Yes cats and kittens, the annual Small Press Expo is upon us once again. This year’s shindig promises one of the best in recent memory, with lots of stellar guests, fascinating panels and, of course, the comics.

I’ll be there Saturday, in one of my traditional black Capcom t-shirts. If you’re going, feel free to say hi and tell me how much you hate my posts. Until then, why not peruse this handy, helpful guide to what to see and buy:

Two booths where I plan you can easily spend an obscene amount of money:
The general rule of thumb at indie shows like this is that you’re supposed to avoid making the sort of big-ticket purchases you can do at your local store or through Amazon. I’ve never been very good at following that rule (or the one that says you’re supposed to walk through the room once before buying), and I’ll probably plunk down a frightening load of cash at the Fantagraphics table, seeing as how I have a backlog of Ignatz titles to snag, not to mention the new Peanuts and Krazy Kat volumes. Oh, and it looks like they’ll have the new Popeye book there too.

PictureBox, meanwhile, will be debuting a slew of must-have items, including the new and final (!) issue of The Ganzfeld, Travel by Yuichi Yokoyama and the second volume of CF’s Powr Masters. That’s just too many awesome comics for me not to open my wallet.

Five other books I’m probably going to buy:
Reich #5 by Elijah Brubaker (Sparkplug)
Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, Book Three by Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Quest for the Missing Girl by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
From the Shadow of the Northern Lights: An Anthology of Swedish Alternative Comics edited by Johannes Klenell (Top Shelf)
Any minis that Kevin Huizenga is willing to part with.

Five books that I might buy if I have any money left:
Monsters #3 by Ken Dahl (Secret Acres)
Mesmo Delivery by Rafael Grampa (AdHouse) — I actually already have a copy of this, but I wanted to recommend it, as it kicks major ass.
Look Out Monsters by Jeff Grogan
You Ain’t No Dancer Vol. 3 (New Reliable Press)
Boys Club #2 by Matt Furie (Buenaventura Press)

Five people I want to shake hands with and possibly get an autograph from:
Joost Swarte — Who doesn’t want to meet one of the finest and most influential European comics artists around? Apparently he’s still hard at work on his Modern Swarte collection (coming next year from Fantagraphics) but hopefully he’ll have something on hand. I may bring an old copy of Raw just in case.
Ben Katchor — I’m definitely bringing my copy of Jew of New York for him to sign.
Tom Tomorrow — Call me liberal scum if you must, but I’ve always found Tomorrow’s work to be hilarous and spot on.
Richard Thompson — I don’t care what those meanies at my newspaper say, Cul de Sac is one of the finest comic strips to come down the pike in ages.

Five panels I plan on attending:
Kim Thompson: Vingt Sur 20 — Kim Thompson gives you a guided tour through the the most significant European cartoonists of the past century.
Critics’ Roundtable — Bill Kartalopoulos, Rob Clough, Gary Groth, Jog and Tim Hodler talk about how things used to be better before Wizard magazine came around.
Bryan Lee O’Malley Q&A — Jog talks turkey with the Scott Pilgrim creator.
The Kramers Ergot 7 Panel — Oh, I hope Alan David Doane is in the audience for this one.
Hergé and the Clear Line — Bill Kartalopoulos, Jason Lutes, Swarte, and Kim Thompson talk about how awesome Tintin is. That’s, like, my idea of a perfect hour.

Five panels I won’t be able to attend, but wish I could:
Lloyd Dangle Presentation
Joost Swarte Q+A
Ben Katchor Spotlight
Richard Thompson Spotlight
These are all on Sunday, and sadly, I’m visiting my in-laws then.

Other things you can do:
Attend the Ignatz Awards Saturday night.
Bid to win an Owly-decorated guitar at the CBLDF auction.
Check out downtown Bethesda. You’ll have to take the public transport, but there’s some nice restaurants and hangout spots once you get to the main drag.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 8:58 am and is filed under Conventions, Events, News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.