With the Small Press Expo canceled this year, the convention is going virtual. Along with a virtual Ignatz Awards, the beloved convention will have a full slate of programming to go with it.
Some of the panels have already been announced which you can see below and check out here for the full schedule. New panels are being revealed daily. Panels can be viewed on the SPX Youtube page during their times.
September 12
PARENTING AND ART IN A TIME OF CRISIS
September 12, 2020 11:00 am – 11:50 am
Balancing parenting with creating art can be difficult under the best of circumstances. In a time when parents also have to cope with a global pandemic, economic turmoil, injustice and oppression, and naked racism, how are cartoonists who are parents coping with this? How is it affecting not only their output, but the content of their work? Moderator Rob Clough (High-Low, SOLRAD) will discuss these questions and more with Keiler Roberts (Chlorine Gardens), Tyler Cohen (Primahood: Magenta), Whit Taylor (Fizzle, The Nib), and Luke Howard (Our Mother).
DISKETTE PRESS: ANN ARBOR TRANS PRINTING CLUB
September 12, 2020 1:30pm – 2:20 pm
Take a tour and listen to the behind-the-scenes workings of Ann Arbor’s Diskette Press! Publisher Carta Monir will lead a discussion with two of the artists she publishes, Emma Jayne (Trans Girls Hit The Town) and Casey Nowak (Girl Town, Duh Ha Ha). Diskette’s ace employee and Risograph tech whiz Renée Cymry will also provide details on the nuts and bolts of running a self-contained publishing house.
RED, WHITE, BLACK, & BLUE: HIGHLIGHTING AMERICA’S RACIAL ILLITERACY
September 12, 20202 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Combining comics, storytelling, statistics, and facts, Knight makes the case that America’s biggest problem is its inability to have a frank and honest discussion about race.
Knight’s presentation is designed to provoke constructive dialogue amongst people young and old, left and right, of all colors and orientations. The presentation has been a hit at schools, churches, and workplaces across the United States and beyond.
Keith will also be answering questions about Woke, the new Hulu series inspired by Knight’s life and comics. All episodes of the first season drop 9/9/20.
THE FUTURE WITHOUT YOU
September 12, 2020 6:45 pm – 8:00 pm
A seamless tapestry of comics, radio play, and live theatrical performance, The Future Without You is a collection of six short pieces from Tulsa Artist Fellow and Ignatz-award winning comics creator Sophie Goldstein and Tulsa Artist Fellow Carl Antonowicz, starring actors Kara Bellavia and Javier Sagel. Moderator Rob Clough will have a brief discussion with Goldstein and Antonowicz after the performance airs.
September 13
COMICS AND CONTRACTS
September 13, 2020 11:00 am – 11:50 am
One thing lacking in many art school curriculums is how to approach signing a book contract. What considerations should an artist consider in negotiating a contract? How do factors like copyrights, media rights, licensing, reversion rights figure into a contract? Join moderator Rob Clough and the interim Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Jeff Trexler, as they answer these and other frequently asked questions. Trexler will also discuss how he sees the CBLDF providing resources for these issues in the future.
HOW DRAWINGS RESONATE: EMPATHY AND IDENTITY IN GRAPHIC MEMOIR
September 13, 2020 12:15 pm – 1:05 am
Cartoonists GB Tran (Vietnamerica) and Erin Williams (Commute) join this roundtable with moderator Qiana Whitted and other scholars from the International Comic Arts Forum (ICAF) to discuss the ways that audience, reception, and “relatability” affect how comics are created, particularly those by women and people of color. How do these artists render hidden on painful experiences on the page in a manner that resonates with readers, while also realizing their own vision for the stories they want to tell? Co-sponsored by the International Comic Arts Forum
THE BODY LAID WASTE: THE NEW BODY HORROR IN COMICS
September 13, 2020 1:30 pm – 2:20 pm
While comics have always provided a space for the provocative modification of the human body, in recent years cartoonists have returned to the horror genre to twist it with their new visions of terrifying human figures. Grounding their approach to horror in the body itself, these artists excavate intimacy, desire, fantasy, and community care as they explore the human body in all its wonder and grotesqueness. At the intersection of the body, horror, and comics, they conjure alien lifeforms, create impossible anatomies, and pillage historical plagues and contemporary blights, all the while transforming the language of comics and pushing towards new heights of horror storytelling. Join moderator Dr. Rachel Miller as she explores these ideas with Kate Lacour (Vivisectionary), Ezra Claytan Daniels (Upgrade Soul, BTTM FDRS), Julia Gfrörer (Vision), and Sloane Leong (Prism Stalker).
SO GOTH SHE WAS BORN BLACK: A SPOTLIGHT ON BIANCA XUNISE
September 13, 2020 3:00 pm – 3:50 pm
Moderator J.A. Micheline will engage in conversation with Ignatz-award winning cartoonist Bianca Xunise (Six Chix, Say Her Name) about punk rock, goth, and her comics career.
