Warren Bernard: Shaping the Comic Landscape through Small Press Expo (SPX) and the Library of Congress

Welcome to the truth in this art. I am your host, Rob Lee. And today I am thrilled to have a special guest joining me, a renowned Eisner Award nominated comic author and historian, curator, and the executive director of the Small Press Expo. Please welcome Warren Bernard. Welcome to the podcast.

Thank you very much. Great. I don't know about, but I'll take the rest.

The rest is just your day. That's good. That's great. No. No.

I I think, you know, people ask, like, how did you become aware of me? How did you get on my how did I get on your radar? And I'm like, I'm observing, and I I follow this thing. If someone piques my curiosity or what they're doing piques my curiosity, I wanna know more and always super excited when people wanna just step into the ring and chat with me for, you know, half an hour or so. So it's really cool.

It is an honor to say the least. I I, you know, I what whatever it is I've been doing that caught your interest, I'm happy for it. And like I said, it's an honor to be here.

Well, thank you so much. And as as we go into this sort of introductory portion, I'd like to start off with, you know, a question of, you know, like, what sort of current stuff and then sort of, like, in the past. I'm gonna start off with the current stuff. You know, we're recording this on I'm gonna date it. We're recording this on Wednesday.

So what's been, like, the highlight of your your week so far or highlight of your summer thus far?

Oh, the highlight of my summer so far. I I did a a sort of comics road trip, about I think it's around 6 weeks ago now that I visited cartoon and comics friends, up through Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and then, upstate New York and visiting different people that I've met in the SPICS community that have become that have become really good friends with. So that was definitely the highlight in no no uncertain terms. There have been others. I just saw a great baseball game up in Philadelphia last week, last, Saturday night.

The Phillies won 9 to 4, so home runs, drag bunts, which, you know, who does drag bunts here in this 3rd decade of 20 21st century? So it was anyway, there's I've got lots of cool stuff.

That's great. And I'm really trying to sort out how to do the I I call it the social preview. You did the sort of comic trip to the eastern. Like, it's you know, I I was recently, let's say, beginning or maybe pre summer in, in New York, and it was, like, 5 people I was supposed to visit. And I visited none of them because I don't train at all costs.

I was like,

no, I

was gonna hang in my hotel and figure out where I'm gonna go at while I'm up here, but, definitely, when you meet people, especially doing something like this or doing something where you're just encountering a lot of different people who do really cool things, you wanna be able to cultivate and and, and maintain those relationships, so FaceTime and connecting.

Well, yeah. But I I I don't consider it as sort of mechanical as that. Yeah. Okay? It's kind of like, you know, I I meet these people.

We find out that we've got many things in common. Some of it is due to age. Some of it is due to interest. Some of it is due to position. And so I I don't view it quite that mechanical.

It's much more organic than that. Because there are there are lots of people that I've met through SPX that that for whatever the reason is, either we didn't connect on some kind of level other than being at the show or what have you. But, it's clear that when when you establish you know, so so, actually, doing SPX was the entry point. Yeah. Anything after there is just as organic as you going to a concert, meeting some people, or or meeting someone in class at school or someone at work that you become friends with.

So it's it's just the ignition point. Sometimes the fire ignites, and sometimes it doesn't. So there's you know, I I just wanna relate it that there's nothing different between doing it at SPX or doing it at any other job that's out there or doing it at a concert or wherever it may be.

That that makes a lot of sense, and I and I think it gets muddied sometimes where I crave that. I crave the thing that I feel organic, like, hey, we're out there in a scene or, hey, I had you on the pod. And, you know, I I do another podcast outside of this where it's very different and we cover movies and really get into the nerd minutiae of movies.

Yeah. Sure.

But not every one of these 600 plus interviews that I've done goes on

to that podcast. It's very small group of like, okay, you

get it. We can vibe on that. Yeah. Organic. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. You've you've got you've gotta have

that connection. And and and when you do, you know it. It's like, oh, yes. The person at the other side, I know who you are, and we could talk about this for hours.

Absolutely. So, you know, I said that I wanna start off with the current. Now I wanna start off, go go back a little bit. I wanna, you know, tap into sort of your, your involvement. Where does it start with, Small Press Expo and the US Library of Congress, United States Library of Congress?

Like, can you share sort of your journey and, like, ultimately, what led to your role as executive director of SPX?

Yeah. Sure. So when so we'll start with the SPX side, and then I'll kind of, you know, put them all together. Please. I I live maybe a 5, 7 minute walk where SPX used to be held here in downtown Bethesda.

Mhmm. And, I had left my my corporate job, and I was looking for stuff to do, and someone told me about SPX. I think the first one too was, like, 2,000 or something like that. And, you know, 2001, there was no show. And then I think it was in 2002 or 2003.

Maybe it was 2002. I said, you know, maybe I'll volunteer, take a 2 hour shift committee. And without getting it you know, because I could talk about this for another hour, but we don't have that time. What what eventually happened was is I was approached to to take over SPX because of, actually, because of my corporate background, because of the things that I did. So my my first year as executive director was 2011, and, I am now well, actually, I surpassed being the longest running SPX executive director 9 years ago.

Well, congratulations.

So, this is my this is my 13th one that that I have done. It's it's fantastic. Matter of fact, we're, you know, I'm I'm now I also site being executive director. I'm in charge of the website, so I've been doing all this web development stuff that it keeps my because what I did in the corporate world is I I had a staff of, like, 50 programmers working for me, programmers and managers and the support staff and things like that. And so we we developed large scale computer systems.

So getting into the web world kinda keeps my keeps my, techie genes active as the case may be. So, so I've been, you know, doing this for a while. And between 2,022,011, I was a I was a volunteer. I I would help out. I wound up doing various tasks, and I just did more and more.

I, you know, was in charge of the exhibit room and stuff like that. And I'm the one who found the Bethesda North Marriott has the place to go because the Holiday Inn, where it wasn't downtown Bethesda, was being reconfigured and wasn't gonna fit our needs. Right. So, so but somewhat parallel to that, I guess it was around 2,007, 2008. I wanna do some volunteer stuff.

And, I knew this gentleman who had this very large collection that is now at the Library of Congress. So, I was able to go ahead and be approved as being a volunteer down there, and they don't take everybody. I was it was an honor to to be selected down there. And so I've been, in fact, I was just there last week. So as part of the Library of Congress volunteer step, what I do is is I catalog political cartoons.

So I I look at these old political cartoons literally from I I had gotten by a book on the Warren g Harding Administration because I knew nothing about about that. So I take these cartoons, and I go ahead and I put historical background, any pop culture references, which there are, artistic references, cartoonist was trying to say through the cartoon. I also put in what the cartoonist was trying to say through the cartoon and translate any idioms that may may have occurred, and that goes into the Library of Congress. So I've I've done that for a long time. And so I've done that for a couple of years, and I noticed that their collection basically stopped in the 19 nineties.

This is, like, 2,009, 2,010. And so I approached them about, you know, well, there's there was this SPX thing over here, and they have all this great art. And there's the Library of Congress over here, which loves to get great art. So the issue was not could a deal be struck. It is it was could a deal be struck for this, was how was the deal gonna be, gonna be constructed.

And it took about a year. You know, it's the federal bureaucracy and stuff like that. And we worked it out so that, there was now the SPX collection at the Library of Congress. And every year, we donate all of the IGNAT submissions to them. And we have a team of normally, it's anywhere from 4 to 6 Library of Congress staffers that come through the exhibition hall at SPX asking for donations for the collection.

And this particular relationship is unique. There is not another relationship like it in the world that I'm aware of that a comic show of any kind, superhero, indie comics, really doesn't matter, where Pop Culture Convention, for that matter, has a major institution like the Library of Congress, basically picking up stuff as it's coming out. Yeah. And and so if you think about that, you know, there's now about 10,000 items in the collection. Well, the the the thing is is that the way a lot of these museums and other larger institutions work is is normally they wait for someone to either donate or sell their collection.

It may be a creator, who has a large archive and all this stuff is in it, blah blah blah. This is the first time that I'm aware of, and and I've done the research about this, that as we go along, we're collecting the stuff as it comes out. And the reason for that is is that it was the Library of Congress understands the ephemeral nature of many comics in particular, many comics and prints. Because a lot of a lot of people, as you know, they'll print up a 100, 200 copies, and that's it. Yeah.

It's it's it's totally gone. So we focus on things of an ephemeral nature and also things that don't come to the Library of Congress as part of copyright submission. So there are, for instance, there are a number of Kickstarters in, out there that they have not gone ahead and sent registration copies in. But we picked them up as a matter of course, either by donation at the show or by submission, for the Ignatz Awards. So, so that that relationship and and it's it's really cool because now I mean, I'm aware of the past you know, over the past, like, even 2 or 3 years during the pandemic, they were using the collection for different things, either exhibitions or they have, for instance, members of Congress or congressional staff will request to see stuff out of Library of Congress on a given topic.

And SPX stuff gets in gets put into that mix. We've had displays in the, first floor of the Jefferson room where they have these large cases out there, and it was all SPX stuff. So they they view this very well. They they love having the material. And the good part is is they've done you know, a lot of people say, well, I don't like paying taxes.

Well, okay. Fine. And and and I get that. But when it comes to federal taxes, I don't have a problem because I know a whole bunch of that is going towards preserving the SPAC collection for Library of Congress. Okay?

In fact, when we first started this, they didn't have the right kind of acid free envelopes to keep the mini comics, and they special ordered them. They they they had them made just for the mini comics. They they had people in the conservation part put together special boxes for some of the special material that we've got. It's unbelievable. And and it's stored in vaults that store the same stuff that you would see in a museum collection.

So, you know, all the preservation stuff is there. It's kept in an acid free environment. The humidity control is there. The heating control is there. And as I tell people, you know, please donate to the library the SPX collection at Library Congress.

We will preserve your works till the sun goes supernova.

I love it. And and thank you for, for walking us through that. I I definitely you know, as I it's it's time passes. Right? And, you know, I go back and look at, like, when I started with this podcast to now, I start thinking of, you know, what's changed, those sort of archival, the sort of, preservation component, whether it be in storytelling or even the subject matter within the stories.

Like, I can look back into 2019 when I started this podcast and look like, oh, wow. That place doesn't exist that we spent 20 minutes talking about is gone. So being able to have someone's work documented and, you know, it it be comics. It it'd be something that has things that are very referential to a certain time and that it's the idioms you that you mentioned. It's it's great to capture that, and, you know, that's one of the things that I've been looking at working working through, as I was telling you a little bit before we got started and working with a group of students and the whole subject it's a library.

It's a library for this community that I'm in, and I'm, like, a person that was one of those kids that grew up in this area, now coming back nearly 40 and being able to contribute in that way, I definitely that's really great to hear that that's that sort of connection that, you know, SPX and the Library of Congress had. That's that's really great.

It's like I said, it's unique, and it thoroughly validates any of the work coming out of the indie comics community. And I'll never forget the first SPX. There was a guy who was selling I I love these handcrafted mini comics that have special packaging, or it's really clear that it was handcrafted. And I went up to this to this gentleman's table, and I had already seen his stuff before. I go, look.

Can I go ahead and, you know, get 2 of these for the Library of Congress? And he fell back in his shoes like, you're kidding me. Really? My work in the Library of Congress? I was like, yes.

You'll work in the Library of Congress. So and and I've gotten that reaction many, many times. So there's there's this historical preservation aspect of it, but there's also the emotional aspect of it. So, yeah, it's it's it's a it's a very cool thing.

Nope. That's that's wonderful. I'd I'd have my own really, really, really janky nonprofessional version of that at my own home. Like, I'm recording from my home studio currently, and, you know, I have items. Like, folks will send me stuff, and it it it definitely feels precious.

You know, like, I I had, one artist. He took my logo that you can see in the background as we're recording, and he turned into a small diorama. And it's and he he does this work that in these small altoid tens, and he recreates things. And I'm like, did you create, like, Operation in an Altoids tent? How did you do that?

Or scenes pop culture scenes, and it's just really cool. And I'm very selective of what I keep in this space because I think there's a creative energy there to sound really hokey about it. But to the point, not everything goes in there for something as small as my little little place, but something that has the backing of, like, that sort of, like, you know, air, and it's it's the US, you know, Library of Congress that I would imagine any artist, any creatives, like, there you go. So it's on a resume. It's on an artist statement.

It's there.

Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. And and and understandably, there have been, there there have been times, like, for instance, with the Rhizograph stuff.

And it's expensive to produce, and it's totally understood that it's like, you know, I only made 6 of these, and I really need to make more money back. And so, you know, stuff like that comes up, but that's totally understandable. I you know, we we we totally get that. So sometimes there's some stuff we're, like, very hands up, but because of, financial circumstance, we totally understand that it's not a viable thing to occur. Although that that diorama does sound cool.

It's it's it's super cool. I'll I'll send you an image of it a little later. So let let's let's shift gears a little bit into, you know, sort of the the impact right around the, Small Press Expo, like, you know, within the the Indies comp, the indie comic community. Like, we're we're touching on a bit there as far as the relationship with the Library of Congress. But like sort of what has been like, you know, some of that additional impact in conversations or just what ways do, like, people look at, like, SPX.

Like and again, you know, I was there, like, last year, and it was funny. Like, I ran into Keith Knight. I ran into James Spooner, and I was able to get some interviews out of that and connect. And it was, like, really great. And I was like, I'm coming back every year.

You know, it was a little it was for me, but, you know, I'm I'm I was very new to it. So as far as, you know, being in the the role that you're in, what has been that that sort of impact?

Well, first, Keith and I are old friends, and he's staying at my house this year for SPX.

That's great. Doctor doctor Keith Knight has reminded me.

Right. Right. Yeah. Right. Doctor Keith Knight.

No. Although there were those of us that that we just roll our eyes at that, attempted pretension. Especially at some somebody who's, like, addicted to lobster rolls. Okay? How pretentious can you be?

So so there there are actually, 2 things that when you when you look at the scale and scope, One of them is is SPX's influence as just having an SPX. People came from New York and Toronto and London, and they saw SPX, and they said, we need one of these for our city. And so there's no to me, there there's whether it's in art or comics or even festivals, there is no greater compliment than to be an influence. Mhmm. Yep.

And so we were a deep influence that way. The other thing that that is a big impact is the Ignatz Awards. When when people write up their little resumes for either their books or on their website and stuff stuff like that, they always talk about the Eisner Awards and the Ignatz Awards. And the Ignatz Awards have proven to be a a both a a stepping stone and a prestige item within the indie comics and publishing industry. Because so, you know, you see people kinda come through SPX, get discovered, and all of a sudden they're at First Second or Random House or Abrams or wherever it may be.

Raina Telgemeier is a classic example. She came to SPX and sold her mini comics for, like, 50¢ or a dollar. You know? And this is the same person who has had, you know, New York Times bestsellers. So so so that now another area in which SPX is interesting, and I can't speak for the other shows, but at least before the pandemic, I can't speak because I haven't run to anybody since then.

We would get people from the animation studios from the West Coast come to SPX looking for talent. Mhmm. And there are, by my count, at least was probably 15 to 20 people who used to exhibit at SPX that are now out on the out on the West Coast, either doing development deals or working as animators or working as production designers or working something like that. So SPX was the stepping stone in that direction. Another place is commercial illustration and the New Yorker.

People like do you know Lonnie Milsap? Yes. Okay. So Lonnie, you know, have been coming to SPX, and he's he's a great talent. I love him, and he's a big basketball fan on top of that.

And so, you know, he's he's gone to the New Yorker and a and a number of other people. We've had New Yorker cartoonists come down and be special guests at SPX. So that that's another world in which there's a certain amount of discovery that that occurs. So the those are the those are the big areas where SPX itself has been an influence, and then you tack on the Ignatz Awards, then you tack on different creative communities coming into SPX looking for talent. Yeah.

I can even, like, speak to you know, going going there last year, I was able to get maybe 3 interviews out of folks that I've talked about. I bought a bunch of, like, books and stuff when I was there, and I was like, hell, yeah. This works. And, you know, I got connected to you know, I did the interview with Keith, and then I got connected from Keith to Liza Donnelly, who connected me to an interview I did in New Orleans with and I was just like, this is, you know, 6 degrees of separation. And it's it's really cool, and it almost takes a bit of the sort of vetting work out of me.

It's like, oh, I did this cool interview with this person. They're saying this person might be a great person. Let's check it out. And it's it just really works. It really works that way, and I can root it back to the small press expos, a part of that whole equation and trajectory.

Yeah. And, once you know one person and and they like you, then then they'll then they'll do that. As you can tell, there's this big network out there. As a matter of fact, Liza was one of the people I visited on that road trip I I referenced earlier. Her and her husband, Michael, they've got a fabulous collection of works just from New Yorker cartoonists.

It was a real treat going up there. But but yeah. You know, once you get in, the the community is is very nice and very tight, and you can get there are less than 6 degrees separation, especially if you send me a note, I can make it 2 degrees of separation for a lot of cases.

Well, a note will be coming your way. If I'm being honest, so I wanna talk about, about your background. I mean, like, you know, I was seeing a few different things. You know? You know, Eisner Award nominated comic author, historian, curator.

There's a lot of, you know, interesting things about you. It's is in addition to your your your your data background, your IT background, which I didn't see on it at all, so that's even greater. So what what sparked that initial, like, interest in comics for you? And, could you tell us a bit about your sort of journey in comics?

Well, when when I was a real young, you know, 3, 4, 5 years old, my parents would get me the Dell Comics. But what truly triggered it is when I got my tonsils out, my parents gave me my first Superman comic. And that was that led me down the road to perdition. It it it that that that's the one that hooked me. And, so starting is, you know, there there was, in, junior high school, there was one guy there that was selling me his adventure comics.

So I got into Legion Superheroes, and I would go up to the newsstand with another buddy of mine, and we and he turned me on to I didn't know about Marvel Comics until I was, 14 because my neighborhood in New York didn't carry any of them. It was all DC stuff. And so I had a horizon expansion with my buddy, John. He had, at the time, a near complete set of of marvels. And, so I I read everything, and I became a huge Fantastic Four fan.

So I put together my own collection, which regretfully, I had to sell, in college. And also by the time I got into college and through college, the superhero stuff had kinda lost its appeal to me. Mhmm. And so I got into the underground stuff. I still have all my underground comics.

I got into indie comics, which was a little later in in the seventies. But then, you know, I I wasn't really the collector I wound up to be until until later. Because when I got into the into the corporate world, my sister said it best. She said I disappeared for about a decade. And so I I and I only went to you know, from most probably in the last 2 decades in 20th century, I must probably only went to maybe 3 shows.

Mhmm. Okay. But I I started up again, to put the collection together I have now. I started focusing on books. I started collecting books, cartooning books, the same way an antiquarian book collector would collect books.

So I grew up to signed editions, 1st editions, editions, and dust wrappers and stuff like that. So I've got a, you know, a really good collection of that stuff. And I've got the undergrounds. And then at SPX, that was a horizon expansion. And I started collecting a lot.

In fact, I've got one of the things I do collect. I collect some mini comics. People have much better collections than me, but what I collect is is I collect comics on tabloid newsprint. Mhmm. Okay?

So so you've got things like like here. Well, you you've got a a a secret prison. You've got a whole bunch of things that have been done in the DC area over the years. So, I've got a large collection of that material. I've got, you know, lots of first editions, lots of stuff signed to me as part of SPX.

Another thing that expanded my horizon, I went into a bookstore. I was I was just out of college at the at that point. And I've just, you know, used bookstores were a totally different thing back than than than what they are now. You can't even find them now. Right.

Back then, it was a joy to go in. And when you went to the comic or humor section, you had no idea what you were gonna see, which made that exploration really interesting. And I pulled down a a book with the 3rd New Yorker album, 1930. And I loved it. And I I went out off off in that direction, and then there was other stuff that you would run across going to the used bookstores that if you didn't go in there, you wouldn't have found because the mainstream stores didn't have that kind of stuff.

Yeah. So, so there there's like a an aggregation. And then there were some people that I thought were historically interested. So I've got, pretty decent holdings of stuff by Windsor McKay and Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman and do you know Esims Campbell? No.

Elmersible. Well, you know about Matt Baker? The, so he was the first, attributed to be the 1st black successful black cartoonist, comic book creator in the 19 forties.

Yeah.

A decade before Matt Baker even came along, E Sims Campbell was the first black, cartoonist slash illustrator to be successful. And he had he was doing cartoons for the humor magazines of the day. He had commercial accounts. He was very successful in what he was doing. And while he was doing this and he had a syndicated strip that went through, King Features' syndicate.

And while he was doing this, he was also doing cartoon strips for the black newspapers in New York.

Wonderful.

And so I've I've got a a bunch of his stuff. I've got I I think all of the covers he did for the old Life and Judge Magazines and and other stuff. I've got 2 books signed by him. So it's so there are people like that that I kind of went after that I felt were historically important. So I've got that aspect.

So I look at it also as a historian.

Yeah. That's that's that's great. I mean and and when I when I get into, like, sort of expo convention season and, you know, when I when I go, I think this will be the 3rd convention slash expo that I've gone to this year, and I'm kinda looking forward to this. Alright. Who's who's about to pop?

Who can I actually have this conversation with, and who am I gonna buy something from? And because it's again, it's it's gonna be something that I'm gonna try to get signed, and I want to protect it. It's not like I'm gonna read this, like, in in that moment, or I'm gonna get a secondary copy because I want the side one to be, you know, crisping away. But, definitely having some of those things that that re sparked that interest. You know, the other day, it's not necessarily related, but the other day, can I could tell that with all of the things that I'm doing and the sort of minimal, like, downtime that I have, I was able to log into, you know, the library website, you know, the the the central library here, And I was like, webcomics, where are they?

And I started, like, reading, you know, maybe, like, Spider Punk. And I was like, I'm using my downtime to explore this comic. And now when I go somewhere, I have a trade. I have a trade paperback in my, backpack with my recording gear. So it's like, yeah.

I'm getting to this time. I'm in my pop culture scene. I'm in my, this season, and I'm just ramping up for just being around and being in conversations with folks like you and folks that are are artists and folks that are writers and and folks that are, like, champions of, comics and that that form.

And and by the way, you're what you just said reminded me, there's one other thing we do with the Library of Congress I totally forgot to mention. We actually archive webcomic sites.

Wow. So Yeah.

So, in fact, this guy, James Kuchulka, his diary comics, the entire run of his diary comics was on a server that was about to be decommissioned. And he sent me a note. Warren, can you help? Yeah. And we got the Library of Congress, and so there's now a copy of that, the all of his stuff down at the Library of Congress.

And we've done that. Like, the NIB is being backed up. The SPX website is being backed up. So there's so there's this, there's a digital piece to what we're doing there, because the these webcomics, you know, they they're there for now, but you have no idea how long they're gonna be there. Right.

So so we do it for that stuff also.

Yeah. I have a, I have a few installments of, the NIB in the in the studio that was given to me as a gift. And when I saw because it was on the radar. I wanted to have this sort of arc of who can I speak with in these different sort of places because I wanted to, like, I try to stack, you know, like, alright, we got some comic writers? We have these different publishers and so on.

And I was like I was like, The Niv. I was like, I like I like their style, like what they do, and then I was just like, okay, it's wrapping up. I was like, you know, but, Well

well, you should I I would recommend like, Matt Bors is coming to SPX.

Okay.

Okay? And so I I would recommend talking to him because, I've I've known Matt since my god. I I got his first mini comic. He was like I think he was 21 or something like that. So not for a very long time.

So I've I've been talking with him through his entire journey with the NIV and the different iterations it's gone through. And, he would be able to give you a good feel as to what it's like to run a site like that in this kind of a of a, media, you know, media milieu.

Got it. That that that's I'm I'm I'll put that note. That's that's great. So I see. I got I got 3 more sort of like real questions.

And then I had like the rapid fire questions.

Okay. All right.

How's for you? So, you know, is is there a a pivotal moment or experience that, you know, comes to mind when you think of your your journey. I mean, I see, you know, the Eisner Award nomination. I see, as you you touched on earlier, you know, the historian component. It's it's it's great.

There's a lot that's that's in there too. You know, like, I've been if I'm if I'm answering this question in in the scope of what I do, yeah, I've been podcasting for close to 15 years, and I I can't think of 1. I just think All Over McCool, which sounds so hokey, but also I feel that too because it's a new opportunity. But what what what comes to mind for you as a pivotal moment during this journey for you?

Well, there there are 3 of them. Okay? So one of them was, of course, being nominated for an for an Eisner award. I was like, you've gotta be kidding me. You're making this up.

Okay? So, anyone who doesn't say that, I don't care if I win or not. Most people, they'll get nominated. Alright? So it it it wasn't a problem if I didn't win.

It was like, I got the nomination. That's fine. I'm happy. So that was one of them. The second one was, the second well, the first two shows that I ran at SPX were special in its both ways.

The first one was is is we had, Antel Nes and Roz Chast and Diane Newman lead a panel, lead a slate of mainly women creators coming to SPX that we had this emphasis just on the women, which up to that point, no show had ever done. Yeah. But then the following year, I was able to get, Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, and the Hernandez brothers to all come to the same show. And that to me was like an absolute mind boggler. There was a third one.

When when we did the, when we did the Fantagraphics 40th anniversary show, we had I mean, it was unbelievable. We had a brunch on that Sunday, and there's a photograph of, like, 2 dozen of the top Fantagraphics creators all in one photograph. Ed Pisker was there, Simon Hanselman, Charles Burns, the Hernandez brothers. I mean, it was unbelievable who was in that room. It was absolutely mind boggling.

But the the other one that blew me away was probably be even more so than those is, being on Cartoonist Katebabe. Okay? The Ed Pisker, Jim Rugg channel. You know, I I did a in fact, that was the first purse I would it was an honor for me. I was the first person they they interviewed when they started up the channel.

Yeah. And I went up to Pittsburgh and, you know, I thought I was gonna sit down with the 2 of them. They go, no. No, Warren. You sit over there.

And it was like I was being grilled like I was I was in some kind of job interview. Okay? They started throwing questions at. And and and that one is is still up. And and, so every time I come into Pittsburgh, I would do a couple.

And what happened was it thoroughly shocked the hell out of me. K? That the comment section was like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Warren's you know, we wanna see more Warren, stuff like that.

And the ultimate compliment was after SPX in 2019, Jim and Ed came to my house to do a video tour of my collection. Wow. A a very a very brief one, which by the way, you are hereby invited to come over to my house for a tour of the collection.

K? Wonderful. Thank you.

And so we we did this video and we you know, I would, like, break something out, speak about it for 2 seconds, and move on to the next thing. And for the first, like, year or 2, it's 3, 4, 5000 views. It's now up, like, 25,000 views. And last year at SPX, I had 2 people come up to me and say, Warren, I love the work that you're doing it on cartoonist kayfabe. 1 guy wanted me to sign his program.

I'm like, no. I'm just some schlump. Okay? I I got you know, I'm just some guy. I, you know, I I don't have no.

No. No. Why? I really want it. So, you know, I I signed it.

Okay? So, you know, I go up once or twice a year to Pittsburgh, and I I have the honor of sitting with, Jim and Ed. I've done about 30 videos with them on all kinds of different topics, everything from we did Master Race, and they and I was very happy. They allowed me the the privilege of talking about my favorite superhero comic of all time, Fantastic 4 48250, The Coming of Galactus and the Silver Surfer, which to me okay, try and beat that. I don't care.

You're not gonna do it. You're not gonna convince me. Alright? So so there's there's been this wide range of stuff that we've talked about in terms of comics. We did we've done Concrete.

We've done Little Nemo. We've done Will Eisner. We've done a little bit of Chris Ware. You know, there's all kinds, like I said, 30 different videos we've done. And and that that to me is a is a surprise, an honor, and a shock.

So so great. I am I'm I'm marking out a little bit. Yeah. It's like, I know I know these people. I know these names.

I have I have stuff. This is great. So, actually, I think that, you know, and and you made my job a little easier in sort of that, response. One of my secondary questions has been answered, so that's great. So now I'm down to sort of my last question, and I I think I have a sense on it.

But at least, you know, I wanna kinda, you know, use this to close out the sort of, you know, real part of the, of the of the interview, before we get to the rapid fire part, which is what I've been told is the b s part of the interview. But for for folks, you know, coming out, what can he what can he look forward to? I mean, I'm on a mailing list. I get the emails for you from you. But what can folks look forward to to, this year's, XPX?

Well, we we've got a a great slate. Mara Naomi is coming, and Bill Griffithsippi, the pinhead. His Ernie Bushmiller graphic novel biography is coming in about 3 weeks before the show. So it'll be one of the first show is it not the first show to go ahead and have it debut at at SPX. We've already I can't get into the programming panels because even I don't know what they are yet.

They no. You know, it's like typical management. It's like, well, you're in charge, but you don't really know what the hell is going on down there. Okay? So we we've got I think it's 22 programming panels and I think 11, 12, and 14 workshops, and we'll be announcing those sometime next month.

So that that's all done. The Ignatz Awards are gonna be on the Saturday night of SPX, and we've, the nominations are percolating now out of the judging team. You know, it's gonna be our normal there's wait well, how about this? So I I did it back of the envelope calculation. If you spent 3 minutes at every table at SPX, you would not be able to watch any programming, go to the bathroom, or eat for the 14 hours that we're open.

Oh, packed.

So so there's a lot to do. So just getting through the floor is is a lot. You know, you know, once again, you know, we're gonna have, Phantom Graphics is going back and Top Shelf and No Brow and Self Made Hero, Silver Sprocket. So so the big indie publishers are gonna be are gonna be with us once again. And they always bring additional just so everybody knows, there are other guests that come to sign at those tables that aren't SPX special guests.

So there's and I have no idea who those people are because they you know, I always get something from, you know, top shelf or Fanta, whoever it is. Like, last year, I had no idea that Jeffrey Brown had come to SPXB at at top shelf's table. I'm like, why didn't you tell you know, I was like I was like, Jeff, I had no you know, I I spoke to Chris Stone. I was like, Chris, you're supposed to tell me when someone of that stature comes. So there's a certain amount of surprise that even I I have no idea what's gonna happen.

Okay? So that that kind of encapsulates what's, you know, what's going on for this year's show.

I'm I'm so looking forward to it, and I I think I wanna switch up because last year was, like, the first, and I was like, I don't know how to navigate this. I'm just trying to, like, fill it out. But, you know, at a point like, you you touched on, like, people are super welcoming. It's it's a dep different sort of setup than I've been at before. It's like, hey, you know, I can chat with folks and it doesn't feel like I'm interrupting them from something else.

It's like, no, no, no. Hey. Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, it's really cool.

So I think what I'm gonna end up doing this year is kinda like maybe do the the overnight thing. I was there for a couple hours, last year and moving to sort of my next stop, but this is gonna be more of a, you know, concerted effort to really get depth this year.

And and, you know, it's one of those things that, one of the big differences between our show and the mainstream, superhero comic shows is that when you ask for an autograph or ask for something to get signed in a book, they're not gonna they're not gonna charge any money. Mhmm. Okay? And this goes to the to the very top people. And so that that that's that's and and as you say, the vibe is different.

You know, as you see, there are no cosplayers. They're you know, everyone is just kinda hanging and milling around and everyone everyone is approachable. Yeah. So it it it is a totally different vibe.

That's what that's what I dig about it, and I am super excited. And, you know, like, it's it's always even outside of doing this this this podcast around it, when there's things that I like, I am an evangelist for it. I did never stop talking about it. It's like, fuck. Pull up, guys.

Bethesda, here we come.

Well well, thank you. Well, how about this? I'm so glad you came in. I'm so glad you liked it.

Loved it. So this is the part of the podcast now that I want to get you with these rapid fire questions. You know, you you were talking earlier, feeling like you're in the interview setup. This is gonna be more of a goofy version of it, but Okay.

But I

think I think you'll dig it. And but as I tell everyone, don't overthink it. Whatever your answer is, is your answer. So I have 6 of them because I've, I've been typing while we've been talking. So, it was 3 initially, and now it's 6.

So I told you something. Alright. Here's the first one. If you could hang out with any fictional character, who would it be?

Any fictional character, who would it be? I'll be honest with you. I'll say Superman.

K. What this is this is funny. What's something that's pretty ordinary that you're very snobbish or particular about?

Crab cakes.

You get it. So you get it right right there. That that might be the end of the podcast right there. You you get as a proud Baltimorean, you know. What is your favorite color?

Blue. Yeah. Go to comfort food. A second food question of this group.

Go to comfort food. Well, I, pad thai is one of my comfort foods. I like a good burger is a comfort food. Pizza is a comfort food.

I like it. I mean, I hear the I hear the northeast accent, so I'm like, yeah, you know pizza.

I I was born and raised in New York City. You can take the boy out of the city, but you can't do the opposite. So

Do you have a favorite movie? And I know the favorites are always when people get caught, like, depends on the year or

what have you. Oh, jeez. Well, blade the first blade the Blade Runner would be one of them. Good one. Godfather, parts 12.

When I was a little oh, I'm sorry. Well, one of the ones I have to admit from this is when I was a little kid, the original Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston.

Nice. Uh-huh. This is the last one I got for you. I asked someone this yesterday, and I thought it was really funny because I like to troll baristas sometimes. I'm like, Yeah, can you put enough cream in there that makes it look like my skin color versus and they look at me.

It's usually I like the troll. I like the troll. What is your go to coffee award? Are you a coffee person? What's your go to coffee?

No. I don't drink coffee or tea. Oh, really? No. I I don't drink coffee or tea or alcohol.

It does not mean that I don't have other vices that check out. Well, no. It's legal in the state of Maryland now. So, yes, I I do have I do have one vice.

I love it. It is it is legal. Well, that's actually, it. You're you're off the the hot seat of the the rapid fire questions. Yeah, you made it.

You made it. We we survived. So I want to, 1, thank you for for coming on to this podcast and spending some time with me. We we made it. We made it happen.

And, despite trains not cooperating and all of the things, and and 2, I wanna invite and encourage you to, share with the listeners where they can check out, you know, SPX. Any anything that you wanna share in these final moments as we close out of this podcast?

Yeah. All the information is up on our website, www.smallpressexpo. Com. So go out there. Everything is there.

It's all on the front page. It tells you all of the you know, you click on the box, but here's the special guest box. And and but a lot of it is gonna be announced in about 2 to 3 weeks. So more details are gonna come out. By the middle of August, there's gonna be a lot of information on the show.

And there you have it, folks. I wanna again thank Warren Barnard from the Small Press Expo for coming on and sharing a bit of his journey with us on this podcast. And I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture, and community in and around your neck of the woods. You've just got to look for it.