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§ SPACE, the long running small press show located in Columbus, is moving to a new venue and time frame this year: July 18 &19, 2015 at the Northland Performing Arts Center. The date is the weekend after San Diego, which is not ideal, but SPACE had no choice, as organizer Bob Corby explains in an email:

The hotel which hosted the show for the past 5 years has closed its door. This was done without any notification and less than a week after they assured us we were all set for our original contracted date. We knew the hotel was having problems and were about to sign a contract with the Northland Performing Arts Center for 2016 when the closure occurred so we contacted them about a date this year. NPAC’s next open date was July 18 &19, 2015. With the support of the vast majority of our exhibitors we accepted the date. We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes anybody especially all our exhibitors and ticket holders. The exhibitors were contacted the day after we were aware of the situation. We are refunding money to any exhibitors or ticket holders if they cannot attend on the new dates. We really appreciate the overwhelming support we have received form exhibitors and other business contacts we have advertising deals with.

On the plus side the new venue has more space and will fit more exhibitors so we have opened up sale of exhibitor tables again. Info on the new venue is at http://www.npac614.com/index.asp.

The show is still in good financial shape and the transition should not be difficult thanks to Brain Kerr NPAC’s general manager. We also like to thank all the hotel employees who were very good to us for the past 5 years and are probably real victims in this closing. We wish them the best of luck in the future.

From here out only positive news as we look forward to a new era for SPACE!


While holding any comics related show in July is problematic, we’re guessing that the Comic-Con/SPACE crossover of attendees and exhibitors is very small.
§ Speaking of small presses, just about the most daring and exciting on around is Breakdown Press which consistently puts out some of the most forward looking comics available. Matt Colgeate talks with Tom Oldham, Simon Hacking, and Joe Kessler about art and business:
Do you have anyone handling your distribution?

S: We have very good relationships with quite a lot of stores here and in the states, that we’ve generated by emailing them and meeting them at shows, which is how we do our distribution at the  moment. We are in the process of organizing more sophisticated distribution networks.

T: The big offset books get printed and we send them out to our network of shops. We’re working on getting national and international distribution. But with the risograph books it’s different depending on the artist and the project.

S: There’s obviously an economy of scale, so we print significantly more of the offset books than the risograph books, which brings the unit cost down which means we can afford for the distributor to take a bigger chunk. Some of the risograph books – in fact most of them – we couldn’t distribute because it would be too much money considering all the discounts you have to give. It astonishes me how many small publishers you speak to that don’t operate under those assumptions.

§ The nominees for the Bram Stoker Awards® 2014 have been announced and here’s the comics category:
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Emily Carroll – Through the Woods (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
Joe Hill – Locke and Key, Vol. 6 (IDW Publishing)
Joe R. Lansdale and Daniele Serra – I Tell You It’s Love (Short, Scary Tales Publications)
Jonathan Maberry – Bad Blood (Dark Horse Books)
Paul Tobin – The Witcher (Dark Horse Books)

§ Comic-Con announcedtheir fourth wave of guests:
Michael Cho, Writer/artist, Shoplifter
Tom Grummett, Artist, Fantastic Four, X-Men Forever, Teen Titans
Chip Kidd, Designer/author, Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz, Batman: Death by Design
Jen Sorenson, Editorial cartoonist
Bernie Wrightson, Artist, Swamp Thing, Frankenstein

§ A few days ago we told you about Space Goat’s new line of comics ; now they’ve announced that industry veteran Dave Olbrich joining them as Senior Vice President – Publishing & Business Affairs. Olbrich’s resume includes helping found Malibu Comics and founding publisher of Image Comics.

“Shon and I have been talking extensively about the evolution of the comics market and the changes in the readership in recent years,” Olbrich said. “The audience for the kinds of comics Space Goat will publish is growing, and I’ll be working to streamline the ways we can reach readers and retailers.”

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§ Bleacher Creatures is putting out fuzzy DC characters. Huggable Harley. Here’s the complete line-up:
 
MAY (comic book line)
Batman
Harley Quinn
Wonder Woman
Green Lantern
Nightwing
Deathstroke
 
JULY (film line)
Superman from Superman
Batman from Batman (1989 Theatrical Film)
Batman from The Dark Knight Trilogy
Superman from Man of Steel
Zod from Superman
Zod from Man of Steel
 
AUGUST (TV line)
The Arrow from Arrow
The Penguin from Gotham
The Flash from The Flash

How Crazy Am I to Think I Know Where MH370 Is? — NYMag

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3 COMMENTS

  1. SPACE is always a fun show that has maintained a changing coterie of quirky comics creators over several years. It’s also survived several venue changes. I think the only thing hurting it about the date change will be how far it is from its normal early spring berth. As Heidi pointed out, there is little overlap between it and San Diego. If anything, the show may benefit from all the ambient press buzz about comics.

  2. The year that I win a SPACE prize is the same year there’s a huge last-minute venue and date change. Conspiracy? Foul play? You Decide!

    I keed, I keed.

    I know the last couple of weeks were insanely stressful for Bob Corby. I’m glad he found a new (better) venue and the show will carry on. If you’re within a few hours of central Ohio, you really should check out the show. Entrance is super cheap compared to almost all other cons, and there are hundreds of amazing indie creators displaying their wares.

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