SPACE After Action Report
Somewhere outside the realm of logic and linear time lies the Akashic Library, its ectoplasmic shelves stretching endlessly into the horizon. What arcane esoterica shall we discover there today? Read on, traveler, and see . . .
I’m writing this on Monday; on Sunday, yesterday, I got back from SPACE, the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo in Columbus, Ohio. I have been going to SPACE, and selling my wares, for approximately 100 years. In the past I’ve usually sent out a newsletter beforehand, urging people to come out to the con. Upon sober reflection, I must admit that the newsletters I’ve sent and the social media posts I have made have resulted in a net gain of zero people coming to SPACE.
And that’s okay! SPACE is a small convention—“Small Press,” it’s in the name—and you don’t go there to make big money. At least I don’t. I used to stress about my sales, about whether I would sell enough books to cover the cost of printing, or the cost of the table . . . but somewhere along the line I let that go. If you want to make money, go into a respectable business, not small press comics.
For me, at this point in my life, the reason to go to SPACE is to see friends and pick up neat comics. My table was, as usual, next to that of my good friends Matt Kish and Ione Damasco, who were selling their new zines Fungi World and Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives. Matt does beautiful artwork, and you can pick up some of his original art of mushroom people and D&D monsters at his Etsy shop.
Matt’s mini-comic Fear tied for first place in the General category of the SPACE prize. It was Matt’s first award for a comic, and my first award as a comics publisher! You can order a copy here (and you should, it’s good.)
It was great to sit and chat with Matt and Ione, about finding an audience for your art, the debates around Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the pain of eating too many doughnuts, the struggles of growing older, and countless other topics. I also got to talk to Tom Williams, Joseph Morris, Steven Hager, Brent Bowman, Michael Neno, and other delightful and talented folks who were there. It’s great to get together with friends who share your passions, who get excited about comics and art, who love devoting hundreds of hours to printing up a batch of little black-and-white booklets, taking them to a show, and sharing them with other people. Even if it’s only a few people!
With such a powerful brain trust assembled I was able to ask the burning question, “If I’m only going to buy one, which should I get—the Rom Omnibus, the Micronauts Omnibus, or the Godzilla Omnibus?” and get thoughtful, carefully-considered answers.
Another source of joy is that my firstborn child Blu went with me again this year, after having to miss last year due to being out of the country on a school trip. Blu has been to SPACE many times, was eager to go back, and had a great time. Basically this parenting thing worked out just like I had hoped—I have a kid who loves going to comics conventions, and is fine sitting with me at the table all day.
We didn’t just hang out, we did also sell some things—for instance we sold copies of Lightning Man, issues 1 through 4. But you don’t have to go to SPACE to get your copies—you can order some right here:
Lightning Man #1
Lightning Man #2
Lightning Man #3
Lightning Man #4
Lighting Man #1-4 Combo Pack
Even though we were at a comic book convention we sold some copies of my RPG Project 8Ball. It was encouraging to see people respond with such interest to that book, because it was a passion project that I pondered and tinkered with for literal decades, and I finally ended up getting what was in my head down on paper. Which doesn’t always happen!
Selling those copies reminded me that I haven’t done anything to promote Project 8Ball in awhile, so I have decided to have a sale. It normally sells for $20, but for a limited time, I’ve marked it down to $15. That’s 25% off! You can order a copy here.
Project 8Ball is a role-playing game of weird conspiracy inspired by the works of David Lynch, Grant Morrison, and Philip K. Dick. Here’s what it’s about:
The life you know—your family, friends, job, everything—is a lie, a carefully-crafted web of memory implants and forged documents. You are not a random civilian; you are an agent of Project 8Ball, a government agency so secret that, at any given time, only 37 people know it exists.
As your false identity slips away you remember a terrible truth: The world is a shadowy cesspool of mystery and madness. Aliens, cryptids, parahumans, time travel, space gods, angels, all of them are real, and all of these extranormal elements endanger baseline consensus reality.
Your mission: Keep the world normal, even if you go mad doing it.
That’s basically my dream game; your mileage may vary.
What else . . . I bought a variety of books at SPACE, as one does, but my most exciting discovery was Venomyths, by Joshua Ray Stephens. Joshua was a nice guy who spoke passionately about Moby-Dick and about his artistic aims for his comics. I bought issue 4, read it, then went back the next day for 5 and 6. They’re not cheap, for individual comic book issues, but they’re printed on a Risograph (which I don’t know anything about) and beautifully made; you can order them here. I’ll write more about them once I’ve read all three.
A cruel paradox of SPACE is that looking at art and talking to artists gets you excited and creatively inspired, but by the time you get home you’re tired—too tired to draw, that’s for sure. So Blu and I came home and got our lives in order for another week of school. Last night my wife Alice and I started a movie and didn’t finish it, and also I’ve been reading a lot of different books and not finishing any of them, so my media consumption lists will be spotty but let’s get them out of the way . . .
BOOKS I'VE READ SINCE LAST TIME
Unstoppable Doom Patrol, Dennis Culver, Chris Burnham, and various
I really enjoyed this collection of the seven-issue series, as did my son Jackson. That’s an impressive achievement, to appeal to someone like me, who’s been a passionate Doom Patrol fan since 1991, and someone who’s never read a Doom Patrol comic before. Fun for the whole family! Please read it, then contact DC and tell them you want more Doom Patrol comics from Culver and Burnham.
MOVIES I'VE SEEN SINCE LAST TIME
Dune Part 2
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
The Incredibles
Incredibles 2
Thomas Crown Affair
Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning
Rebel Moon: Part Two – Scargiver
More Mission: Impossible rewatches, more Brad Bird, blah blah blah.
Thanks for joining me for this month’s newsletter! Next month we’ll check back in on Million-Colored Sun, which should be finished by then.
Your Pal,
Leighton