Norfolk’s Original Indie Comics Expo returns to O’Connor Brewery on Saturday, February 1. Rebecca Evans interviews two of the key forces behind the expo, Greg Thompson of Local Heroes, and artist Greg Steele.

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Interview Transcript:

Greg T: I read comics as a child and when I found out that there was an actual store that sold only comic books, my mind was blown and I immediately had to ride my bike there. I remember it was the longest bike ride I had to take in my life.

Rebecca: That's Greg Thompson, the owner of Local Heroes, a comic book store in Norfolk. He's also a sponsor of NOICE, which stands for Norfolk's Original Indie Comics Expo. It's coming back for a second year this weekend at O'Connor Brewing, so I talked to Greg Thompson, plus local organizer and artist Greg Steele about what to expect.

Greg S: Norfolk is just starting to get this going. NOICE is the first show that does anything like this. There are little pockets of groups of people making comics, printing them themselves, stapling them, selling them, or just posting them online. At NOICE, they all show up, and we've got everyone in Hampton Roads who's even thinking about working on comics probably tabling at NOICE. We might have missed a few, but we'll get them eventually.

Rebecca: Greg's a cartoonist and illustrator. You've probably seen some of his original posters for the NARO Cinema’s FlickIt! Fridays around town. When the two Gregs, along with their friend and collaborator Juan Marable decided to start NOICE last year, they had about 40 artists participate. Some had never made comics before. The application process was pretty informal.

Greg S: The first year was me just texting people.

Rebecca: You’re like, “Hey, will you do this please?"

Greg T: “Will you show up please?”

Greg S: “What else are you going to do?”

Rebecca: This year they have over 70 artists and they actually had to turn a number of applicants away. They also have some exciting special guests: Ben Sears, Melissa Mendes and Chuck Forsman, whose graphic novel inspired a popular show you can see on Netflix.

Greg S: They're just cartoonists that we love and they live kind of far away. I guess we were a little emboldened by the success of last year's show, so we kind of reached out to people who were a little harder to get. All three of these cartoonists, just like most of the artists at NOICE , write, draw and for the most part, publish their own work, or they're published by like a small press person.

Greg T: These three individuals in particular are more widely known inside of the indie comic genre, outside of say, Charles Forsman, whose people might have watched the Netflix show.

Rebecca: So every artist at NOICE will have a comic for sale. Some will also bring books and other art to O'Connor Brewing where the expo will take place.

Greg S: Them allowing us to do this for free really liberates us and allows us to get away with stuff that maybe other comic shows don't.

Greg T: Yeah, there's no table fees to the artists. Most shows will charge a fee per table.

Greg S: It's prohibitively expensive to table in a lot of shows. We want the artists to be happy. We want them to make money instead of lose it, which unfortunately does happen in a lot of shows.

Greg T: A lot of shows.

Rebecca: O'Connor offered up not just their space, but food trucks and a special draft beer made just for the event: a “Bippy Cat Robust Porter.”

Greg T: “Bippy Cat” being our mascot.

Greg S: She's just my cat...but it's caught on. There's a giant cardboard standee of her. So you can just go get a selfie with the giant cat.

Greg T: I'll say it all the time, but there's a comic for anyone. Bring a friend. It's a really fun thing to do. Nothing like this really goes on in Norfolk. It’s super cool. Drink a beer, browse, buy art from the artist, and you know maybe get turned on to something new and cool. If you're interested at all in comics, NOICE is a great place to find something to your taste.

Rebecca: That was Greg Thompson and Greg Steele, two of the key forces behind NOICE: Norfolk's Original Indie Comics Expo. Check out their expo this weekend, Saturday, February 1st from noon to 6 PM. It'll be at O'Connor Brewing in Norfolk. It's free and open to all.

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