The Alternative Press Expo (or APE) was this past weekend at the Concourse here in San Francisco. The show, which is put on yearly by Comic-Con International, features indy and small press creators of zines, comic books, mini-comics, and more.

After getting Larry Young's help to kick off our coverage, we attended on Saturday. We met so many cool people and saw so much neat stuff that we're breaking our experience into several posts. First up: the funny stuff.

We'd seen some of Berkeley resident Melanie Lewis' work before, in a chapter of Pet Noir. We picked up one of her mini-comics, PS Comics Number 3. We kid you not: sheer genius. The second story, "Fruit Pals in . . .'Bitter Fruit'" was hilarious. Poor, poor, pathetic Pear. Check out Melanie's delightful anthropomorphic fruits (small sample below) and more at her Web site.

Local Joe Sayers is another damned funny creator. This was his fourth APE. In addition to his self-publishing efforts, he's had his work published in several places, notably MAD Magazine and the SF Bay Guardian. We picked up a book of mostly four-panel gags called . Damn those self righteous embryos! (note: the we bought had different cover than the one we've posted below).

I'm Gonna Rip Yer Face Off