Alternative Press Expo
Comics A.M. | Haven Distributors closing? George defense rests
Haven Distributors
Distributors | Johanna Draper Carlson catches a couple of tweets from publishers indicating that independent-comics distributor Haven, formed in 2008 from the assets of Cold Cut Distribution, is shutting down at the end of the month. Calls for confirmation this morning to Haven’s Skokie, Illinois, offices went to voicemail. The company’s closing would leave Diamond without any significant competition for independent comics distribution — print comics, at least. As Johanna notes, the industry giant still has a rival in another quarter: digital distributor comiXology. [Comics Worth Reading]
Legal | The defense rested in the Michael George trial Tuesday after the comics retailer, who is accused in the 1990 murder of his first wife, chose not to take the stand. His lawyers argued that if he were to do so, his testimony would become the sole focus of the trial. George’s current wife Renee, who was kept out of the courtroom for most of the trial in case she was called as a witness, also did not testify. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday, and then the case will be sent to the jury. [Detroit Free Press]
- October 5, 2011 @ 07:05 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Alibi witnesses testify in Michael George trial
Legal
Legal | Defense testimony began in the Michael George trial Monday after the judge denied a motion by the defense to order an acquittal. George’s daughter Tracie testified that she remembers her father sleeping on the couch in his mother’s house the night in 1990 when his first wife Barbara was shot and killed in their Clinton Township, Michigan, comic store. Another defense witness, Douglas Kenyon, told the jury he saw a “suspicious person” in the store that evening and that Barbara George, who waited on him, seemed nervous. [Detroit Free Press]
Conventions | Last weekend’s Alternative Press Expo inspired Deb Aoki to offer a burst of suggestions on Twitter as to how it could be made better. Heidi MacDonald collected the tweets into a single post, and the commenters add some worthwhile points (including not scheduling it opposite the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, which attracts much of the same audience and is free). [Deb Aoki's Twitter, The Beat]
Awards | Ian Culbard’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness won the British Fantasy Award for best comic/graphic novel, presented Saturday by the British Fantasy Society. [The British Fantasy Society]
- October 4, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson
Submissions for 2011 Isotope mini-comics award due Sept. 26
Isotope Award
Comics retailer Isotope Comics in San Francisco is once again hosting their annual mini-comics award competition, and — AHHHH!!! — entries are due Monday by midnight!
“It’s my favorite time of year, when we get an opportunity to help spotlight a creator who is toiling in the underground making something magical that almost no one has seen yet… seriously, what could be more exciting?!” said Isotope retailer James Sime, “I consider the winner to be the comic industry’s Miss America for the year, it’s the Isotope’s job to get their work out there to the comics press and reviewers. And I’m proud to say that winning this award has helped some amazingly talented folks get noticed and published by some of the best and coolest comic publishers in our industry. So don’t be shy… I know that many of you out there are hand-crafting some mini-comics brilliance, let us help share your work with the world!”
Past winners of the award include Joshua W. Cotter, Max Riffner, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Danica Novgorodoff, among many others. To enter this competition, simply send five copies of your mini-comic to Isotope’s address (326 Fell St. San Francisco, CA 94102) before the Sept. 26 deadline.
The award will be presented at Isotope’s APE Aftermath party on Oct. 1, the same weekend as the Alternative Press Expo.
- September 22, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
Shannon Wheeler covers the Alternative Press Expo program book
APE program book
Too Much Coffee Man creator and recent Eisner winner Shannon Wheeler provides this year’s cover for the Alternative Press Expo‘s annual program book, featuring the show’s trademark purple ape.
Wheeler is also one of the special guests at the show this year, which also include Kate Beaton, Daniel Clowes, Craig Thompson, Matthew Thurber and Adrian Tomine. APE runs Oct. 1-2 in San Francisco.
- September 8, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Inside the minds of Daniel Clowes and Johnny Ryan
Over on the CBR mothership, two potential “book of the year” candidates are talking about what makes them tick. First up is Daniel Clowes, author of Wilson. In a report on Clowes’s Dan Nadel-hosted spotlight panel at APE, CBR’s Karl Kelly reveals that Clowes thinks none too highly of the readability of classic comics even by artists he admires:
“I realized at a certain point that the thing that keeps me drawing comics and the thing that has always moved me along is that comics history is really disappointing,” Clowes responded. “It’s not the same as the history of novels, history of art, history of movies, the body of work is pretty spotty. The things we imagined don’t really exist. We imagine that Alex Toth did really amazing comics in the 50s that really worked, that were like Howard Hawk’s movies, but he didn’t do that. He never made a comic you could read. It’s terrible, and I say that thinking that he was one of the greatest geniuses of the 20th Century.”
- October 22, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Help catch the jerk who stole two $125 comics
Pigeon Press wuz robbed! Publisher Alvin Buenaventura reports that his new publishing venture had two copies of the legendary, gigantic, expensive hardcover anthology Kramers Ergot 7 stolen from its table at APE this past Sunday morning. Buenaventura, who’s had a rough enough year as it is, is looking for help from any APE exhibitors and attendees who may have witnessed the thieves in action. With a book that size, they’d be hard to miss.
If you were at APE and you saw something, say something! Not only will you help catch a thief and (hopefully) facilitate the return of some very expensive merchandise, you’ll also help solve the mystery of how anyone could waltz away with two copies of a book roughly the size of a Great Dane.
- October 21, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
APE ’10 | Sunday at the show
Alternative Press Expo
While Saturday in San Francisco was beautiful, Sunday brought rain — so what better way to spend time indoors than to hang out at the Alternative Press Expo? I got there a little earlier on Sunday than I did the day before, so it was a little less crowded when I arrived. That would change as the day went on.
I had about half an hour to kill before the Writers Old Fashioned panel at noon, so I headed to their booth to find a copy of Pete Hodapp’s award-winning minicomic. Retailer James Sime, who runs the Isotope minicomics awards every year, had tweeted that the winner would be APE selling copies of his book, so I wanted to make sure I picked one up. Hodapp was at the WOF table with Kirsten Baldock, who works at Isotope and is a writer as well. I missed the party the night before, but Baldock had great things to say about his acceptance speech, and I was glad I got a copy before they were all snatched up.
After that I started slowly making my way toward the room where the panels were being held, stopping at a few tables to see what people had. I met Barry Deutsch, who was there with copies of his book Hereville, and we talked while he moved from one table to another. I also met Charles Yoakum and bought a copy of his crime comic, The Carnival. Yoakum worked for years as an inker, doing books like Bloodshot, Turok, Magnus Robot Fighter, Batman: Outlaws and many more. He said he stepped away from comics around 2000, and only recently returned. He inked Paul Gulacy’s pencils in the Radical series Time Bomb, and he’s writing and drawing his own comics as well … which is what brought him to the show.
- October 20, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
APE ’10 | Photos from the floor
APE
I’ve still got plenty to say about the Alternative Press Expo, which wrapped up today, but for now I thought I’d share a few photos …
- October 17, 2010 @ 10:49 PM by JK Parkin
Pete Hodapp’s The Possum and the Pepper Spray wins Isotope minicomics award
from The Possum and the Pepper Spray
Congratulations to Pete Hodapp, winner of the 2010 Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics. The award was presented last night at Isotope Comics’ annual APE Aftermath party in San Francisco.
His comic, The Possum and the Pepper Spray, is “a true story about rural living and combat with the critters who live there.” Hodapp was in from Wisconsin this weekend to accept the award and then head to APE today, where he had copies for sale at the Writers Old Fashioned booth. You can check out some sample pages and find info on ordering it online here.
Previous winners of the award include Joshua W. Cotter, Danica Novgorodoff, Rob Osborne, Will Dinski, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Max Riffner.
- October 17, 2010 @ 05:09 PM by JK Parkin
APE ’10 | Some quick thoughts on Saturday
Writers Old Fashioned
It was beautiful yet windy day in San Francisco yesterday as I headed to San Francisco for the Alternative Press Expo. I got there a bit later than I’d hoped, due to a quick pit stop in Mountain View that turned into a traffic nightmare. The lot behind the Concourse was already full by the time I arrived, a hint of the crowds that had gathered inside. And inside, everything was different. The layout of the floor was basically flipped, so what used to be the back of the building was now the front of the building. They also had part of their programming slate, the comic workshops, out in an open area up on one of the landings, which I thought worked nicely.
My first stop was the Writers Old Fashioned booth, where I said hello to Jason McNamara, Storm, Matt Silady, Stephenny Godfrey, Emily Stackhouse, Josh Richardson, Danger Bob and the rest of the crew. They were sporting some new eye-catching banners. I also met Greg Hinkle, who worked with several of the WOF crew on a new horror comic called Parasomnia, which they had at the show … and which you’ll be able to see right here on Robot 6 the week of Halloween. I picked up copies Storm’s second Princess Witch Boy and Godfrey’s award-winning Panorama, and Stackhouse showed me her artwork from her next comic, Miner’s Mutiny, which she should have soon.
AdHouse Books returned to APE this year, bringing Adam Hines and his book Duncan the Wonder Dog. I picked up a copy; it’s a huge and mammoth volume that I’m looking forward to reading. I also have to give props to the folks at the Devastator table, whose excitement was infectious. I picked up the first volume and bought a subscription for the next three.
After an engaging spotlight panel, Daniel Clowes was signing at the Drawn and Quarterly booth, drawing a huge line of folks with everything from issues of Lloyd Llewellyn to his latest, Wilson, for him to sign. Renee French was close by, signing her latest, H-Day; we talked briefly about blogging (check out her always interesting sketch blog here).
It looks like rain today, so I should probably start making my way to the Concourse to see if I can get a better parking space …
- October 17, 2010 @ 10:47 AM by JK Parkin
APE ’10 | A few more items for your ‘to do’ and ‘to buy’ lists
Alternative Press Expo
The Alternative Press Expo, or APE, is coming up this weekend in San Francisco. The show runs this Saturday and Sunday at the Concourse on 8th Street. This year’s special guests include Daniel Clowes, Lynda Barry, Tony Millionaire, Renee French, Rich Koslowski, Megan Kelso and Tommy Kovac. In addition to an exhibitor’s room packed with comics of all shapes and sizes, they also have panels, workshops and even a “speed dating” event to help pair up writers and artists.
Here’s one more round of stuff to do/buy at the show. I’ll be there both days and will hopefully get a chance to blog from the floor.
- October 15, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by JK Parkin
APE ’10 | Sparkplug, Omaha Perez, Cartoon Art Museum, The Devastator and more!
Alternative Press Expo
The Alternative Press Expo, or APE, is coming up this weekend in San Francisco. The show runs Saturday and Sunday at the Concourse on 8th Street. This year’s special guests include Daniel Clowes, Lynda Barry, Tony Millionaire, Renee French, Rich Koslowski, Megan Kelso and Tommy Kovac. In addition to an exhibitor’s room packed with comics of all shapes and sizes, they also have all sorts of panels and even a “speed dating” event to help writers find artists (and vice versa).
One thing I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet is that this year they’ve added a full slate of creator workshops, where you can learn how to draw facial expressions with Raina Telgemeier and market a comic that’s easier to read than to describe with Larry Marder, among many others. In other words, APE isn’t just about talking about and buying comics, it’s also about learning to create and sell them yourself.
Prior to the show, I’ll be posting what various companies and creators have planned for APE. If you’d like to be included, email me the details on where you’ll be, what you’ll be selling and all that good stuff. (I’d send them quickly, though, since the show starts on Saturday and I’ll likely just do one more round-up tomorrow).
And now let’s see what folks have planned …
- October 14, 2010 @ 03:39 PM by JK Parkin
APE ’10 | AdHouse, Top Shelf, Fantagraphics, APE Aftermath and more
Alternative Press Expo
As Graeme mentioned earlier today, the Alternative Press Expo is coming up this weekend in San Francisco. The show runs Saturday and Sunday at the Concourse on 8th Street. This year’s special guests include Daniel Clowes, Lynda Barry, Renee French, Rich Koslowski and several more. In addition to an exhibitor’s room packed with comics, they also have a full programming slate and even a “speed dating” event to help writers find artists (and vice versa).
Over the next couple days, I’ll be posting what various companies and creators have planned for the show; you can find a few of them below. If you’d like to be included, email me the details on where you’ll be, what you’ll be selling and all that good stuff.
AdHouse Books
AdHouse returns to APE after a several year hiatus, bringing copies of Duncan the Wonder Dog, among others:
Duncan the Wonder Dog
We’ll be tabling with our good bud Scott Morse. So, look for us in the 33o area. Also, Adam Hines will be making his first APE appearance. Swing by and see why PWComicsWeek has said Duncan the Wonder Dog is their pick for book of the year.
We’ll have exactly ONE advance copy of the new Josh Cotter book Babs in the Sky with Neil Diamonds for people to peruse.
We’ll have just a few of the NoBrow editions with us. Our good bud’s at Last Gasp are also a distributor, so I’m sure they’ll have lots as well.
- October 12, 2010 @ 03:31 PM by JK Parkin
It’s like speed dating, but for comics creators
APE 2010 poster (art by Rich Koslowski)
Aspiring creators will get some help with an age-old question — how do you find a collaborator? — at the Alternative Press Expo, held Oct. 16-17 in San Francisco.
Organizers have announced a Comics Collaboration Connection which, in speed-dating fashion, will allow writers and artists to talk one-on-one in 15-minute rotations about their ideas and talents. Those interested in taking the creative relationship to the next step can place their contact information in an envelope supplied for each participant.
The initiative will be split into two sessions of two hours each: From 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 16, writers will be stationed at large tables while the artists rotate; from 3 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 17, the roles will be reversed.
Those interested in participating may register in advance by emailing programs@comic-con.org with “APE Comics Collaboration Connection” in the subject line. You’re asked to indicate whether you’re a writer seeking an artist or an artist seeking a writer.
- October 1, 2010 @ 08:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Draw monsters to benefit the CBLDF
Don't you forget about me ...
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and ComicsAlliance have teamed up to raise money for the charity with a new art auction/exhibit called The Monsters Project. Right now they’re collecting monster-themed artwork, with plans to auction it off on eBay and at the Alternative Press Expo Oct. 16-17. Details on contributing can be found over on ComicsAlliance.
- September 22, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by JK Parkin