Day 1 of SPX dawned with what sounded like healthy line to get in. This year’s show is marked by a fabulous guest list — Matt Wagner, Kim Deitch, Gilbert Hernandez, Jeff Smith, Bill Griffith and Rutu Modan — and there was a pretty good crowd all day. Were they buying anything? That we still don’t know. No real real breakout buzz books yet, but people were talking about The Blot by Tom Neely, Jeff Lemire’s Ghost Stories and the Special Edition of Palestine.
Dean Mullaney, the editor of IDW’s Terry and the Pirates collections, was at the show, his first comics related event in 12 years.
Mostly, it was a night of catching up and chatting. That’s what SPX is all about.
A few pictures in the jump. Above, Rutu Modan giving her slideshow/spotlight.
Aaron Renier and Karen Sneider.
Oni’s James Lucas Jones and Randal Jarrel (not the poet, which we had always been confused by.)
Behend every great cartoonist stands a publisher! Literally. Jeff Lemire and Chris Staros of Top Shelf.
Ben Towle.
Modan again, this time at the end of her signing, which was quite busy.
Sure would have like to see a pic of Dean The Spleen!
As a small press guy, I’d like to go to this one next year. I hope people did well. I’ll be interested to know.
This was my first SPX (and first major convention) in 4 years. I was surprised by all the new faces — the young upstarts of a decade ago have been replaced by a whole new gang. Of these, I am so far most impressed by Eleanor Davis.