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Rob Lee
You.
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Rob Lee
Welcome to the truth of this art, your source of conversations connecting arts, culture and community. These are stories that matter, and I am your host, Rob Lee. Thank you for tuning in today. I'm excited to be running it back with the returning guest. He is a comics historian and the executive director of the Small Press Expo, the premiere event for graphic novels, the comic arts, and cartooning.
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Rob Lee
So please welcome back to the program. Warren Bernard, welcome back to the podcast. Thank you for coming back to the pod. Like, you know, you were saying it, but I'm going to gush for a moment. Truly an honor to have you back on. You know, I go back to that initial conversation that we had a few years ago at this point, and just always having such a great time in space.
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Rob Lee
So I'm just really excited that you said yes. And I was excited that we were able to make it happen.
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Warren Bernard
Well, and like I said, it's an honor for me to be here. I love it. I had a really great time last time we talked. And I'm looking forward to more conversation.
00;01;10;17 - 00;01;33;12
Rob Lee
Yeah. And that's and that's really ultimately what this series and this podcast has become. I'm calling it the sort of March to 900. I'm getting closer to 900 episodes. And, for the folks that have come back on for, for this season to sort of run it back, it's a continuation of the conversation. So in that, that vein, could we go back for the folks who may have not checked out?
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Rob Lee
Our first episode is shame on them. They need to go back. But, could you reintroduce yourself for the listeners and tell us a little bit about space?
00;01;42;10 - 00;02;08;16
Warren Bernard
Well, my name is Juan Bernard. I this is my 15th year as this executive director. Which I think is a record. So SP, is the longest running indie comics festival in the United States. It started in 1994. So is the 31st year. There was one other cool April Turner Press Expo that occurred out in California that started around the same time.
00;02;08;18 - 00;02;28;22
Warren Bernard
But we're now the longest by far. Yeah. And as a matter of fact, the reason why there's a t cap, the reason why there's a Moca, and the reason why there was an El cap and other things like that was people came to us. They were like, we need to do one of these. Yeah. And so, you know, invitation being this is here in a form of flattery, which we thought was very cool.
00;02;28;24 - 00;02;52;26
Warren Bernard
So, we we have I mean, we've got a 26,000 square foot ballroom, 280 tables. It's going to be somewhere about 500 creators. So I think us and maybe the two largest in terms of sheer number of tables and number of exhibitors, we have I think it's 22 program panels and 18 workshops.
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Rob Lee
So stuff to do, just like.
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Warren Bernard
Right. There's like substitute and actually a calculation. So if you spend just three minutes in front of every table, just three minutes. Go on. We're open 14 hours. So during that 14 hours we're open. You can't go to the bathroom. You can't eat. You can't see any programing. The only thing you can do is spend three minutes in front of each table, and you will get to all 280 tables.
00;03;17;11 - 00;03;38;03
Rob Lee
You give me a challenge. I feel like right there. Just like no bladder, we're going to go completely dry. It's just like, look, I got three minutes. I got to get my best three minutes in, and I just. I don't know why. I, you know, and this is going to sort of the next question I think. But you know, I always have such a, a great time.
00;03;38;10 - 00;03;56;09
Rob Lee
So this would be the third or fourth time I've gone. And I think sort of each time I go to an event, something that is relevant to something I'm into, I'm in the comments, I'm into, in talking to artists and so on and writers and the like. And I always.
00;03;56;11 - 00;03;57;03
Warren Bernard
Just.
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Rob Lee
Get some networking done, obviously, but also being able to enjoy it. And I find like I try to strike this balance. Sometimes I go to a place it's like purely I got a net where I got to get this person and so on. When I go to spa, I have such a great time and the networking happens almost naturally because you're at that level to have that personal, that one on one time.
00;04;19;17 - 00;04;32;13
Rob Lee
And I always enjoy, you know, the panels, I always enjoy the conversations. Oh, we spend way too much money. I won't say that much. Not not because of anything. They're just more so, like I'm bad with budgeting sometimes. Like, oh, this, that.
00;04;32;15 - 00;04;55;15
Warren Bernard
It's it's difficult. And by the way, I'll be the first one to meet. That's where we put cash machines on the floor. Okay. So no, no, I have the same problem. I spend way too much, and I come home with more stuff. But that's what it's there for. Yeah. And, you know, so just to walk around and see all of the art and some of it might not inspire you.
00;04;55;15 - 00;05;04;05
Warren Bernard
Some of it like sort of. Okay. And some of it, you're like, oh my God, I had no idea this was out there. And I need to have whatever that is factual.
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Rob Lee
I, you know, I know I think the last SP that I went to, like last year, I didn't go last year. I was just, you know, in the middle of something. But I think it was two years ago when I went and I said in on a panel and tarot cards were a big theme of it, and my partner is really into tarot.
00;05;23;02 - 00;05;38;29
Rob Lee
She's like, you got to talk to this guy. You got to talk to them as well. And I did it. You know, I did those interviews and they turned out to be really cool. And I'm a person that always loves to learn something new. So it also satisfies that for me as well. Sort of the I can't travel everywhere.
00;05;38;29 - 00;05;56;20
Rob Lee
I can't do everything. I can't buy everything, obviously, but being able to learn something that's sort of this added value, you know, that's there. But this, this question I have. So you do touch on some of the numbers when it comes to the programing and three minutes. I'm going to figure that out. I'm going to figure out the three minutes.
00;05;56;23 - 00;05;58;15
Warren Bernard
Good luck.
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Rob Lee
But could you walk us through some of the just most exciting things that just pop up top of mind or some of the more unique programing, decisions for like this year? Who do you want to have come? Who did you invite, who to reach out to? What were some of the themes?
00;06;12;05 - 00;06;37;27
Warren Bernard
Well, we okay. When it comes to special guests, it comes in a couple different categories. One category is is what? What do publishers have in terms of new books coming out, and are those people available? Yeah. Okay. Sometimes we see stuff is coming out and we go to that publisher and say, can we get that person? And sometimes things are just thrown in our lap for whatever the reason may be.
00;06;38;00 - 00;06;55;19
Warren Bernard
Or I get an email from somebody, hey, Warren, you know, it's been a few years at some point. In fact, Dean Hartsfield is coming back for the first time in many years. He sent me a note. I was like, sure, Dean will make you a special guest. No problem. So we did it from like, three different places.
00;06;55;21 - 00;07;25;18
Warren Bernard
We do try to have a good mixture, and that's in terms of, people, that's in terms of art styles, that's in terms of ethnicity and other kinds of makeups. So that, every, you know, there's something for everybody who comes in through the door. So, and when it comes to special guests, we're lucky we've got great relationships with with, like, drawing a quarterly Fantagraphics Top Shelf and a lot of, you know, Silver Sprocket, a lot of other people.
00;07;25;21 - 00;07;49;00
Warren Bernard
So normally, you know, they'll pitch somebody to us and we'll say, oh, wait a minute, we see this in your catalog. Can we get this person? Yeah. And that happened with Mimi Pond with, with D and Q. Yeah. We saw that that her new book is out, which already got this great write up in print magazine. Anyway, so we've got this really nice relationship we've built over the years, with the main people who would come to.
00;07;49;03 - 00;08;06;21
Warren Bernard
But then surprisingly, you know, if, if we want, if we want to get something from, let's say, pantheon or one of the larger publishers, more often than not, although there are those not we can we can go ahead and get those people also. So we're we're lucky. But, you know, we've been doing this for a very long time.
00;08;06;21 - 00;08;31;27
Warren Bernard
If people don't understand ESP and I'll go ahead and put my corporate hat on and the SP brand. Yeah. And what that means. Now the other thing that we also get that's really interesting, at least for me it's exciting, is international guests. Yeah. So we've got this great. Relationship with Spain arts and culture. So if there's someone from is a creator from Spain, no problem.
00;08;31;28 - 00;08;59;15
Warren Bernard
They'll fund them. We have. We were contacted by. I was contacted by the, cultural attache of the Embassy of Estonia. So we're going to have our first Estonian. Yonas Sidra is going to come to, Kush, who is in Riga, Latvia. Two of their creators are coming over, and they've had people come over before. So we have people from Latvia.
00;08;59;18 - 00;09;22;06
Warren Bernard
We also have somebody for the first time coming from the Czech Republic, which which I thought was really cool. And of course, Canada. And I know I'm going to miss so. But anyway, you get the idea. We've got these really nice relationships, with these different countries and different contacts and different countries. I go over every year because I have friends there, and I'm a place to stay.
00;09;22;08 - 00;09;52;01
Warren Bernard
And I'll go into I'll go into Belgium and I'll go into the Netherlands and I'll meet with those cultural people also. And some years they have people that have been translated and some some years they don't. Yeah. So, you know, all in all, we've got this really nice. I'll admit, it's a Euro Eurocentric view of comics. We have had we do have some people on the floor that come in from Chile and Mexico, and I'd love to get special guests from there, but I don't have the contacts to do that.
00;09;52;02 - 00;10;13;14
Warren Bernard
Yeah. Like, how does that happen? And some countries like England, do not have any kind of support for international guests. Now, this year and nowhere I got it, I got a, a request to be a special guest from somebody from Brisbane, Australia. So they have to fly all the way across Australia and then fly all the way to the United States.
00;10;13;16 - 00;10;31;06
Warren Bernard
So they're coming. That's a really long schlep. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So that that kind of. And then when it comes to just special guests in general, like I said, we try to keep it, you know, a really nice mixture. Ages, ethnicities, everything like that. We're very conscious of that when we put this thing together.
00;10;31;08 - 00;10;53;00
Rob Lee
Yeah. And and it makes a lot of sense, like, you know, if the, if the industry is getting broader, more diverse, more voices are getting opportunities. And it has that sort of independence this day or without that layer of gatekeeping that certain industries have. Then the guests, I would imagine, are going to be reflective of that. That's super intentional.
00;10;53;00 - 00;10;55;05
Rob Lee
That makes sense to me.
00;10;55;07 - 00;11;13;11
Warren Bernard
Well, and we also do somewhat the same thing with the exhibitors on the floor. And so what we do there is we we have an invite list. Sorry. We do have one for a long time. So it's like crow's feet big deals for coming for 30 years. How do you deny her a table? The answer is you don't.
00;11;13;15 - 00;11;35;00
Warren Bernard
Right. And then, of course, you know, we have to have the publishers. We have like 50 publishers. So they get invited as a matter of course. And then we have the lottery and the lottery, what we found. Now, one thing we do do with the lottery, we do two things. One is we make sure you do comics. We have about 20 to 25% of people who enter for the lottery for some reason.
00;11;35;03 - 00;12;00;28
Warren Bernard
Don't read the instructions and or illustrators and we want comics. Now Moca now is no there. There are other places like Moca. They love that kind of stuff because that's society illustrators. So that makes total sense. So for us, no, you know, we're comics. We've always been comics. So we have to, you know, basically go through all of the people on the, on the, on the, lottery list to go ahead and see.
00;12;00;28 - 00;12;24;14
Warren Bernard
Well, then these people are all of them comics people. So and one of the things we found is, is that because it's a random lottery and because all we care is, do you do comics? We don't notice what the what the style of the people is. Yeah. Okay. So we and this is one thing, we made a very conscious decision for two reasons.
00;12;24;14 - 00;12;47;04
Warren Bernard
To go to the lottery. Round one was, as is always, that way you mailed in an envelope and based on the, the stamping stamp cancellation you got in or you didn't get in based on how many, you know, how many checks they got. That's first. The second thing was we didn't have enough people to handle a thousand people or 700 people were trying to get in.
00;12;47;06 - 00;13;05;03
Warren Bernard
The third thing is we didn't we didn't want to bring in any kind of esthetic bias. Yeah. And so no matter who you are, you're going to have some kind of esthetic bias. And I'll admit that I have certain ways of looking at things. Other people have certain other ways looking at things. There's no right or wrong to what that is, but that's been removed from our equation.
00;13;05;05 - 00;13;05;19
Rob Lee
Yeah.
00;13;05;21 - 00;13;29;06
Warren Bernard
And also skill level has been removed. And the example I'll give is Ranatunga Meyer back around 2002 or so. Would contest whether 50 cent or a dollar. Many comics for the art in those many comics. Would she have gotten into a curated show? No. Right. Okay. So there were all these people that you have no idea where they're going to go that come into the show.
00;13;29;09 - 00;13;46;20
Warren Bernard
Some of them proceed onwards, some of them drop out, some of them, you know, stay and stay in a roll scene, a mode of stages. So we're we try to keep as even a keel in terms of not bringing any kind of biases in to the people. A kid on the floor.
00;13;46;23 - 00;14;05;03
Rob Lee
Makes sense. It makes sense. And and I think that's why, you know, again, in those instances that I've known, I have this level of excitement, to, to fill up in a few weeks. Just as you touched on something for everybody like me to go around like, okay, what's here? What's here in this corner? What's here in this corner?
00;14;05;03 - 00;14;26;27
Rob Lee
Who was this person? Oh, you do something very whimsy that I wasn't expecting to like. And I love it. And and then also being able to check out some, some interesting, like, panels and conversations. So is there a panel or sort of like some programing that comes to mind that some of those guests were invited to that sort of like pops up like top of mind?
00;14;27;00 - 00;14;41;07
Rob Lee
Because I know that a few panels for me in the previous years that literally based on the, the guests, the sort of conversation I was like, I would like to hear more from them. I would like to be the person answering basket of the questions.
00;14;41;09 - 00;15;22;15
Warren Bernard
Well, I mean, every year, you know, we've got this diverse series of panels and I'll go ahead and, and I'll be asking the pimp out my panel, please. It's all about, censorship. So, it's going to be, myself and tell ness who was beautiful, who left Washington Post because they censored her tightly. Yeah. Gary Baldwin, who got censored with the Air Pirates comics by the Disney Corporation, Dennis Kitchin, who started CBF because of the censorship, and Maya Cadabby, who's gender queer, is arguably one of the most, censoring books in library systems throughout the United States.
00;15;22;17 - 00;15;44;21
Warren Bernard
You know, so so we've got that. Let me let me look at the let me go to this here. So we've got, fish out of water. The awkward hero with the mask, Tariq, is Laura. Terry. And one of the people from Latvia we've got, Oh, let me see. Navigating family trauma with only live from 200 quarterly.
00;15;44;24 - 00;16;06;15
Warren Bernard
Eagle Valley and Rosie. And Twitter and, Mara mia Ramirez. So, you know, all of these, you know, we've got, Tom Gold and Kevin who's hanging in conversation. So there's going to be something for everyone. Like I said, there's 22 of these. By the way. I just got this list yesterday. Okay. So I had not seen this.
00;16;06;18 - 00;16;14;02
Warren Bernard
Even though I'm the executive director, sometimes, my powers and abilities are not greater than that of mortal men.
00;16;14;04 - 00;16;37;07
Rob Lee
So it's, an app. And I think that's that's one of the things I don't want to, go too much further without touching on sort of the amount of work that goes into putting this on to putting this on from the outreach. And I know when I talk to folks who are working at festivals. Right. And it's like, hey, our festival is next week and we'll be starting next year's festival next week.
00;16;37;07 - 00;16;42;08
Rob Lee
They're prepped for that. We're already doing some of the planning and early outreach while we're doing the current one.
00;16;42;09 - 00;17;06;10
Warren Bernard
We don't do that. Okay. Yeah. So, literally one session ends if somebody sends me an email before like, Christmas. I'm like, do not bother me. Okay. Just don't even think of it. Yeah. No, we, you know, we'll start looking sort of middle end of December into the books that come out in the spring and New in the fall.
00;17;06;12 - 00;17;29;03
Warren Bernard
We'll start then, but we we don't run seven by 24 by 365. Yeah. Okay. We absolutely don't. As a matter of fact, between myself and 1 or 2 other people, we kind of. Starting in December, we start, you know, oiling the gears and, you know, greasing the transmission and checking the battery and, you know, see when that everything's going to start.
00;17;29;06 - 00;17;53;04
Warren Bernard
And, you know, we start slowly with, you know, IG net submissions and exhibitor invites and then the lottery and then as the year, by the time we get into June, then more people come in. Okay. And the one great thing I have to admit, we have a goddamn fabulous team. And I'm going to I'm going to give you this really interesting example.
00;17;53;07 - 00;18;16;15
Warren Bernard
I was talking to one, one person who leads one of the other comics festivals that shall remain nameless. And, and I remarked them, like, go. Yeah, you know, this, this, this past Sunday, I had, we had our, our, monthly planning and he goes, oh my God. We have like 3 or 4 meetings a week. And I'm like, like, we have a meeting in June, a meeting in July, two in August and one in September.
00;18;16;15 - 00;18;35;20
Warren Bernard
And that's it. Yeah. Okay. Now there are other smaller. They're not even meetings. Okay. They're more like, hey, how you doing? I just need to get some one on one time or whatever it may be. But the good thing is, is that everybody on the team, they're just fantastic. They know what to do. They've been doing it for a while.
00;18;35;22 - 00;18;55;29
Warren Bernard
One, I don't need to bother them. I leave them alone. They do their thing. If they need help, I provide help and. And get out of the way. Yeah, and good management should always get out of the way. And. And I learned that before I was that, before I was with. I was 20 years in the corporate world and learned real, real quickly.
00;18;56;05 - 00;19;14;20
Warren Bernard
That was the best way to make my staff shine. Was not to be in the way. Okay. So, so we've got we've got a we've got a great team and I've talked to other comics festivals about the same thing and never ceases to amaze me how we do what we do with so few people. Yeah. All right.
00;19;14;25 - 00;19;30;21
Warren Bernard
Now, once the day the show comes, it's like 130 volunteers that do various and sundry things. But in terms of getting it to that point, there's a core group of about a dozen of us, and that's it. And the whole thing gets done.
00;19;30;23 - 00;19;52;10
Rob Lee
I and I love that distinction, too. Sort of that lesson from like, corporate America. Like I was in there. I'm in higher ed and doing this now. But yeah, learning from that time and I wasn't a manager or having that sort of set of responsibilities in corporate America. But I do have that now. And I'd like to let the person cook.
00;19;52;14 - 00;20;03;26
Rob Lee
It's like, hey, you got it now. But to your point, like if you need some support, some help, I can help you with this, but I have my stuff to do. You have yours to do, and I want you to shine. And I think.
00;20;03;28 - 00;20;04;21
Warren Bernard
It's.
00;20;04;21 - 00;20;18;10
Rob Lee
Similar to the approach I apply in doing this, this podcast. Like I have the questions, I send them over. Sometimes people read them, some people don't. But really, I think if it's too close to what the questions are, you're losing something in the conversation.
00;20;18;11 - 00;20;18;24
Warren Bernard
Yeah, sure.
00;20;18;27 - 00;20;43;13
Rob Lee
And I like to again let the guest cook. So yeah. So what you got to do about that one time you were and you know, you get so much more from it. You get so much storytelling and things from you. Don't sell yourself short as opposed. So I want to go back into, you know, guests and speakers and so on, and folks that are coming there to ESP.
00;20;43;15 - 00;21;02;23
Rob Lee
So these are like sort of two examples like I'm looking for has there been like, like a long shot that you're like Really be great. If I can get this person and it's like I didn't expect that to happen. But it happened, I got the person. It was a long time. It's like they'll never come. They're, they're totally but they'll never have the time.
00;21;02;23 - 00;21;10;28
Rob Lee
It won't work. And they're like yes we got it. And then conversely, one that's like this seems like a sure thing. That was disappointing.
00;21;11;02 - 00;21;34;13
Warren Bernard
Well, we've had those. I don't want to bring those things up. So we definitely had the latter where it's like we're working on somebody and then for one reason or another, it just didn't work out. And that's fine. It's what it is. Yeah. There have been a couple of times for more than a couple of times. But in particular, we've got tools Fifer to come twice, which shocked all of us.
00;21;34;16 - 00;22;06;01
Warren Bernard
Okay. Lynda Barry came Chris, where has come a couple of times. So we're really lucky in that when we wanted to get somebody, we were able to do it about 90% of the time, which to me is, you know, somebody in in Major League Baseball would love to batting 900. So, so yeah, we've we've had, you know, particular tools fight for because so who he was and, and his career and, his stature.
00;22;06;07 - 00;22;33;08
Warren Bernard
But to get somebody like that come to ESP. And we also had, by the way, going back many years, we said Will Eisner. Com and Art Spiegelman. So, we're, we're really happy and we're really pleased that people want to come. Okay. And that if we extend an invitation 99 times out of 100 and come. I'm sorry. 90 times out of 100 to get to the 9900 batting average.
00;22;33;11 - 00;22;59;26
Warren Bernard
They'll they'll come. So we're, you know, we're real pleased that our reputation has, in fact, that this is one of the weird things I've actually been in Europe at different places. And I'll be I've been introduces the executive director, and they'll go, oh, my God, I've heard so much. I've. I would love to come to expect the woman is coming from the Czech Republic.
00;22;59;28 - 00;23;15;03
Warren Bernard
That's the feedback we got that she heard it, and we had no idea anybody in the Czech Republic would even know who we were. Yeah, okay. So you know, on on all that when it when it comes special guests. We've been we've been really lucky and really pleased at the same time.
00;23;15;05 - 00;23;36;16
Rob Lee
And I think that's a really good distinction you're making. There or point to you're making there where the brand is. The brand is important. So sort that trust in their reputation. You know, like 31 years. One you build up sort of like this is what we're doing, but also we're able to grow and we're doing this. And it's so many instances that remind folks like, this is what SBX does, right.
00;23;36;18 - 00;23;53;09
Rob Lee
And I look at it and doing this as I share with you a little bit before we got started, like in part, I'm leveraging this, you know, relationship and this, reputation that I have in this podcast. Folks can say, no, I can't make it or what have you. And it's not quite 90. That's a number. That's crazy.
00;23;53;11 - 00;24;16;27
Rob Lee
That's crazy. It's like 87.5%. I'm sure it is pretty good. But being able to reach out to folks and say yes and be able to work and accommodate and figure it out, it's it's just a testament to sort of the hard work that goes into what you're doing there and, and sort of with the mission and then with the goal is and sort of what the, contribution to the, to the scene is and to that industry.
00;24;16;29 - 00;24;26;02
Warren Bernard
Well, if you know, if anybody that speaks that you can't get a hold over difficult, something like that, just send me an email if I know them or know the publisher, I can help out.
00;24;26;07 - 00;24;45;18
Rob Lee
Absolutely. So obviously, you know, SP has this buzz, right? If you look, here's the thing on the weekend, so me and my partner, we go to, this, this comic shop on a shelf. Them out dreamers make believers in Baltimore. We're there all the time. And, just came up a random conversation, and it's like, oh, we're multiple time visitors.
00;24;45;18 - 00;25;11;27
Rob Lee
We'll be there soon. That's what you know what we're talking about. Maybe dressed to the nines. I have some t shirts for folks. And so the buzz is gone. Growing. Talk a bit about some of the the marketing that that goes into. So to speak. Like as far as hey, is coming up, you know, is it doing a podcast such as this is it like, what does that communication and awareness and marketing for us look like?
00;25;11;27 - 00;25;14;03
Rob Lee
Like what is that? Is it word of mouth?
00;25;14;06 - 00;25;19;04
Warren Bernard
Well, okay, so there are a couple of different components. I'll get into it more again. Okay.
00;25;19;04 - 00;25;19;18
Rob Lee
I'll get back.
00;25;19;21 - 00;25;38;28
Warren Bernard
I give you my giving my bullet ideas. So one is it's social media. So we're on blue Sky run Instagram. Now, as you know, many people have gone off of X aka Twitter. Yep. And appropriately so Tumblr. We used to have a big following on, but we found out most of them were box and they had their own issues.
00;25;38;28 - 00;25;46;29
Warren Bernard
The case may be so we're on those two platforms. So we do that. We have a pretty robust, mailing list. So we do mass emails.
00;25;46;29 - 00;25;48;07
Rob Lee
Everybody nice.
00;25;48;10 - 00;26;14;06
Warren Bernard
We, it's a matter of fact, it's going on right now. We get a lot of volunteers for it, and easily 40 different volunteers will come to hand out posters and fliers to different stores. Like, I was just up in Baltimore, at Atomic Books and Normals bookstore, giving them their yearly posters and fliers and, and of course, anybody who any store that does that or any library, they can always get some free passes.
00;26;14;09 - 00;26;40;04
Warren Bernard
It's kind of, understood quid pro quo that if you put this stuff up, here are some free passes and, you know, you can go ahead and do that. We also have the publishers also publicize through their channels. So you will you will see like for instance, I just saw both top shelf and D and Q were advertising their exact nominees.
00;26;40;06 - 00;27;09;10
Warren Bernard
Okay. So we get we get all of that going on that there. Especially the publishers that come they do stuff and then the individual creators that comes, these people that are just, you know, solo artists, they also put stuff out on social media. So there's this, there's this networking effect that goes on that if that if, for instance, you know, if you just draw on a quarterly just to pick on them just for a second, they've got a large presence in email, they've got a large presence on their social media.
00;27;09;12 - 00;27;34;16
Warren Bernard
So there's this like ripple effect that our social media might be and percent, whatever it may be. But there's there's this compounding thing that goes on because everybody is coming to the show is also doing promotion, saying, I'm going to be are you going to be there? You know, sometimes if we're lucky, we'll get an article or two, a local article or two.
00;27;34;19 - 00;27;49;17
Warren Bernard
But it's it's been a while. The post used to pay attention to us, but, you know, as they did with they in town, this. Yeah. They don't really care about these kinds of things anymore. The city papers, another one that we just can't do. We just can't even get their attention.
00;27;49;20 - 00;28;07;10
Rob Lee
And that that's the thing that you're, you're you're kind of pointing out that I think is really, really, really important. Like, and I and I'm seeing it from this perspective where in doing this season, one of the things I was very I won't say be a man, but I know just a little bit more. I'm kind of the guy can nudge a lot.
00;28;07;16 - 00;28;25;04
Rob Lee
But, the nudge was promote your episode, promote the conversation at your own. Let's share audiences. It can't be the sort of one way street and really framing it as this is community. And if and if I'm being a little bit snarky about it. Sure. Come on my thing and talk about your work for an artwork. What do you do?
00;28;25;04 - 00;28;49;10
Rob Lee
You know what I mean? That's that's the thing that poked the folks a little. And, and I find that at times folks are less inclined to share it, but they did it. And I think it feels like it's a lack of a buy in sometimes where if you're doing the event, if you're showing up for the event, don't you want your people who are fans of what you do or supporters of what you do to come out to the event, to the show, whatever the thing might be.
00;28;49;12 - 00;29;13;25
Rob Lee
So it's in all the best interest to sort of promote and to to share. And it's not in a kind of gross way, because we know that I think there's a battle on online specifically with some of these platforms that I post something in. If I post a new episode, it gets like, you know, swept up in the mass of episodes that are coming out at the same time, in the same day, we're fighting for attention.
00;29;13;25 - 00;29;32;20
Rob Lee
So the way to kind of beat that, is this a compounding effect that you're describing? If I'm sharing it with my audience to say that in you're talking about I got 6000 people, 7000 people, what have you. But if I have a guest that has ten, so they're aware of all of these other stories that their person is now, you know, a part of, and vice versa.
00;29;32;22 - 00;29;41;00
Rob Lee
And I think sometimes getting that messaging across that this is how one combats being swept up and lost in the shuffle.
00;29;41;02 - 00;30;01;00
Warren Bernard
Well, yeah. And there's also a certain thing about, just common sense reciprocity. Okay. And so, for instance, you know, when you send me this, we're going to post it on blue Sky and you know, on we'll put it up on our social media. Now, of course, it will probably embarrass the crap out of myself, but that is that is neither here nor there.
00;30;01;03 - 00;30;21;12
Warren Bernard
So and some people don't have that in their programing. If you catch from coming from they're not there's, you know, there's a small population out there that can be very selfish about those kinds of things. And it's like, well, you know, you gave me something, but I don't feel an obligation to give anything, anything back to you.
00;30;21;12 - 00;30;39;22
Warren Bernard
Yeah. And and that to me is a shame. And by the way, you're seeing that more and more in American society in general that, that this kind of standoffish, you know, we're all in it for ourselves, every man or woman for themselves, as the case may be, which is bad for many, many reasons. Yes.
00;30;39;24 - 00;31;04;19
Rob Lee
It's it's not great. And I think when I have conversations sort of in different scenes like, I, I go back to I was in, I was in New York in May for, like Art week. And I went to one of the, it was art, shows, the spring break art show, and it's a diverse array of different types of artists there, you know, some sculptors, painters and so on.
00;31;04;22 - 00;31;23;16
Rob Lee
I was there for like 40 minutes, book like six. Yeah. So I was like, this is easy. I should do this all the time. Whereas when I go to sort of other environments, folks are a little bit too cool. And I was like, oh, they this is not maybe my people. And I find that even after I've done the interviews of those folks that spring break, they're like, oh my God, it's such an honor to be on your thing.
00;31;23;16 - 00;31;43;16
Rob Lee
I want to share this. I'm saying this to my family, and I noticed this other theme that half of the guests that I booked and did interviews with, they they, they're from other countries. And I was just like, yeah, well, it's just my parents. This is the first time I've been interviewed about my work, and I was like, feeling really good to have been a part of that and to contribute to that.
00;31;43;19 - 00;31;47;02
Rob Lee
And it so I felt that, reciprocity.
00;31;47;04 - 00;31;51;26
Warren Bernard
Yeah, it's it's one of those things that's necessary. And as you can tell with the as community.
00;31;51;26 - 00;31;52;02
Rob Lee
Yeah.
00;31;52;10 - 00;32;18;03
Warren Bernard
That every everybody goes, okay, well, you know, I'm going to stuff like that and they do this for the shows. It's not special just to us. It's just the that ecosystem that's part of the way that ecosystem works. So whether it's myself in Boston or Cake in Chicago or I'm going to go to, kamikaze LA for the first time in December, they all rely on those same things, those same dynamics, you know, to make it happen.
00;32;18;06 - 00;32;28;17
Warren Bernard
So it's it's not a new thing that's explicit in terms of contractually obligated. Absolutely. But it's one of those things that it helps make the ecosystem work.
00;32;28;19 - 00;32;50;22
Rob Lee
Yeah, absolutely. So I want to touch on this and I think we may have a piece of it, but so yeah, we got the first half I think. So could you, could you share some of the maybe newer challenges that that come up as far as like, you know, spikes like this year and sort of maybe unique opportunities close for 2025.
00;32;50;22 - 00;33;21;03
Rob Lee
And, and I say that with sort of this context, I know that here you come to a panel earlier, you know, as far as, censorship being a thing, I, I know that a bigger thing, it's always one thing. But also, I know I went to the Maryland Arts Summit earlier this summer and sort of the wrap up panel was different folks and humanities just talk about how much of a challenge it is getting people to fund things of the sort of when it comes to books and writing and in art, and that sort of means.
00;33;21;03 - 00;33;29;13
Rob Lee
So I wanted to get your take on any challenges or new unique opportunities that have posed themselves, sort of in the planning for, for this year.
00;33;29;16 - 00;34;00;20
Warren Bernard
Well, I, you know, I think the biggest one, like, for instance, when I look at something like, Moca yeah, they're back by the side of illustration. They have paid staff, they can work on everything. And if I look at t cap, they're backed by the local and provincial governments and, a lot and a lot of the stuff here in the United States, whether it's mice or K crispix, what have you, we only have whatever money we get from the tables and the people coming through the door.
00;34;00;23 - 00;34;24;10
Warren Bernard
Yeah. And getting, getting sponsorships are very difficult. It's, an art that we've not been able to conquer yet. So that that is a little more difficult for us. And I wish we can do some more. But we don't have somebody with that expertise. You really have to know something about that world. No, to make that happen.
00;34;24;12 - 00;34;43;28
Warren Bernard
So I think that that's, you know, it's money. That's the single most difficult thing. You know, we've been seeing, escalation in prices, staying at the hotel. Yeah. Now, you know, we're doing okay, but we're not doing as well as we did, let's say in 2016 or 2017. Hopefully those people will be a horde of people coming in.
00;34;43;29 - 00;35;06;25
Warren Bernard
I'm hoping that all the stuff, all the stuff in the newspaper that Washington, DC is not going to scare away people because up in Maryland, it's non-existent. It's not there. So but I think and I think that that this is more than just for us, but, funding and money flows and things like that. You know, we would love to be able to, how about this?
00;35;06;25 - 00;35;33;20
Warren Bernard
I work for free. In fact, you know, people say, well, you know, I'm one person and said, you know, Warren, you work for me. In order for me to be a moderator at one of your panels, I've been. I go, how about this? I'll give you triple my salary. And there, how about that? So, you know, in all honesty, that's the most difficult thing any of the shows have is especially with the inflation rates that are going on.
00;35;33;22 - 00;35;56;02
Rob Lee
Yeah, that makes sense. Like, I, I get invited to do sort of different events or what have you and sort of the one of the considerations that comes to mind is for me just to do the event, I'm happy to do it. Give me, give me a pass. I'm happy to do it and support however it is, reciprocity is important.
00;35;56;05 - 00;35;57;09
Rob Lee
But when it comes to.
00;35;57;09 - 00;36;03;09
Warren Bernard
By the way, before we go on. Yeah. On that. Send me yours and your girlfriend's name and I'll get you a VIP list.
00;36;03;13 - 00;36;05;04
Rob Lee
Okay. Fantastic. So you.
00;36;05;05 - 00;36;07;13
Warren Bernard
Risk reciprocity at.
00;36;07;13 - 00;36;30;00
Rob Lee
Work? We have a we have it on record. But I think it is this, this thing where generally I like my weekends. I like to not have anything else going on. Right. So if I'm going to do a thing, it's like it's for a friend. It's for like I, you know, develop friendships there and it's never the one I need to make X amount of dollars to speak or whatever the thing is.
00;36;30;00 - 00;36;48;14
Rob Lee
Right. But it depends on where I'm coming from. So it's like, if I have to fly, like I have people going to West Coast, have some people. This podcast is international, you know, and sometimes there's an invite that's like, this could be really cool, but it's going to be a cost. So like it's an event this coming week.
00;36;48;16 - 00;37;09;00
Rob Lee
This weekend actually, in New York, I'm not going to be to do that. I'm just coming off of a vacation and so on. But if it was a little sweeter and if it was a little tighter because the notion of going to an event or going to some sort of community organized thing for like a day, half a day, and I feel like I'm not satisfied.
00;37;09;00 - 00;37;12;19
Rob Lee
It's like all right, here's a little slice of this cheesecake. So like, can I get the whole cheesecake? Yeah.
00;37;12;19 - 00;37;13;02
Warren Bernard
Right.
00;37;13;05 - 00;37;30;05
Rob Lee
And and going to the sort of, funding and money component. One of the things that has stuck out and I watch a lot of movies and I'm always looking at the, the discourse around film, oh, man, this movie didn't make a billion. So it's a failure. And I'm.
00;37;30;05 - 00;37;31;20
Warren Bernard
Like.
00;37;31;22 - 00;37;56;29
Rob Lee
I don't know if that's the metric. And I think, and this is me taking off a business hat. I think in a lot of the stuff that I like that's sort of this niche, this pop culture and very like community thing, whether it be wrestling, comics, movies, what have you. It's too many conversations around. So the business of it to in this weird business, things that happen like especially some of these comic book movies for instance.
00;37;57;01 - 00;38;22;10
Rob Lee
Yeah, we wrote that one off. That's the tax, right? I was like, I was $108. And then in the sort of smaller things that I'm more closer to, folks are getting opportunities to fund a book, to fund an opportunity that perhaps they would have gotten in 2016, 2017, 2018. So it's sort of this I, I've been describing it as a bit of a stranglehold on creative things, and it feels very, very strange.
00;38;22;10 - 00;38;44;06
Rob Lee
And this is why sort of those connect those connections and, and folks being there matters. I know in Baltimore, we're talking more and more about this, this renaissance in sort of the numbers and the improvement around sort of like safety in the city. Folks are now going out to the events, and it has this impression and is the visual representation of folks are showing up for this.
00;38;44;06 - 00;38;54;16
Rob Lee
We need to do more stuff like this. So getting past perhaps that funding hurdle so I know I'll be there. So you know folks that come out, pull up, let's show these numbers.
00;38;54;18 - 00;39;15;19
Warren Bernard
Yeah. And one of the nice things about the indie coms community and not just this, is that there is zero barriers to entry. Okay? And so when it when it comes to money, you don't have to have a lot of money to start. You can put up your own webcomic. You can quickly make your own zines. You can make your own mini comics.
00;39;15;22 - 00;39;37;25
Warren Bernard
You can even go ahead and make a graphic novel and get it printed on demand, if that's what you want to do. So that's the nice thing about the community and the other thing about all of these shows, not just is that there's all this opportunity there for you to get discovered, to go to different things over the course of time.
00;39;37;27 - 00;39;55;25
Warren Bernard
A number of people have gone from esp out to Los Angeles to be part of the animation industry. And Becky, Steph, who's done a whole bunch of animation and stuff in different studios out in LA, her and Frank used to contest pics. They haven't been, I think, in like a decade and they're coming back for the first time.
00;39;55;25 - 00;40;25;09
Warren Bernard
Yes. Okay, so so there were people like that, you know, people have gone off to, let's say be illustrators for The New Yorker and illustrators in general. They've gone off into the animation industry. One of the interesting, one of the big divergent differences between us and the superhero side of the world of Baltimore Comic-Con is that everybody's looking for the movie deal or for the TV show, the TV series here in the indy comics world, everybody's sights are set on.
00;40;25;09 - 00;40;46;15
Warren Bernard
Oh, I'd like to be have an illustration in the New Yorker, or I'd like to hopefully do some stuff out on the West Coast with the animation industry or whatever it may be. So that has been a lot of this. I shouldn't say a lot print. People have been upwardly mobile in that sense. So that but one of the big differences here, it's very organic.
00;40;46;19 - 00;41;09;12
Warren Bernard
Yeah. I don't know if they still come because again, they kind of hide pre pre pandemic. We used to get people from Nickelodeon and, and Cartoon Network and other studios Pixar coming through to go ahead and find people to bring back out to California. So you know, I hope that they still do that. But that just gives you an indication of what's going on.
00;41;09;12 - 00;41;29;25
Warren Bernard
And the other thing that happens is, is that some of the publishers from New York will send people down. I know that they go to Moca. And then, you know, Fantagraphics and Dean Q and Top Shelf, they're the big three. They kind of come to the show and Silver Sprocket big for their, you know, carry course comes in heavy early comes and you know, more.
00;41;29;25 - 00;41;57;11
Warren Bernard
The people come from different places. They go around on the floor and they're looking for people. So, when it comes to, you know, funding to get into it, there's a low barrier to entry in the indie comics world. Put up a web page, you know, a whole bunch of places you can put up web comics, you have social media, it's on Instagram feed, you know, get many comics printed up, bring them to Atomic Books, local bookstores, so on.
00;41;57;14 - 00;42;06;25
Warren Bernard
And so this world is very organic in that sense, and it also gives a certain amount of freedom. Now, of course, don't quit your day job.
00;42;06;28 - 00;42;36;19
Rob Lee
Okay, then. Yeah. And you know, I'll, I'll share. And I got two more questions here. Real questions. You know, just share. Like there is probably at this point, maybe about ten of the interviews that I've done over the last few years. As I was thinking about the gears returning, folks that I've, I've talked to Reagan Buchanan, you know, Jonathan Bayless, even had, student, a negotiator, several people that I've met there through ESP that later came on to the podcast.
00;42;36;19 - 00;43;02;15
Rob Lee
They did. I've seen them again and say, hey, we're seeing each other too often and really like digging their story, digging their work. But also the main thing, like when I go to ESP, I'm usually like buying, I'm buying books and buying things, and a lot of times I'm doing early Christmas shopping, if I'm being frank, or birthday gifts and things of that nature and, you know, definitely make it an effort to support, you know, indie indie publishers and indie creatives.
00;43;02;18 - 00;43;26;17
Rob Lee
And but I find when I have like a long extended conversation extended for me, I got like a five minute timer, just like I open to three minutes. I don't like a five minute timer. And when I have sort of those extended conversations like, I need to keep this book, I do hold on to this. When I talk to this person, we imprinted and it's a real connection or even that, that I think it was the second year that I went first year with my partner.
00;43;26;17 - 00;43;51;06
Rob Lee
I saw doctor Keep an Eye and Lonnie goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and Spooner was there and it's like I just interview Spooner and Keefe and I'm actually interviewing Lonnie in a few weeks, so it's just like, hi. And and Keith recognized, he said, yo, Rob. And I was like, hey, man. And it had that vibe of almost a reunion going back and seeing people, but it's none of that.
00;43;51;12 - 00;43;56;12
Rob Lee
Oh yeah. I didn't see you as sort of it's accessible in that way. And it's just I love that about it.
00;43;56;18 - 00;44;17;21
Warren Bernard
Yeah. No, it's it's a matter of fact, I was in LA just in May, and, Lonnie and I went out and we unpacked. Every time I go into LA, I almost like 2 or 3 times a year to LA. I always see Lonnie and we talk, we talk NBA. Okay. And when I, when I talk with Keith, you know, he's into all the sports now.
00;44;17;21 - 00;44;40;20
Warren Bernard
Of course he likes it was a Boston team. He loves it. And I don't hold that against him. I think. But yeah. Yeah. And by the way you touched on something. So the interesting for me and this is just me personally I can't begin to tell you the number of people that I've had the privilege of now having his friends not speak people, but his friends all over the world.
00;44;40;24 - 00;44;58;25
Warren Bernard
Okay, in the United States, in Europe, it's it's mind boggling to me that I can drop into different cities, United States and go, oh, yeah, so and so I'm going to be in Chicago, I'm going to be in Boston or whatever it is. And I go, oh, yeah, Warren, you know, we'll go, you know, New York and get together, you know, Maria, Joey and Jonathan Bayliss and a couple other people.
00;44;59;02 - 00;45;26;02
Warren Bernard
Dan Perkins, tomorrow came out and we just had a, you know, a good time, good museums and stuff like that. Yeah. So there's this byproduct that comes in that once you reach past that first interaction and each one of you goes, okay, that person is okay. On the other side of that conversation, there are these, unintended positive consequences that come out of these relationships.
00;45;26;02 - 00;45;30;21
Warren Bernard
You know, that, is is really quite remarkable.
00;45;30;23 - 00;46;02;07
Rob Lee
Yeah, totally. And it's very important, I think, now more than ever, which sounds like a commercial, but it's very important to really cultivate and foster those sorts of relationships, those friendships, because those are things that that go away. I see more and more of in a very sensitive to it, very aware of it. And, you know, it's like now and this is sort of unrelated, but I think it connects to that, that last piece that if I go out of town and I know folks that are there because this podcast has the reset, it does, I'll reach out, hey, I'm going to be in DC.
00;46;02;07 - 00;46;18;25
Rob Lee
You're able to be in New York for a week. We should get dinner. We're sharing a coffee and just trying to make that effort to do that outreach because it's like, oh, this person was all right. We had a cool conversation and it extends past me with some crafted questions. It's like, hey, let's go a little bit deeper.
00;46;18;27 - 00;46;43;02
Rob Lee
You know, what movies are you into? Oh, you hate it, that one. Me too. And going from there and sort of where it comes from. And I just know that, you know, I've seen, you know, just online, with the IG, hey, we have these groups that we can get together as friends. You know, meet some strangers, and it's like, go to an event, go to an event where there's at least some sort of like mindedness.
00;46;43;02 - 00;47;11;08
Rob Lee
They are all at least interested in this. So here's the last sort of real question. And then I got a few rapid fire ones for you. So indie comics, a small press, arm. I think one of the main ways that many folks experience like, like comics and reading in 2025, you know, where we're at this part of the year, how important is diverse storytelling and sort of the print format part?
00;47;11;11 - 00;47;37;27
Warren Bernard
Well, diverse storytelling to me is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You know, there's people out there that there are groups that they need their stories told. That's fine. Go ahead and tell them. So I don't I don't see that as anything that is that bigger of a deal because of the openness of what's going on. Like I said this low barriers to entry, lots of stories can be told.
00;47;37;27 - 00;48;10;22
Warren Bernard
Sure. Okay. And and everybody can tell the story any way that they want. So on on that part, you know, I'm, I don't know that there's that much of a of a big deal. Okay. So, you know, I think that ultimately what you come down to is that when, when you're in these environments and you've got some like minded people out there, you can go ahead and establish these relationships and you don't have to do it online or anything like that.
00;48;10;25 - 00;48;23;11
Warren Bernard
You can really go ahead and, create something that's much more permanent, as the case may be. So when that answer your question is not okay, go ahead and ask for the rapid fire ones.
00;48;23;15 - 00;48;35;04
Rob Lee
Yeah, we definitely we definitely want to look for for that thing where we have something that's permanent, we have something that doesn't feel disposable, you know, because that's a lot of times that that what what presented.
00;48;35;06 - 00;48;55;05
Warren Bernard
Right. But but also, you know, you touched on it. Yeah. That you have to reach out. Okay. And the other side has to respond positively. Yeah. Okay. Because if you go, oh, hey, you know, I'm grew up in New York, I'm like, oh no. Okay. Well, you know, just just give you the brush off of what happened. You know, if you think that legitimate excuses.
00;48;55;09 - 00;49;11;18
Warren Bernard
But if they say, well, I know I have to, I have to wash my toenails that night or something like that, then then, you know, it's like, okay, fine, I try and and that's not going to go very far. So, yeah. And it is special once those questions get together, like like I said, I get to the line.
00;49;11;20 - 00;49;16;19
Warren Bernard
Millsap out in California, we just have we just have the best time okay.
00;49;16;21 - 00;49;27;21
Unknown
No no no no no no no no no no no no.
00;49;27;23 - 00;49;34;11
Rob Lee
So that actually leads into the first rapid fire questions. Oh God. So you mentioned NBA a second ago.
00;49;34;14 - 00;49;35;13
Warren Bernard
Yes.
00;49;35;15 - 00;49;37;00
Rob Lee
Who's your team.
00;49;37;03 - 00;50;01;06
Warren Bernard
No. That's a tough one because I have to admit that as does Keith. I do like the Celtics. Okay. This year I real I mean, Oklahoma really impressed the hell out of me, right? So I don't have a real good allegiance to that. Now, mind you, I've been following the Celtics for many, many years. My real team is the Knicks, but they've been very active cases for 40 years.
00;50;01;06 - 00;50;23;03
Warren Bernard
So I hold no no hope for the Knicks ever doing anything again. Yeah, for as long as I'm alive. I, you know, I follow, you know, because I was right. I remember the, the, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Lakers and Celtics during the 80s and 90s. I remember the bad boys in the Pistons, stuff like that. So I love good games.
00;50;23;03 - 00;50;43;04
Warren Bernard
I love good hard playing games. I've been somewhat disappointed in the way the NBA has gone because it's all if you watch a game like one of the one of the Celtics Laker games from the 80s and 90s, then you watch a game tainted. Totally different. Yeah. All you try to do is get now for some guy to put in a three pointer.
00;50;43;04 - 00;50;53;25
Warren Bernard
And that's really boring. So to me, as a as it is with baseball and football, because the standards kind of hold of it, the games are not as interesting as they once were.
00;50;53;27 - 00;51;10;06
Rob Lee
I is funny, I of the last two years have been following the Knicks. And I mean I enjoyed watching that's the team I watched the most like the, the Wizards and the Spurs were my teams for a very long, long time.
00;51;10;08 - 00;51;12;17
Warren Bernard
The Spurs were crazy. Oh my. Yeah yeah yeah.
00;51;12;19 - 00;51;32;26
Rob Lee
And I would say that this is my observation and I'm going to move to the next one. Yeah. My observation is sort of this. It's a sort of the, the, the levels of skill and athleticism has gotten closer because of that three point line. It's just like, oh yeah, you could just shoot it from really far. That's a great skill.
00;51;32;26 - 00;51;36;02
Rob Lee
Yeah. This guy can jump over you. That's athleticism.
00;51;36;09 - 00;51;38;12
Warren Bernard
Yeah.
00;51;38;15 - 00;51;53;17
Rob Lee
So one word descriptor. This is this is where the, the brain is going to be working. If you want to have a one word descriptor for this year's, what would it be?
00;51;53;19 - 00;51;55;11
Warren Bernard
Oh my God. Okay.
00;51;55;13 - 00;52;01;13
Rob Lee
I know I come with basketball. It's like, yeah, here's a hard technical foul. Yeah. It's a flagrant foul.
00;52;01;15 - 00;52;14;12
Warren Bernard
Oh my God. You know interesting. You know, I mean, I can't break it down to one word. Okay. Multi-dimensional thing. Okay. You pulled him out on this. Now sort of two words put together. But I.
00;52;14;12 - 00;52;14;21
Rob Lee
Feel it.
00;52;14;21 - 00;52;16;17
Warren Bernard
So I'm going to go ahead and stick with that one.
00;52;16;22 - 00;52;29;25
Rob Lee
I'm with it I don't know. This is in the same vein. This is particularly trolling, but I'll still ask, could you complete this thought is successful in 2025 if.
00;52;29;27 - 00;52;32;25
Warren Bernard
I live.
00;52;32;28 - 00;52;35;14
Rob Lee
It's great, it's great. It's.
00;52;35;16 - 00;52;40;19
Warren Bernard
You know, it's elegantly simple. I survive another one. I'm happy. Okay.
00;52;40;22 - 00;52;42;22
Rob Lee
We've done it.
00;52;43;21 - 00;52;45;28
Rob Lee
So that's that's it. That's the rapid fires. Everything.
00;52;46;00 - 00;52;50;04
Warren Bernard
Well, I wanted to talk about one thing that was starting again this year.
00;52;50;04 - 00;52;51;00
Rob Lee
Please. Okay.
00;52;51;02 - 00;53;15;07
Warren Bernard
So what we're starting up again is our graphic novel gift program. Okay. All right. And so what that is, is we pick a school system. I'm sorry, library system. Not a school system. A library system. From a county somewhere in the tri state area that serves an underprivileged population. We look at levels of poverty, and so we have many we'll do first couple of years.
00;53;15;07 - 00;53;42;23
Warren Bernard
But we did find a, sponsor. Okay. Fortunately, and so we're reinstituting it. So we're going out to Garrett County, to the Ruth and libraries. And what we do is, is we give them $5,000 worth of graphic novels that their collections managers choose one. So we don't choose it for them, like, for instance, the Eisner. And this is good, you know, the giveaway, you know, a bunch of Will Eisner graphic novels.
00;53;42;23 - 00;54;06;23
Warren Bernard
And, you know, that's great because those those places that get them really need them. Ours is just a different, not necessarily better approach. So they they're collections managers. We give them. This year it was drawing a quarterly top shelf Fantagraphics and Flying Eye Books. And so we said, look, go out to the websites where you have a $5,000, budget.
00;54;06;29 - 00;54;27;21
Warren Bernard
Yeah, order away. And, Tom gold did the, did the, we have a book plate, and a book plate goes in each one of the one of the books. Yeah. And Tom gold did the book plate this year for us. Oh, wow. So, we're real happy to bring that back. You know, before the pandemic, we had done it for, I think, about 9 or 10 years.
00;54;27;23 - 00;54;48;13
Warren Bernard
And we had given we're giving away somewhere around 2000 503,000 graphic novels, different library systems, DC library, PG County. We started with Montgomery County. The first one was like 2009 or something like that. And the reason for that was just by sheer coincidence. I knew the woman who was the collections manager and the buyer for Montgomery County Public Libraries.
00;54;48;13 - 00;55;13;15
Warren Bernard
Gotcha. So, you know, and I had to go through a once, you know, print library. We did. We went down to Richmond, Virginia. We went to Philadelphia. So, like I said, PG County. So we've, you know, we we're looking and if everything goes right, we'll continue this program. But what it does is it gets these very diverse books into the hands of.
00;55;13;17 - 00;55;28;20
Warren Bernard
Basically the librarians who are doing this, doing, you know, doing the ordering that they may not have heard of these, you know, these giving publishers rare books. Before I can begin to tell you the number of times that I went, because I normally go and bring the books. Okay. I'm part of the posse that brings the books.
00;55;28;23 - 00;55;53;08
Warren Bernard
And the number of times they were like, oh my God, we never, you know, we're so glad now, now this population will be able to see it or whatever it may be. That they always are one. They're, they're like, I mean, the gratitude that comes from it's like unbelievable and off the charts. But the other thing is, is they they get to order stuff that they may not have ever seen or known about before for different populations, that they may have in their library system.
00;55;53;10 - 00;56;13;23
Rob Lee
That that's that's great. And, you know, it's a way to really diversify is not quite the word I'm looking for, but it's a way to just encourage more reading, more, access, more awareness of just folks who may not have been looking for, may have been somewhat curious about. And suddenly it's like, oh yeah, how can we get more of this?
00;56;13;23 - 00;56;26;14
Rob Lee
Maybe it's sparking the the thoughts of someone who may know a young person or someone who's, a patron at the library is like, oh, wow, that's different. I want to get more of this person and so on. It's it's really cool. And I'm glad that is back.
00;56;26;17 - 00;56;45;27
Warren Bernard
Yeah. We're we're we're especially glad it was back. And, where we've got all the books now we'll get the book plates and stuff like that. We're going to bring it up there in about a week and a half. We'll put out a press release so that that's one thing that the whole executive committee is like, yes, we're very glad that it's back, but we just couldn't afford it before.
00;56;45;29 - 00;57;08;24
Warren Bernard
But I was able to get a sponsor. And so there was a direct sponsorship just for that, which I was, which we were very happy for. And the various library systems can be very happy, very happy for. So I just wanted to talk about that one kind of ancillary thing, so to speak. But then that that's part of what we're starting to get our groove back after the pandemic and recovering from the pandemic.
00;57;09;00 - 00;57;17;18
Warren Bernard
And this is like the the last block to be put into the wall so that the wall is now complete, that we're now we're now back on 2%.
00;57;17;21 - 00;57;35;24
Rob Lee
Hopefully, you know, that's that's really good. I mean, I was going to say a bit about being behind the wall because you said long as I survived, I was like, well, but now that's that's really cool. And, you know, I love to hear it. And, yeah, I think this is going to be a good year. And I'm looking forward to, seeing you in this year.
00;57;35;24 - 00;57;38;12
Warren Bernard
And I'm looking forward to seeing you there.
00;57;38;15 - 00;57;56;11
Rob Lee
So, sort of as we close out here, two things I want to do. One, thank you for coming back on spend some time with me, and and catching us up and two, shameless plugs. Any final plugs you want to have? Social media, a website. Where can folks check out all that good stuff so they can pull up, get a ticket?
00;57;56;15 - 00;58;18;10
Warren Bernard
Well, you know, I don't have our handles on Instagram and Blue Sky memorized. Yeah. So I think one is ESP comics. They'll be, they'll, they'll be there at small Press expo.com. That one's always good. And then, you know, just type in. Oh, by the way, if you type in ESP, what comes up is the Standard and Poor's index okay.
00;58;18;10 - 00;58;35;18
Warren Bernard
It does not School Press Expo so don't use ESP small press Expo. Just thought I'd let everybody know that, you know, as much as I like to have as much money as those guys, so that. That's it. Small press expo to come and everything will be cool. Thank you.
00;58;35;18 - 00;58;57;11
Rob Lee
Just two clicks away. And there you have it, folks. I want to again to thank Warren Benard from the Small Press Expo for coming back over to the program and for Warren Bernard, I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture and community in and around your neck of the woods. You just have to look for it.
00;58;57;14 - 00;59;09;24
Unknown
You. And and and and.