APE was exceptionally awesome this year. Granted, this is only our second year… but wow. Thank you SO much for supporting us, whether it was through a purchase, kind words or telling a friend about us.

Our trip to San Fran this year doubled as our yearly vacation (we haven’t had a break since last year’s APE), so I’m currently exhausted. For now, I’m going to pet my kitties, go to bed, and this post will be updated tomorrow with a slightly more comprehensive recap of our time at APE.

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Don’t forget to come and see us at APE if you’re going to be in the Bay Area this Saturday and Sunday, Oct.16-17.

APE FUN FACTS

• APE is going to be 33% larger than last year, due to high visitor/exhibitor demand
• We are running a 10% off EVERYTHING sale at our Etsy Shop while we’re in SF.
• We have FREE, LIMITED EDITION SCREEN PRINTS to accompany each copy of Guys With Swords Vol. 2 we sell.
• We WILL have MONSTERS. cards with us. Get ‘em while they’re hot, ‘cuz they go fast!
• The exhibitor list is pure, liquid awesome. Be sure to visit some (nay, ALL) of our friends and colleagues:
  • Michael Jonathan and Nan Lawson – Table #125
  • Leia Weathington of the Couscous Collective (who also keeps a funny ass blog) – Table #237
  • Shing Yin Khor of Sawdust Bear – Table #269
  • Daniel and Dawna of Steam Crow (creators of Monster Commute) – Table #100
  • Phillipa Rice of TNP Press (creator of My Cardboard Life) – Table #258-9
  • Joe Hunter, also of TNP Press (he won’t actually BE there, but I’m sure you can buy something of his there)
  • Spike of Iron Circus Comics (creator of Templar, AZ) – Table #275
  • Bridgett Spicer of Squid Row Comics – Table #135

Sweet. Can’t wait to see you there!

Well, the Alternative Press Expo is upon us yet again. The work has been long and occasional arduous, but the pay-off has been pretty fantastic. This year we are very excited to be showing 3 new books and one zine in addition to our existing properties. We also have a greatly expanded line of merchandise and prints available.

Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

By Christopher Macdonald

MY first thought was, he lied in every word,
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
Askance to watch the working of his lie
On mine, and mouth scarce able to afford
Suppression of the glee, that purs’d and scor’d
Its edge, at one more victim gain’d thereby.

Based on the famous poem by Robert Browning, Christopher Macdonald’s Astronaut epic is a beautifully illustrated modern interpretation on this classic poem.

Perfect bound and printed on high quality glossy stock, the images look deep and rich enough that you feel you can reach right into them. Anyone purchasing this book can have it signed and sketched by the artist.

Beware Brothers Awesome #1

By Pietro Norante

This debut comic from the .. interesting.. mind of Pietro Norante is a solid wall-to-wall robot battling, shirt ripping, action feast for the eyes. Imagine a world where one of the most valuable commodities is other peoples garbage, and your competition is the local robot gang…

Saddle stitched and printed on high quality glossy stock, this first run edition is sure to be a collectors item. We will have a limited quantity of artist signed editions available at the show.

Guys With Swords Vol2

By Christopher Macdonald

This is the second collection of Christopher’s semi-autobiographical exploration of male sexuality. This edition includes Guys, swords, more guys and a Millennium Falcon. It is truly a beautiful and honest piece of work. You can view more images at his dedicated blog. Some images are mildly NSFW.

Beautifully printed in full color on high quality glossy stock, Anyone purchasing this book can have it signed and sketched by the artist.

Yatta!

By Christopher Macdonald

This zine is dedicated to her radness. As the first female character in the street fighter video game franchise, she represents some of my earliest memories of gaming.

I think that says enough. If you need a more concise opinion, I think our in-house editor Grendel can help:

Anyone purchasing Yatta! at the show can have it signed and sketched by the artist.

Merchandise

This year we are bringing the A-game with our new merchandise. Over the last year we have developed the ability to produce most of our product in house, and when you leave a pile of artist in a room alone with that kind of machinery, something beautifu or horrible is going to happen. Lucky for us, it was more beautiful then horrible most of the time. There is really just too much to list, but we can give you a peek.

Most of this merchandise is available now in our Etsy store along with quite a few things we have not shown here. the new books will be debuting at APE and should be in the store shortly after that. We will be in booth 268 in the newly expanded section of the exhibit hall. As a side note, we are quite excited about our neighbour at the show, SawdustBear. Her stuff is adorable beyond belief. If your in the area, stop by and have a chat!

And LO! Lovesick Robot Press has developed the ability to screen print on shirts!

And make limited-run posters!

And clearly label our underwear! (because Topher keeps mistaking my lingerie for his)

We’ve been looking for a way to efficiently do our own screen printing at home without too much hassle or fuss, and we seem to have the beginnings of a fantastic process going on! The vinyl cutter works very well with giving us masks so we don’t need to expose the screens, and we find that using a sturdy, sheer curtain material is a cheap solution for the actual screens. Brent has been hard at work, and you’ll be seeing some downright WONDERFUL things spewing out of Lovesick Robot in the coming months