Anhedonia Blue & Unconscious Ink [ui] @ APE 2009

Joenis — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:53:50 +0000

APE – The Alternative Press Expo, in San Fransisco, was an ultimate in fun and networking. I know it was on October 17-18th but better late then never right? I exhibited under the umbrella of my webcomic collective, TNP Press with Philippa Rice of My Cardboard Life and Ali Showkati of SSWestern and since people keep asked me to tell them about the experience I decided to finally blog about how the trip went instead of telling everyone individually. I struggled to do it till now because I don’t actually own my own camera (other than my phone)… So thanks to my girlfriend Ana, that dude Ali, and my phone I was able to compile a load of pictures to put together so that I could tell the tale of my trip to San Fransisco!

Pickin’ up our badges, and a few other things

When we first got to San Fransisco, the exhibitors were invited to a pre-show “mixer” which took place at The Last Gasp, an independent publishing company’s headquarters / warehouse… which honestly was the weirdest/surreal experience ever. Ali and I really weren’t sure what to make of it at first but the longer we were there we were able to warm up to it because the place was so odd it was near impossible to NOT love it! Also, once we met up with Philippa Rice (who we hadn’t met prior), things started to get more interesting. Unfortunately, we got there late and the mixer ended too soon for us and we had to head out.

Some of the random shit everywhere @ Last Gasp

Random Picture of Ali and I

We had to wake up at the crack of dawn to get to the Concourse to set up as quickly as we could, which we got late too as well because we had to print out last minute banners with our names on them because Ali insisted we have them. After breakfast and printing, we got there just a little bit before the event opened. Set up was really stressful but luckily the stress was short lived because we had several people helping us get things together.

Our Booth

The Gang: Ali, Me, Ana, Philippa, Adam (Phil’s Boyfriend), Shawn (Ali’s brother {off camera})

Some of Our Merch

Ready for Buisness!

At first the event was slow, it took a few hours before anyone really decide to come by and buy something; which seems to be typical of the convention folk. People like to walk around, scope out the scene and then purchase things once they know where they’d like to spend their money. It was really nice to see that people were actually interested in my unconscious ink [ui] prints, free Anhedonia Blue pins, and even some of my older Reeder Rabbit books! The best part was that Alex and Ray of Butter Safe came by the booth to met me; they did a great guest strip for me back when I was actively working on Reeder Rabbit. It was also really nice to sit and get to know Philippa and some of the other surrounding exhibitors.

Philippa Rice of My Cardboard Life

The first day I almost refused to leave my post at the booth but on Sunday I walked around to hang out with Micheal May of Eros Inc, Chris Yates, J. & R. Hicks of Little Vampires, and Daniel M. Davis of Monster Commute for a bit. Also, because I didn’t have enough time at the mixer to meet other exhibitors I stopped by and also met some new people. I got to meet Alina Pete of Weregeek as well as Nathan Olsen & Robert Olsen of Haiku Comics, and Sean Taylor of DEEPSI{X}; some cool people with some real cool work!

Micheal May of Eros Inc

Nathan Olsen & Robert Olsen of Haiku Comics

Overall, it was a really fun event and we plan, especially after how well APE went, to hopefully exhibit at Emerald City Comicon next March. Once we’ve solidified our spot I’ll let everyone one know via twitter or a blog here! Anyway, I can’t wait for the next con and hope to meet more awesome people! Till then guess I’m back to the drawing board…

Just for fun, I found this Obama PLASTERED car funny; it was parked outside of a Kinko’s in San Fransisco!

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Anhedonia Blue & Unconscious Ink [ui] @ APE 2009