Monday. Dragging my feet. This weekend wore us out. Kennedy and Finny spent the weekend at Melissa's parents house, while we went down to Austin for Staple. Friday night, I stayed up until after 1 AM, getting ready and cutting those postcards. (Speaking of, I have a few left over. E-mail me the address of your favorite comic book store and I'll send some their way in April, when Emily is in Previews.) Woke up on Saturday at 4:45 AM to make the drive. Picked up Brock, and off we went. The drive up there and back were both pretty good. Brock and I talked about the book, went over a lot of details for what we need to do in the next few months, and just talked comics in general. Melissa had our new portable DVD player (Christmas gift) in the back seat, watched Josie and the Pussycats.
Staple was great. The Red Oak Ballroom is actually part of an old mall, the back half was converted and remodelled to office space and a convention center. Brock and I met a lot of people. Handed out postcards. Did some sketches. (I love the robot one Brock did for Marlena.) We had a preview of chapter two available for people to check out, and got some great responses. Excuse my utter lack of modesty, but peope are going to LOVE this book. Brock showed me the b&w pages for chapter four. He's coloring all this week. Chapter four looks great, possibly my favorite. Certainly, it's an exciting conclusion. I kept reading the last two pages over and over and over again. Thinking to myself, that's it. That's the story. I'm in love with the last two pages. While Emily was the focus for our trip, I did sell quite a few sets of issues 1-3 of Karma Incorporated. My friend Zack came down. We met up later that night. Great guy.
Staple was much more laid back than WWTX, so it gave us the opportunity to hang out more with Mahfood and Crosland. After the event, we all went to Star of India for dinner. Good spicy food. Buffet style, which is always dangerous. The best spinage mush stuff I've ever eaten! From Star of India to the hotel to 6th street. The Ritz is a very cool bar/club. Lots of levels and stairs, a cool place to spend a few hours, listen to a DJ spinning some good records, and watch the Silky Bureaucrats make art. Melissa, Brock, and I lasted until about 2 AM. We closed out the place, but couldn't last any longer. We were dead tired!
Next morning, slept in and then ate lunch at Chuy's, then drove home.
Later that day, Melissa, Kennedy, and I went to the season opener of the Dallas Derby Devils. There was a huge crowd. I felt bad, because I ran into a friend who I hadn't seen in years, but I was so distracted handling Kennedy and figuring out where I needed to be, I probably came off as a jerk. I'm sorry. Melissa volunteered at the event, helping out with fliers and keeping the track clear. Kennedy and I had to leave early. Bedtime and all that. Melissa came in much later. I had already crashed.
Photos will be posted soon.
