Posts Tagged ‘Ape Entertainment’
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San Diego has come and gone this year, and my tired feet and eyes tell me that I worked hard and walked a lot. However, this year was more enjoyable than when I went for the first time two years ago, because I knew what to expect, and better yet, what to avoid.
Things started off poorly, as I brought my laptop but forgot both my battery and my power cord, so it ended up being pretty much a grandiose paperweight for the entire weekend. The Ape Entertainment booth also was in a pretty wretched spot in the Exhibit Hall, which really cut down on both our traffic and our sales, although we still ended up doing okay. Here’s a shot with Co-Publishers Brent Erwin (L), David Hedgecock (R), and Des Taylor, creator of The Trouble with Katie Rogers (center).
On Wednesday I went to see the Padres play the Marlins at PETCO Field. I am a big baseball fan, and this was a stadium that I had yet to visit. I got cherry seats, fourth row close to the visiting dugout, but the sun was blazing, and I am a pasty white guy. I put a towel over my head and covered myself in sunscreen, but it was just too damn hot so around the fifth inning I moves back about 30 rows or so under the awning and in the shade. Much cooler, much more enjoyable, at least on that day.
Just for the record, the Padres are a BAD team. And I mean BAD. They lost 5-0 and made Ricky Nolasco, a mediocre pitcher, look like Nolan Ryan. And attendance was pretty poor, although some of that can be attributed to it being a day game on a weekday.
I made sure to visit the creators I REALLY wanted to see before the show opened on Wednesday. And that included Stan Sakai, Bruce Timm, and Mike Mignola, whose sketchbooks I wanted to pick up. Let me tell you, having an Exhibitor’s badge makes a HUGE difference at SDCC. It allows me to get into the show early, and I have a booth to hide behind when my feet get tired. I’m not sure if I would go to SDCC with a regular attendee badge–It might kill me.
Here are a couple of shots of most of the haul I picked up for the show:
One of the main things that Stan and I wanted to do was to give out stuff to all of the bigger webcomic creators that were at the show, and we did that on Sunday. We are ready to increase our hits significantly, which would mean higher advertising revenue, which means that we can publish more than twice per week. So we gave out TPBs and mini-comics of the strips to the creators of:
Looking For Group
Least I can Do
Something Positive
The Devil’s Panties
Piled Higher and Deeper
Cyanide & Happiness
PvP
Penny Arcade
Questionable Content
and a couple of more that are escaping me currently.
Here’s hoping that said creators like what they see and perhaps offer us a plug, a quote, or the best-case scenario, a link.
You can help too–vote for us every day, or at least every day you come here, using the links to the left. Talk about the strip to friends or acquaintances. Order some things from our online store. Heck, even posting here is a good thing. We appreciate what every one of you do for us!
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Table assignments were released today, and we wanted to share where both Stan and I will be located:
I will be at the Ape Entertainment booth, Booth 2203. Map:
Stan is in the Small Press Venue at the Squid Works booth, Booth K-14. Map:
You’ll be able to get SubCulture goodies at either table. But stop by both!
Troy Dye is a comic book writer and the Submissions Editor at Ape Entertainment, the small-press publisher for which I am Editor in Chief. He is a part of the Archon Comics studio along with Tom Kelesides, with whom he created the delightful and critically-acclaimed all ages comic book series The Goblin Chronicles, also from Ape Entertainment. Definitely worth a look! Troy is also the Editor of Ape’s upcoming UFO Anthology, to which I am a contributor!
It’s funny, in a way, that Troy is writing a couple of guest strips for us, given that I never have met him in person. But I have talked to him on the phone a few times, mostly through conference calls with the Ape Staff, and we correspond quite a bit on the Ape Entertainment boards. I put out an open call for guest strips on the private Ape Creator Forums, and he (along with Skipper Martin and Ken Marcus) volunteered their services, for which I am grateful.
As you can see above, and as you’ll see in tomorrow’s strip, Troy is a very talented writer with a sharp sense of humor. I hope you like what he has to offered, illustrated by our own “Smilin’” Stan Yan.
You can order the three-issue Goblin Chronicles mini-series on Ape’s Online Store. Do it now!
Thanks, Troy!
Here’s Skipper’s second effort–another winner in my book.
I think it’s funny that both of Skipper’s guest strips had some sort of winter theme. Snow in the first, Christmas in the second. I guess they might seem a little out of place in the middle of May, but, meh, you can’t time quality.
Here’s another nudge towards you checking out some other of Skipper’s stuff!
I met Skipper Martin a couple of years ago as he was developing Bizarre New World for Ape Entertainment. We met at San Diego Comic Con in 2007, and made an instant connection. We share a similar sense of humor and a similar worldview, which made it easy for me to ask him to write a guest strip for SubCulture. Not only did he give me one funny strip, he gave me TWO (the other will post tomorrow).
Skipper is incredibly quick of mind and sharp of wit, and if you’ve read Bizarre New World in any of its incarnations, you’ll quickly see what I mean. He’s a natural storyteller, and if you get a couple of beers into him, be prepared to laugh and laugh–not at him, of course, but with him. Just don’t drink too much, or you might pee yourself 
He’s written a three-issue Bizarre New World mini-series, followed by the Population Explosion one-shot, and he’s written a couple of short stories for White Picket Fences, among other things.
Thanks, Skipper!
