Welcome to another entry in the 2014 SPX Spotlight series! For the next month, Panel Patter will be highlighting creators and publishers who will be at one of the best conventions, the Small Press Expo. You can check out all of Panel Patter's spotlights for SPX from both this year and prior years here.
New for this year are Guy Thomas's "Intro-views," where he talks briefly to a creator who will be at the show. Enjoy!
I’m super excited to be going to SPX for the first time this year. With so many great people and great events, I know it’s going to be an excellent weekend. One of the many awesome people who I’m going to be talking to while I’m there is April Malig, a cartoonist and illustrator from Brooklyn.
New for this year are Guy Thomas's "Intro-views," where he talks briefly to a creator who will be at the show. Enjoy!
I’m super excited to be going to SPX for the first time this year. With so many great people and great events, I know it’s going to be an excellent weekend. One of the many awesome people who I’m going to be talking to while I’m there is April Malig, a cartoonist and illustrator from Brooklyn.
If there is one thing that really impresses me about April, it’s
her colors. Some of her work is in black and white, and though it is equally as
good, it is her color comics and illustrations that I find myself drawn to over
and over. I did a short interview with April to introduce her and warm up for
SPX:
Guy Thomas: What
are your favorite comics to read?
April Malig: I guess if we're talking about all-time favorites, my favorite comics are the ones by Lilli Carre, Jillian Tamaki, and Eleanor Davis. I've also been into re-reading (or reading for the first time) semi-trashy shoujo manga, I just finished all of Boys Before (Over?) Flowers last weekend (36 volumes! I am not proud). And of course, Sailor Moon was my first and eternal love.
Thomas: What are you working on right now?
April Malig: I guess if we're talking about all-time favorites, my favorite comics are the ones by Lilli Carre, Jillian Tamaki, and Eleanor Davis. I've also been into re-reading (or reading for the first time) semi-trashy shoujo manga, I just finished all of Boys Before (Over?) Flowers last weekend (36 volumes! I am not proud). And of course, Sailor Moon was my first and eternal love.
Thomas: What are you working on right now?
Malig: Right now I'm working on
finishing short stories for a compilation called Bananas II. It's mostly one to
four page poetry comics using a variety of mediums. I'm also working on the
second part of this series called Magical Bitches, which is this story about
runaway magical girls hiding out in an abandoned hotel in the California
desert. It's sort of a... I guess someone called it a "mumblecore magical
girl comic?"Thomas: What can we expect to see from you at SPX?
Malig: Hopefully I'll have those two
comics finished, along with some of my older stuff: Bananas I, Questions of
Space Travel (a long form surreal poetry comic), and I don't know, lately I've
been bringing tiny 8 page screenprint poem comics to shows, so maybe I'll have
another one by then too. Those are my comics... other than that, I'll probably
have purple hair again. And will probably be wearing sequins. As per
usual.
Look forward to a longer interview with April Malig after SPX, right here on Panel Patter!
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