I got to the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD, yesterday when it opened at 11:00, and in-between multiple circuits of the dealers room, managed to catch three presentations, all of them entertaining. I’d never attended SPX before, since in the past it’s often been opposite Capclave, so I had no idea what to expect in terms of access. Panels at Comic-Con can be so over-attended that they’re often difficult to get into, and I worried I’d find more of the same here, especially once I saw how small the rooms were. But I had no trouble getting good seats.

At 1:00 p.m., I attended R. Sikoryak’s Masterpiece Comics. I was familiar with the cartoonist’s blending of Batman with Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, but not much more than that. Sikoryak discussed his new career-spanning collection that pulled together his other mash-ups, including Wuthering Heights as if done as an EC comic drawn by Jack Davis, The Portrait of Dorian Gray as if done by Windsor McKay as a Little Nemo strip, and so on. During his slideshow, he took us through his step-by-step process on the Wuthering Heights adaptation, and I was impressed by the care he took to make sure that he wasn’t just spoofing EC Comics in general, but all of Davis’ specific narrative tics. He handed out 3-D glasses for one portion of his presentation, involving pirates who couldn’t see the 3-D effects themselves until they removed those furshlugginer eye patches!

After breaking for a late lunch with old friend John Sullivan, recently returned from Canada, I headed to the 4:00 p.m. presentation Paul Karasik and the Fletcher Hanks Experience. I was familiar with the two books Karasik had assembled about this unique artist from the early days of comics, I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets and You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!, but I wanted to learn more. One of the highlights was audio played of an interview he’d done with Hanks’ son in which we learned what a son of a bitch the old man was, and perhaps discovered the source of some of the anger Hanks had displayed in his surreal strips. I disagreed with Karasik’s assertion that most mainstream comics today are done along the same lines as the old Eisner/Iger shop, but I held my question about that until later in the day (below) so as not to steal Q&A time from people who wanted to hear specifically about Hanks.

Immediately after that, I stayed for Gahan Wilson in the Spotlight, during which the cartoonist was meant to be interviewed by Gary Groth, but Gary wasn’t there at the beginning, so Gahan just started in on his own and answered questions for the hour. I made a digital recording of the entire talk, and may transcribe it someday. Here’s where I heard my favorite quote of the day. Gahan, discussing potential movies of his cartoons, said: “One of the wisest people I know in movie-making once said, ‘The thing is this business you gotta do is … not hope.'”

After Gahan’s talk, I went back to wandering the dealers room, picking up more minicomics, which I’ll share about in another post. I found Karasik there autographing copies of his new book, and learned that he based that conclusion I referenced above on the time he was with Gene Colan on the occasion of that artist meeting his long-time collaborator Tom Palmer for the first time. (Is that a convoluted enough syntax for you?) Karasik extrapolated from this separation of duties that comics today were being made in the same assembly-line manner employed as in the old days, but except for a few rare instances—as with Neal Adams’ Crusty Bunkers, which isn’t quite exactly the same thing, but at least gets closer—I think the method as practiced then is extremely rare in modern times. I fear that Karasik’s conclusion on that issue—which he drew to highlight how special it was that Hanks was responsible for all aspects of his stories, which is a valid rarity to point out—could be confusing to those who aren’t that well-versed in the history of comics.

I hung around for the auction held by the Comic Book Legal Defense fund, at which one bidder got a steal on a Gahan Wilson original, and took off for home (well, for dinner with my son, who lives nearby) at around 7:30 p.m.

Here are my few, measly photos from the event. Guess I was having too much fun to remember to snap!