While there are countless blog posts about SPX out there, a few of them merit more than passing mention.

§ The I love Rob Liefeld blog has a good rundown of purchases.

§ Of course we loved Brian Heater’s report, because we’re IN IT. But he also catches that special SPX vibe:

The magic of SPX has always been, at least in part, due to the fact that the show is held in a Bethesda, rather than New York or San Francisco, so most of those in attendance haven’t just happened onto the showroom floor to get in out of the heat or the cold, but have rather devoted a significant chunk of time and money into attending the show. The location also ensures that those present don’t scatter to the wind as soon as the floor closes, but rather hop in massive carpools to the next location. And, when you wake up, bleary-eyed the next morning, there’s a pretty good chance that the person riding down in the elevator with you or stumbling down the hotel halls is there for the same reason. It’s a sense of comradery by necessity almost entirely absent in big shows like San Diego, and even smaller ones like MoCCA or APE


§ Ben Towle has the fun:

I returned in time for the post-show booze-fest, which was, as usual, a lot of fun. Again, pretty much everyone I talked to had nothing but great stuff to say sales-wise about Saturday. The cheery mood led to much merriment of course. In some strange manifestation of “six degrees of separation,” I wound up sitting at a table with a bunch of comics bigwigs far, far out of my league–including novelist and professor Tom DeHaven and his wife, and Fantagraphics/Comics Journal founder Gary Groth. I mostly talked to that guy that always comes to SPX in drag… who was curiously also sitting at this same table with us.


But he also does a breakdown of his sales at Heroes Con vs SPX… with numbers and GRAPHS. This part is definitely worth looking at:

Interestingly, as far as cash-in-hand goes, I wound up with almost exactly the same amount of money walking out the door at both shows. It says a lot about how brisk SPX was, though, that it’s a two day show and Heroes is a three day show. On the other hand, the hotel at SPX costs about 160% of the hotel at Heroes. A huge factor for me personally, though, is that I’m usually a guest at Heroes, but have to pay for a table at SPX–and of course Heroes is just down the road from me, whereas I have a long drive and one extra day in a hotel for SPX.


§ Nate at Bramble Vine Comics chose this year’s Balitmore show over SPX and has exhibitor’s remorse:

Don’t get me wrong, I still had a lot of fun at BCC. I met a lot of people and sold a ton of pins and sketches. The crowds at BCC were overwhelming and everyone I spoke to about it while at the con who had exhibited there last year agreed that there were far more people attending than last year. But, us indie folk in the Artist Alley, which ringed the convention floor, all saw mediocre sales. I could see it in people’s eyes as they walked past my table, they were searching for things they knew. They wanted something familiar, something that matched the superhero logo on their t-shirts. The majority of people at the BCC were not interested in new unknowns like myself. Webcomics were not on their radar screens, they wanted a deal on a new copy of Watchmen and the latest Batman action figure.

SPX 2007 was such a different experience for me. The folks that went to SPX were hunting for new comics and cartoons. They wanted to feel like they were discovering something, they wanted fresh, weird and experimental. Webcomics were high on their agenda of things to check out. There may have been fewer attendees, but I sold a lot more books and got a lot of encouraging comments there. The crowd that goes to SPX are far more likely to open their wallets on something that they haven’t seen before


And from the Chris corner:
Chris Mautner
Chris Pitzer