Small Press Expo, Bethesda, MD
September 6 - 8

Joe Meets the East Coast... And Joe Loses

Words by Bob Simpkins
SLG returned to the SPX in 2002 after the cancellation of last year’s show due to the events of 9/11, and we were glad to have the opportunity once again to see many of the folks who can’t make it out the Comic-Con, or we didn’t get to talk to due to the hectic demands of that show. I arrived early to pay a visit to Diamond’s offices in Timonium, and was joined Thursday night by Joe Nakamura, making his first visit to this show (it was my fourth).
On the opening morning of the show, we arrived in the Connecticut Room where our boxes were being held, surprised to find that our printer, Quebecor, had shipped every box going to every exhibitor with giant labels reading “HOLD FOR GUEST BOB SIMPKINS”. This led to great confusion, and many people asking me for the next two days if I had their boxes. On the other hand, it was great for name recognition.
Set-up went smoothly enough, and all our creators arrived by the time the show opened mid-afternoon. We had a brief scare when Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer called the night before to report car trouble on the drive down from Staten Island, but they made it okay. One of the biggest benefits of coming to this show is the chance to see them, since they don’t make it out to Comic-Con anymore.
Among the attendees were Patty Cake creator Scott Roberts (left), whom we also rarely see. Scott does a good deal of work for Nickelodeon these days, on projects like Rugrats, but is well known within the industry for his affectionate and humorous take on childhood. Other creators in attendance who escaped my camera included Les McClaine and Ariel Schrag.
I finally got to meet a creator new to SLG – Derf – whose book Trashed we published earlier this year. Derf has done a lot of work in newspapers, where he is especially known for his strip “The City”, and also self-published his book My Friend Dahmer this year, in which he chronicles his relationship in high school with the notorious serial killer. Derf was a real pro, a great self-promoter, and proudly sold every single copy of Trashed we brought.
Babyhead Magazine creator Chris Jordan got his own booth, and put the rest of us to shame. Even this picture can’t capture the magical splendor of the Babyhead booth. He also made all sorts of tie-in merchandise, including stickers, buttons, little lunch boxes, and other stuff I can’t remember anymore, but all I know is that after walking back to our booth I suddenly felt very lazy and unimaginative.
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Editorial material is copyright © 2000 - 2002 by Dan Vado. All other material trademarked and copyright respective owners. All rights reserved.