Showing posts with label Bill Campbell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Campbell. Show all posts

Monday, September 20, 2021

SPX 2021 Panels lists and links (** means local tie for ComicsDC)

SPX 2021: Enemies of the State

Alex Hoffman and fellow critics Rob Clough, Daniel Elkin, and Jules Bakes,  E.A. Bethea
Sep 18, 2021

Join moderator Alex Hoffman and fellow critics Rob Clough, Daniel Elkin, and Jules Bakes for a special SPX edition of the podcast Enemy Of The State. The panel's special guest is artist E.A. Bethea, whose Francis Bacon was nominated for a 2021 Ignatz Award. They will ask her in-depth questions regarding the comic and its remarkably dense qualities.

SPX 2021: Personal Comics from Color, Shape, Line ... and Lyrics!

Tom Hart
Sep 18, 2021

You can make comics only with an open heart and whatever materials you have lying around. In one of the favorite workshops at SAW, Tom Hart will guide you through making 8-page mini-comics that uses song lyrics, personal memories and simple drawing and painting to make a personal comic that says what you feel and has a magic all its own. Suitable for all ages.

SPX 2021: Comics, Bodies, and Embodiment

Alison Wilgus, Joel Christian Gill, Tatiana Gill, Ashley Robin Franklin, and Robyn Smith
Sep 18, 2021

Bodies take many forms, and our relationship with one's own can shift throughout our lives. Comics are a powerful tool for understanding and accepting the bodies in which we live. Joel Christian Gill, Tatiana Gill, Ashley Robin Franklin, and Robyn Smith discuss their work as a means of exploring the corporeal form in a discussion led by Alison Wilgus.

SPX 2021: Queer Joy and Queer Friendships

Carta Monir and guests Emma Jayne, Crystal Frasier, Walter Scott
Sep 18, 2021
Join moderator Carta Monir and guests Emma Jayne, Crystal Frasier, Walter Scott, and in a celebration of queer joy in comics. This discussion focuses on the power of queer friendships and happiness as both driving force and radiant rebellion.

**SPX 2021: Ourselves, In Stories: A Documentary At The Small Press Expo (and Q&A)

Marjee Chmiel and Warren Bernard
Sep 18, 2021

Award-winning documentarian Marjee Chmiel screens her documentary on SPX. Titled Ourselves, In Stories, it takes a look at the challenges, obstacles, and rewards of crafting new stories and redefining our cultural vision for whose stories are heard. Moderator Warren Bernard joins Marjee after the screen to ask her about the inspiration for and making of the film.

SPX 2021: The Local Scene: Shows, Publishing, and Getting Started

Robin Enrico, Juan Fernandez, Jamila Rowser, Avi Ehrlich, and Neil Brideau
Sep 18, 2021

While not every city has congregations of cartoonists like Chicago or Portland, every city has its own particular advantages and special qualities that can create its own unique scene. Join moderator Robin Enrico along with publishers and scene-makers Juan Fernandez, Jamila Rowser, Avi Ehrlich, and Neil Brideau as they discuss ideas regarding pedagogy, connecting with local schools and institutions, and incorporating other media and art scenes in creating your own.

SPX 2021: Playing With The Medium

Dr. Craig Fischer, Matt Madden, Shing Yin Khor, Nguyen K. Nguyen, and Joe Kessler
Sep 18, 2021
 
The familiar grids and linear storytelling of comics have stood the test of time. However, there are always innovators looking to stretch the formal limits of comics. Be it creating metafictional narratives, creating constraints on a page, or integrating comics with other media, there's a rich tradition of playing with the medium of comics. Formal comics expert Dr. Craig Fischer will engage with experimental cartoonists Matt Madden, Shing Yin Khor, Nguyen K. Nguyen, and Joe Kessler on their formal experiments.

SPX 2021: Comics and Meditative Intention

Rob Clough,Hartley Lin, Keiler Roberts, and Jason Shiga.

Sep 19, 2021
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL1ngQaoDJQ

What mindset is required for cartoonists to work? Is drawing a form of work or play? How does this relate to Lynda Barry's conception of play as a serious, meditative activity? How do artists escape thinking about whether or not their work is good while they are doing it? Moderator Rob Clough discusses these and other questions with Hartley Lin, Keiler Roberts, and Jason Shiga.

**SPX 2021: Mixed Media Storytelling

Liz Reed of Cuddles and Rage
Sep 19, 2021
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKkmBSoX_VI

Liz Reed of Cuddles and Rage walks you through how to sculpt Zombie Strawberries from C&R's graphic novel Bites of Terror. This online workshop is designed to use clay and household materials to create your very own mixed media comic at home. The materials needed include: white, green, and red clay (polymer or air dry), foil, toothpicks, q-tips, a paintbrush, a gray marker or paint, cotton balls, glue, and a cutting tool. We'd love to see your zombie strawberries in action! When posting to social tag @spxcomics and @cuddlesandrage. Bites of Terror is a mixed media horror anthology by Cuddles and Rage from Quirk Books. You can find Bites of Terror online wherever books are sold or buy the book directly from Cuddles and Rage on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/CuddlesAndRage).

**SPX 2021: Focus on The Day The Klan Came To Town

Dr. Qiana Whitted and creators Bill Campbell and Bizhan Khodabandeh
Sep 19, 2021
This is a special spotlight on The Day The Klan Came To Town, a powerful work of historical fiction. It's based on the real events in 1923 when the KKK came to a small Pennsylvania town to make an example of its largely Jewish and Catholic populations, and how a group of people made a stand. Join moderator Dr. Qiana Whitted and creators Bill Campbell and Bizhan Khodabandeh as the explore the event and their adaptation.

SPX 2021: Color and Narrative Innovation

Rob Clough, Dash Shaw, Shira Spector, MariNaomi, and Tillie Walden
Sep 19, 2021

Color is often secondary to line in comics, but a number of cartoonists have experimented with bringing color front and center. Not only that, but their innovations have included making color central to the emotional narratives of their stories. Moderator Rob Clough talks to Dash Shaw, Shira Spector, MariNaomi, and Tillie Walden about their challenges and experiences using color in bold, new ways.

SPX 2021: Buer's Kiss

Carl Antonowicz
Sep 19, 2021

Büer's Kiss is a genre-bending live comics performance combining projected images, voice actors, and foley effects for an unforgettable adaptation of cartoonist Carl Antonowicz's graphic novel of the same name. This recording was made during the show's debut in 2018 at Pittsburgh's New Hazlett Theater. Find more from Carl at www.cantocomics.com!


SPX 2021: World-Building And New Futures

Alice Santos joins Kevin Czap, Maki Naro, Casey Nowak, and Alissa Salah
Sep 19, 2021

What does the world become when any future is imaginable? From the smallest details to -all-expansive histories, alternate worlds provide a glimpse of what is possible. Alice Santos joins Kevin Czap, Maki Naro, Casey Nowak, and Alissa Salah in an exploration of the process of constructing these new futures.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Q&A with Bill Campbell, publisher of Rosarium Publishing

Local indie publisher Rosarium Publishing is in the midst of an Indiegogo fundraising campaign for its upcoming line of books. Publisher Bill Campbell answers a few questions about his endeavor, which has drawn kudos from Publishers Weekly, the Library Journal and the Washington Post, to name a few.

You publish an interesting mix of books and flow seamlessly in the prose and comics worlds. Has that always been so smooth?  Do you find readers (or maybe distributors and retailers) sometimes raise an eyebrow that you publish both types of books?

I would say that the general public doesn't really bat an eye. You can oftentimes find somebody selling a novel at a comic book convention. So, it's not so much that we have novels and anthologies there; it's just that we have so many. I generally go to the more literary science fiction conventions. Those folks are avid readers, so it's not too hard to convince them to pick up new reading material. It never really hurts to be the book people at a comics convention or the comics people at a book convention. When you're both, you generally have something for everybody.

Well, retailers are hard, and I really understand what they're going through. They have very limited space with which to make money. Every cubic inch of their store has to bring in income, so they don't necessarily want to take risks. The excuses sometimes, though. One time, I was pitching The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria to a store, and the manager said, “Oh, we don't get many Cubans in this store.” Ha!

Distribution's just hard for any small publisher. The entire field is divvied up by a cartel of distributors who have cornered their individual markets. I don't care what you publish. It's just rough dealing with people who are never hungry and know they'll never be able to feed off the tiny morsels you bring to the table—no matter how tasty.

Being an indie publisher with a drive such as yours is obviously hard work. Can you briefly give a taste of what your recent travel for Rosarium Publishing has entailed? What keeps you motivated?

Back in 2012, just before I started Rosarium and was pushing my novel Koontown Killing Kaper, I did over 50 events in a year. I swore I'd never do that again, but I still find myself doing 20 to 30. I'm still trying to cut those down, but you're right, I do have drive. So, I sometimes find myself in traveling frenzies. For example, this past month I was in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and the Hamptons. I'm doing something local in a couple weeks (Creator Con), and then in May I'm off to Toronto (T-CAF), Philadelphia (ECBACC), and Madison, WI (WisCon). I'm actually supposed to be in Chicago, too, that month, but I think I'm going to skip that. I'm turning 46 on May Day!

What’s been the most difficult part in starting and continuing Rosarium?

Beginnings are hard no matter who you are or what you're trying to do. Usually, the biggest challenge is getting other people to take you seriously. That was definitely ours. On the sff side, we've been really fortunate. Our first anthology, Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond eventually garnered a lot of attention, and our next two (Stories for Chip and The SEA Is Ours) as well. We've been really well-received within that community.


The comics side of things has been harder. We've talked about this personally: It's because comics is a medium, not a genre, and it's immense. So, it's been much harder finding reviewers who'd be interested in what we do, etc.

And frankly, Diamond doesn't make it any easier with the monopoly they have over comics shops. They don't seem particularly fond of what we do. We've taken critically-acclaimed, award-winning comics to them, and they've been like, “Nope! Not carrying them!” Because of that, the irony with our comics is that you can find them in Barnes & Nobles and other bookstores, you can find them in libraries, you can even find some of them being taught in college classrooms, but you'd be hard-pressed to find them in a comic book shop.


But what can you do? It's things like this that simply make me work harder.