Adventures of the SPACE Comic Expo This weekend!

Along with being the smartest city in America, Columbus has become a hot bed of Indie Comic Books. For a comic geek like me, that just makes my city that much cooler.

This weekend, I’ll be attending the SPACE Indie Comic Expo this weekend. I’ll be giving reports all weekend starting tomorrow night with the big bash at The Laughing Ogre, the world’s best comic book store. Look for me. I’ll be the one with the St. Louis Browns hat.

Here is the info if you want to attend

SPACE Indie Comic Expo

Ramada Plaza Hotel

4900 Sinclair Road

Columbus, Ohio.

Weekend Passes: 8 Dollars

Programming:

2:00 PM Comics Education– Tom Hart, Carol Tyler, Robert Loss, Ryan Claytor and Caitlin McGurk, Hosted by Ken Glanc

3:00PM Art Versus Commerce

The age old conflict – How to make a living as an artist while remaining true to your artistic vision/integrity. What is creativity? What is talent? How do you build a cartooning career? What is “selling out” and how can you tell if you have?

These and other philosophical cartooning conundrums will be explored by those two seekers of true cartooning wisdom – Bruce Chrislip and Brian Hagen.

4:00PM Possum At Large: A 10th Anniversary Craptacular
Old school rides again! Join Chad Lambert and host Ian Shires as they celebrate the 10th anniversary of the publication of Possum At Large #1 and the official relaunch of Old School Comics. Find out why it took so friggin’ long to put the first book out in 2003, why it took 10 years to put the second book out, and how a failed attempt at self publishing attracted admirers like Dave Sim, as well as a Day Prize nomination in 2004. Chad will also debut a the brand new collection called “The Possum At Large 10th Anniversary Craptacular” at SPACE! This 44-page comic collects all the obscure short stories from the last decade under one cover.

6:00PM Exhibitor Room Closes

Saturday, April 13- Kerouac Café

8 :00 – ? S.P.A.C.E. Polymaths After Party Pageant
at the Kerouac Café 2250 N. High St.
Ishi’s Brain – A puppet adaptation of the graphic novel Songs of the Abyss, with Eamon Espey and Lisa Krause .
Accompanying the release of his newly published graphic novelSongs Of The Abyss (Secret Acres) Eamon Espey collaborated with puppeteer Lisa Krause in the adaptation of one of the chapters Ishi’s Brain for a puppet show. Ishi’s Brain is based on the true story of a man that has often been referred to as “the last wild Indian.” Krause and Espey’s version turns the story into a science fiction ritual where a lone spirit spends his final days and an alien shaman helps guide the dead into the next world.
…then a musical interlude by cartoonists’ Leela Corman and Maddie Fix. Followed by  music by the Smacks!

Saturday, April 13- Bow Tie’s Lounge
8:00PM – 12:00 PM Drink & Jam Live Art Event at the hotel bar, Bowties, will be a meeting of all the artists exhibiting at the show where they’ll jam on or do solo pieces all in the spirit of getting to know each other and just having fun making some art while enjoying a favorite beverage or two. It’s a chance for them to hang out and just draw and paint live right there in the bar.” All the drawings produced will be auctioned off in benefit of the SPACE Prize Fund.

Sunday, April 14- Panel Room (Unless noted otherwise)

11:30 AM Drink & Jam Art Auction
If anybody’s up we’ll be auctioning off the work from the previous nights efforts. All the proceeds will go to the SPACE Prize Fund.

1:00 PM Memoir Comic Panel– Tom Hart, John Porcellino, Nate Powell, Chris Monday and Dara Naraghi  Hosted by John Steventon

2:00PM Blink 10^th Anniversary  Max Ink interviewed by Robert Loss

3:00PM Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and the Dylan Williams Collection hosted by Caitlin McGurk. “Columbus is home to the world’s largest collection of comics and cartoon art! Caitlin McGurk of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum will give a presentation on the history of the Cartoon Library, some of the incredible gems they have, the importance of preserving this kind of material and what the future holds for the museum. In 2013 the Cartoon Library will be expanding their physical space from a 6,800 sq-ft basement to a glorious 30,000 sq-ft home in Sullivant Hall at the gateway to OSU’s campus, solidifying it as a top destination in America for all things comics.”

4:00 PM Creative Process of Comic Creators. We’d discuss the journey a story takes from inspiration to publication. What things inspire us. What comes first? the art? or the story? What tools creators use. A creator’s work schedule. Printing options. Publishing options. etc. and of course, questions from the audience. Hosted by Mark Mariano

5:00PM SPACE 2013 Closes

For More Info, check out the SPACE website. See you there!