Alternative Press Expo

And so I think in the Bay Area we've always had, like, little factions.

Like, there's never been, like, a strong, like, united comic scene, like indie comic scene in the Bay Area except for when we had the Alternative Press Expo.

Like, that was, like, the best, like, sort of, like, community hub that we had here, I feel like ever.

Um, so I was more, like, more recently I guess I feel more connected than I have in the past.

I'll remember them as soon as this is over.

I'm like, "Oh, my best friend." Like, Zach Sally was a good friend of mine in the '90s in comics.

Okay, and you mentioned Alternative Press Expo.

Was that, like, the first comics convention you went to? What was your relationship with, like, comic shows and stuff like that?

Now, with this, I do love these stories of, uh, local record stores kind of holding on copies, but there was so much work being done behind the scenes by Otto to try to get it out there, and there was a lot of cross-pollination with the tiki scene, with alternative media in general.

Here's an example of this at the Alternative Press Expo in nineteen ninety-eight in San Jose.

Otto gave a, uh, he was a panelist on, uh, talking about the state of the zine, talking about Tiki News.

And on the right-hand side, you can kind of make out that, uh, this is an advertisement in the back of an alternative comic book.