Saturday | Sunday Once again APE offers an eclectic schedule of programs geared around our special guests and various aspects of independent and alternative comics. These programs promise to be fun, informative, and enlightening conversations with some of the top creative and editorial talent in comics today. And be sure to check out these creators' work in the Exhibit Hall once you've seen them in action! The APE programming room is located adjacent to the Exhibit Hall. If you’re facing the back of the hall, you will see the entrance to the programming room at the far end of the upper level to the left. Seating is limited, so be sure to arrive early for your must-see panels.

12:00-12:55 Queer Cartoonists—The third annual Queer Cartoonists panel features more probing questions and dicey answers, this time from Craig Bostick (Go-Go Girl), Paige Braddock (Jane's World), Colleen Coover (Small Favors) Tristan Crane (How Loathsome), Steve MacIsaac (Sticky), Chuck McKinney (From the Cellar), and others. Moderator Justin Hall (True Travel Tales) will lead a discussion on the artistic process, making comics for a queer audience, the personal versus the political, and more.

1:00-1:40 Spotlight on Black Olive—One of the breakout talents of the last year, Black Olive spins her comic book web for SLG Publishing. Her books include Outlook: Grim and her new one, ScrewTooth. She’ll discuss her spooky work on those books and what’s coming up next.

1:45-2:25 How to Make Compelling Web Comics—Learn the most direct methods and pitfalls of creating both web comics and interactive hypercomics, with demonstrations and examples. Learn and share favorite sites for this fascinating comics delivery system, which promises new realms of storytelling. You’ll also be on hand for the world premiere of the “Marrs Hypercomics Recipe!” One of the founding mommies of Wimmen's Comix, presenter Lee Marrs is author/artist of hundreds of mainstream and underground titles, reprinted in nine countries, for such characters as Pudge, Girl Blimp; Batman; Wonder Woman; and Indiana Jones. Also an Emmy Award–winning TV art director, Lee was a pioneer in computer graphics animation, with clients such as Disney/ABC, Apple Computer, IBM, Time Warner, Nickelodeon, Electronic Arts, and MTV. Inspired by her recent M.A. in multimedia, she’s currently creating web comics at www.leemarrs.com/comics/comics_index.html

2:30-3:25 Hey, Kids! Graphic Novels!—They’re here to stay (although we have yet to see any spiffy spinner racks trumpeting “Hey, Kids! Graphic Novels!” in any bookstores), and they’ve taken the comics, mainstream book trade, and movie worlds by storm. We’re talking about the more socially acceptable term for good old-fashioned comics, the graphic APE special guests Justin Green (one of the first graphic novelists in underground comix, with Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary), Alex Robinson (Tricked), and Raina Telgemeier (The Baby-sitters Club), will join writer/artists Brian Fies (Mom’s Cancer), Rick Geary (The Murder of Abraham Lincoln), and Linda Medley (Castle Waiting) to talk about their own work in graphic novels, what’s next, and what they all think of this highfalutin term.

3:30-4:10 Spotlight on C. Tyler—Her new book from Fantagraphics Books came out 12 years after her last one, so Carol Tyler’s Late Bloomer is aptly titled. Comics journalist Tom Spurgeon says of Tyler’s work, “Tyler's completely unique voice for the medium shines through in small moments drawn from everyday life as seen with a decided sense of humor.” Tyler’s comics work highlights an aspect of storytelling often missing from the field. She’ll discuss her career with a slide presentation.

4:15-5:10 Spotlight on Keith Knight—He’s one of the Bay Area’s most popular cartoonists, and, yes, that’s his big purple monkey on the cover of this book! Keith Knight recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of his strip The K Chronicles. He’ll entertain and enlighten you all with a slide show during this special Spotlight event.

5:15-6:30 CBLDF LIVE Art Jam—Support free speech and bid on great original comix by some of the brightest talents in the indy comics world at this great CBLDF event! Watch the brightest lights in art comics create all new original comics before your eyes, to be auctioned off to benefit the free speech work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Visit the CBLDF table (Table 358) for more details on attending artists. While the artists are jamming, the Fund will be on hand to walk you through the current threats facing the free speech rights of the comics field. Do the right thing and support free expression for the comics world by attending the first APE CBLDF Art Jam. You might just walk away with a masterpiece!

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12:00-12:55 The Pitch—Are you harboring a comics project somewhere near and dear to your heart? This year, we take a slightly different tack from our usual exploration of self-publishing and offer a panel discussion on how to pitch to some of the larger companies. What do editors and publishers look for in a new comics project? What’s the best way to get their attention? Panelists include APE founder Dan Vado (SLG Publishing), Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics Books), Brett Warnock (Top Shelf Comix), James Lucas Jones (Oni Press), and Charlie Kochman (Abrams Image), who will discuss what they’re looking for, what they find exciting in comics today, what’s coming next from their companies, and how not to bother them during a busy comics convention!

1:00-1:40 Spotlight on Justin Green—One of the cartoonists present at the beginning of the underground comix era, Justin Green created Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary, which has become a classic. Justin’s career includes traditional sign painting and oil painting, and he produced a memorable series of biographical strips, “Musical Legends,” for Tower Records’ PULSE! magazine that have been collected into book form by Last Gasp. He’ll talk about all that, and the future of our beloved Binky, in this spotlight event.

1:45-2:40 Taking Flight: The Craft of Comics— It was the groundbreaking color anthology that flew in under everyone’s radar, but ended up landing everywhere. Flight, in two volumes to date, not only features stories on the topic of flight but also showcases a group of young artists taking their own flights. With Flight 3 due out in just two short months, Kazu Kibuishi, editor of Flight and the creator of Copper, Daisy Kutter, and Amulet, discusses the craft of creating comics in both their short and long forms. He will be joined by several Flight artists, including Erika Moen, Michel Gagné, Chris Appelhans, Richard Pose, Neil Babra, Clio Chiang, and Khang Le.

2:45-3:25 Spotlight on Raina Telgemeier—Known for her minicomics (Take Out Comics), Raina Telgemeier landed the plumb job of adapting the kids’ favorite book series, The Baby-sitters Club, to graphic novel form for Scholastic Books’ new line, Graphix. Raina’s first installment (Book #1: Kristy’s Great Idea) should be in bookstores as you’re reading this. Raina will talk about her new book, her minicomics, and what she’s going to do next (besides maybe have dinner later).

3:30-4:25   Spotlight on Alex Robinson—His new graphic novel, Tricked, weighs in at “only” 350 pages (compared to the 600+ of the collected Box Office Poison), but none of his readers feel gypped. Alex Robinson’s Tricked was one of the buzz books of 2005. He’ll talk about that book and what’s next with writer Edward Champion of the blog, “Return of the Reluctant” (www.edrants.com).

4:30-5:30 The New Breed: The Bay Area’s Young Cartoonists—Think the San Francisco comix scene hit its peak in the 1960s?  Think again! Join moderator Andrew Farago of San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum as he interviews Justin Hall (True Travel Tales), Hellen Jo (Paralysis), Derek Kirk Kim (Same Difference), Nate Orman (The Mad Happys), Jason Thompson (The Stiff), and Gene Yang (American Born Chinese) about their comics and the ins and outs of the Bay Area creative community.

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