This past weekend I went to SPX (the Small Press Expo, just outside Washington DC). It was my first time attending, and I was simply going to get the vibes and to see if there might be a future for GONOGO in print form (and leveling up in general). Everybody was extremely lovely (except for one person, who I still bought a book from because I support their cause…but they were a bit dismissive and frankly, rude) I saw the creator of “My Dad is Dracula”, Jason Poland, who I have seen on the internet many times. I bought his self published book and we chatted a bit about the webcomic thing. What struck me was that he did not have a publisher, in fact many (if not most) of the artists in the hall did not have a publisher. I recognize that the promise of the democratizing influence of the internet (or perhaps “leveling”) means that we are all free to make and post what we want, but we are all out there on our own. 

Anyway, I was able to make connections with some really interesting artists like, Maritsa Patrinos, Andrew Greenstone, Claire Connelly, John Yuskaitis Jr, Pranas T. Naujokaitis, Peter Kuper (who draws the current Spy Vs Spy) and Dale Rawlings. Specifically Dale, who I met in person for the first time, is a DCMV local and part of the DC Conspiracy, and he draws “GOP Nuts”. I was hooked into DC Conspiracy a number of years ago, and slipped off their radar, but I hope to be back and submit GONOGO to their free newsprint comics digest “Magic Bullet” for their next issue.

All in all, SPX was a great experience and it showed me that although we may be siloed away on the internet, there is a community out there in the real world selling their comics, one self published book at a time.