Come See Me at the Small Press Expo

If anyone reading this is going to be in the Washington, D.C. area the weekend of September 15, try and make it to the annual Small Press Expo. It's like the San Diego Comic Con, except smaller and for independent comic book publishers. If you like graphic novels, hand-crafted flip books and independent comics on every conceivable subject, you should try and be there.

We are, of course, far past the idea that comics are for kids. This is not only due to people like Robert Downey, Jr., and Christopher Nolan, but even more sophisticated artists like Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware and Adrian Tomine. I have watched as these artists went from the fringes of the comic book world to the pages of the New Yorker. The New Yorker will be represented at the Small Press Expo (SPE) by Francoise Mouly, the editor of the magazine's annual cartoon issue.

I will be reporting from the expo, but going in I definitely do have a favorite publisher who will be there: Seattle's Fantagraphics Books. I can get into more of their titles when I see what they bring to the Bethesda Marriott, the site of the con, next week.

For now I'll just review a fascinating and wonderful upcoming release from Fantagraphics: The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln, a book written and drawn by Noah Van Sciver. It's a book about the depression, or "hypo," that Lincoln suffered from, particularly the period around 1837 when the future president was a debt-ridden 28 year-old.

Van Sciver's black-and-white art is a bit raw and primitive, but it is a style that perfectly fits the story being told. We follow Lincoln as he goes to his law practice, then meets and courts Mary Todd. Van Scriver is smart enough to know the power of the story he is telling, and he lets it unfold with understatement.

There are no superhero flourishes at all -- in fact, The Hypo is at times more harrowing realistic than many novels about Lincoln. This is especially the case when depicting the suffering Lincoln endured while doctors tried to cure his anxiety and depression with hot and cold baths and bloodletting.

Again, there may still be some holdouts who think this is strong stuff for a comic book -- this even after Batman's darkness and Iron Man's alcoholism. Yet the smaller independent comic book presses have always been places where the most awkward experiences in life are rendered.

Daniel Clowes, who started at Fantagraphics and has seen two of his books, Ghost World and Art School Confidential, become films, focused many of his early strips on the awkwardness and embarrassment of adolescence. Ditto Peter Bagge, whose comic Hate! satirized hipsters in Seattle.

These books and the medium they are delivered in have only grown more beautiful and relevant in the age of the Kindle. Most books I want to read these days I download. But you can't download Maus. You can't download Art School Confidential.

And this is a good thing, because there is no tactile pleasure like sitting on your sofa holding a good book that is taking you on a journey -- a book like Noah Van Sciver's The Hypo.

I'm not giving away any spoilers when I say that ultimately Lincoln and Mary Todd get married. Through the entire story, Todd was a lodestar to which Lincoln kept returning. Van Sciver's portrayal of her is both accurate and subtle.

He doesn't overemphasize Todd's intellect and independence to score a postmodern and anachronistic point about feminism, but simply reveals her to be a bright person with a tremendous enthusiasm for politics. Her meeting Lincoln and their courtship makes their respect for each other clear.

It's an engaging read from a wonderful American publisher. We'll see how the rest of the competition stacks up on the weekend of September 15.