The Alternative Press Expo is this Saturday and Sunday, and hot damn we're psyched. We've covered it the past two years for SFist; this time, we want to spread the luurve ahead of time, so folks that want to can attend. For those not in the know, APE is basically a medium-sized convention where creators and purveyors of indie comics, art, books, and more off-the-beaten-path publications gather to show their wares, meet with like-minded folks, and have a grand old time. There are also panel discussions; guests this year include Keith Knight (The K Chronicles), Art Spiegelman (um, hello, Maus), and Gene Yang (American Born Chinese). C'mon, y'all! It's only $7 for a day pass, $10 for the whole weekend!

Who better to help kick off our celebration of alternative press than one of the guys doing it right?

Larry Young is a fixture at APE -- his company, AiT/Planet Lar has been presenting there for years, exhibiting a diverse and interesting line of OGNs ("Original Graphic Novels") and other comic books. While we spoke briefly to the company's publisher, Mimi Rosenheim, a few years ago at the San Diego Comic-Con, we hadn't had a chance to catch up with her co-founder and husband, the dynamic Mr. Young, until recently. Our conversation with Larry evoked much of what we love about storytelling via sequential art -- the passion of the creators; the limitless, imaginative worlds they create; and the validity of using that medium for any genre (while we love our Marvel and DC-style capes and tights stuff, you aren't going to see over much of it at APE).

Much of our conversation focused on a new series written by Mr. Young himself and with art by Jon Proctor -- Black Diamond. The book, which is coming out in May, is a story taking place in the near future where the U.S. Government has grounded commercial airline flights and built an elevated highway spanning the nation -- The Black Diamond, "A dangerous road full of gearheads and misfits, drug runners and grey-market tech heads."

The interview follows after the jump:

Why comix -- and why in San Francisco? Is there anything particularly advantageous or disadvantageous about running your operation in the city? Or does the geography not matter at all?

Why comics? Because I love the form. There're not too many artistic forms of expression that combine disciplines to make the whole greater than the parts while simultaneously sporting a pretty low barrier-to-entry. Words by themselves can tell a captivating, interesting, constructive entertainment... and pictures by themselves have a powerful mojo that was old before we came down out of the trees. Combine the two and you get a powerful narrative engine. Sure, at some level, film is a combination of words and pictures, but you need a piece of equipment, at the least. You need a camera, and film, and at least a grounding in the technology to get usable pictures and clearly spoken words from actors to drive your tale.

But all you need to have to create a comic is a piece of paper and a Flair pen. The only difference between a few pieces of typing paper folded in half with drawings and word balloons and the hardcover version of WATCHMEN is just a matter of scale.

As to "why in San Francisco?" the short answer is "this is where all my stuff is." The longer version has to do with my feeling that SF has always been the place where people went to do their thing. Missionaries in Yerba Buena, misfits and claim jumpers on the Barbary Coast, Sixties counter-culture at Haight and Ashbury; no matter what your area of interest, no matter what time of history, there're not only like-minded people in San Francisco that will help you out, but there're probably clubs you can join and parades to attend for whatever you're into.

I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but San Francisco has a thriving, vibrant art scene, and comics is a part of that. There are a whole lot of talented people in The City making comics. Widen out the scope to the Bay Area, and you've got some world-class stuff happening here.

The Alternative Press Expo is coming back to town next week. As a longtime participant, can you tell us what the best part of attendance is?:

I love the Alternative Press Expo, and have nothing but admiration for Dan Vado, the guy who started it (and publisher of the frankly excellent publishing house SLG in San Jose) and for Fae Desmond and David Glanzer, the two stalwarts from Comic-Con International: San Diego, the non-profit group under whose auspices APE is run now. We've exhibited at every APE save the first one; at APE 2 we had a half-table and were selling hand-stapled minicomics I'd drawn myself. In fact, that's where we were "discovered," as Tom Fassbender of the now-defunct distributor Capital City picked up my first two ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE minicomics and offered them for national distribution, starting the whole AiT/Planet Lar media empire.

I'd have to say, from a personal standpoint, that it's great having a nationally-recognized convention for alternative and independent presses in San Francisco... it's awesome because I can crash in my own bed at night and sleep in later and still make the next day's show. From a business standpoint, having a frankly huge crowd filling the venue, with every person there receptive to the sorts of stuff we do... well, it's like a wedding. Everyone there is at the wedding because they love the couple and are completely happy for them; everyone at APE is there because they love the form and are rooting on the people doing their own things.

What are you rolling out at the show this year? (early copies of Black Diamond? Please?)

We try not to "debut" works at conventions because that puts an undue amount of attention on the "new" as opposed to the "high-quality." If you haven't read one of our books, they're "new to you," I always say. So if you see our booth at the show and there's a hundred graphic novels arrayed out before you and something looks good to you and you've heard some buzz about something, it shouldn't matter if it was published yesterday or in 2001.

But I admit I'm nearly alone in comics with this view. Most writers and publishers have a "what have you done for me lately" view of their work and their audience, but not me. I think it's pretty cool that I'm making money from a good idea I had back in 1998.

That said, our April book, THE LAST SANE COWBOY AND OTHER STORIES, by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, will be offered at the show, and Daniel, a compelling and eccentric young artist from the UK, will be on hand to autograph his new volume. So there's the dichotomy of Art vs. Commerce right there, I guess. "We don't worry about the 'new,' but have you seen our new book?" heh

You've written and published many great/well-received comic books and OGNs (I've only read AIT and Smoke and Guns so far, I'm afraid--oh, and the "Come in Alone" essay collection by Warren Ellis, come to think of it). When most of the non-comics-reading public thinks of sequential art, they probably think about either Capes & Tights or Manga. What from your catalogue would you suggest to a neophyte comic reader?

Personally, I think the interesting thing about our line is that nearly all of it would be entertaining on some level to someone encountering the form for the first time. Like action movies? ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE and THE BLACK DIAMOND will fit your bill. Monty Python your kind of humor? SKY APE and SCURVY DOGS are what you need. High heels and hot lead? SMOKE AND GUNS. Listen to The Cure when you feel down? Time for some DEMO. Feelin' existential? CONTINUITY. An English major in college with a concentration on the American Literary Renaissance? GIANT ROBOT WARRIORS is for you.

OK, I was kidding about that last one. But you get the idea.

Do you have any recco's for stuff that's not in your catalogue?

I've been enjoying Titan Books' 2000 AD collections, a lovingly-presented library of Judge Dredd's adventures. I'm glad Dark Horse is collecting the old NEXUS books of my youth into hardcovers, but it really is the nature of what I do that I don't pay much attention to what goes on in comics as a product-producing industry, much, anymore. I wryly tell my friends that "I only read *good* comics" with the intimation being that the only good comics being produced are the ones by our company. And while that sounds self-centered and perhaps too prideful, I'm 43 and my wife's pregnant and I'm afraid I just don't much have concern for the latest iteration of Batman or inter-company superhero crossover or whatever. I mean, I'm glad there's an audience for that stuff, I do, but the overlap with Green Lantern fans and the sorts of connoisseurs who would appreciate the stuff we do is not that great, I'm afraid. It's like we're in a different industry than the rest of comics, it really is.

I'm really interested to talk about (and read!) Black Diamond when it comes out in May. From what I've heard of the plot, I think it's pretty funny that a San Francisco-based writer and publisher came up with the notion of the U.S. being wholly dependent on ground-based, gas-guzzling transportation (certainly more of a nightmare for many local political groups than for others). What happened to Critical Mass in this future?

The Black Diamond is an elevated superhighway of the future, originally constructed in response to growing fears of international in-flight terrorism which grounds the commercial airlines. But people and goods and all still need to get across the country, right? Bang! An eight-lane highway with a set of train tracks in the middle. So all goes well for forty or fifty years or so, until the U.S. government realizes society has basically striated into not "the left" and "the right" but "the up-top" and the "down-below," with each set of folks thinking their way of life is superior. The gas-guzzling crazy bastards are all living a reckless life of consumptive abandon 150 feet in the air, and Critical Mass cyclists and recyclers and grandmothers straight out of Norman Rockwell paintings cook Thanksgiving turkey every day of the year on the ground. It's this inherent dichotomy Dr. Don McLaughlin has to face by leaving home and hearth and riding the road to save his wife. You can see political commentary in the story; economic commentary, even class issues and religious issues. Without getting into "author's intent," series artist Jon Proctor and I just want to say now that everyone is correct with their own interpretations.

What local creators do you have working with AIT/Planet Lar right now? What local creators do you admire aside from those that have contributed to your operation?

Kirsten Baldock, writer of SMOKE AND GUNS is a good pal of mine, and she has two more graphic novels in the hopper. She can't finish 'em fast enough, for me. Matt Silady, writer/artist of our upcoming May book, THE HOMELESS CHANNEL, is a talent to keep an eye on. Writer Jason McNamara and artist Tony Talbert. I'm a big fan of HENCH artist Manny Bello's work, and he's finishing up DUGOUT for us now. Artist John Heebink is unparalleled, if you ask me. I love Darick Robertson's work, as well as that of Dan Brereton. COLONIA's Jeff Nicholson does absolutely charming work. There're tons I'm forgetting, but, as I said, San Francisco has an embassment of riches in terms of comics.

As to folks whose work I admire that haven't been able to do something for us yet? Well, of course I quite like Gene Yang's stuff, and you'd have to look hard to find a nicer guy. I enjoy Lark Pien's work, and Shaenon Garrity has a wicked sense of humor. And honestly, and this is going to sound funny with me saying above I don't have much love for superheroes anymore, I absolutely love Erik Larsen's work on THE SAVAGE DRAGON. Them's some good comics, right there.

We'd like to again thank Larry Young for his time -- not to mention doing more than his fair share to advance the quality and diversity of the content of our favorite hobby. Be sure to check out AiT/Planet Lar's booth at APE this weekend; you can pick up the company's books at one of the many fine area comic stores, including Isotope, Al's, and Comix Experience here in the city and Comic Relief over in Berkeley.