SPX 07!!

SO! SPX!!

ITS OVER!!

Me and Justin once again took the Vamoose bus down. Beats driving any day! I fell asleep for awhile and soon enough we got to downtown Bethesda. Justin had not slept the night before due to printing and stapling. In his dreary state he stapled half of his new Earth Minds Are Weak issue out of order. So off we went to AC Moore for a stapler. No stapler luck for Justin, but I got some cool stands and felt pieces for the table. On the way to the store we shared an elevator with Kim Deitch. My streak of saying nothing to my idols continues! Seriously. Gilbert Hernandez, Deitch, Jeff Smith. Unfortunately I get impenetrably shy sometimes. Them's the cards I was dealt with. Anyway, Justin found a STAPLES and bought his THIRD long-arm Stapler. I bought his broke-ass dinner at Chili's, and then it was time for bed.

Day one was slow all around. I was excited Thursday night but Friday morning was tough for me. Our table took a little getting used to as it was TIGHT! Tight to the wall, tight with exhibitors!

Here we are early in the day..pre tightness!!



I spent most of the day behind the table and tried not to buy anything. Afterwards we went to dinner with Randy and Peter from Bodega. We enjoyed the local eatery, Chipotle.



And so the rest of the night begins! I won a NERDLINGER!! For Marcos Perez - best drawer of an anthropomorphic hybrid dinosaur/beaver creature in comics. MY acceptance speech consisted mainly of me saying "I don't know what to say". And making everyone wait in agony as I started up my old-ass camera to take a pic from on high.



Unfortunately, and this saddens me to no end, I forgot I wasn't at home and my Nerdlinger was pilfered by the cleaning staff while I was away. I'm sorry Liz! I'm still sad about that. But the party was great. I got to talk to Matt Reidsma, Brian Brown and John Chad.



After that I spent most of the night with Bruce, Mike and Peter in the lobby, like last year. Bruce and Mike are local SPX attendees whom we hung out with last year. Never let it be said that Cliff face comics doesn't spend quality time with their fans! Last year, we were with them in the lobby till 4am. While this wasn't quite as legendary as the Belasco, Pope, Morse, Schreck, S.Rich gathering of last year, we did get guest appearances from J Chris Campbell and David Yoder. I think one day years from now the Marriott will have to put a plaque up to commemorate the yearly lobby wine and whiskey fest.



The festivities started at 10am(!!) on Saturday, but we slept in. As soon as we got in around 11 or so it was CRAZY!!! I sold, bought and traded many comics!! I was on fire!!! I was amazed when I got home at the sheer amount of stuff I acquired. Most of it must have been trading! It was also the first convention ever that I completely ran out of some stuff. I think traded out is a bit more accurate than sold out! The Carl collection did well too.

Saturday night, we went to Arby's and vegged out on Borat during the Ignatz. Next year, I sweat I'll make it to the show! Or try. I was at the after-party but never quite got my second wind enough, so I skipped the karaoke and went to bed.



Here's pics of my haul!! First, Matt Reidsma gets a closeup for his High Maintenance Machine Box set. This was my favorite thing I came home with. I like the idea of having a year of a man's life on my shelf! Eventually I'll get around to reading all the stuff I got and possibly writing some high-light reviews! It was a great time and I was glad to see everyone old and meet folks new!!!