Two weekends ago Fred debuted her science comics at S.P.A.C.E. (Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo) while Lena shopped the other booths. We were both blown away by the quality of the show and the variety of talent! Here’s our review of S.P.A.C.E. 2018, which took place April 28-29 in Columbus, OH.
Who knew Columbus had such a vibrant scene for independent comics? According to their website, “S.P.A.C.E. is the Midwest’s longest running exhibition of small press, creator owned and art comics” as well as “Columbus’ longest locally owned and operated COMICS show of any kind.” The show is sponsored by local comic shop Back Porch Comics.
Lena’s experience at S.P.A.C.E.:
Admission is free, so attendees like me can spend all their cash at the booths. The two food trucks outside provided the coffee and snacks for the energy I needed to get through the intense browsing, shopping and chatting with folks. I picked up an incredible haul including: a trio of cute “Mr. Dino & Friends” mini comics from Kelci Crawford, the first issue of intriguing supernatural science fiction “Staunch Ambition” from Brian E. Lau, the entire amazing “Amiculus: A Secret History” series by Travis Horseman, and wonderfully nostalgic of my manga-reading days, “Love Metal” by Jessica Howard. Also, I’ve got to order “Long Lost” by Matthew Erman & Lisa Sterle once it’s available in a paperback collection. BTW, just Google “parisel313” for some fun creativity. The amount of talent was quite overwhelming and I really appreciated the wide range of themes and styles of the artists.
Fred’s experience at S.P.A.C.E.:
My booth fee was pretty reasonable, especially compared to the cons we’ve done on the west coast. People kept telling me that SPACE is a great networking con (as opposed to a high volume of sales con) and that may be true. I didn’t have high expectations for sales, given that this is the first comic book I’ve ever made, but I thought I did pretty well anyway. Even better than the sales was all the great feedback and conversations! Everyone was really friendly. My fellow tablers were encouraging and happy to talk shop – where we got our prints or pins or buttons made, which sticker cutting machine we had and did we like it, which cons were our favorite and which to avoid. And I did get to do a lot of networking, mostly because everyone was so friendly, it made networking really easy! I’m looking forward to SPACE 2019 and hope I’ll be able to table at it again.
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