What a great show! The new space is really nice and attendance was (or seemed to be) at an all time high. Sales were fantastic, I sold out of just about everything, shy of some ten year old, beat to death comics and for the first time ever came home with more money than I actually left with. Not much more, but more.
I was sitting right next to Ben Towle, so from my vantage point, everything he stated at his blog: www.benzilla.com was spot on, no matter what Craig (AKA MR. Susie Sunshine) Yoe says. That guy's so negative and full of himself; I must have really bad taste, because I made great purchases from at least twenty different creators. The buzz book, deservedly so, seemed to be The Trial of Colonel Sweeto. Nick Gurewitch: http://pbfcomics.com/showed up with one hundred copies and sold out at twenty dollars a pop.
People really liked Igor: Fixed By Frankensteins (SLG Publishing) which was what started my sales kicking into high gear. People recommending the book to friends and sending them over to buy a copy really got the sales ball rolling.
The stolen shopping cart full of booze was the icing on the cake. I was sitting at a table, taking a sip from my first "alone time/relax a bit" bottle of Bud when I heard two people shouting my name, in a bizarre attempt to shout and whisper at the same time. I walked around the corner and Paul Friedrick and Kevin Dixon of Hellcar: www.hellcar.com fame were hiding in the shadows with a stolen shopping cart full of booze. They handed said cart off to me, said happy birthday and ran away, emerging through another door a few minutes later. The photo actually wasn't staged. I really had no idea how the hotel staff was going to react to this whole thing, so I was trying so hard and judging from that photo, failing miserably to look casual, wheeling a shopping cart full of booze through a crowded bar. Turns out they could have cared less and the band played on.
I wheeled the cart over to Whitney Matheson, James Sime and Kirsten Baldock presented me with a box of Warren Brown's CakeLove cupcakes: www.cakelove.com which really live up to their rep as the most delicious cupcakes in America. Everyone who took a bite sounded like Vincent Vega after sampling the $5 shake at Jack Rabbit Slim's "I don't know if it's worth $5 but it's a pretty good fucking cupcake." Actually it was unanimous; everyone thought it was the best cupcake they'd ever tasted. Thanks so much Whitney, James, Kiersten, Ben, James, Kevin and all at SPX. It was a fantastic SPX and a wonderful birthday because of all my friends in comics who keep fighting the good fight and making the world a better place. I like to think John Cale, in an alternate universe, sang the lyrics that "it would be a stronger world
A strong, though loving, world
To die in."
That's what I love about these shows; the fact that the ugliness of the outside world seems to vanish like the Pharaohs and we all take a break from reality, if only for two days. That is if you can ignore the fact that self loathing, low self esteem, corporate douche bags like Craig yoe http://yoe.com are circling your house of bliss like a bitchy shark, giving everyone the hairy eye because they've never done work for AOL, Kellogg's or Microsoft.
It was a great show.
More later on what I actually purchased.
Best,
Chris
