If you grew up with Marvel and DC comics, no matter how heroic the characters were or how interesting were their flaws as anti-heroes, they were still the creations of large publishers seeking the mass audiences ten cents, or 25 cents or a buck.
Then came Robert Crumb and his infinitely layered worlds and such visionaries as Art Spiegelman and Harvey Pekar , who reached the international and national stage, and who helped make comics ( or graphic novels ) a way to release pent-up angst and deal with complex social issues.
At Pix 2017, the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo, one could see how comics take on an intensely personal twist while artists still tried to reach a visually sophisticated audience with their art, an increasingly shocking pantheon of twisted humans and creatures trying to fit into a society that maybe is just not quite ready for them. But for the crowds who searched the tables for art and words which pulled them into the artist’s or writer’s worlds, the event was worth every moment spent looking and seeing and talking and buying.
Sitting outside the Pittsburgh Indy Comic Expo, PIX 2017, at the August Wilson Center, was this poster.(Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette)Trina Haynes from Irwin guides her son Odin, 9, past table after table as they search for “Helper Bot” during the Pittsburgh Indy Comics Expo , PIX 2017, at the August Wilson Center, Sunday, Apr. 9, 2017.(Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette)Olivia Boyle,7, from Squirrel Hill, peruses a copy of “Jonsey,” a comic book about a girl who can make anyone fall in love with each other–except herself. (Larry Roberts/Posti-Gazette)While waiting for people to stop by her table to look at her comic cards and prints done in a surrealistic manner, Sophia Wiedeman from Morgantown, starts a sketch that will grow from the two figures to a full page. (Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette)Craig Latchaw, from Youngstown, Ohio, demonstrates that marketing is one of the important facets of the Pittsburgh Indy Comics Expo, presented by the Toonseum by showing the zombie labels he slapped on commercial bottles to help promote his Zombie-related magazinesBen Miller from Phliadelphia tries to find a comfortable position behind his table at the Pittsburgh Indy Comic Expo,to look at a competitor’s comic.(Larry Roberts/Post-Gazette)
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