Bound for glory
Melora Koepke
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photo: Cartoonist/publisher Tom Devlin settling into a ne
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Expozine opens the book on Montreal small-press publishing
"I'm looking forward to seeing what it will be like with hundreds upon hundreds - well, dozens upon dozens - of zinesters all crammed into one room together, interacting for an entire day. It's gonna be chaos!" says Billy Mavreas, one of the organizers of Expozine and a man with discerning taste in chaos.
Expozine, now in its second year, is a kind of church-bazaar-like marketplace where Montreal's small press, comix and zine avatars set out their wares for everyone to see, in the basement of one of the city's most imposing religious structures.
"Last year's event was overwhelming beyond compare and exactly what we were hoping for, so this time, we're three times bigger!" continues Mavreas. "It really is the cultural event of the season. People can see all the madness: It's one-stop shopping. French and English, poetry and comix. In one glimpse, you can get a huge overview of the Montreal cultural scene."
It's a lot of fun to peruse table after table of stuff: Carefully bound small-press volumes, zany zines, soft-core comix, gold-gilt posters, voodoo dolls, buttons, stickers and all manner of strange things to put in your pocket. This year, the long list of exhibitors includes everyone from small-press bastions to fresh faces: Conundrum Press, Salgood Sam, Above Ground, Dragonfly Ballet, Cumulus Press, L'Oie de Cravan, DC Books, Maisonneuve, the Quebec Writers' Federation, Méchanique Générale, Street-Eaters, hive, Publications Requin Roll, Querencia, Thoughtcrimez collective, Éditions
du Vermillon, F52, Pouèt-cafë, Bumblenut, side/lines, and more.
Organizers are particularly excited that the success of Expozine indicates that Montreal, despite rising rents, is still fertile ground for the little guys/gals to make books.
"I mean, if one went according to Broken Pencil magazine [a national zine review based in Toronto], there would be three or four zines from Montreal," says Mavreas. "And our first year was as successful as Canzine [the Toronto small-press fair] in their seventh year. And even though lots of Montreal zine people hoof it down to T-O for Canzine every year, we can actually make money at Expozine - without having to spend it all on gas and Taco Bell on the 401."
Among many other things, the fair is a chance to extend the welcome wagon to some newcomers.
Tom Devlin, who has recently relocated here, is the man behind Highwater Books, the previously Boston- and NYC-based small comix press. Montreal has a growing reputation as a comix mecca, partly because it's the headquarters of Chris Oliveros' vaunted Drawn & Quarterly. Still, says Devlin, "For the most part, moving here was not a business decision - my girlfriend [Peggy Burns, previously of Mad Magazine and others] is the new publicist at Drawn & Quarterly.
"For me, a change was nice as well - though it doesn't really matter where I am to operate Highwater, since I am the only employee, and even that's kind of dicey. Our warehouse is still a room in Jersey City. But it's great to be here - we're paying a quarter of what we used to in rent, and you can pretty much operate my operation from anywhere. My cartoonists [who include Greg Cook, Ivan Brunetti, Jordan Crane, Megan Kelso, Ron Rege, Marc Bell and James Kochalka among many others] are scattered about, anyway."
Indeed, though the comix community is by definition far-flung, Devlin is heartened at the prospect of getting together. "I haven't had a chance to get to know that many people yet - I guess Expozine will be a chance for me to meet everybody."
Expozine
Les Relais Mont-Royal (500A Mont-Royal E.)
10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Oct. 25
For more info: call Monastiraki at 278-4879 or e-mail archivemontreal@canada.com, or send a letter
The fact that I'm a zine fanboy has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I'm giving this wicked event a post-mortem thumbs up. The fact that I was there, had a blast and met lots of cool and interesting artists has zippo to do with this gleeful write-up...nope, sure I was there and am less than unbiased on the subject, but I will admit it does help. No, you see, far too many people thumb their noses to the world of zines as a crappy sub-culture of geeks and wannabe cartoonists who couldn't cut it in the real world but that just goes to show you how very misunderstood this medium and its people are misunderstood and dismissed.
Expozine wasn't the best event of this type that I've gone to but it does hover pretty high on the list of the better ones. The best part of these things is the meet & greet part which usually can only be compared to kindred spirits flocking in the same place without having to justify their presence there. If you ever catch wind of another such event I seriously suggest that you roll the dice and give it a try.
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Pedro Eggers
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