Small Press Expo 2020 Goes Virtual
Great news arrived in my inbox this morning, pushing back the mountain of other stuff I intended to write about today. Small Press Expo (SPX) 2020 has announced that they will offer two full days of their programming virtually on Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13. The content will be available on the SPX Youtube channel.
SPX is a show for and about independent comic publishers, so it's right on the periphery of my umwelt. Publishing, yes. Indie publishing . . . still yes, but perhaps less yes. Comic publishing, not so much. I enjoy comics, but I’m not knowledgeable about that business. Plus, I really only consume mainstream comics from large publishers because, let’s be real, I am not cool enough for stuff like Lumberjanes or Black Stars Above. In fact, I probably dragged their cool quotient down by mentioning them. Sorry y’all. Anyway, SPX is an event that I’m aware of each year but don’t track closely.
I attended SPX in person in 2017 with a Cali friend, while another MD-CA-MD friend was exhibiting. It’s a small show brimming with passionate, creative people. I got some neat Old Bay-themed art for my kitchen, my partner got some graphic novels, and we attended several panels. I learned a surprising amount about tall ships. Wandering the exhibit hall this year isn’t an option, but you can still attend panels in spirit on the web.
You can review the virtual program schedule in full on the SPX website, but I found two sessions of especial interest.
First off, I’m incredibly excited about Saturday’s panel on Diskette Press. They are a micropress running out of Ann Arbor, MI, specializing in “thought-provoking work by up-and-coming artists, with a special focus on queer and trans creators.” Ann Arbor is an epicenter of printing in North America. Cushing-Malloy is there, and until they closed their doors in 2018 (after 125 years in business!), so was Edwards Brothers (later Edwards Brothers Malloy). Diskette’s printing operation is a single Risograph GR3770, which I do not know anything about. It appears to be both small and mighty so I can’t wait to see it on Sunday. This is the far end of the spectrum* from EBM. Super psyched.
The other event I’m examining has broad applications for folks interested in publishing their own creations (especially comics, but possibly also other media): Jeff Trexler and Rob Clough’s panel, Comics and Contracts, on Sunday afternoon. Author contracts (along with rights and perms) is an area of publishing I know very little about. Even if comics isn’t your preferred medium, understanding contracts and legal agreements is something that doesn’t come naturally to a lot of creative types so a lot of us could benefit.
It’s unfortunate that SPX did not plan for a virtual exhibit hall, because that would definitely have been a hit with me. I gladly would have paid the full in-person admission (I think it was around $20 in 2017) for the opportunity to access a virtual, curated collection of artists and publishers showcasing their work and their online shops. It also could have opened a door to amazing independent creators who can’t afford the cost of traveling to Maryland to exhibit at SPX. Perhaps a thought for next year, if the world has not ceased ending by then.
*Spectrum? Do you get it? It’s an LGBTQ+ reference and a printing press reference.
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