Alternative Press Expo 2010
And so The Stack grows.
For the fifth or sixth year now, I went to the Alternative Press Expo at the Concourse in San Francisco. This year, it was a little special because it fell on my 30th birthday, and I have to say: any kind of life where I can spend my 30th birthday at a comics convention is a pretty good one in my book.
The thing that impresses me most, every time I go, is how many people got out there, made some comics, and are there at APE letting their work speak for them. Even the hackiest, most cheaply photocopied minis took effort and courage to get down on paper and on the show floor. I’ve made tentative steps, once, toward producing my own comic, but going to APE always gets me motivated to give it another stab. (No pun intended.) Will I have something to show by APE 2011, or will I be there solely in a consumer capacity once again? We’ll see.
Not that going there just to buy stuff is a bad time. I buy comics at APE the way some people buy hurricane supplies–gotta stock up, because it could be a long time before you have another opportunity. The full list of my haul, as well as photos of the books and some snapshots of the con itself, are after the jump.
- Family Man vol. 1 by Dylan Meconis
- Forest by the Couscous Collective
- Agnes Quill: An Anthology of Mystery by Dave Roman et al.
- Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch
- The Complete K Chronicles by Keith Knight
- DAR! A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary vol. 2 by Erika Moen
- Lackadaisy vol. 1 by Tracy J. Butler
- Skin Horse vol. 2 by Shaenon Garrity and Jeffrey C. Wells
- Templar, Arizona vols. 2-4 by Spike
- Smile by Raina Telgemeier
- The Babysitter by Andy Ristaino
- Horribleville vol. 1 by KC Green
- Meen Comics by Trixie Biltmore
- Crash Course by Melaina
- Papercutter #3 and #13 by various
- Jimmy Ricochet: Private Investigator by Craig Wilson
- Jobnik! An American Girl’s Adventures in the Israeli Army vol. 1 (and #7) by Miriam Libicki
- Salad by Nathan Stapley
- Tasha’s Mini-Comic vol. 2 by Tasha Harris
- A Girl Can Dream, Right? by Steph Cortes
- Dirt Nap #1-3 by Gabe Miller
- The Devastator by various
- Snowball In Hell #1-2 by D. Helmer
- The Meek #1-2 by Der-Shing Helmer
- The Battle of Wrestlemania III Attendance: Wikipedia War by Geoffrey Golden
- Cancer-y Enough by Mary E. Walter
- Drawing Meats by Drawing Meats
- Kit Kaleidoscope by Nick Mullins
- Hey Derby Girl by Jeanne Beacom and Elle Skinner
…Holy crap, really? I think I may have spent a little too much this year. Never mind making a comic for APE ’11, my hands are going to be full reviewing all this stuff by next year’s show!
Jeffrey C. Wells and Shaenon Garrity (with Andrew Farago in the background) at the Couscous Collective booth.
Barry Deutsch, author of the remarkable Hereville
A few of the Drawing Meats collective goofing around
Dave Roman (Astronaut Elementary) and Raina Telgemeier (Smile, Babysitters Club)
L-R: Trixie Biltmore (Meen Comics), Erika Moen (DAR), and Dylan Meconis (Family Man, Bite Me!)
Scott Campbell, an unidentified woman, and Tasha Harris (Costume Quest)
Evan Dahm (Rice Boy) and Spike (Templar, Arizona)
Spike conducting a workshop on “Writing Believable Dialogue”
Andrew Farago and Shaenon Garrity conducting a workshop on “How to Write Funny”
Tags: APE 2010, autobio, humor, minicomics, nonfiction, surreal, the stack, webcomics
