Not even the pouring rain or a post-Halloween hangover could keep people away from the Alternative Press Expo yesterday, as the San Francisco Concourse filled up with more than 300 exhibitors and a ton of people. Some rain even made it into the building … the AiT/Planet Lar table had a small sign that said “Yes, we know” next to the water that was collecting on their table (only one copy of Holmes received any water damage) and Jennifer de Guzman said she had water drip down the back of her shirt at the SLG booth.

Judging by the crowds around the Buenaventura Press table yesterday, I’d say this is probably the book of the show:

Janelle Hessig said the $125 Kramer’s Ergot 7 (which was selling for around $135 when you included tax) was selling very well for them. It probably didn’t hurt that they had a lot of contributors to the book on hand as well, including Simpsons creator Matt Groening:

Not the greatest picture, but the crowds around the table were a bit overwhelming when he showed up to sign and sketch on people’s badges. But Groening wasn’t the only draw; people were actually waiting in line to flip through the book. It was also interesting watching people go through the decision-making process of whether or not they were going to buy it … I heard one guy say “If it’s less than $120, I’ll get it,” and then when he heard it was $135, you could see the internal struggle.

Rick Lacy and Phil Gelatt, who wrote Labor Days (and who I interviewed a few weeks back) were at the Oni Press booth:

It was their first APE, and Rick’s first trip to San Francisco. He also works on the Venture Bros. cartoon and said he was getting sketch requests for characters from the show.

I attended a couple of panels yesterday, including the Ethan Nicolle spotlight:

SLG publisher Dan Vado interviewed Ethan about his origins, inspirations, his musical career and current projects. Ethan showed me a pitch for a cartoon he did, Snub Nose and Pug, about a samurai snub-nose monkey and his canine sidekick. He’s waiting to hear back on whether or not it’s going to be picked up.

I had lunch yesterday with David Brothers at a place Graeme McMillan recommended, The Holy Grill. David blogs over at the 4thletter and has an editing gig for PopCultureShock now.

Here’s Danger Bob and David at the Writer’s Old-Fashioned table:

And finally, here’s Walker Young, sporting a stylish Bumperboy T-shirt his dad Larry Young got for him.

Walker was helping out at the AiT table when he wasn’t napping. Larry, meanwhile, had printouts of the two projects announced here yesterday, Dodge and Twist and what was once known as Cupid but doesn’t have a new name yet. He also showed me a pitch for a romantic comedy called (if I’m remembering correctly) Journal by Tony Lee and Bevis Musson.

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