February 11, 2002
Convention Report: Alternative Press Expo 2002
My expectations for this convention were a lot different than they were last year. Really, though, I just hoped for a better parking spot than last year, and not as much walking through cold rain. I also was more familiar with a lot of the names of guests of the show, so I was excited about meeting them, or at least seeing them, since I usually have difficulty saying anything meaningful to people who I respect as artists of some sort.
A couple of people from work went with me, and we were supposed to meet some people at the show, which made the planning a little trickier, but we managed to get up there about on schedule, and snagged a nice parking space. It was also a fantastically beautiful day, so things were looking good.
We did an initial walk around the exhibit hall, and all the standard indie comic players were there, which was cool. The show seemed like it might be more crowded than it was last year. Maybe that was an artifact of always wondering where the other people I was with were, though. I also noticed a lot more names I recognized, which was cool. Still unsure of what to actually say to these people, but that's ok. My one lame moment came when I was looking at the stuff by Rick Geary (The Treasury of Victorian Murder), which I really liked. I wasn't sure if it was actually him sitting at the table, though, and he didn't say anything to me as I stood there and flipped through the book. I should have asked, because his stuff is awesome. Oh well.
The best interaction experience came with meeting James Kochalka. He seemed very nice, a little embarrassed or uncomfortable about selling his stuff, but I actually said a few things to him. He promised me his new CD would not disappoint me, so I got that and a few of his comics I didn't already have. He signed all of it, and included a little cat picture on one thing! So neat. (And, on initial listen of the CD, I wasn't disappointed... so he wins that round...)
One of the friends I was with is a big Optic Nerve fan, so she got a poster signed by Adrian Tomine, who also seemed pretty quiet. She kind of wanted to have him sign the back of the poster, which surprised him, so she said he could sign the front. Heh!
I didn't get to go to any of the panels because I needed to get back in time for dinner plans, and I don't think I bought quite as much stuff as I would have if I were alone. I did score a cheap copy of the From Hell trade at the Cold Cut booth, which was nice. I also picked up a little comic based on an online comic - I need to be careful about talking to artists, since I am easily suckered into giving someone $1 or $2 if they seem really enthusiastic about their work. But this did turn out to be amusing, so that was good. I also got an issue of Last Kiss, primarily because their website had been so funny. The guy that does that was quite friendly.
Things I should have bought but didn't because of time: Zot trades by Scott McCloud, and Finder trades by Carla Speed McNeil. Oh well - I should be able to pick them up at the store sometime.
I definitely feel like I have a better sense of what stuff I like and what is going on in the indie comic part of the world than I did a year ago. Hopefully I didn't give up too much to gain this knowledge! But it was a very enjoyable time, and the people I was with seemed to enjoy it, and it did seem like there was a lot of interesting stuff being put out. There is a part of me that wants to get into the real small publishing scene more, but part of me that thinks it isn't worth the filter time it would require to find the good stuff. I obviously need friends who are into it to help point out the cool stuff!
(edited this to put in a whole bunch of links that no one will click on!)
Posted by babar at February 11, 2002 04:54 PM