Monday, October 04, 2004
The Blair SPX Project
On October 1st, 2004, an intrepid webcomics journalist ventured into the wilds of Bethesda Maryland, with plans to witness an obscure barbaric ritual. He was never to be seen again. All that was found by a rescue mission was a digital camera filled with disturbing, violent imagery and unknown, strangely-smiling faces.
A gallery of this chilling photography can be seen here. If any of these ghoulish visages can be identified, please let us know. If any information about the whereabouts of the photographer is known, please contact us immediately.
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A gallery of this chilling photography can be seen here. If any of these ghoulish visages can be identified, please let us know. If any information about the whereabouts of the photographer is known, please contact us immediately.
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A Broken Convention
SPX is one of the grand traditions in alternative comics; an event where independent creators famous and obscure can get together to celebrate the artform. But due to a logistical problem, the grand convention has become seriously broken.
I'm referring to the change of the schedule so that the Ignatz Awards ceremony takes place late on Sunday instead of occupying its traditional place as a Saturday night event [the change was originally made at last year's show.] This change was necessary because the show wanted to extend to exhibitors an additional day (Sunday) to sell from their booths. Unfortunately, the Awards occupied the same physical space as the exhibitors tables, so it was necessary for exhibitors to pack up their goods and scoot so the tables could be folded up and chairs set out for the ceremony
Obviously this drastically reduces the attendance for the Awards. Most exhibitors and attendees are headed for home by then, not wanting to pay another night's hotel bill.
And it seriously impacts the enjoyment of the show. The Awards were a satisfying climax to the day's events, with an inspiring keynote speaker and a gratifying recognition of numerous talented artists. And after the formal ceremony was finished, the audience transformed into an immense, enthusiastic party. It was a powerful ritual for reinforcing our sense of a mutual passion and a shared mission.
I hope the show's organizers will someday return to the old format, or find solutions for the logistical problems so that they can be a 3-day convention and still have a Saturday Ignatz Ceremony. But in the meantime, the Classic SPX will be sorely missed.
******
As a dedicated webcartoonist, I have mixed feelings about SPX and other such shows, because they are very much dominated by print comics. After all, something has to be printed for you to effectively see it at the convention; and if you aren't selling printed comics, there's not much justification for having a table.
There were a number of prominent webcartoonists in attendance, but no terrific buzz this year about the medium. I'm comparing this to a couple of years ago, when Tom Hart used the show as a spotlight for the premiere of Serializer.net. This year, Hart was an announced guest, but he was nowhere to be found (I think he must have had to cancel, no official word on that.) Scott McCloud also didn't attend SPX this year, and was sorely missed.
To their credit, the SPX team offered two webcomics panels. But the two panels were scheduled back-to-back on Sunday afternoon, while Saturday "prime time" had no webcomics-related event. Nevertheless, the two panels had a fairly respectable attendance.
The biggest problem with the panels, however, were the overly general topics-- one was on "Webcomics-- creating" and the other on "Webcomics-- publishing." The "creating" panel was painful to watch, because it featured a wide spectrum of creators with little interlinking them artistically [Jonathan Rosenberg, R. Stevens, Drew Weing, James Kochalka, and Jenni Gregory.] The belatedly-recruited moderator T. Campbell struggled valiantly to find some common grounds for discussion; but he was undermined by R. Stevens' flip, jokey attitude, Drew's quiet self-deprecatory nature, and Kochalka's obliviousness to the medium (even though he disclosed that it's his largest source of income for his journal comics.)
The "publishing" panel was a little more interesting because of some conflicting opinions about revenue models for webcomics. Zero/One publisher Barry Gregory offered a thoughtful critique of the subscription model for webcomics, and Logan DeAngelis revealed that PVComics is discontinuing their subscriptions and becoming a free site. Unfortunately T. Campbell was doing double-duty as the moderator of the group and the representative of subscription site Graphic Smash. He got sidetracked into defending subscriptions and didn't fully explore the alternative business plans that the other publishers were pursuing (and having to moderate two panels in a row probably didn't make it any easier for him!)
I strongly recommend that at next year's show an event in "prime time" is devoted to some specific aspect of webcomics (like journal comics, for example). It should feature panelists who have much in common with each other. And it should have a moderator who has time to prepare for it and who isn't burdened by a conflict of interest.
******
Criticism and second-guessing aside, I enjoyed the show. I got to meet Alexander Danner, and spent most of the show hanging out with him. We also got some quality time with T. Campbell. I got to meet a lot of other webcomickers. Sat across from Jason Thompson at dinner talking about Japanese horror movies and Uzumaki, which he edited for Viz. The most startling character I met was Erika Moen, a real live wire. When she autographed Flight for me, she wrote "I am putting my BLOOD and SWEAT into this fucking thing, goddamn it!"
Two panels I watched on Saturday were absolutely stellar:
"Americans Abroad: Travel in Comics" had everything the webcomics panels lacked-- a compelling topic worthy of in-depth discussion; panel members who represented the topic and who had a great deal of overlap in their artistic approaches; and a well-prepared moderator who asked a series of insightful and penetrating questions. The results: a lively discussion that could easily have filled a second hour. Particularly high marks go to Jessica Abel, whose anecdotes about Mexico City were fascinating.
"Politics & Comics" didn't have a moderator as far as I can recall, but it was a lively and revealing discussion, with Ted Rall confessing to his regret at being a Nader supporter in 2000, and Jen Sorensen frankly admitting her aversion to stirring up trouble with her grandmother by criticizing the Israeli government.
Both panels were powerful reminders that comics can be "about" something, and I just can't get enough of that perspective.
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I'm referring to the change of the schedule so that the Ignatz Awards ceremony takes place late on Sunday instead of occupying its traditional place as a Saturday night event [the change was originally made at last year's show.] This change was necessary because the show wanted to extend to exhibitors an additional day (Sunday) to sell from their booths. Unfortunately, the Awards occupied the same physical space as the exhibitors tables, so it was necessary for exhibitors to pack up their goods and scoot so the tables could be folded up and chairs set out for the ceremony
Obviously this drastically reduces the attendance for the Awards. Most exhibitors and attendees are headed for home by then, not wanting to pay another night's hotel bill.
And it seriously impacts the enjoyment of the show. The Awards were a satisfying climax to the day's events, with an inspiring keynote speaker and a gratifying recognition of numerous talented artists. And after the formal ceremony was finished, the audience transformed into an immense, enthusiastic party. It was a powerful ritual for reinforcing our sense of a mutual passion and a shared mission.
I hope the show's organizers will someday return to the old format, or find solutions for the logistical problems so that they can be a 3-day convention and still have a Saturday Ignatz Ceremony. But in the meantime, the Classic SPX will be sorely missed.
******
As a dedicated webcartoonist, I have mixed feelings about SPX and other such shows, because they are very much dominated by print comics. After all, something has to be printed for you to effectively see it at the convention; and if you aren't selling printed comics, there's not much justification for having a table.
There were a number of prominent webcartoonists in attendance, but no terrific buzz this year about the medium. I'm comparing this to a couple of years ago, when Tom Hart used the show as a spotlight for the premiere of Serializer.net. This year, Hart was an announced guest, but he was nowhere to be found (I think he must have had to cancel, no official word on that.) Scott McCloud also didn't attend SPX this year, and was sorely missed.
To their credit, the SPX team offered two webcomics panels. But the two panels were scheduled back-to-back on Sunday afternoon, while Saturday "prime time" had no webcomics-related event. Nevertheless, the two panels had a fairly respectable attendance.
The biggest problem with the panels, however, were the overly general topics-- one was on "Webcomics-- creating" and the other on "Webcomics-- publishing." The "creating" panel was painful to watch, because it featured a wide spectrum of creators with little interlinking them artistically [Jonathan Rosenberg, R. Stevens, Drew Weing, James Kochalka, and Jenni Gregory.] The belatedly-recruited moderator T. Campbell struggled valiantly to find some common grounds for discussion; but he was undermined by R. Stevens' flip, jokey attitude, Drew's quiet self-deprecatory nature, and Kochalka's obliviousness to the medium (even though he disclosed that it's his largest source of income for his journal comics.)
The "publishing" panel was a little more interesting because of some conflicting opinions about revenue models for webcomics. Zero/One publisher Barry Gregory offered a thoughtful critique of the subscription model for webcomics, and Logan DeAngelis revealed that PVComics is discontinuing their subscriptions and becoming a free site. Unfortunately T. Campbell was doing double-duty as the moderator of the group and the representative of subscription site Graphic Smash. He got sidetracked into defending subscriptions and didn't fully explore the alternative business plans that the other publishers were pursuing (and having to moderate two panels in a row probably didn't make it any easier for him!)
I strongly recommend that at next year's show an event in "prime time" is devoted to some specific aspect of webcomics (like journal comics, for example). It should feature panelists who have much in common with each other. And it should have a moderator who has time to prepare for it and who isn't burdened by a conflict of interest.
******
Criticism and second-guessing aside, I enjoyed the show. I got to meet Alexander Danner, and spent most of the show hanging out with him. We also got some quality time with T. Campbell. I got to meet a lot of other webcomickers. Sat across from Jason Thompson at dinner talking about Japanese horror movies and Uzumaki, which he edited for Viz. The most startling character I met was Erika Moen, a real live wire. When she autographed Flight for me, she wrote "I am putting my BLOOD and SWEAT into this fucking thing, goddamn it!"
Two panels I watched on Saturday were absolutely stellar:
"Americans Abroad: Travel in Comics" had everything the webcomics panels lacked-- a compelling topic worthy of in-depth discussion; panel members who represented the topic and who had a great deal of overlap in their artistic approaches; and a well-prepared moderator who asked a series of insightful and penetrating questions. The results: a lively discussion that could easily have filled a second hour. Particularly high marks go to Jessica Abel, whose anecdotes about Mexico City were fascinating.
"Politics & Comics" didn't have a moderator as far as I can recall, but it was a lively and revealing discussion, with Ted Rall confessing to his regret at being a Nader supporter in 2000, and Jen Sorensen frankly admitting her aversion to stirring up trouble with her grandmother by criticizing the Israeli government.
Both panels were powerful reminders that comics can be "about" something, and I just can't get enough of that perspective.
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