ROOTING THROUGH SPX BOOTY

[MattBrady]

by Ryan McLelland

SPX, the Small Press Expo, was held in Bethesda, Maryland on October 1-3, highlighting the best of the independent comic scene. As I scoured table after table, buying way too much for my own good, I wanted to come back and write a series of two articles highlighting the best of the best from SPX as I get through it. Without further ado, here is the first article highlighting two mini-comics, a four-issue series, and a standout graphic novel.

Baraka and Black Magic in Morocco by Rick Smith

One of the best times in my life was traveling through the Middle East in the mid 1990’s, which is probably why the comic I was most excited to read first was Rick Smith’s Baraka and Black Magic in Morocco (Alternative Comics, $14.95). I always felt that at every turn there is always some seedy person looking to take you somewhere, trying to become your friend, and trying to separate you from your money.

We follow Rick and his wife Tania as they first arrive in Morocco from Spain, where right from the get-go they are told to get their passports stamped off the ship they arrived on only to disembark and find out they have to go back onboard to get their passports stamped. What can only be minutes later, we see the duo trying to get a cab outside the ferry docks and find themselves at the hands of a seedy taxi driver who will only drive them for fifty dollars.

Thus starts the adventures of the two as they continue on their path to try and see as much as they can of Morocco with having to spend every cent they have trying to do it. The duo hook up with other travelers, rent cars, and continue on their path while getting drunk and stoned all along the way. Every time we see Rick run into a seedy guy who wants to take him somewhere for what could be the ‘best bread on Earth’, we wonder if he’s going to really buy some delicious bread or be smashed with a rock, robbed, and left for dead.

As friends come and friends go, it’s great fun to follow Rick and Tania move through the country. We watch Tania’s hardships as she tries to deal with being the only female moving along in this journey along with what seems like a land where there are no rules. Even Rick must deal with being drugged by a rug shop owner so he might be more willing to buy a nice carpet. With merchants drugging you just to be a rug, you start to hope that the two Americans will be able to make it out of Morocco alive.

The graphic novel moves very quickly, just like events seem to do when you are traveling. Friends quickly come and go as you band together trying to fight off your surroundings. Rick Smith, who went traveling shortly after his dot com business went belly up, write and draws a book that is engrossingly original, sometimes shocking, and a entrancing look at the Moroccan culture through a traveler’s eyes.

Learn more at: www.indyworld.com/smith/

Yirmumah Volume 2 Number 1 (mini-comic) by D.J. Coffman

It’s easy to bitch about the comic industry at a convention or to your friends, but what comic fan out there wants to read a comic that pokes fun at what we love? Yirmumah!’s (PV Comics, $1.50) front cover tells us that this comic is all about ‘The Truth About The Comic Book Industry’ and I’ll be honest, I walked past it with a shrug. Another comic creator next to D.J. Coffman’s table sprang into action, opening the book up and saying, “Do yourself a favor. Just read these two panels.” After laughing hysterically at said two panels I quickly forked over my buck-fiddy for the comic.

Coffman has a spectacular eye for the rights and wrongs of the comic industry and the comic is so straight-on that you can’t hold back the smiles, snickers, or laughter as you read it. From page one where we have guest star Frank Miller introduce himself and announce to the world he has terminal brain cancer, you are forced to turn the page. I’m thinking to myself, “Frank Miller has brain cancer? Really?”

After this is where the fun begins as we meet our usual suspects: the elite comic book creator with enough money to create whatever schlocky comic he wants, Todd McFarlane with his billion dollars balls, the extinct hand letterer who never says die though his skills have been replaced by Blambot, and Stan Lee getting the ‘loving’ that a true legend deserves.

Coffman segues the reader quickly through the different comic book creators, jobs in the field, women who are in/around the comic book industry, and even how a writer can sell out properly should you get tired of being rejected. I have two words for you: Justice. And Unicycle. The comic moves at a pace so quick that I found myself reading something, moving on, then having to go back just to reread something terribly fun again.

I’m not sure how Coffman crams so many panels into one mini-comic. At sixteen pages I sure did feel like I got my money’s worth because it felt like I was reading for an hour. Yirmumah! is witty and laugh-out loud funny comic book that every comic reader will enjoy. If you don’t find abusing John Byrne’s cat Mr. Winkums, Brian Bendis’s skin cap, or Stan Lee’s woman going downtown funny, then you should really go back to collecting something fun like Pogs.

Learn more at: www.pvcomics.com and www.yirmumah.net

Where You Been? – A Six Pack Story (mini-comic) by Al Dorantes and Phil Juliano

I hung out with artist Phil Juliano a lot during SPX because the man is hands-down one of the funniest men on the planet. Himself and writer Al Dorantes have come up with these mini-comics called Six Pack Stories, each comic featuring a different story about a different guy involved in a different event.

Where You Been? (Luchador Enterprises) is said to be a true story involving two guys at a bar waiting for their friend Dallas to arrive. The two drink and wait as the hours fly by. Soon it’s closing time and the duo leave to find Dallas just arriving. Dallas takes his friends to the diner and informs his friends that he just got out of jail. Now telling the story of how Dallas landed in jail would give away the entire story, but let’s just say that it involved a flask, some donuts, and a duck.

Where You Been, along with the rest of Dorantes & Juliano’s minis, are quick fun reads, mini-comics that can be read quickly, thrill you even quicker, and make you want to go back and read them again just after a short while.

Learn more at: www.luchadorenterprises.com .

Frayed Ends by Jason Brightman

Jason Brightman’s Frayed Ends (Jason Brightman, $2.95/$4.50 for #4) ended this year with its fourth issue, which made it easy for me to snap up all of the issues and read this great tale in one sitting.

The series follows a fellow named Paul who, after losing the love of his life, starts seeing his childhood imaginary friend Edward. It’s not enough that Paul is seeing the strange-looking fellow, but Edward has seemed to lose his heart and wants Paul’s help in finding it again.

Suddenly Paul finds himself on this strange journey with Edward in a world of floating televisions and protestors who only want to be able to carry concealed sticks. When his best friend also ends up missing on Earth, Paul finds himself quickly soul-searching to try and figure out why his breakup affected him so badly.

Frayed Ends is psychological, whimsical, and an independent comic that sometimes leaves you guessing while other times makes you think. Brightman’s unique artwork is enhanced in issue four as the black and white series adds the color blue to Edward and his weird world. The adding of the color blue to the comic enhances this fantasy world tenfold, making the last issue all that more enjoyable. The sad part is once you settle in with Paul and Edward, you find the comic coming to its close.

Not that it’s holding Brightman back as he preps a new graphic novel project and thinks about reproducing Frayed Ends as a trade paperback. Until that happens, limited quantities of the four issues are still available via the Frayed Ends website.

Learn more at: www.frayedends.com

[Comics&Beer]

Frayed Ends sounds like a great read. Thanks for the heads up. However, I checked the site you posted for this book and they only had 1-3 for sale. Were can I find #4???

[Jason_Brightman]

Thanks for the great review!
I've updated frayedends.com so you can now order all four issues from me directly. They are available individually or as a complete set.

http://www.frayedends.com/store/index.html

Jason Brightman

[djcoffman]

Wow, thanks for the great review of Yirmumah---

If anyone wants to buy one online, they are availble for a buck-fiddy at Comixpress- Click Here

Thanks much!

[Al Nickerson]

Yirmumah #1 is probably the greatest mini comic I've ever read. It's funny as heck, and has some nice pictures, too. That DJ Coffman is a madman. I just hope he never gets mad at me.

[tunabeard]

has the SPX ever been to NYC before?