SPX 2011 Debuts

This weekend, the streets of White River Junction may look a lot like a ghost town with the flood waters of Hurricane Irene canceling our local train festival Glory Days. But a lot of students are traveling SOUTH, way south to Bethesda, Maryland to the Small Press Expo. Two days of selling comics, reuniting with ol’ partners in crime and of course, a chocolate fountain. Here are some of the CCS books debuting at the show.

From CCS Alum ’11 and new comics professor at the School for the Art Institute of Chicago, Beth Hetland will debut Fugue parts 1 and 2 at SPX!

Fugue: a family in three parts is Beth Hetland’s longest work to date. It is the story of a middle daughter, observing and exploring her mother’s relationship with music, her children and herself. Look of for the third installment soon to follow.

Nomi Kane‘s Freeloader is a short collection of comics about being 27, jobless and living with Mom and Dad for the first time in a decade.  If you ever wanted to see our heroine discouraged, mostly naked and eating dog-biscuits, this book is for you…not all at the same time though, although, Photoshop exists, it could happen.  What’s the pay like?

Colleen Frakes will debut issue #13 of Tragic Relief, Jerks, at SPX. Issue 12 isn’t going to be out until October because Frakes is “bad at chronology” so she says. Luckily she produces such quality work at such a fast rate none of her fans (like me) will mind.

Jon Chad is releasing his fourth installment of his Bikeman saga, a comic that has to be seen to be believed but if herding bikes around out in nature like gentle cattle sounds appealing then whip out that wallet!

Alec Longstreth and Jon Chad continue their pinball madness with Drop Target #3 and yes, you might be noticing a pattern with yellow and cream books. Must be fall or there is something in our water at CCS.

A fully-funded print run by Kickstarter, Lies Grown-ups Told Me is an anthology of tall tales and cruel jokes from when the creators were kids. Edited by Nomi Kane and the Schulz Library’s Caitlin M. and Jen Vaughn, these seventy pages offer the worst lies in the best way: comic form. Featuring several comics from CCS students, alum and faculty like  Donna Almendrala, Bryan Stone and Jon Chad as well as contributions from Rick Parker and Lorna Miller, Lies Grown-ups Told Me is available at SPX for a mere $7. Would we lie to you?

And one smart whip, Laura Terry, created some adorable banners to promote her Ignatz nominated book, Morning Song. If you’re attending, stop by her table and then turn in your ballot!

–Jen Vaughn is all set to see you in Besthesda at SPX. You might like her comics and she might like that coffee you have in your hand.