The Alternative Press Expo (APE) Kicks Our Ass And Takes Names

If you didn't make it to APE this year, we hope our coverage of it and enthusiasm for it will encourage you to make it next year. While there were tons of presenters, we had time to focus on:
-- Local standouts: San Francisco's Keith Knight ("The K Chronicles", seen on Salon.com and elsewhere) and Oakland's Lloyd Dangle ("Troubletown," weekly in the Guardian among other places); former Berkeley-ite Shannon Wheeler ("Too Much Coffee Man"); Sacramento-based Daniel Cooney (artist and writer: "Valentine") who, in our opinion, could be a big name soon; and Rob Osborne ("1,000 Steps to World Domination")
-- Visitors to our fair city: Brian Johnson of Web comix retailer Khepri.com; Richard Ruane and Brett Hopkins of Gay-themed comix whose titles include "Young Bottoms in Love" and "Two Shy Guys"; Vancouver's Miriam Libicki, who uses comix to document her service in the Israeli Army and has something to say about peace; Edmonton-based (for now) alternative strip artist Stephen Notley, writer of the strangely addicting "Bob the Angry Flower"; and Rick Spears and Rob G., a couple of New Yorkers that are becoming well known for their subversive story, "Teenagers From Mars"
-- Our friends/schwag pushers at Cafe Press, who do more than our awesome coffee mugs and "Mrs. Chris Daly" shirts; reps from Citylights Bookstore and local publishers Manic D Press.

The Business of Comix

Brian Johnson, who visited APE from Arizona, is the man behind Khepri.com, an excellent retailer of comics on the Internet. He carries not only the mainstream, 4-color funnybooks and graphic novels that one generally associates with the medium, but also products from a good number of the folks appearing at this very show. He's also a creator, of the mini-comic "Sons of Osiris." This time around, he was manning a table mostly consisting of products from Terra Major Press, whose editor, Shane Amaya, could not attend this year. Terra Major's books include a graphic version of "The Song of Roland," and their best-seller, "Lord Takayama," a short about a battle-worn samurai.

While Johnson doesn't see any quantifiable data on the profitability behind his yearly trips to APE, he finds the value in "seeing old friends, making new ones, and finding new products," for his online store to carry. A smaller, online operation such as this is an excellent venue to sell alternative titles, as Khepri can generally re-order and push lesser known books. Bigger stores, even if they do initially order alternative titles, make their bread and butter on selling new books, not pushing older, less-maintstream ones. As Johnson says, "The Web doesn't need a shelf." Folks here at APE, as small operations, don't often stick to monthly publishing schedules like giants Marvel, DC, and Image do.

Sitting with Brian was Rob Osborne, creator of "1,000 Steps to World Domination," a mini-comic that back in 2003 won the inaugural Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics, awarded by local San Francisco shop Isotope, located in the Sunset. It is now a graphic novel available from AiT/Planet Lar, a local comic book publisher

Thanks to Brian Johnson for providing additional background info on Osborne.

Valentine

One of the more visually stunning booths was that of Daniel Cooney, whose Valentine character loomed behind him in stand-up poster form. Cooney's been working on "Valentine" for seven years; while the title is an ongoing pamphlet book, he's collected the first two story arcs in trade form ($13 for one, $15 for the other, both for $25 here at the show). He views these compiled versions of his books as a chance to get into stores and open up new markets.

Cooney currently hails from Sacramento, though he is a graduate of NYC's School of Visual Arts. Cooney sees his publishing venture as an opportunity to combine fine arts with contemporary style and storytelling, or what he refers to a "panel fiction."

Gay Romance

Meet Richard Ruane (words) and Brett Hopkins (pictures), the men behind "Two Shy Guys," a new gay romance comic that debuted here at APE. Previous work includes Web-comic Young Bottoms in Love. Visiting respectively from New York and Chicago, this was their second APE, though the first one with product to sell. They indicated that, while good sales of "Two Shy Guys" may help to subsidize the trip, the real value in their attendance is exposure and networking.

Cafe Press

Of course, alternative press isn't just sequential art. Cafe Press enables folks at home to publish all sorts of stuff (again, SFist schwag included). Apparently, now those of us without our own printing presses can use Cafe Press to publish books, so long as we can provide the text in a PDF file.

Desire Peace -- And Chase After It

The Hebrew words in the image below translate to "Desire peace and chase after it," according to Miriam Libicki.

That lovely sentiment won us over right there, and is powerful even without the accompanying image. Aside from offering shirts with said image, Libicki documents her time as a paper-pusher in the Israeli army from 2000-2002 in "Jobnik!", an autobiographical comic. "Jobnik," says Libicki, "is a derogatory term for non-combat soldiers." Libicki hails from Vancouver and this was her first convention of any kind. She's hoping to attract some readers and just wanted the experience of attendance.

Troubletown!

Lloyd Dangle's comic strip, the very funny Troubletown, should be familiar to our readers -- they are carried in the Guardian and syndicated in other papers throughout the nation. This was one of the best-known creators here at APE, yet somehow he ended up at the very back of the convention hall, right near the toilets.

"Wouldn't be 'Troubletown' if everything was perfect," says Dangle. "Where would I be?"

Troubletown started in 1989 in the Guardian; Dangle lives in Oakland (and even volunteered to clue us into some coffee joints to cover in our other gig). He describes APE as "one of the really good shows," among the handful that have popped up over the country in the past several years. He believes that APE is "becoming cooler and cooler," as comics seem to be making a cultural shift from "nerdy" into "super hip."

Dangle believes that there's "incredibly cool stuff here." We'd agree, and have to point to his very booth as evidence of it.

The Angry Flower

Stephen Notley's "Bob the Angry Flower" is odd. And interesting. And eerily subversive. And weird. And, every so often, screamingly funny. This is not an instant gratification comic strip (hey, they can't all be "Family Circle," right?), but by the time we were about a third through of one of the "Bob" books, we were hooked. Something about a walking, talking flower that alternates between encouraging proper grammar and utilizing his personal arsenal for (always comical) destructive purposes is more than entertaining.

This was Notley's fourth APE; he says it's worth it to make the trip from Edmonton (that's in "Canadia-Land," folks) for the networking and that is he has "very good sales," he'll make money on a trip such as this, whereas "normal" sales would make the trip a break even prospect. (Hey, Seattlest -- looks like Bob and Stephen are about to move to your fair city. FYI.)

Keith Knight's "K Chronicles"

Doing battle with Notley in the above photo is San Francisco's own Keith Knight, the man behind the "K Chronicles," one of our favorites. You can read Knight's comics on Salon. Knight is an APE veteran -- he's been to every single one, all 11, even the ones down in San Jose. Maybe that's why he has the prime spot at the show: right in front, one of the first tables that visitors can go to straight after registration.

Knight's enthusiasm for APE is more than evident -- he speaks of encouraging other potential presenters to come to the show and points to inexpensive accommodations such as youth hostels that they could stay in. Coming to APE has helped Knight land freelance work, it let to his first publishing deal, and to a development deal with Nickelodeon (which, unfortunately, didn't pan out). He says it's a great opportunity for "meeting people who read your stuff" -- fans from all over the place -- and to network with great cartoonists.

Too Much Coffee Man's Shannon Wheeler

Shannon Wheeler started his "Too Much Coffee Man" strips in an effort to "mock the people in coffee shops," noting that there was a fair amount of self-mockery as well. You may remember "Too Much Coffee Man" from some spots on MTV a number of years ago. A former Berkeley resident, Wheeler spent 10 years in Texas before moving to Portland in 1999. His strips have been on the Web since 1994; he currently spearheads "Too Much Coffee Man Magazine" ("a humor magazine for people who like humor"), which features not only his own comics, but art, sequential art, commentary, fiction, and full-length articles. It has long been one of our favorites.

Like Knight, Wheeler has been to every single APE, all 11. He describes it as an opportunity "to see your friends" and attend "good parties."

All this, and he drew a spiffy sketch of TMCM on the bag that held our purchased TMCM Magazine. Yay! We are surely going to invest in a TMCM coffee mug at our soonest opportunity (it'll be second only to our gigantor "SFist" mug in caffeine-related affection).

Citylights and Manic D

Another table we visited was the one shared by San Francisco fixture Citylights Booksellers and Publishers and Manic D Press, who publishes fun books like "Color Me Arnold, the Unofficial Arnold Schwarzenegger Coloring & Activity Book," and many, many more titles of poetry, fiction, art, and comix.

Jennifer Joseph, publisher and founder, represented Manic D, along with Jon Longhi, Sierra Logan, and Martin Ynane, one of the authors. Eric Zass was the Citylights rep. Joseph pointed to APE as a chance for her books to reach new markets and to make some table sales.

"Our books," she said, "have more words than most of the books here." With the similar themes and sensibilities of many of the other works here at APE, it's a natural that Joseph would be looking for convergence between attendees and Manic D's offerings.

Teenagers From Mars

On our way out the door, out voice hoarse and our camera-button finger exhausted, we happened on Rick Spears (words) and Rob G (art), the creators of "Teenagers From Mars." Which has nothing to do with outer space, folks; it's about a small town called Mars and what happens to some of the kids that live there. It's fairly ballyhooed on the indy circuit, but this was SFist's first opportunity to read it. We enjoyed it greatly and wished we had read it prior to our talking to these guys; we could have asked some better questions.

In any case, Spears and G are from Brooklyn. Spears is a film school graduate who got into comics because "both are visual mediums, and there's a lot of crossover."

G, on the other hand, has to say about his getting into alternative press: "I lost a bet."

"Teenagers" was an eight-issue series that was published from April 2002 to December 2003 and is now collected in trade paperback form. It's a tale of zombie movies, grave robbery, goth-y love, comic books, and some vandalism that goes way out of hand, almost into a "Tarantino-esque" situation. The guys are trying to make comics their full-time gig; Rob G admits he may "sell a little ass on the side." Spears, on his publishing venture's origins, says that you must "try not to lose money at first, and grow the fan base afterwards."

Hopefully they, as with the many attendants at this year's APE, will be able to do just that.

Hope to see you there next year, San Francisco.