The
Alternative Press Expo, a marketplace for independent comics, publishing & art, is taking place this weekend at Fort Mason, back at its original San Francisco location. This is also the last year it will be run by
Comic-Con. Next year it reverts back to the San Jose-based
SLG Publishing.
The expo occupies one of the large pavilions, with programs taking place in the adjacent firehouse. I caught most of cartoonist
Jason Shiga's presentation, in which he playfully demonstrated the ingenious mechanisms of his interactive comics, inspired by the choose-your-own-adventure books he read as a child. I was amazed by the intricate paper gears he devised for an unrealized comic whose panels rotate into view. At the end of the event he scanned the audience to make sure there were no children, then gave us a sneak preview of a future issue of
Demon, his 720-page black comedy. The episode was replete with foul-mouthed denunciations of everything from literature to Disneyland.
A lot of glossy books & accomplished drawing were on offer in the expo hall, & the eager vendors all had their sales pitches down. When I stopped to admire the bold, 6-color silkscreen illustrations in
Estrella Vega's paleontology-themed art books, she immediately handed one to me so I could see how it unfolds into a 3-dimensional shape. It is good to know that
Last Gasp has published a picture book about that enchanting German Christmas tradition of the
Krampus. When I stopped to chat with cartoonist
Geoff Vasile, he reminisced rousingly about his first time at APE & wondered why I didn't go by my on-line moniker all the time.
§ APE 2014
Alternative Press Expo
Oct. 4 & 5
Fort Mason Center
4 comments:
I had no idea about the Krampus! But I had to go to Wikipedia for detais, since my workplace blocked your link as "inappropriate." Anyway, it was both fun and enlightening, so your blog is truly living up to its mission.
I suppose it's a bit early to be thinking about Christmas, but I'm glad you were able to do a run-around on your corporate nannies.
My tree this year will have a Krampus ornament. Thank you, O Benevolent Abundance of Consumer Goods!
I hope we get to see that Christmas Tree!
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