Here I am in California. When this post goes live, I'll be driving to Portland. I have a signing at Floating World this Friday night with the great Anya Davidson. Come on down! Tell your Portland friends.
My girlfriend Sarah and I flew into Oakland, rented a car and then drove down to Santa Cruz. We played pinball at the boardwalk arcade. The roller coasters are closed for the season. And the ski lift thing is closed too. Sarah has this fantasy about moving to Santa Cruz and living in a beach bungalow. We did some serious recon.
There was a small comic book store in downtown Santa Cruz that I checked out briefly. It was mostly one of those new comics and toys type comic book stores. Yawn. Nothing special. Sarah and I were hoping for some Lost Boys magical type comic book experience. Apparently, that incarnation of the store died in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989.
Drove back north to San Francisco. Stopped at Green Apple Books. I think it's too bad that they put the graphic novel section in the annex and separated the section from the main store. They did this like a decade ago, but it still bugs me. It feels like the comics are being punished. They used to have good used comics but now it's not so great. The whole section is in disarray and it's barely in alphabetical order. Get it together, Green Apple.
I didn't set up any signings in the Bay Area because APE is this weekend. And I'm not going to APE because APE has always been a show for me where no one buys anything. San Francisco has too many good stores or maybe everyone's already too informed about comics. I don't know. I do know that every APE that I've done since Comic-Con took it over has been pretty slow and boring. No excitement in the air. No big sales. It's nice to see everyone but *yawn* I'd rather be sightseeing.
I'd rather skip APE, go to Portland and then look forward to the CAB (Comic Arts Brooklyn) show on November 9th back east. I'm proud to announce that Comics Workbook, the tumblr, will now also be a print magazine: Comics Workbook Magazine. It'll debut at CAB or Comic Arts Brooklyn. The first issue features an interview with Sam Alden.
Here's the announcement from the CAB tumblr page:
I'm super excited about this project. And I'm super excited about CAB. Small, crowded shows will always be more fun for me than giant, sprawling shows. Just saying.
What else? I went to Dash Shaw's wedding last weekend in Richmond, VA. Possibly the most beautiful wedding ceremony that I've ever witnessed. It was on Belle Island off of the James River. Dash's bride, Jane Samborski may have been the most beautiful bride I ever saw. Amazing things happen to amazing people. Congratulations to the happy couple.
Don't forget! Floating World Comics! This Friday! October 11th! 6pm to 8pm! Come on down and say hello to the great Anya Davidson and yours truly. Anya will be signing her book, School Spirits - and I'll be signing my book, Pompeii.
