APE 2007 Photos
Written byPosted on April 23, 2007
Filed Under Comics
There’s a good deal of audio and comics that I’m still processing from Saturday’s insane immersion into Alternative Press Expo. But for the moment, here are some photos to whet your appetite.
Bob the Angry Flower’s Stephen Notley, located as per the APE custom next to Keith Knight, was solicited for tax advice and informed me of how one could write off a flower hat.
So Super Duper’s Brian Andersen, as interviewed by one of the three Segundo correspondents employed for APE coverage (in one case, a correspondent smart enough to know the difference between Jeffrey Brown and Chester Brown was employed against his will).
There were many guitarists providing musical support for fellow artists in the booths.
Nome Sang? It’s a question that I’ve asked myself many times: a query that offers no immediate answer. This sounds like a job for The Diplomatics, the world’s (only?) political superhero web comic.
One of the aspects of APE often unremarked upon is the meticulous binding and sewing some exhibitors apply to their minicomics and illustrated chapbooks. Corrine Mucha was no exception.
One did not necessarily need to pay two quarters for relationship advice, since there were many clear human examples through the transparent booth!
The man in the mask is, as you might gather, from Luchadork Comics. He was asked about whether Jack Black’s Nacho Libre or Luchadork came first and was unfazed by the Gumby propaganda.
Girls and Corpses was easily the sleaziest magazine I picked up. I had thought that it was a one-off grand parody of Maxim, but there are apparently fifteen issues of this alarmingly slick publication. I talked with Robert Steven Rhine, the delightfully sleazy gentleman behind this periodical, and he insisted he lived on an estate comparable to the Playboy Mansion.
Pop cultural mimesis was very much on display, with an alarming number of items devoted to Christopher Walken. These items were from Brandon Bird’s table.
Despite noble efforts to track down the fundamentalist cartoonist Jack Chick, he was nowhere to be found at APE.
A rare moment when I was sitting down. There are about fifty audio files from Saturday I have to go through.
This gentleman, from Crater on the Moon, was apparently influenced by the Marvin Martian sartorial school.
Baby Tattoo Books, the publishing house devoted to publishing Gus Grimly’s narratives.
Two Shy Guys — or at least one of the men behind this comic. The gentleman on the left is currently being sought by G-men for certain indiscretions uttered on audio.
[UPDATE: Pink Raygun has an incredible breakdown of all APE exhibitors.]
[UPDATE 2: More APE writeups from Great White Shark, which rightly points out that APE is the only convention with a fully-stocked cash bar, Scott Beale, Spectoria, APE Bingo from Shannon Garrity, Superheroes Don't Wear Sneakers, Tom Geller, Sip Tea, Moose River and Artnoose.]
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Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan. The famed writers behind Smart Bitches, Trashy Books have written a very funny and thoughtful volume about romances, both Old Skool and New Skool. Here is a book that any smug and humorless literary manboy beating his flabby passive chest over Banville or Bolano should probably read pronto, if only for the distant possibility that he might get over himself. While the Choose Your Own Adventure segment at the end caused me to have a very disturbing dream involving Shelley Long (don't ask), Sarah and Candy did have me rethinking many of my own misperceptions when I wasn't busy laughing. They're not afraid to take on the New York Times Bok Review or even the groupthink within certain sectors of the romance community.
Alice Fantastic by Maggie Estep. This wild and highly enjoyable narrative involves two sisters (presumably, the third one was still being rented out by Chekhov), a hippie ex-junkie mother who lives with seventeen dogs, a murder, gambling, and libidinous Hollywood actresses who live in Woodstock. But this is the wonderful Maggie Estep we're talking here. And what seems at first like a quirky yarn becomes something unexpectedly moving about connectivity. What I love about Estep's work is the way that she'll juxtapose an extremely astute observation (now that you mention it, why do cab drivers always have somebody to talk with on the phone past midnight?) with an often outrageous story development.
Generosity by Richard Powers. It doesn't come out until September 29th, but Richard Powers's latest will have anyone committed to books reconsidering their literary fervor. I foresee some animosity from the vanilla critics hostile to idea-driven novels, but book bloggers, YouTube chroniclers, and MFAs would do well to plunge into this chance-taking narrative, which introduces vital questions about what the reader's relationship is with media, scientific dissection, and "creative nonfiction." Are we rats fleeing to happy cities? Or can we find the humanism within the purported plague?
Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon. Lennon is one of the most underrated fiction writers working today. Much as On the Night Plain proved that Lennon had a lot more in the toolbox than heartfelt (and often very funny) suburban satire, this slim but fascinating volume juxtaposes 100 small-town anecdotes -- arranged by category -- in a manner that reads, at times, like Nicholson Baker's passions for minutiae and, at other times, Stewart O'Nan's concern for psychological detail. The result is fiction that makes us wonder about whether one person's subjective view of particulars can entirely be trusted. This book never found a publisher in 2005. But thankfully, Graywolf has released it in the United States, along with Lennon's latest novel, The Castle.
Wonderful World by Javier Calvo. This wonderfully raucous volume has been completely ignored by the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. But it's probably one of the most delightful reading experiences I've had this year. Calvo cavalierly mashes up multiple genres and manages to mix up familial subtext with larger-than-life, almost cartoonish characters. (Indeed, one might argue that one mobster's penis is a character of its own in this sprawling novel.). This is not an easy thing to pull off, but Calvo makes it work. And it's helped immeasurably by Mara Faye Lethem's idiom-specific translation. (See longer post.)
The Means of Reproduction, Michelle Goldberg This thoughtful book tackles the complicated (and little discussed) subject of reproductive rights from numerous angles, which includes a number of unpleasant but necessary ones. The upshot is that there isn't a quick fix solution for declining birth rates and fundamentalist abuses. Just about every political faction has contributed to the friction. But you'll want to read this book anyway to refamiliarize yourself with the topic, but also to understand just what's occurred during the past several decades to get us where we are today. (See also podcast interview with Goldberg.)
my subscription to newsweek is up. i think i’m gonna replace it with girls and corpses.
Great pics… you really captured the vibe of the event. Wish I had remembered to get my own shot of the angry flower dude. I’ve got a write-up and pics at my blog, as well, if you’re interested. Cheers!
Hey man, just wanted to let you know that the masked man was not from “Lucha Libre Comics,” but actually “Luchadork Studios.” Thanks!
I wanted to look through Girls and Corpses, but I was afraid I would immediately be sent to hell. You’re braver than I am.
We’ve got another APE report, here: http://bigstonehead.net/2007/04/23/the-ape-report-2/
Ed! Thanks for the pics of APE, which I’ve never gone to. Did you ‘appen to PURCHASE any “Bob The Angry Flower”?