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SPX 2004
by various
(published by the
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
SPX website)
Review by Sean McGurr
The first thing I noticed about this year's Small Press Expo (SPX) anthology,
SPX 2004, is how thin it was compared to the last few. This is not a bad thing; if an anthology is too big, some stories can get easily lost. The other thing I noticed is that in a book whose theme was war in an election year, there weren't as many Iraq / War on Terror / Bush-bashing stories as I expected. Again, this is a good thing. That doesn't mean that some cartoonists didn't slyly comment on current events through their stories.
Overall, the anthology is strong which can only be expected since it is one of the premier comix anthologies. This year seemed to have fewer "name" cartoonists for me, although that could be because I'm reading it in the year it came out. If I were to look at the table of contents two or three years from now a few more may have hit it big. But at this point, most are on equal footing with the public.
The best stories in the anthology offer different takes on war. There is "The Holy Kingdom" by Bruce Mutard that is a philosophical discussion between a Western ex-crusader and a Muslim in 1191 drawn in a "Prince Valiant" style. Drew Weing's cartoonish "Leaflet Drop" about a single incident in a war between humans and aliens is clever and makes you want more.
Elsewhere though the rhetoric is hardly subtle and can be a bit much despite the worthwhile message. I don't want to point out any one example, but there are three or four in the collection that are heavy-handed.
Overall, the collection is a good one and few of the stories will become dated.
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