Thien Pham [1] and Lark Pien [2] were there with a make-your-own-button offer, as well as their comics. Thien, who drew a comic for us way back for issue 2 of Hyphen [3] is in the middle of telling me about a monster bowl of noodles he's going to attempt to consume during dinner. Lark is signing a book for me. She's got a new children's book, Long Tail Kitty, featuring a pointy-eared character of the same name. The book hasn't been released yet (it's coming out in a few weeks) so it was treat to get my hands on a copy.

I also gave some of my hard-earned money to the award-winning cartoonist Jason Shiga [4]. I love the cover of Bookhunter there at the bottom of the photo. Even though it's been out for a few years, I haven't read it yet, so I bought it. It's a tale of espionage and intrigue that takes place in the Oakland Public Library. Yes, the library. I can't wait to read it.

The writer and zinester Mahru Elahi [5], a friend of mine, was there selling her comic zine Blame it on Pluto. It's like a diary in comics covering a year of her life. A good read.

These aren't comics, but they grabbed my attention. They're cute and cheery cards by Laurie Coughlin of Motormouthpress [6]. She specializes in food-themed cards and stationery. I'm a sucker for food, and a sucker for stationery, so I was pretty much a goner and had to take some cards home with me.

Here's the work at Hellen Jo's [7] table. Not only is she a talented musician, but a cartoonist as well. Her boyfriend Calvin Wong [8] is a cartoonist in his own right. Here, Calvin looks on with envy as Hellen eats the last bit of a donut. Listen to this interview [9] with Hellen and Calvin over at Comix Claptrap (which is run in part by Thien Pham.)

Even Goh Nakamura [10] bought some comics.

Goh played some songs outside the Zine Fest and in other parts of Golden Gate Park with our friends The Invisible Cities [11]. By the way, they'll all be going on a mini tour soon, hitting up Chicago, L.A., Austin, New York and Seattle (not necessarily in that order). Dates and venues not confirmed yet but check their blog [12] for developing info.

And that's day 1 of the zine fest. I'll be back Sunday for the how-to-start-a-magazine workshop. Hope to see you there. We'll be giving away some free back issues to the audience.