It’s been a great couple weeks for comic fans in the District. Last weekend we got Neil Gaiman at the National Book Festival (which I missed but can’t complain because I was in Chicago for My Bloody Valentine) and now we’re being treated with the return of Bryan Lee O’Malley, the indie comic hero behind the Scott Pilgrim series, Tom Tomorrow, Hope Larson and Laura Weinstein at the Small Press Expo.

For more than a decade the festival has served as the go to for independent comics and cartooning offering fans a chance to meet authors and artists as well offering inspiration through panel discussions. It’s pretty small and tight knit, only about 3,000 attend, but it’s cheap (until you blow all your money on comics) and an amazing opportunity to be introduced to new reads proving there is so much more going on in the comic world right now than Batman and Watchmen.

O’Malley is really the biggest draw of the weekend. As clever as it is cute, the Pilgrim series has already been optioned for a movie with Edgar Wright directing (!!!) Michael Cera as Scott and the cute techno-path girl from Sky High (I can’t be the only person who saw this movie) as Ramona. With an amazing mix of indie rock, video game references, love and manga, the series is a comic must read. Seriously. He has a panel at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Go.

For the uninitiated: Scott Pilgrim is a 23-year-old Canadian slacker who plays bass in the band Sex Bomb-omb. The girls of his dreams is Ramona Flowers, a mysterious rollerblading Amazon delivery girl who has seven evil exes Scott must fight before he can become seriously involved with her. It’s simple and it works.

For as much as folks complain about comics being a boys club (which, I’m not going to lie, it really is), SPX offers a multitude of women-centric offerings. I’m giddy as a 10-year-old about Raina Telgemeier, who has adapted the Baby Sitters Club books into graphic novels. And it’s the real deal. Not new, revamped BSC, but Mary Anne Saves the Day, Claudia and Mean Janine shit. It’s hard enough getting little girls to read comics as it is. Betty and Veronica and Sabrina the Teenage Witch sadly occupy the largest portion of the market. Her and Hope Larson, another up-and-coming woman cartoonist who also happens to be married to O’Malley, will be featured on a young adults comic panel Saturday at 3:30.

Other worthy stuff:

Tom Tomorrow, the author of Salon’s This Modern World will be featured in a Q&A session at 2 p.m. Saturday (see, all the good stuff is Saturday).

James Kochalka, creator of the adorably epic American Elf web comic/diary has a panel at 3:30 on Sunday. The daily comic (which has been running for a decade now) serves as a diary from his daily life, experiences with his band James Kochalka Superstar and his dreams.

BYT’s own Tales From the District artist Evan Keeling will be there with DC Conspiracy. So say hi to him and maybe tell him a tale that doesn’t involve poop, Vince Vaughan or Christmas pants—that’s all been covered.

The details:
Where: Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center
When: Saturday 11 am - 7 pm, Sunday: noon - 6 pm
Admission: One day $8, Weekend pass: $15.00
http://spxpo.com/
GO!

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