SPX 2011 – an advance preview

This coming weekend – September 10-11, 2011 – the Small Press Expo will be happening in Bethesda, Maryland. The premiere showcase on the East Coast for small press and self-published comic artists, SPX is an amazing show full of energy and incredible writers and artists whose love of the medium shows through in everything they do.

Some of the big name guests the Expo has attracted to Maryland this year are Jim Rugg, Chester Brown, and Craig Thompson. If you know anything about comics (other than the offerings from the “Big Two”), you are probably already familiar with these names. Rugg is the mastermind behind AdHouse’s Afrodisiac (with Brian Maruca) and his own Rambo 3.5, which was one of the most entertaining comics I read last year. Chester Brown made his mark with Yummy Fur and the 2004 biographical comic Louis Riel, and is garnering a lot of critical discussion around his recent book, Paying For It, which looks at his personal experience with prostitution, as a john. And Craig Thompson will be debuting a special advanced edition of his long-awaited new book, Habibi. After sweeping the major awards in 2004 with his seminal work, Blankets, it has been a long wait for this new volume, and I cannot wait to read it.

Those are the big guns, but I want to point you in the direction of some of the lesser-known, but equally talented, creators that will be in Maryland this weekend.

Mike LaRiccia is a printmaker by trade, but he was awarded a Xeric grant for his debut graphic novel, Black Mane. LaRiccia has a rough and raw art style that meshed very well in that initial book, which looked at his personal experiences dealing with racism in our contemporary world. It’s a terribly honest and frank portrayal of the subject and one that asks more questions than it answers. A thoughtful and emotional book that really gets one thinking, it is a book that I always recommend to anyone seeking out something that will challenge while also providing a satisfying story. Mike will be debuting a limited run of his newest comics, Too Fast, at SPX. If you want to read some good comics from a talented artist, check him out.

A longer spotlight of Black Mane can be found here.

Alex Cahill & Jad Ziade are New Radio Comics, and they’re bringing the truth to the Expo. Since 2006, they have been working on their science fiction “novel” Poison the Cure. Planned to be four over-sized issues, the New Radio boys will have the first three issues at SPX, with issue three making its Expo debut. Pulitzer-prize winning author, Junot Diaz, says of Poison the Cure: “POISON THE CURE is stunning. One of those comics that makes you want to pass it on to everybody, even those friends of yours who don't read comics. Rowdy, hilarious, cruel, beautiful, highly original, and true." Definitely seek them out on the convention floor in Maryland. These guys have a distinct style and voice that is worth experiencing.

You can check out a spotlight of Cahill’s wordless comic, The Last Island, here.

G.B. Tran was one of the first creators I met at my first SPX in 2006, and I’ve had the privilege to watch him grow as an artist through the intervening years. Earlier this year, he debuted his new graphic novel memoir, Vietnamerica, from Villard Publishing. This is one of the most moving books I’ve read in a long time. Taking the story of his parents’ flight from Vietnam just at the end of the American conflict and juxtaposing that with his own upbringing and strained relationship with his parents, Tran has created a beautiful and moving work that will stay with you long after the cover is closed. And the experimentation in Tran’s layouts and lettering and coloring elevates this book even more, in my mind. Tran chose to take what makes comics unique as a storytelling medium and utilize those distinct aspects to his advantage, and the result is nothing short of amazing. This book deserves to be on any comic – and non-comic – fan’s shelf. It’s that good.

You can check out a spotlight of his earlier series, Content, here.

Finally, Nate Powell will be in attendance. His 2009 graphic novel, Swallow Me Whole, which I profiled earlier this week on “the dork” won the Eisner award for best graphic novel, and deservedly so. Powell is a stellar storyteller, and reading Swallow Me Whole for the first time was an incredible experience. He will be debuting his newest graphic novel from Top Shelf, Any Empire, at SPX this weekend. If it is even half as good as Swallow Me Whole, this will have the potential to be short-listed on many critics’ best-of lists come December. Seek Powell out, and pick up some of his mini-comics too; they are equally wonderful.

My review of Swallow Me Whole can be found here.

Those are some of the creators you should certainly seek out at this weekend’s Small Press Expo. And take the time to really look at all the tables. The hidden gems are numerous at SPX, and the discovery of those is part of the fun of this show. I wish I was making the trip down from Maine this year, but I’m going to have to hope for next year.

But if you make the trip, drop a line here and let us know what hidden treasures you found. It will give me something to look forward to next year.

-chris

To read more of Chris’s thoughts or to check out his short prose and comic work, go to www.warrior27.com, the online home for the comics/prose anthology, Warrior27, created by Chris and by Dan Fleming – with contributions from Matthew J. Constantine (half of In the Mouth of Dorkness), among others.

SPX 2009

The Small Press Expo was last weekend and Dan and I hit the road for Bethesda. A few months ago, if you had asked us, we weren’t planning on having anything new for the show. But a lot can happen in a few months. Once we started talking about doing a new issue of WARRIOR27, it turned out we would have the craziest and biggest issue yet for SPX 2009.

As usual, we wanted to have a variety of stuff for the anthology. Little did we know. Our friend Matt Constantine, who put us up for the weekend at his place in Fairfax and with whom we had worked before (he has a short prose piece in our second issue from 2006, which was our first year at the Expo) also contributed to this issue.

In the end, we went with a multimedia extravaganza of different pieces for this issue. Dan wrote three short stories illustrated by three very different artists and put them into a standard size comic. I contributed a short prose story, “Fractured,” which was in a smaller chapbook. Dan and Travis Dandro (who created the freaky and sometimes disturbing comic Mr. Gnu) created a mini-comic that folds open telling a story from “the mall” and which has, on the back once it’s completely open, a game board wherein one must make it through the mall with money left. The mini-comic went into a small baggie, while a die, money, and two Homies (playing pieces) went into another baggie, which when stapled to the first rested nicely over our issue wrap. We also had a CD-ROM of a color comic done by Matt and Paul Petzrick and a b/w preview of a webcomic, also written by Matt with art from S.A. McClung. It was a load of stuff in various formats, all for $6 (or $5 on Sunday). It’s a pretty fun bundle, and the Homies pulled people in.

Overall, the show this year was better than last year. There were a lot of people saying this, and I think it’s a matter of everyone having had a year to adjust their budgets/spending/whatever. It was amazing to hear EVERYONE saying that last year was a rough one and that 2009 was so much better. I would have liked to have known that last year, having left MD disappointed and thinking it was just us. Too often, we find ourselves living in a bubble, believing that what we’re fearing or feeling is unique to us, when, in reality, our experiences aren’t all that unique at all. But I digress (can’t get too preachy here).

From the opening bell on Saturday morning, the show was packed. People were everywhere and you could tell it was going to be a good show. We had our second best sales, breaking three figures, which was nice. It also felt good to sell at least one copy of everything on the table, including copies of issues 1-4 of WARRIOR27, a copy of the Arcana horror anthology, DARK HORRORS 2, in which Dan had a story published, and a few other things.

Like most though, we’re not here to make money. Maybe a little to recoup our initial expenses. But for the most part, the big draw of SPX is getting to catch up with friends like Justin Fox, Mike LaRiccia, and G.B. Tran, having an opportunity to talk directly with publishers and editors like Chris Staros at Top Shelf or James Lucas Jones of Oni, and getting to make new friends like Adam Umak, Julian Lytle, and Frank Santoro. It’s a very cool atmosphere and it can really invigorate you.

I had a great conversation with Frank Santoro (check out his COLD HEAT series, done with Ben Jones and published by Picturebox) about art and comics and how the whole page works, or can work, in a comic if you’re willing to see things in some way other than just a panel to panel progression. I told him about this mini-comic idea I’ve had burning in the back of my mind for three years now and he’s got me convinced to just go ahead and draw it, which has been the big stumbling block for me. Like he said, Wally Wood and all those masters had swipe files for reference because they needed to be fast and accurate. They would find whatever image they needed, get the perspective and proportion from the picture, and draw it in their own way in order to keep drawing. Utilizing something like that in order to manage the perspective and such of the images, while creating my own style (if I can hope for such a thing with this project) should help me get over this hump. I plan on having COMPARE & CONTRAST at the Expo next year.

Some of the highlights of the show for me:

- Catching up with friends, as mentioned above.

-Getting to meet Mr. Phil & Charlito from the Izzer.

-Talking with Adam Umak from the Legion of Dudes.

-Having an opportunity to share a preview of the short story Ape will publish as part of their UFO anthology with Chris Staros, Chris Pitzer, and others.

-Getting a chance to see my old buddy from college, who was not around last year. Hey, John.

-Meeting online friends for the first time in the flesh, like Sam Costello from the Panel & Pixel Boards, who is the brain behind the Split Lip horror anthology. Check it out.

-Finally picking up TO THE HEART OF THE STORM and THE NAME OF THE GAME by Will Eisner for $5 a piece at the CBLDF table. Can't wait to read these.

-And having Gahan Wilson check out our books and wish us luck.

SPX is over for 2009, and I’m already thinking ahead to next year and what I might have. Not only do I want to have that mini-comic, but I’ve got another idea rolling around that I might try to get done. And, I need to follow up with publishers, reviewers, and others to keep my name out there and see where this little trip will take me.

chris

BACK MATTER RE-RUNS: Black Mane by Mike LaRiccia

Here's another piece that predates my current column at the Pulse, For Your Consideration, and which laid the groundwork for that series of pieces, which - if the heavens don't falter - should be returning on a regular basis THIS MONTH.


Mike LaRiccia's enthusiasm for comics is infectious, and if you get a chance to meet him at a convention you should take the opportunity to go up and talk with him. I was pulled to his table (at SPX 2006) by the sign that claimed he was a Xeric award winner. And thanks to this, he was offering his first volume of Black Mane for half price. How could I resist?


When I got home and had a chance to read it, I was certainly glad I'd picked it up. What follows is my thoughts on the book and Mike's unique art style, plus a short interview with Mike. Check it out, then check out his site. Since 2006, Mike has published his second volume of Black Mane and has also published the first issue of Satori with writer Matt Weber. Anyone, enough preamble. On to the column.







BLACK MANE by Michael V. LaRiccia

By trade, Michael LaRiccia is a printmaker, but he has held an affinity for the comic art form since he was young. With his Xeric-awarded graphic novel BLACK MANE, LaRiccia set forth to examine race and gender issues in America based upon his own experiences. Although a work of fiction, LaRiccia casts himself as well as friends and family within the book, giving the work a more authentic, autobiographical feel. He also frames the book in a non-traditional manner, eschewing a straightforward narrative with a conflicting protagonist and antagonist, and instead presents a variety of situations linked together by a day-in-the-life motif that forces the audience to ponder and examine these social issues on their own. It is an interesting approach in support of a worthwhile endeavor.

The idea for BLACK MANE comes from a recurring daydream LaRiccia would have in which he transformed into a black-furred lion creature that would mete out justice through imagined violence upon those from whom LaRiccia felt threatened or wronged. LaRiccia is an unassuming young man harboring the inhibitions and insecurities all people carry within themselves, and this recurring daydream allowed LaRiccia a release for his pent-up frustrations. Channeling those frustrations into this creative pursuit seems a natural next step, and a worthy response to the incivility that so often casts a long shadow over our daily lives.

Through the course of the book, the audience is witness to short vignettes in LaRiccia’s life. Involved in a mild fender bender, Mike is accosted by a frantic baseball-bat-wielding bigot. While eating lunch on a street corner he observes a young mother in a revealing sundress walking with her son, her bare ass on full display. Returning home he witnesses a neighbor viciously berating his girlfriend, and all Mike can do is clear his throat hoping his presence will forestall any violence. In these and other instances in LaRiccia’s book Mike often feels helpless, unsure of what to do, easing into the apathy commonly exhibited by others around him. Subsequently, his guilt takes form in dream sequences involving Black Mane as when his alter ego turns the baseball bat around onto the bigot from the car accident.

It is when Mike meets up with his old buddies from school for their annual hiking expedition that he discovers something very startling about himself. During the trek down from the summit one of them twists his ankle and Mike runs back to the car for the bandages left there. On his way back up the trail he is confronted by a rabid raccoon. Looking around, he realizes nobody else is there to assist and takes matters into his own hands, smashing the raccoon’s head in with a large rock. With this act not only comes the realization that he too is capable of violence, albeit in self-defense, but also a newfound empowerment that was noticeably absent before. This new self-assurance proves valuable the next time Mike is out at a club. Entering the men’s room he hears a woman being accosted by her “date” in one of the stalls and knocks on the door asking if everything is all right. When the guy is the only one to respond, Mike leaves to find a bouncer and explain the situation. By taking action – something he had not done previously – Mike not only helps out the woman, but he also takes the first step toward divesting himself of Black Mane.

I was terribly impressed with Michael LaRiccia’s honesty in BLACK MANE. Through his characters, LaRiccia speaks candidly about his insecurities, his uncertainty of how to handle uncomfortable situations – whether he has a right to step in, or whether they deserve what they get – and what exactly it means to be a human being. This openness is a courageous stance to take with this work, as LaRiccia does not shy away from revealing foibles and prejudices that could certainly turn off people reading BLACK MANE. But this truthfulness also allows readers to relate completely with his character, as the insecurities and the questions he grapples with every day are some of the very same insecurities and questions with which everyone else grapples. This allows BLACK MANE to resonate more with LaRiccia’s audience than if it had been lacking in those ugly truths that are aspects of us all. LaRiccia’s artwork also complements this story very well. He changes his style to fit the situation – clean, simple linework for “calm” scenes and wildly frenetic lines for Black Mane and characters with a proclivity to anger and violence – and his use of caricature for the facial features of those in duress really brings out the emotion in this work. His style is very individualistic and his voice is one worth listening to. For anyone searching for something new and different in the graphic narrative field, I must heartily recommend BLACK MANE by Michael LaRiccia.


AN INTERVIEW WITH Mike LaRiccia writer/artist of BLACK MANE

Chris Beckett:
BLACK MANE is obviously a very personal book for you where many of the situations and much of the dialogue is extremely honest, which could leave you open for criticism from some readers. Have you received any criticism, and how difficult was that for you to lay yourself bare like that?

Mike LaRiccia:
I don’t really consider how people will criticize the personal content in my work, especially while I am creating it. What I enjoy about creating art in general is the lack of restriction and I hope my comics convey that sense of openness and freedom. That being said, there were definitely responses to the book that have stayed with me. Members of my extended family were uncomfortable with many elements and one family member even told me I had disgraced the family name and that the book was disgusting. My fans have responded extremely positively and have only praised the honesty of it. The follow-up book will feature the same type of honest portrayal and I feel I have learned a lot since BLACK MANE in terms of looking inward so I believe many of the scenes in book two will resonate with my readers.

Chris Beckett:
Your art style for BLACK MANE comes across, in much of the book, as frantic or chaotic, which fits the story you are telling perfectly. Was this a conscious decision on your part of a serendipitous melding of style with story?

Mike LaRiccia:
BLACK MANE was one of those books that wrote itself and as it moved along the feeling of story and the situations dictated the visual language. I am not sure how other artists experience their work but when I draw a page depicting myself chained to a rock screaming at the top of my lungs, I mentally find myself in the situation and I reach that “serendipitous melding” of the written and visual language. I try to be sensitive to the emotion of the scenes I create and capture the mood visually utilizing all of the elements of the page.

Chris Beckett:
How did you develop your art style? Are you self-taught or have you taken classes, and if so, which ones did you find the most useful to you as an artist?

Mike LaRiccia:
When I was in high school I was a hardcore fan boy. I was obsessed with comic art and I intensely studied HOW TO DRAW COMICS THE MARVEL WAY. This period of my art education helped me develop my gesturing skills and a new sense of intuition, which was later broken down in college. In college I had the typical ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL experience and comics were not part of that equation. So I studied anatomy, composition, content, etc. I ended up going to Grad school and there I started to secretly develop my comic work and eventually I wound up where I am now. I like to think of myself as 40% Academically taught, 60% Comics taught. I would say the classes I took that really developed my style would be the classes that stressed ways of thinking rather than craft. If you are passionate and motivated in your work you’ll strive to get better and improve your craft, but it is the professor who sparks your mind to think in new ways that really contributes to the bigger picture and directs you out of stagnant periods that you may not have realized you were in.

Chris Beckett:
What is the most important piece of advice you would give to aspiring comic creators?

Mike LaRiccia:
Be real with yourself. Hold yourself to the highest standards. If you know your work looks amateur then get the ball rolling and practice. I see too many comic artists who have so much passion and drive but they haven’t developed their craft. They think it’s just their style but it really reflects a lack of ability. When you have reached a point where you can look at your work and say “All right, this looks professional,” then start thinking about connecting with other comics’ people. The community is so much more accessible than you think, especially with all of these conferences and internet sites like Comicspace. Get to know people and start to show people your work. Get the word out.

Chris Beckett:
What are your goals within the comic medium?

Mike LaRiccia:
I would like to continue creating comics that contribute to promoting social awareness. Ultimately I hope to be able to do this for a living. Also, like every fan boy, I would really like the chance to try some commercial work for the big two. Who wouldn’t want a stab at drawing the X-men or Wolverine and see it printed 50 thousand times?

Chris Beckett:
What other projects are you working on now, and where and when can people find these and other projects of yours?

Mike LaRiccia:
Presently I am focusing on the second book which will be titled, THE DEATH OF BLACK MANE AND THE FEARED SELF. Expect the first part to be released this summer. I have a short story in the upcoming FUTURIUS 3 anthology set to come out in December 07. I have a front-piece for TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES which will be in the June issue. I am currently doing theater posters for the Steve Allen Theater in California. Those wanting to see previously published projects can see a short story in the sci-fi anthology ZEBRA MAG and obviously you can pick up a copy of BLACK MANE. My printmaking, illustration, and comic work can all be seen on my website http://www.michaellariccia.com/.