (6), will have two new mini-comics—Jailbreak! and The Never-Ending War.

 

CDC: You've attended the Small Press Expo in the past - do you have any thoughts about your experience?

 

MD: I've attended since 2002 as an exhibitor. SPX offers a wonderfully creative and inspiring atmosphere. Besides picking up some wonderful books, I get to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

 

CDC: What are you looking forward to buying or seeing or doing for this year's event? Or who do you want to see, to catch up on old times, or to have a fanboy experience?

 

MD: I'm always drawn toward the Top Shelf and AdHouse tables for bigger ticket items. For minis and self-published works, I enjoy strolling around and see what catches my eye. There are always a ton of goodies. The Ignatz Awards nominees are always a good place to start.  

 

Rafer Roberts speaks for the DC Conspiracy as a whole before concentrating on his books:

 

Things we will be debuting at SPX this year:

 

Magic Bullet #3 - Magic Bullet is a free semi-annually published comic newspaper focused on presenting the work of independent and underground cartoonists, with a bias towards DC artists. Each artist is encouraged to take advantage of the larger canvas to cut loose and experiment and to push themselves and the medium.

 

Contributors:

 

Bill Ellis, Matt Dembicki, Dominic Vivona, Kevin Czapiewski, Danielle Corsetto, Jonathan Case, Kevin Panetta & Mike Short, Matt Sheean, Rafer Roberts, RM Rhodes & Evan Keeling, Jake Warrenfeltz, Art Hondros, Art Haupt & Andrew Cohen, Adam Dembicki, Joe Carabeo & Carolyn Belefski, Eric Gordon, Jeff McClelland & Jeff McComsey, Scott White, Dale Rawlings, David W. Ryan, Troy Jeffrey-Allen, David Dean & Jay Payne, Adam Umak & Michael J. Auger,  JT Wilkins, Michael Brace, Kyle Kaczmarczyk & Helaine Crawford, Michael May & Jason Copland

 

Plastic Farm #20 - This issue includes:

Chapter 28: Oh, Injury. Art by Mal Jones. The most heart-wrenching love story ever told by one of the stranded travellers.

Chapter 29: Some Other Shit That Happened During Freshman Year. Written and drawn by Rafer Roberts. Chester Carter's tales of his freshman year in college get closer to concluding and a long-absent fan-favorite makes its return.

Chapter 30: People's Choice (part 5). Art by Matt Dembicki. The cannibal farmers raise the stakes.

 

Written and (mostly) drawn by Rafer Roberts, Plastic Farm follows the life of a man named Chester and his slow descent into complete insanity and chronicles how that madness reshapes the world around him. Chester has had a rough childhood, has a magic cowboy that rides a dinosaur living inside of his head, and is now, late in life, sitting in a nameless airport bar during a blizzard telling his life story to a group of people who really couldn't care less.

 

Thoughts about SPX:

 

This will be my 9th time exhibiting at SPX and it seems to get better every year. This year it seems like the organizers have doubled their efforts in terms of promoting the event and in making the event itself as cool as possible. Personally I'm excited by the fact that I will be receiving a Nerdlinger Award at Atomic Books' pre-SPX extravaganza on the Friday night before the show, and I look forward to showing that sucker off all weekend.

 

Mostly, SPX is the most social of the comic shows I go to. In addition to being able to hing out with my local friends that I don't see enough of in the first place, it is also great to see all of my out-of-town friends as well. The central location of the after-parties, and the fact that most of the exhibitors stay in the same hotel, makes SPX as much a party as book selling event.

 

Troy Allen also sent in answers  to my questions:

 

CDC: Can you tell us a little about your books that you'll have with you at SPX?

 

TA: Yep. Bamn #3, the third installment of our nerds vs. jocks battle royale, will be making its appearance at the Small Press Expo.

 

Also, the Magic Bullet newspaper (which is very free) will be available to the public starting with SPX. It features a ton of local artist doing single-page comics, including Boogie Monster by David Dean and myself. It's a running conversation between two hipsters inside a comic shop, essentially. Hopefully, it will offend someone.

 

CDC:  If you've attended the Small Press Expo in the past - do you have any thoughts about your experience?  If you haven't, what're you expecting? What are you looking forward to buying or seeing or doing for this year's event? Or who do you want to see, to catch up on old times, or to have a fanboy/girl experience?

 

TA: I had a back and forth on my podcast about whether or not being a geek/fanboy is cool and acceptable. We disagreed on most of it but the one thing we did agree on is that it has to be fringe to remain cool. To me, that's what SPX is. It's fringe, it's the bad kid who smokes in the school bathroom, it's where comic books become grunge or punk. it is French New Wave. It is the cool kids club. Hollywood can pick up the superheroes --- I think that's good for the industry --- but indie comics and indie creators need to exist as our connection to what made comics great in the first place: their odd, outsider status. SPX embodies that and I look forward to being reminded of that every year in Bethesda.

 

Dale Rawlings surprises me by noting, "I have not been interviewed for City Paper (I'm fixing that – MR) and I'll be at SPX with the DC Conspiracy crew."

 

I'll have my mini comic Skidoo with me, Issues 1-3 of of Down And Out On Planet Earth, my 4 issue series, Liquid Revolver, a graphic novel written by Matt Dembicki and I illustrated a chapter, and the newest issue of Magic Bullet.

 

I was at the very first SPX in 1994 and each year I'm always surprised at how much SPX has grown since its start. I'm looking forward to meeting Chester Brown at this year's SPX as his Ed the Happy Clown was a big influence on me in the 90's.

 

My best fanboy experience was meeting Will Eisner in a hallway at SPX in 2000 and giving him a copy of my comic. Another great SPX experience was around 97 or 98 where I was in Connie's suite ( Quentin Tarrantino's mom who came out to SPX several years in a row in the early years) with a bunch of the artists after the Ignatz. Ivan Brunetti was passing around a sketchbook that he carried to collect portraits of himself from the other artists. And it comes around to me so I start sketching. And Ivan Brunetti... Now you've seen his work, right? The guy who does cartoons like Schizo and Haw. Horrible Horrible Cartoons  is watching over my shoulder and recoils in horror and starts laughing going "oh my god!" at my portrait of him. I was immensely proud to elicit that response from him.