Small Press Expo 2018 Round Up: Comics and Community for Creators of Color

There’s few conventions or expos that have secured my heart in so quick a time as Small Press Expo, and with my second year under my belt I can finally pinpoint why. Let me take you with me. It’s Sunday morning, the second day of SPX 2018, and I’m trying not to sprint from the parking garage to the North Marriott’s White Flint Auditorium. I check the flyer again to see I’m truly on my CPT today, hoping that everyone else is on theirs as well (spoiler: of course we are). https://twitter.com/sparklyfawn/status/1041324322386833410 I rush in, trying to look around casually before finally spotting the #DrawingWhileBlack hashtag’s founder, Abelle Hayford, who greets me warmly and invites me over (you can read up on the inspiration behind the hashtag in our interview with Abelle from last year’s SPX). There’s a small group gathered already, and in no time laughter rings out as we trade opinions about movies, art schools, and just the realities of being Black creators, making space for more people as they arrive. Nobody acts as gatekeeper, demanding to know what table you came from or what product you brought. When someone does pass out a book, everyone grabs them with joy as if receiving a comic for the first time and before we know it it’s time to take a group photo and disperse to tables and panels.

This gathering, though not necessarily an official part of SPX programming, is every bit what the SPX experience should be for a POC participant, if not more. Last year I mentioned t…