I had a lot of fun at APE this past weekend. Although some people see it as a half-day or one-day show, honestly, I could have used an extra day myself to check out more tables and comics, and talk to folks. The main ‘rama site has my article up on the show, with details from some of the publishers I spoke to on the new books they brought to the show, what they think of APE, etc. as well as coverage from a couple of panels I attended. And I’ll have another post or two about some of the cool stuff I saw and bought at the show.
Luckily there’s been no shortage of coverage on the show out on the web, so let’s see what other people had to say …
–My buddy Ian Brill has a write-up on the show over at Publisher’s Weekly, with some quotes from art spiegelman from the Saturday panel:
Spiegelman and Mouly also examined the current public status of comics and graphic novels. Noting the dramatic change in the public acceptance, even admiration, of comics, Spiegelman said, “It’s a landscape that I’m almost scared by. It’s like this Philip K. Dick idea where one’s own inner fantasy world becomes real.” Critical to a fault, he’s dubious of the sudden popularity of book format comics. “I’m not sure graphic novels are a good idea. Comics at their best are about condensation. It doesn’t seem obvious that the best way to do comics is 800 pages long.”
–Wizard was at the show and has a photo gallery, a report from the Isotope mini-comics awards and articles on the Kevin Huizenga panel and the Bryan Lee O’Malley panel:
Getting to Scott Pilgrim: Do you hate any of your characters, or are there any characters or parts of the stories you have giant regrets for?
O’MALLEY: I actually kind of like most of my characters. There’s this character named Young Neil that I kind of don’t like drawing because his hair goes in his eyes. So he has no eyebrows. So it’s really hard to give him facial expressions. So he always looks kind of dopey. Sometimes he has to not look dopey, but maybe I should try writing him so he’s always like that.
–The Daily Crosshatch was also there and got a lot of recommendations on what to buy.
–Max Riffner posts on his website about his big win Saturday night:
Quick Step has won the 2007 Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics! I spent the night at the awe-inspiring Isotope Comics for the APE Aftermath Party where I accepted the award. Thank you so much to this year’s judges, and for all the new friends I made at the party.
Isotope is an amazing store, run by one of the hardest working retailers I’ve ever met, James Sime. If you are in San Francisco, definitely stop by the store; you won’t regret it!
–Great White Snark has panel coverage and lots of pictures. Lee Hester from Lee’s Comics also has a couple of reports up on his blog. Jennifer de Guzman talks about the show on the SLG blog. Shaenon Garrity offers up an APE bingo card. CNET also posted a picture gallery from the show.
For more blog posts, pictures, etc. be sure to check out Tom’s Collective Memory on the show over at The Comic Reporter.
–And in some pre-show coverage, the San Francisco Examiner talked to Shannon O’Leary about the “quirky comic anthology ‘Pet Noir,’” which was inspired by strange-but-true pet stories:
“My original intent was to show an ironic take on the media’s fascination with true crime. I also really love animals and wanted to present the stories in a way that would be compassionate to animals, but also entertaining,” says O’Leary, who worked closely with the Animal Legal Defense Fund on the project.
Read more about it at the Pet Noir website.
April 24th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
More Wizard stuff is forthcoming. It would have been up sooner, but I was a bit burned out after the flight back.
Hooray comics!