Thursday, February 23, 2023

PR: Small Press Expo 2023 Show Update

Friends,

Yes, it is that time of year again where we officially kick off the planning for SPX 2023. This year's SPX will occur September 9-10, 2023 at the Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center, with events occurring in the days preceding the show throughout the Washington, D.C. area.

Please be sure to check out our newly redesigned web site.

We look forward to seeing everybody this September!!

COVID-19 AND SPX

In these times of pandemics and other easily transmitted diseases, the health and safety of the SPX Community is paramount in our minds. So here is where we stand with health measures at this year's show:

Masking will be required for everybody, attendees, exhibitors and SPX staff/volunteers.

If there is a current Covid wave close to the show, proof of vaccination will once again be required to gain entry. This decision will be made and communicated to the SPX Community in mid-late August.

For exhibitors, we will once again limit the number of people behind tables to 2-3 people, with medical exceptions allowed.

ATTENDEE KEY DATES

First week in June - For those attendees coming from out of town, the hotel room block will be made available.

Late June - Advance tickets will go on sale.

Late June - Special Guests will be announced.

Mid-August - Sign-up forms for workshops will become available.

Mid-August - Ignatz nominees/voting, Debuts and Programming slate will all be announced.

EXHIBITOR KEY DATES

Below is our planned schedule for table registration and other exhibitor milestones for SPX 2023. If we are off by a day or two (or three...), we apologize beforehand.

If you want to be placed on the Exhibitor Email List, please fill out this form on our web site.

Any questions about tabling, send them to exhibitor-inquiries@smallpressexpo.com.

March 4 - Invitations sent to publishers and creators on our Invite List.
March 18 - Response for accepting/declining Invite List invitation due.
March 20 - Table lottery opens.
March 31 - Table lottery closes.
April 1 - Ignatz Submissions open.
April 24- Lottery winners and Wait Listed exhibitors contacted
May 1- Table payment and hotel room block information sent to all table holders.
May 22 - Payments due for all tables.
May 31 - Ignatz Submissions close.
July 10- Table Assignments sent out, begin signing up for badge pickup names and names for the program guide/web site.
July 31 - Debut submissions begin.
August 5 - Names due for Program Guide.
August 14 - Debuts posted on web site, debut submissions end.
August 19 - Names due for web site and badge pickup.

Stay safe and hope to see you in September,

The SPX Executive Committee

Small Press Expo (SPX) is the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels, and alternative political cartoons. SPX is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings together more than 650 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers, and distributors each year. Graphic novels, mini comics, and alternative comics will all be on display and for sale by their authors and illustrators. The expo includes a series of panel discussions and interviews with this year's guests.

The Ignatz Award is a festival prize held every year at SPX recognizing outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning.

Small Press Expo

P.O. Box 5704

Bethesda, Maryland

20824

www.smallpressexpo.com

warren@smallpressexpo.com

STAY CONNECTED

The Lily's latest webcomic

I hid my disabilities at work. Now I know they don't limit my worth.

I gradually learned my worth wasn't determined by what I could "do," and that it was more important to listen to my body and myself

Perspective by Rachel Litchman

February 19, 2023

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/02/19/i-hid-my-disabilities-work-now-i-know-they-dont-define-my-worth/

The Post reviews The American Way

'The American Way' is a tale of pluck and luck [n print as 'The American Way': A fast-moving tale of pluck and luck]

A new book tells the story of a family's escape from Nazi Germany that wends its way through bootleggers, comic-book creators, sports legends and one iconic starlet

Review by Jennifer Howard

Washington Post February 23, 2023 : C3

online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/02/22/american-way-stapinski/

Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "Balloonacy (don't panic!)"

From Mike Flugennock, DC's anarchist cartoonist

"Balloonacy (don't panic!)"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=3609

JEEEEEEzus christ, man, wotta goddamn shitshow, huh? Not that anyone
with two synapses to rub together could tell you that the US boss
media were pulling it straight outta their ass, that it wasn't a "spy
balloon" and probably not even Chinese, given the US media's record
over the past 30, 40 years.

Finally, about 2 weeks into this Mel Brooks movie, the Pentagon
Amateur Hour crew starts shuffling and backpedaling and stammering
like Porky Pig that well, OK, it wasn't really dangerous and probably
not a surveillance balloon after all — and while that's going on, a
bunch of Top Gun wannabes piss away $2m worth of our tax money
shooting down what was probably some kid's science project, likely to
get Marjorie Taylor-Greene to shut the hell up. And btw, when a
fascist freak like MTG is allowed to sit in Congress and yell for
something to be shot down as if it were "Call Of Duty" or something,
you know your Rules-Based Order™ is circling the shitter.

So, if you're thinking that Uncle Joe's handling of this and other
foreign policy batshittery he's stoking up is looking more and more
like a rejected Pinky And The Brain plot — except that P & the B
actually had their shit together a little more — join the club,
kiddos. Hell, the Chinese were showing more class in their little
finger than the US and the West at large, who spent the last 2 weeks
filling every pair of BVD's in the drawer.

Ha haahhhhh, NARF.

----------

"US media report calls into question balloon 'spy mission' claims
against China", Patrick Martin at the World Socialists' site, 02.16.2023
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/02/16/gcsf-f16.html

"US admits weather pushed Chinese balloon off course, US shot down
hobbyists' $12 balloon in $2M missile attack", Ben Norton at the
Geopolitical Economy Report, 02.18.2023
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/02/18/us-weather-chinese-balloon-hobbyist/

"Marjorie Taylor Greene urges fans to shoot down spy balloon", Matthew
Chapman at Raw Story, 02.03.2023
https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-spy-balloon/

_________________________________________________________________
Mike Flugennock, Political Cartoons: http://www.sinkers.org/stage
Mike's press kit: http://sinkers.org/stage/?page_id=2

UCLA Rare Book Library course in DC - The Social and Material Lives of Comic Art, or, How Comics Get Around

The Social and Material Lives of Comic Art, or, How Comics Get Around

https://www.calrbs.org/program/courses/cartoons-popular-culture-and-comics/

Course Information

Instructor: Charles Hatfield
Location: Smithsonian / Washington D.C.
Mode: In-person
Dates: August 14 – August 18
Tuition: $1200.00

apply on submittable

Description

Popular yet personal, branded as trivial yet rich with meaning, comics are more than cultural scraps or leftovers. In fact, comics are everywhere: they are art objects, storying machines, readable games, tools for disseminating knowledge, and platforms for worldbuilding and political argument. Whether viewed as historical artifacts or distinctive literary and artistic works, comics carry culture with them. In this workshop, we will study how comics move through the world, socially and materially, how they can make a difference in the world, and how we, as teachers, researchers, and creators, can use them.

Comic art has a complex social life. Comic books, graphic novels, strips, and cartoons come in varied material (and now digital) forms and reach diverse readerships. Many are thought to be ephemeral, as disposable as yesterday's newspapers or tweets; some are built to last. Many last despite their seeming ephemerality, archived by collectors, fans, and, increasingly, archiving professionals and research libraries. Conserving, organizing, and accessing these artifacts can be a challenge but also a profound pleasure; comics offer us opportunities for creative engagement as well as deep research. Our workshop will study how comics come to be, how they circulate, where and how they are archived, and how we may teach with them.

We will focus on comics' physical materiality, on firsthand experience and "show and tell." Our hands-on sessions will mix varied forms of nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first century comic art, from newspaper pages to comic magazines, from graphic novels to minicomix, zines, and webcomics. Drawing on the resources of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, we will explore the material and social histories of comics, the idiosyncrasies of comics production, including differences among American, European, and Japanese traditions, and how comics have been shored against time by collectors. We will consider comics as products of various industries, cultures, and social scenes—as historic artifacts, yes, but also urgent dispatches from the here and now. Participants will come out of this workshop knowing:

the distinctions among various genres of comics (including comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, and minicomics) and how they look and feel
the various ways comics are produced and circulated, by whom, and under what conditions
how to find and access comics in archives
how we can deploy comics in teaching
how comics can elevate marginalized and minoritized identities and serve as vehicles for social protest and transformation
overall, how comics move through and "trouble" the world, in the best senses of that word.

Requirements

I will share a list of pre-readings with participants prior to the course. We will read further materials during our week together. In addition, everyone should prepare a brief (one or two-page) written or comics-style introduction to themselves, to be shared no later than our first meeting. Expect to participate in class discussions, take part in various site visits, and interact with, and prepare questions, for our guest speakers (comics and archiving experts from the greater Washington, D.C. area). Sketchnoting or keeping a comics diary will be encouraged.

Feel free to email me with questions at charles.hatfield@csun.edu.

Offered

2023

Credit

Completion of this course helps to meet credits for one of the following certificate requirements:

1 of 3 elective credit courses for Certificate in Rare Books and Manuscripts, or
1 of 2 elective credit courses for Certificate in Librarianship, Activism, and Justice

Department of Information Studies, UCLA
232 GSEIS Building Box 951520
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1520

Comics Research Bibliography citations update, 2/22/23

A Graphic Novel About A Legendary Harlem Mobster [Queenie]

Alison Stewart

All Of It Feb 21, 2023

https://www.wnyc.org/story/graphic-novel-about-legendary-harlem-mobster/

Jules Feiffer Beset w/ Macular Degeneration

D. D. Degg

Daily Cartoonist February 21 2023

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2023/02/21/jules-feiffer-beset-w-macular-degeneration/

Wednesday Spill: The New Yorker Celebrates Its 98th Birthday

Inkspill February 22, 2023

michael Maslin

https://michaelmaslin.com/wednesday-spill-the-new-yorker-celebrates-its-98th-birthday/

INTERVIEW: Matt Bors breaks down JUSTICE WARRIORS

The Pulitzer Finalist and Nib founder talks about building a world, future plans, and the relevance JUSTICE WARRIORS has in today's world.

Cy Beltran

02/22/2023
https://www.comicsbeat.com/matt-bors-justice-warriors-interview/

Oni-Lion Forge Names New Editor-in-Chief

By Jim Milliot

Feb 21, 2023

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/people/article/91586-oni-lion-forge-names-new-editor-in-chief.html

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE: SIERRA HAHN TAKES OVER AS ONI-LION FORGE EDITOR IN CHIEF

Veteran of BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse, and Vertigo

Brigid Alverson on February 21, 2023

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/53377/people-move-sierra-hahn-takes-over-oni-lion-forge-editor-chief

ComicsPRO: Sierra Hahn Quits Boom To Be Oni Press Editor-In-Chief

Oni Press has just appointed Boom Studios, Dark Horse, and DC Vertigo veteran Sierra Hahn as the company's new Editor-in-Chief effective immediately.

21 Feb 2023

by Rich Johnston

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/comicspro-sierra-hahn-quits-boom-to-be-oni-press-editor-in-chief/

'BIG ETHEL ENERGY' RETURNS FOR SECOND SEASON ON WEBTOON

Former Riverdale Wallflower Racks Up 22 Million Views, 385,000 Subscribers in First Season

Brigid Alverson on February 21, 2023

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/53375/big-ethel-energy-returns-second-season-webtoon

247 Comics launches promising a sustainable Web3 model for creators

Veteran editor Shawna Gore has joined the company

Heidi MacDonald

02/17/2023
https://www.comicsbeat.com/247-comics-launches-promising-a-sustainable-web3-model-for-creators/

COMICS BOOKCASE: Michael Moreci on BARBARIC, and what it's like to have a smash-hit indie comic

Barbaric, the fantasy comic with a blood-drunk talking axe, has been so successful, it's expanded from a 3-issue miniseries into a world of new books from Vault Comics.

Zack Quaintance

02/22/2023
https://www.comicsbeat.com/comics-bookcase-michael-moreci-on-barbaric-and-what-its-like-to-have-a-smash-hit-indie-comic/

BOOK CHANNEL GRAPHIC NOVEL SALES DROPPING IN 2023

Manga Leads Decline, per NPD BookScan

Milton Griepp on February 22, 2023

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/53383/book-channel-graphic-novel-sales-dropping-2023

Short Run Comix & Arts Festival 2022: A Look Back

Chris Anthony Diaz | February 22, 2023

https://www.tcj.com/short-run-comix-arts-festival-2022/

REVIEW: EXTRAORDINARY Season 1 presents a fun millennial crisis on one superpowered Earth

Extraordinary Season One on Hulu presents a fun and comedic take on the superhero genre with a winning performance from Máiréad Tyers.

Aaron Halls

02/22/2023

https://www.comicsbeat.com/extraordinary-season-1-review/

Anxiety: Normalized

William L Brown

February 21 2023

https://nativecpeaker.substack.com/p/anxiety

Open Windows

Ann Telnaes- Artist, visual storyteller, creator of "Open Windows"

https://anntelnaes.substack.com/

Steve Brodner

The Greater Quiet

https://stevebrodner.substack.com/

Why Must a Marvel Movie Be "Good"?

Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was mauled by critics. Does it even matter?

By Kirsten Howard

February 20, 2023

https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/why-must-a-marvel-movie-be-good/

Marvel's New Big Villain Is About to Take the Movies in a Very Freaky Direction

Thanos presided over a more grim-faced era. Quantumania's Kang gives the MCU license to get weird.

By Sam Thielman

Feb 18, 2023

https://slate.com/culture/2023/02/quantumania-kang-marvel-antman-wasp-after-credits.html

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' Delivers Cautionary Box Office Win for Marvel Studios

The threequel opened notably ahead of the first two entries in the stand-alone series, but continues a recent trend of lower audience CinemaScores for MCU projects after a straight-A winning streak spanning 21 movies.

Pamela McClintock

February 21, 2023
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ant-man-and-wasp-quantumania-marvel-1235330062/

A Case For Pencils.