[Event Report] APE 2008
The Alternative Press Expo (affectionately referred to as "APE") is the smallest of the three Comic-Con International events, usually held in the Spring. It's the west coast mecca for small and independent press folks (like us!) - think a giant artist alley of all sorts. Supposedly due to scheduling conflicts at the Concourse, it was pushed back to November for the first time.
We vendors were invited to a little mixer held at the Last Gasp - which I assume is either a warehouse for comics or a shop - a slight distance away from the Concourse. We stayed long enough to take some photos of the place and pick up our badges before things got too crowded. (We were also a bit exhausted from all the flying and driving around the city, so retreated back to our hotel early.)
APE Day 1 was... epic, and perhaps not in the best of ways. For a city that remains relatively dry all year, the heavens literally opened up and rained upon the event the full day. Some exhibitors and most attendees were soaked through and through - and the hall which is large and mostly open-aired became extremely warm and humid. o_o
Regardless, everyone remained pretty optimistic~!
The Concourse Floor
I don't think we could have asked for better neighbors!
Throughout the con, we also saw some familiar faces from Fanime:
Row 1: Debbie Huey of BumperBoy, Tony Piro of Calamities of Nature
Row 2: Malki! of Wondermark & Aaron Diaz of Dresden Codak, Javier Hernandez, Michael Aushenker, and Ted Seko - all stand-up comic artists
Row 3: Meredith Gran of Octopus Pie, Scott Morse, Enrico Casarosa - organizers of the Totoro Forest Project, & Out of Picture (sorry! I didn't catch his name!)
Row 4: Mike Dutton of One Swoop Fell
Things definitely cleared up on Sunday and it was a much more comfortable day in the Concourse. :D
There were so many more people we bumped into and met over the course of the event, but didn't get photos of... and there were even more people that we didn't quite have the opportunity to meet. *sadness!*
Despite the bad weather, we both walked away from the event feeling very inspired and excited to try new things~ ^_^ Some pups found great new homes and we hope to have found a few new readers as well!
For all these APE 2008 photos (and more!) visit our APE '08 flickr collection!
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