So the indefinite postpone was short lived… we’ll see how
this works out…

Aodhan drew …and Chris for me for over a year, which means
we’d been working together for nearly two.

Looking back on his early work with me, it’s easy to tell
how much he grew over that time, both as an artist and as a person. Aodhan Cummings,
I will miss you buddy.

The last great thing Aodhan did for me however was introduce
me to Claudia Miller, who will be taking up the mantel. Her artistry is extremely
different, but I think that in no time at all her art will be just as important
to …and Chris as Aodhan’s was.

my partnership with Claudia is new, however, and there hasn’t
been a lot of time to work the kinks out, so please bear with us as we figure
out the posting schedual.

It seems that the man has a pretty “hands off,
zero-tolerance policy” towards venders. There are three dealer’s rooms, so it’s
hard to find the vender you want, and there doesn’t seem to be any organization
to who is in what room.

I know for a fact that there were people looking for me who
couldn’t find me, but to make matters worse out table was stuck off in the
corner past the fire exit, the isles in front of us was far too small, so
people couldn’t get through them, and the lovely, friendly and dun loving
people made long-winded playful announcements over the PA all weekend. Not to
mention the large lady dressed in blue who (and I’m not exaggerating) believed
she was a super hero and that her cats were her crime-fighting network. The woman
spoke non stop in that insipid that hasn’t been popular since the 1950s. I had
to listen to her prattle for an hour before I got so fed up I started throwing things
at her. Of course this only made her decide that I was a villain and she was
saving the lives of the other con-goers by standing there. I here tell that she
got kicked out of the Stan-lee panel for passing on a question… from her cats…
about the mice in his floorboards.

Now my friend who will be referred here-as only as
Chef-Master P, has been going to dragoncon since back in the day. I like to
imagine that the rest of the year he spends his time cooking up and cultivating
various and ingenious mind-altering substances, which he loads into his duffle,
and then one weekend out of the year drags this brownie filled bag all the way
from his home to the convention. He always comes back with stories about how he
met Stan Lee, or got on a microphone at an after-hours bar with MC Chris.

From a fan’s point of view the masses of dealers, Playful
announcements and costumes too big to fit through doors is incredible. But
stick someone in a booth where they have to beg for attention all day, and
listen to the same PA jokes over and over again, and be up at 8 every morning
working till 9, and the parties and after-hours events become just tiresome.

I’m certain that if I’d had a better spot, or some more help
behind the booth the convention would have been very different but alas that was
not the case. I understand exactly how Ryan Sohmer felt, and had I not
previously been informed of his upset with the convention I’d have caused a fit
myself.

And no offence to Atlanta’s residence but I just can’t call
a city where you can count eh skyline a full City. Maybe I’m spoiled, but 11
shadows on the horizon does not make a major metropolis. Nor does pouring BBQ
sauce over everything. Despite the fact that the BBQ was indeed amazing… I did
not expect to see BBQ sauce on my shrimp cocktail, plain cheese pizza, or chef
salad, though by the end of my trip, I did expect the strange looks when I
asked for it sans the sauce.

All in all I’m thankful to be home, having restored power
and Internet to my house (damn you Con Edison!) The air conditioner is once
again blearing and I once again have over 100gigs of music at my ready
disposal.

The …and Chris archives have been fixed, I’m uploading more
DLC (there is a desktop of the map incoming today) and I queued up the next 10
or so cards and next bunch of …and Chris comics.

Next up: New York Comic Con! Hope to see you there! With any
luck we’ll even get Arron to show up in the dress I’m buying for him!

I’m told by a certain talking animal sidekick, that I need
to do a report on the convention. truth be told, if not for the stomach ache,
soreness in my feet, back, neck, forehead chest, hands arms, legs, migraine,
and constant ringing in my ears, I wouldn’t even know it had happened.

Unless I counted the dip in my inventory, or reflected on
the deep and crushing weight upon my soul enhanced by a weekend of selling
myself like a cheep harlot.

All in all, the con was fantastic by all accounts. I met a
girl who was actually named Jazmin (yes she spelled it that way) who was cute
as a button. The Con staff was friendly and helpful. We had a great spot, I
hung out with Web comics ink, and Blind ferret, and I introduced my work to
over two hundred new people.

Unfortunately I still feel like crap. Dragon Con really took
the wind out of my sails and getting back up on that horse is proving more
difficult than I would have thought. I’m told by all these wonderful people
that the way I feel I actually pretty typical. By the end of the first year,
you start to loose steam, and it’s another goof four years until you get your
wind back.

I’m told that these doldrums are what separates the great
from the forgotten, and that it only lasts for five years before you find out
if you’re going to make it.

I take solace in the fact that I really have done something
grand. I take solace in the fact that my few friends are like brothers. (Apologies
to my real brother, I didn’t mean to lump him in with Aaron.) And I take solace
in the fact that even if I am prostituting myself, at least my clients are
walking away satisfied.

Still, I feel a lot like used up and thrown away after a
weekend like this.