Back from S.P.X.!!!

SPX was last weekend, and I had a GREAT time. Hunter Clark and I we took a train up instead of flying, because Liz found us a great buy-one-get-one-free deal with Amtrak. The train took off more than four hours late, but it wasn't too bad. We were both so tired that we slept through pretty much the whole ride. Though we DID see an old guy who looked like the late Pat Morita at the station.



The train had SOOOOOO much legroom. I never want to fly again. Trains are the least-stressful manner of travel that I've ever used. Anyway, we got into D.C. Thursday around Noon, and met up with Shawn Crystal shortly thereafter for lunch and a big chat about teaching, the SCAD sequential art department, upcoming classes, rising star students, and that sort of thing. Later that day we hooked up with our editors James Lucas Jones and Randy Jenkins (Shawn, Hunter, and I are all publishing through Oni. James bought us a great dinner at this little Italian place, and then we went to Big Planet Comics, where a bunch of the creators went for an open-house/pre-party. Big Planet is a GREAT store. Smaller than my regular store in Atlanta, but with a selection better suited to my reading inclinations. Plus an all-ages section right by the front of the store, which I'm a BIG proponent of.

Hunter and Shawn left early, but James and I stayed and caught a ride back to the hotel with Brett Warnock and Matt Wagner, who had a car.

The next day Shawn and Hunter and I had breakfast, and on the way back into the hotel to set up our table we ran into some of the SCAD alum/CCS crowd. We split off and went with them for second breakfast.


Stephen Floyd, Bearded Joey Weiser, Me, and David Yoder


Starting at the head of the table, and going clockwise - Kyle, Hunter, J. P. Coovert, Stephen Floyd, David Yoder, James Hindle, and the almost totally-obscurred Joe Lambert (whose stories in the Fluke Anthology and the SPX anthology were probably my favorite pieces this show)

We rushed back afterwards to set up our tables. Our spot was bad - the back of the room at a corner whose aisleway led into a wall. But we were okay with it, as we were surrounded by friends - Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing, Joey Weiser, Kevin Burkhalter, David Yoder, Alec Longstreth, and Patrick Dean, and a lot of the amazing SCAD up-and-comer undergrads like Jeremy and Coleman - as well as folks we liked a lot but hadn't gotten a chance to really get to know - Liz Prince, Maris Wicks, Marcos Perez, etc.


Eleanor Davis, Greg Means, and Alec Longstreth


Kevin Burkhalter and Kyle, whose last name I don't know 'cause he's mysterious


We were going to take a picture of us at the table, but my camera battery died and my charger had broken getting off the train.

I had a great time. We did see tons of friends and had a really great time, and I was surprised during the last few minutes of the show by some relatives - my Grandmother, my Aunt Samantha, my Uncles Matt and David, and my cousins John and Luke. We ate at a great Asian buffet, and I pigged out on Sushi.

I came off well in the black - I sold out of Giovanni Potatoes, and sold a lot of other minis (made a lot of trades, too!). Unfortunately, that's ALL I did. I spent last year combing the aisles and getting tons of cool stuff; this year I was so busy at the table that I didn't have a CHANCE to search for cool stuff. Luckily, a lot of it found me, but I got no book-books, aside from Oni books that I grabbed at the end. And I didn't take advantage of some of the amazing work that WAS there - I got a drawing from the AMAZING Roger Langridge, but never got back to purchase wares - he had a ton of amazing minis, and I'm kicking myself for it. I need to make sure that next year I give myself an hour each day to peruse.

Sorry to have such a short entry, and that it came so late - I was sick upon return, and then the internet was down for a while, so it's been rough trying to get this up! All is better now, though.