APE, San Francisco

We had a nice time at the Alternative Press Expo held in San Francisco this weekend. I hadn't been to APE before but, as I expected, found it to be a nice, low-key, less-frantic version of the other conventions I've been to. Many small and independent creators displaying a wide range of abilities from seasoned professional to, frankly, stuff my high school kids could do (and I mean that partly as a compliment to my kids; they're pretty good). My wife and girls came along and I think we all had a fine time.

Program director Gary Sassaman, who also does the same job for the brobdingnagian Comic-Con International in San Diego, invited me to take part in a Saturday panel called "Hey, Kids! Graphic Novels!" The other panelists were Justin Green ("Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary"), Alex Robinson ("Tricked"), Raina Telgemeier ("Smile" and "The Baby-Sitters Club"), Rick Geary ("The Murder of Abraham Lincoln" and other historical horrors), and Linda Medley ("Castle Waiting"). I'd only ever met Raina (who attended with her fiance, Dave Roman) and was really looking forward to meeting some of the others whom I admired as well as others I'd never heard of. No, I won't embarrass myself by admitting which were which.

Left to right: Green, Robinson, Telgemeier, Medley, Geary
and me. About 75 people attended the panel (I remembered
to count this time!) and asked some good questions. Fun.

Justin Green in particular was a real trip. Almost literally. At one point he explained how in his next book he intends to take the same drugs his character takes and draw the story while under their influence. You've gotta admire that kind of dedication. Rick Geary stood out as one of the most easy-going, down-to-earth creators I've ever met. In response to a question about working digitally, I was surprised that we all replied we prefer the experience of putting ink on paper and wouldn't want to work any other way. I think that's an increasingly rare aesthetic. Linda Medley coined a new word, "meditativeness," to capture what she experiences sitting at the drawing board as opposed to the keyboard, and I think we all agreed with her.

APE also provided an opportunity for me to meet up with my Abrams editor Charlie Kochman, who flew out from New York for the event. Charlie took part in a Sunday panel on the topic of how to pitch a story to a publisher. My kids hadn't met him before and he was kind enough to bring me a copy of the soundtrack from the George Reeves "Adventures of Superman" series, which soaked into my DNA through repeated viewings decades ago. Just hearing some of those themes and musical stings conjured a host of happy childhood images.

Possibly the least flattering photo ever taken of either
Raina or me, but it's the only one I've got. I really like her work.
In the background, Linda Medley talks with Charlie Kochman.

I signed a few books, met a few people (including cartoonist Keith Knight), picked up some business cards, and thought APE was a great way to spend some time in my favorite big city in the world.

Signing books after the panel. You can tell I'm at the
Alternative Press Expo because I'm wearing jeans.
That makes me hip and edgy.

New Mentions Online

In the past few days, Mom's Cancer got a few new cites I wanted to mention and thank their authors for:

Comics writer Brian K. Vaughan named the book one of his Top Five new comics for the week on his message board, saying he thought it was "pretty great." It's also pretty great to get a nod from Mr. Vaughan.

Graphic artist Bill Dawson mentioned Mom's Cancer on his blog "Woof!" "So much in this book rings true in a way only someone who has experienced this would know," he wrote. "This is a beautiful little book. Go buy it." Thanks, Bill.

Cartoonist Bill LaRocque wrote a lovely little entry on Mom's Cancer in his blog, "Am I There Yet?" My path has not yet crossed "Boomer Bill's" but I hope we get a chance to meet someday.

Last but far from least, Lance Eaton wrote a full-on review of Mom's Cancer for the site Bookloons, an impressive online resource of more than 6,000 book reviews. Lance called the story "touching and endearing," and wrote, "the book can prove therapeutic on many levels for people who have had to deal with cancer, either directly or indirectly." He also had some interesting thoughts on the symbolism of the pawn-and-die image we used for the endpapers. Good catch.

I truly appreciate them all, thanks.

Meme Me

I viscerally dislike those e-mail chain-letter Internet meme things: "answer these questions and forward to ten friends to show you care." Ugh. But this one caught my eye and, since my sister sent it to me, I thought I'd unclench long enough to play along.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. TV cameraman and director.
2. Double-decker bus driver.
3. Newspaper reporter.
4. Environmental chemist.

.

I drove these. Weird clutches.

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the whale movie)
2. The Pink Panther Strikes Again
3. The Shawshank Redemption (I don't own it, but it's on TV a lot and everytime I flip past it I get hooked. Not sure I've ever seen the whole thing in one sitting.)
4. The General (Buster Keaton; I admit I listed this mostly to score obscurity cred, but it truly is an irresistible charmer.)

Buster Keaton in "The General"

Four places I have lived:
1. Rapid City, South Dakota
2. San Jose, California
3. Davis, California
4. None of your business

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Monk
2. House
3. Most Star Treks
4. Iron Chef (original Japanese is best, but American is O.K.)
4.1. Mythbusters
4.2. American Chopper (I'm not proud, just honest)
4.3. The episode of Fairly Odd-Parents where Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda are cornered by an angry mob in a dead-end alley and Cosmo says to Timmy: "Well, you lived a good life." Timmy: "I'm only ten!" Cosmo: I said good, not long!"
4.4. None of those Trading Spaces people is ever getting anywhere near my house.

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Kauai and Maui
2. Puerto Vallarta
3. The Mediterranean
4. Fresno

Four websites I visit daily:
1. Mark Evanier
2. Bad Astronomy
3. The Straight Dope
4. The Comics Curmudgeon

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Poached eggs on buttered English muffins
2. Baby back ribs
3. Reuben sandwich
4. The perfect peach

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Piazza San Marco, Venice
2. Disneyland
3. The International Space Station
4. Columbia River, autumn of 1805, canoeing toward the Pacific with Lewis and Clark.

London Calling

I awoke this morning to find quite a surge of hits from the U.K. thanks to this article in The Daily Telegraph. If you're new here, welcome and thanks. I hope you find something worthwhile.

The Telegraph article, titled "Ease Your Pain and Share Your Worries on the Web," looks at the therapeutic value of sharing stories such as my family's on the Internet. I did this interview with Barbara Lantin a couple of weeks ago and I think the story turned out great. Of course, like most Americans, I'm a sucker for a British accent. If you have one, I promise to find you twice as attractive, charming, and intelligent as you actually are.

Entertainment Weekly

I picked up this week's Entertainment Weekly (the April 7 issue with Howard Stern on the cover; on my first try, I bought the wrong one) and on Page 66 found this:


This is a very good review by Hannah Tucker. It did not escape my notice that three other graphic novels reviewed in the same issue received better grades of "A" or "A-minus." However, since those books' creators are Harvey Pekar, Julie Doucet and Jessica Abel, I'm satisfied with a "B-plus." That's a fine grade by EW standards. And I have a feeling that no one's going to base a purchase decision on my book's cumulative GPA (grade point average).