Getting the Mini-Comics ready for SPX

First off, my beard turns one month old today!



On the drive back from Chattanooga, Liz gave me all sorts of great ideas with how to prepare for SPX. I always wait until the last minute before shows and subsequently pull a few all-nighters trying to get ready; Liz insisted that I prepare ahead of time this time around, and I'm glad that she did, as stuff is gettin' done!

Part and parcel to this is a sort-of gig with the UPS store. I discovered a while back that the UPS store one block from our apartment is, perhaps, the greatest place for printing on the planet - Megan (the manager) has a lot of print experience and keeps the machines (which have a crisp precision you wouldn't believe) in tip-top shape, not like those over-saturated smudgy monstrosities at Kinko's. Plus, their prices are great, they let you do test proofs without charging, they're just perfect for color jobs. Anyway, I'm in there ALL the time, and somehow I've taken on a position as an occasional-graphic designer/printer, when they need extra help or when I need printing done. I did some training on the wide format printer (gorgeous twelve-color 44 inch thing, prints on canvas and everything!), and next week I'll learn the shipping side. I'm very excited, 'cause I am really passionate about the quality of the place, AND I don't have a set schedule. It's perfect, 'cause I get "paid" in printing -- I got all of my portrait book mini-covers up and ready to go this week.



I also have finally figured out a financially, time-and-labor viable way of doing Giovanni Potatoe. Say hello to the world's longest mini-comic! (316 pages... 'course, I have no idea if that's the world's longest or not):



Yes, indeed. Four paperback-bound tomes in a handsome slipcase. Fits in your pocket! I'm hoping to have twenty or thirty for SPX.

Oh, and Hunter Clark and I are going to Washington, DC by TRAIN! Yeah! Dining car and everything. Liz and I were looking at three hundred dollar plane tickets and then we found that round trip via AMTRAK is only $197, plus buy-one-get-one-free. So Hunter and I are splitting the cost, and are each only paying ninety-something bucks for overnight transportation.