After a full day at this year's ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO, Octavio Rodriguez and I are unanimous in concluding that APE is our new favorite con!! Minus the big book companies and the kids in costume, APE is definitely more subdued and it's clear that the attendees are fans of more independent work.
My amazing APE experience would not be as sweet without the help and hospitality of my big bro Ronnie who's living room has been transformed to my little home away from home! On top of driving me from the east bay to downtown, he also hung around The Concourse all day enjoying his time as an attendee and occasionally minding the store while I make the rounds. We ended the day strolling SF's Japan town and having a tasty dinner while we were there. I managed to pick up a few things at the local Kinokinuya bookstore as well. I thought it was funny that having seen nothing but books all day, this was the last thing we should be doing! Oh well, can't keep us away from them darn things I guess...
All in all it was a busy but fun day. Thank you to all who picked up copies of RANDOM ANOMALIES and for your continued support of self-published art. I also appreciate all of you who bought books in February at Wondercon and stopped by to say hello and give your personal reviews. Your feedback is gold and much appreciated!
Now the pictures!......
Cool sunset from thirty-thousand feet!
Aerial shot of the Bay Bridge.
Here's Ron on the prowl for loot.
The FLIGHT COMICS and NUCLEUS store booths in front of ours.
Steamcrow Press' Daniel Davis looking mighty.
Animation artists Cathy Malkasian and Rob Goodin of Robot publishing.
Hot Mexican Love co-creator and story artist Albert Calleros
Hye Jung and Elsa from Nickelodeon holding up their favorite books of the convention!.
FLIGHT and BOLT CITY's talented Kazu Kibuishi
Octavio and bookseller Stuart Ng browsing Cano Scribbles!
I managed to fit my books, convention materials and clothes in this tiny suitcase... even I was amazed.
Butterscotch illustrator and Lucasfilm story artist Justin Ridge
Comic-con's Exhibits Manager Sam Wallace
6 comments:
Sounds like you had a cool time man! Next year hopefully I'll get a chance to get down there for APE. The atmosphere seems much less "squeeze through the crowds" there than Wondercon.
And flying in to the City at night was one of the most beautiful things I ever saw :)
a
you're lucky to live over there :)
lucky to meet easily all of you, talentuous guys.
nice to see a photo of Kazu.
Amelia-
Flying in airplanes is still a novelty for me and seeing that kind of scenery is rare. APE as a huge success and lots of fun. We are definitely coming back next year!
Manu-
I agree there's a nice connection here between artists. Maybe you start something like this up in Spain? Kazu is one talented guy and i'm sorry the photo is so blurry. I might have a better one on my next post..
I know someone else who was up at this thing. I'd never heard of it before. Seems cool.
Thanks for posting that "mighty" photo of me! It was really cool to see you and Octavio again, and I'm excited to report that we'll try to stop by and say "hello" at Comic-Con too.
APE was fantastic! I was amazed with the quality of so many exhibitors there. Great stuff.
Thanks Daniel! Great seeing you guys too. I guess we'll see you guys in San Diego!
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