Groovin At the Comic Con....

FRIDAY---

On 4 hours sleep, we wake up at 8am and head out to the Motor City Con. We stop for quick bisquit breakfast in Fowlerville and make it there around 10:45. Right away, I run into lots of old table neighbors and friends I have met in the past five years doing the con. I scope out the Batmobile and other cars and find my table. I set up and wait for 2 hours for everyone else to get there. (I'm always early!)

Finally, my left neighbor shows up. Its Diana Stien, uber fantasy artist. We've been neighbors before so I knew I was in good hands. She has lost alot of weight and looks great. Very cheerful and nice to be around.

After a while, I met my right side neighbor, Layne Toth and family. She and her younger sister run www.sisterscomics.com and are known for great artwork. She's done many collaborative comics and has created two unique comic book characters all her own. She has toured all over the U.S. and has two DVD documentaries on her made. Oh yeah, she's only NINE YEARS OLD! Her family was nice as all heck and I knew it was gonna be a great weekend right away.

The day went quite well. I sold more than I ever do on a friday. I met some new and old fans and have a great time. I buy very few indie books today, but enough for me to read on the pot when I get to our sleeping place.

Finally, Mike Pascale showed up and dropped the bomb... he's moving to California. I was instantly happy and bummed out at the same time. While its a great thing to get out of michigan, get into better weather, have better job opportunities, it sucks for those left behind. But I will see him again. I just gotta trek to California Cons now! Its one major reason that I have to now. So, San Diego, 2007... we'll meet again. Good luck Mike. We'll miss you at Motor City.

I ran into Jesse, a friend of mine and we made arrangements to meet at Big Boy after the show to eat and shoot the breeze. We did that and had a great time. He strikes me as an instantly likeable and funny cat, and thats why I've kept in contact with him over the past few years. I hope we get to hang out again as it was a laugh riot galore!

We trek to the wife's parents house and crash right away. Friday, a success.

SATURDAY---

We get up and head out. Unfortunatly, we hit a traffic jam and end up being 45 minutes late. But it was all good. I barely left my table, and sold alot. Not a WHOLE lot, like I usually do on saturdays, but enought to break even. Thats all you can hope for at a media con like that, whose attention has shifted from comics to B-movie actors. Whatever.

The whole place was buzzing about the police raid that went down the day previous. Apparently, some DVD selling guys had some illegal bootlegs, so the RIAA and the Police shut down several dealers tables. Read on www.cbgxtra.com for the whole story.

I did a couple quick interviews and some fans snapped pics of me and with me. I'm starting to notice that fans have picked up my stuff elsewhere and are bringing it to me to sign. That was a cool feeling. I didn't have to sell them on my ideas! They sought me out for themselves! Truly sweet.

I ran into TIMM HAMM and traded CDs with him. After running into so many fans and selling alot, I decided to duck out early and start shopping. I talked myself out of everything!

We head out to the wife's homestead, where we eat b-b-q chicken and chat with her neighbor, an 80 year old woman who has to be the most fascinating woman I have ever met. She reminded me of me actually. Always reminiscing and looking deeply into life's little moments. I totally dug her.

Anwyay, we pass out around midnight, sore as hell.

SUNDAY---

We wake up around 8am and the wife's mom cooks us breakfast. We eat and head out saying our final goodbyes. We get there early and decide to shop. I pick up two dirt cheap in the package SCOTTY figures, 2 SEX TREK porno tapes, and some TREK comics. The wife finds old Loony Tunes and Simpsons comics.

I start to notice that I am feeling really sick. My throat is scratchy, my eyes water, runny nose. FUCK! Great, I'm officially sick. Awesome.

I don't do much selling but I sell a few books. One guy was walking around with a CONTRA Tshirt on. I said I'd give him a free book if he could tell me the code to get 30 guys on it. He gave it and he scored a free comic from me! See? That easy folks. I'm cheap, but not as cheap as a Beal City Prostitute. (ouch)

I meet some more small press folks. I score some MELBY comics, YOUNG AMERICAN COMICS and alot of Muhammud's BLACK BASTARD, which is friggin awesome! Also, on the recommendation of a friend, I pick up some OPTIC NERVE books and love the shit out of them! I highly recommend that series. It will mess you up!

We left an hour and a half early, stopping to poop and eat McDonalds. All in all, a great show as always. I met new fans and old fans. Made some mad chedda and got some great books to read. Thanks to all those who were there and made this weekend rock! Polica, or not!

Okay, now I'm off to watch my pornos. See yeh!

luvs, T