I left on Friday morning for the airport and arrived at 5:30 AM, ready to go. The woman at the check-in counter, dressed in bedazzling neon red, informed me that the day's only flight to San Francisco was for 6:40 PM. I had misread my itinerary. For a second I was thunderstruck. There's just no way! I reasoned to myself. But it was true. Meanwhile, my friend Sam had been driving up from Orange County for the past 2 hours and was well on his way to pick me up at the airport. But Sam — poor, poor Sam — does not own a cel phone. I waited for his inevitable "Where the heck are you?" call from a payphone.
His call came at 9:30, an hour after he was supposed to get me. Turns out construction had backed up traffic. To his great surprise, though, he was not the late one. He would spend the next thirteen hours waiting for me.
Why thirteen?
Because my plane was also going to be an hour late, due to the sudden appearance of horrible rainstorms in the area. That's right — an Indian summer; and now, on the day of my arrival, a full weekend of rain. Meanwhile, I have to keep my cell phone off in the plane, and Sam, who has patiently waited twelve hours, must now wait one more, and he with no way to contact me.
I eventually arrive in San Francisco, plug my phone into a clandestine outlet, give it five minutes of juice, then sprint to the BART train and wait for his call. It comes. He is a bit frantic (understandably). Finally, at 11:00, I arrive at the Civic Center station, and we meet in person for the first time (for Sam and I are forum buddies, known under the aliases of Elijah Sight and DecafCoffee, respectively).
We drudge back to his car, exchanging pleasantries along the way, and get to the hotel. We are in no mood to party. We just want some hot tea. I go out a little later for a taco al pastor. And then it's off to slumberland. An entire day wasted, but happily endured for its own sake.
The next day, we wake up, dress, and head downstairs. It's off to Mel's Cafe for some much needed steak and eggs. But first, a witch! No really, a witch! A woman clad in black busts through the lobby doors, arms aloft, shouting, "Look whatcha did ta me! Look whatcha did!" The hotel manager bursts in front of us. "You must go! You must go now! I will call police again!" he screams, shoving her to the door. She slinks back towards me and Sam, but we've seen quite enough, and so we slip out for our munchies.
After breakfast, we take off for the MAC pro store to buy my wife some makeup (her one vice), and then down to APE. We are soaked. We are downtrodden. We are finally here.
Being my first convention, APE is to me a wonderland of visual delights. Everything is "so neat" and "quaint" and "just so cool". Sam, having just come down from his ComicCon high a few months back, is less impressed, but enjoys himself nonetheless.
My first stop is the Fleet Street Scandal table, where I greet my childhood buddy Kevin Dart. His artwork is nothing short of dazzling, so much so that he garnered some unexpected attention. I hadn't seen him in three years. There's nothing quite as refreshing as seeing old friends.
Later on I got to meet the talented Angela Melick of Wasted Talent. Her comic is super cute and she is quite the nice person. I hope she liked my comic! Sam and I made sure to each buy one of her adorable Portal prints. I also got a copy of her annual convention sketchbook.
After taking our first rounds, we attended Jessica Abel's panel, the first segment of which I recorded below.
Megan Kelso's panel was also fun. I spent the rest of the afternoon passing out portfolios and comics, hoping to secure an internship; talking with Kevin (and meeting his friend Chris Turnham and girlfriend Elizabeth Ito); and just kickin' it with Sam. We had some burgers across the street at this little family-owned burger joint called Susie's cafe. After APE we headed back to the hotel, watched "Assault on Precinct 13", and recorded a webcast.
Day 2 of APE was a bit more relaxed. We walked the full fifteen blocks through the West Addition and the Tenderloin (eep!) and got inside around 12:30. We went to Chris Ware's panel right off the bat — I would've taken some video, but we were in the back, and Chris had a sore throat and thus was speaking quietly. Upon leaving, I went to bug the CCA table a couple of times — I was hoping so SO bad to meet Julia Wertz, but alas, it was not meant to be. I left her a comic and a drawing. I hope she likes 'em.
We skipped out at 2:30 to go meet my friend Sandy, who we had coffee with. Again, it was good to see a familiar face. She was a real angel and agreed to let us stay at her place for the night instead of sleeping in a parking garage like we'd planned to. Upon ending our meeting, we were confronted by a hobo who I gave some change to, but, upon receiving more than he needed from the next person, promptly returned my change to me! He then went on to explain his theory of mind control for Jesus.
Um.
So Sam and I went back, buzzed around for another hour point five, and then headed back to the hotel to check out. We drove down to the southwest side, parked on Dolores, and walked in circles for a while before settling (begrudgingly) on Pizza Hut. And then... another webcast!
Eventually Sandy came home from church, treated us to hot tea, and then it was back to slumberland. Five hours to go. We woke up, took a super myspacey pic...
...and left for the airport, whereupon I recorded a final video blog.
And that's it!
Here's my comic haul.
Top row - Bob the Angry Flower promotional freebie, Robin Enrico's Controller, Laura Park's Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream, Cal Wong's Hattie et Millie, and a holiday card from Elizabeth Ito
Rigth side, going down - five Jack Chic tracts (two of which are parodies)
Second row - Angela Melick's 2008 convention sketchbook, Der-Shing Helmer's Snowball in Hell (kinda lame, but only cost a buck), a how-to freebie from Ken Huizenga, Tugboat Press' Papercutter 6 and free Nerd Burglar, and a Dresden Codak sticker
Third row - Six adorable Sour Milk Sea comics and Angela Melick's Portal print
Last row - Alex Robinson's Too Cool for School, Jeff Lemire's Essex County vol. 3, and the Fleet Street Scandal art book
