SPX PLUS Part Three

So every occasion I've been to, or through, Washington DC, I've never been able to spend time there.  I've always had to be somewhere else the next day.  This time I arranged to have a day off on the Monday after SPX, so Noah and I could check it out a bit.

At breakfast we found out that Joseph Remnant needed a ride to the airport, so I agreed to take him down there if he didn't mind tagging along on our little tourist jaunt.  We drove down together to the National Mall.

The Washington Monument is very impressive in person.

World War II Memorial

Lincoln Memorial in the distance.

View from the Lincoln Memorial steps.

After that we walked over to the White House.

Wasps' nest on the White House fence.

We ended up at the Smithsonian for a bit before it was time to take Joseph to Dulles.  

Afterwards, Noah and I admitted we were too tired to walk anymore, and decided to head up to Pittsburgh to visit good ol' Jim Rugg.  One of the treats of my life over the last few years has been discovering what a cool city Pittsburgh is, with so many cool people too.  I've managed to make it out there about twice a year since then, and any excuse I've had to visit I'm happy to make use of.

Jim Rugg's neighbors' cat.

KIRBY!!!

I love this cat.

We stayed up late talking about art and comics, as we are wont to do.  I told Jim I wanted to visit Copacetic the next day to look for a copy of the out-of-print Four Color Fear.  Then we went to bed, and Kirby only bothered me once.

Next morning after the rain, Jim Rugg's neighbors' other cat put footprints all over my car.  (They're still there.)

We hung out looking at old comics and talking about stuff, waiting for Copacetic to open for the day.  When Jim found out it was my birthday, he instantly reached into his shelf, pulled out a copy of Four Color Fear, and placed it in my hands.  Happy birthday, he said.  I was speechless. Are you kidding me?  Thanks Jim!

View from Copacetic's balcony.  Yes, what other comic shop in America has a balcony?

And then we were back on the road, heading to Columbus, where I wanted to sell some King-Cats, and where Caitlin McGurk had offered us a tour of OSU's Billy Ireland Cartoon Research Library.

Zzzzzzzz.

NEXT: COLUMBUS, INDY, CHICAGO

SPX PLUS Part Two

 Saturday was the big day.  Got up early and set up the Spit and a Half Zone.  I was sharing a table with Noah, Joseph Remnant, Lisa Hanawalt, and Domatille Collardey, so space was tight.  But fun.

Joseph and Noah: Reverse Boppsey Twinz.  Weird, huh?

Two of comics' best and brightest:  Jim Rugg and Tom Neely.

The excitement, the thrill, that is SPX...

Domatille and Lisa hold down the fort.

Lisa and I compare animal-themed shirts.  (Photo by Julia Wertz)

Saturday was a rough one for me.  I failed to eat anything substantial, and didn't drink enough water.  Couple that with bodily exhaustion and too much Diet Cherry Pepsi™, and, well, you get blurry pictures.

Adrian Tomine signs at the D+Q booth.

Tracy Hurren and Julia Pohl-Miranda of D+Q, with a shocked, shocked I say, Brian Ralph.

Julia Wertz signs copies of her new book The Infinite Wait, with publisher Annie Koyama in the background.

MariNaomi.  Whoa, I really should have paid attention to those blood sugar levels.

Oily Comics' Chuck Forsman!

Kilgore Books founder, and Blammo publisher, Dan Stafford showed up!  What's with the dress code you guys?

Here I am checking out Noah's new book, The Hypo.  (Photo by Fanta's Jen Vaughn)

Sunday I actually ate food and drank water, and things went much better.  Everyone said this was the bestest SPX ever, and maybe they were right!  I got to see a lot of great people, and pick up a lot of great books.  I love the social aspect of SPX, where everyone is constantly hanging out and passing each other in the hallways.  

VIVA LA SPX.

The sad remnants of someone's Ignatz Dream.

Nerdage:  NVS, Neely, Mike Dawson, Joseph.

The weekend concluded with the highlight:  getting to have dinner Sunday night with Los Bros at a nice Indian restaurant. Can you believe I got to shoot the bull with Gilbert about Marvel Masterworks and Harvey Horror comics the whole time?  (L-R: Gilbert Hernandez, Jen Vaughn, Jaime Hernandez, Neely, Remnant, NVS, JP -- Photo by Jacq Cohen.)

NEXT: DC, PITTSBURGH

SPX PLUS

It was time for SPX, the best comics show in the country, so Noah flew into Milwaukee and we got in the car.  We decided to head south a bit first, to visit Springfield, Illinois, on the way.  Noah's new book on Abraham Lincoln, The Hypo, had just been published by Fantagraphics, and was debuting at SPX.  Since Noah had never been to Springfield we thought it'd be good to pay our respects.

Getting gas at the Road Ranger in South Beloit before heading out.

On our way down we stopped in Normal, Illinois at ACME Comics, and I sold some copies of the new King-Cat and looked around at horror comic reprints.  But time was wasting.  In a few hours we got to Springfield and headed toward Lincoln's house, now a National Park Service site.  After the house tour we wandered around the neighborhood before driving up to Lincoln's Tomb.

Approaching Lincoln's Tomb.

Apparently it's good luck to rub the statue's nose.

The grandeur and solemnity of the tomb was quite powerful.  Inside, it consists of a circular hallway adorned with statues of Lincoln from throughout his career, interspersed with engravings of some his most memorable pieces of writing.  At the far end of the circle is his actual burial site.  The sense of history and loss was palpable, and very moving.

Next we made our way down to St. Louis, where I sold King-Cats to Star Clipper, and we visited the great cartoonist Tim Lane.  We stayed up late talking about comics and life, and after Noah and Tim had put away three bottles of wine, and began shouting at each other about Mad Men, I went to bed.  Above, Noah enjoys Tim's copy of Four Color Fear, finding a copy of which became a kind of holy grail of the trip.

A page from Tim's sketchbook, with nary a drop of White-Out to be seen.  Amazing.

Another page from his sketchbook.

On our way out of town we stopped at the Sheldon Gallery for a retrospective of Al Hirschfeld's portraits of Jazz and Theater legends.  They wouldn't let me take pictures of that work, but I was able to snap a few of the neighboring exhibit, Turtles Can Fly: The Art of Artists' Children.  Above:  From Cat Town, an installation of drawings by Li Hodson.

Down the block from the Sheldon was this abandoned church, which I've driven past several times, but never stopped to inspect before.

Then we headed back east, into Illinois once again.  (One of the earliest drawings I ever made was of the spaghetti bowl of highway ramps found as one crosses the Mississippi into St. Louis, above.)

Can't stop, won't stop.

Giant roadside cross outside Effingham, Ill.

We drove on through the night.  I'd wanted to stop in Indianapolis and Columbus to sell comics, but we got to them too late, so decided to skip it until the return trip.

Sleeping at a rest area in eastern Ohio, this was our view in the morning.

Fog approaching the West Virginia line.

Zzzzzzz.

Mr. Narrator.

That last stretch on Interstate 68 is beautiful, but loooong.  We made it into Baltimore with an hour or two to spare before Noah was to read at Atomic Books' SPXplosion party.  Ran into Dan Clowes and Alvin Buenaventura, who were doing a signing at the shop beforehand.  We had a few laughs and some iced tea together.

Ramsey Beyer reads at SPXplosion.

No-aah!!!

Then to Bethesda to check into the hotel.  SPX was beginning the next morning with set-up at eight.  True to form, we got very lost (who knew there were three Marriotts in Bethesda?).

NEXT:  SPX

KING-CAT 73 + SEPTEMBER TOUR

Just formally announcing that yes indeed, the new King-Cat, #73, is available now.  Also, I'll be doing a quick bit on the road in the followup to its release.  Details below!

- - -

KING-CAT COMICS #73 with that rascally Mr. Bowser, cat fun, In Search of the Cuckoo Bird, a Comix Dream (with cameos by Kevin H. and Anders N.), letters, a poem, Top 40, and more!  32 digest pages, in glorious black and white.

USA: $4 check/mo; $4.28 via paypal
CANADA: $5 USD via paypal
EVERYWHERE ELSE: $6.50 USD va paypal

Payable to:
John Porcellino
PO Box 142
South Beloit, IL 61080

or via paypal to: kingcat_paypal AT hotmail DOT com

ON THE ROAD:

Sat.-Sun. September 15-16

SMALL PRESS EXPO

Bethesda, MD

I'll be at SPX sharing table #49 with Noah Van Sciver, Joseph Remnant, Lisa Hanawalt, and Domitille Collardey.  I'll have the new King-Cat plus books and back issues, Tee-Shirts, and a selection of Spit and a Half distro stuff, including Ignatz-nominated The Lobster King by Clara Bessijelle.

Also, I'll be participating in two panels on Saturday afternoon:  Publishing During the Apocalypse at 1PM in the White Flint Ballroom, with Leon Avelino, Box Brown, and Annie Koyama, moderated by Heidi MacDonald;  and Drawing Out Childhood: Summoning Childhood Experience at 3PM in the White Flint Ballroom, with Derf, MariNaomi, and Julia Wertz, moderated by Mike Dawson.

Weds. September 19, 7 PM

QUIMBY'S

Chicago, IL

King-Cat 73 zine-release party with my special guest Noah Van Sciver, who'll be debuting his new Fantagraphics published GN, The Hypo.  We'll be reading, showing slides, answering questions, and signing stuff, so come on down!

Sat. September 22

TWIN CITIES ZINE FEST

Minneapolis, MN

I'll be tabling with a vast, luscious spread of King-Cat and Spit and a Half titles, two tables full!  Eat up!

Sat. October 6

HANDMADE AND BOUND FESTIVAL

Nashville, TN

Same deal as Mpls, this time at Watkins College of Art, Design and Film:  Loads of the best comics, graphic novels, and zines from around the world!

See you there!