The lost con photos: HeroesCon 2014

(My kids running the Crooked Finger Press table.  Rich Tommaso on the right .)

So... I was recently (in the year 2021) trying to find some old photos and realized that I never posted this con report from 2014.  So here it is, I don't think it's even finished but after seven years I may as well let it fly.  Enjoy. 

In the long ago days of June 20th through June 22nd 2014, thousands of comics enthusiasts gathered together in Charlotte NC for America's most beloved comic book convention, HeroesCon.
I've been an exhibitor at HeroesCon many times in the past but this year would be different as I would be taking my family with me.  I had told my 12 year old daughter Kassidy that if she finished a full length minicomic that I would print it up and take it and her with me to Heroes Con.  She met the challenge so we decided to make a sort-of family vacation out of the trip to Charlotte.
We left for Charlotte on the Wednesday before the show.  Usually, I would just make the four hour drive down from southwest VA the morning of the first day of the show and spend the weekend in a sleep deprived fog.  I gotta say that driving down well in advance is great and a major stress reliever. 

(The hotel hallway was very long.  I walked to the end to make sure that it was real.  When I got there I found an old man in a bed.  He looked like my grandfather.  It was full of stars.)

As this was a family trip we decided to stay south of downtown in a more family friendly hotel.  And by family friendly, I mean a hotel with a swimming pool.  I like the hotels in downtown Charlotte fine.  The beds in the Westin are super nice.  But none of those hotels have swimming pools.  Last I checked the Westin did not even have free wifi.  Hell, the Westin does not even have free parking included with the price of your room.  Kids, they need swimming pools and wifi.
We stayed at a Residence Inn and it was super nice.  The room was huge with a full kitchen, couch, bar, desk etc.  The hotel had swimming pool, weight room, hot tub and a gas fire pit.  Loved it.  I would miss getting drunk with pals in the Westin lobby but I wouldn't miss it enough to give up the hot tub and the fire pit. 

(Planet Snoopy at Carrowinds is totally related to comics and therefore should of course this photo should be in a HeroesCon report.)

I've been to Charlotte many times but the only thing I've ever done there is go to the convention center and some surrounding eateries.  We didn't want this trip to be just about sitting at a comics show so we let the kids pick out something to do the day before.  We ended up choosing Carowinds.  I was super happy with that choice because I love roller coasters so very much.  My youngest daughter, Alana, is 7 so this was her first amusement park visit where she was tall enough to ride all the fun rides.  She had a fantastic time.  The first thing she said at the end of almost every ride was "can we ride it again?"  My wife and older daughter also had a nice time but I think they would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had not been 96 degrees that day.  It was hot.  Not gonna lie.  It was super hot.

(I grew a tail.  You know who else has a tail?  Rocket Raccoon and Rocket Raccoon is in comics therefore of course this photo belongs in a HeroesCon report.)

(My understanding is that this is a photo of a giant stuffed dinosaur dressed up as Spider-Man.  Relevant!)

(Obligatory we-are-in-the-Carolinas-so-here-is-a-picture-of-Dale-Earnhardt's-car picture.)

(The Crooked Finger Press booth.  Also known as Shannon Smith's table on Indie Island as ran by Alana Smith and Kassidy Smith.)

(Kassidy Smith shows off her first full length comic Hula-Hoop Girl.)

(Best bros forever.)

(Patrick Dean, Shannon Smith (a.k.a. me) and Brad McGinty.)

(These are happy people waiting in lines.)

(Brad McGinty talking to a dude in a luchador mask because comics.)

(Kids could bounce under Spider-Man's crotch.)

(Patrick Dean and Henry "our most beloved" Eudy.)

(Alana decided to get in on the act and sell some pony paintings.)

(My daughter is now a T.A.R.D.I.S.  Thanks a lot HeroesCon.)

(We out Scoob.)

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 09112016

(G.I.Joe issue 15 cover by Mike Zeck and John R. Beatty.  August 1986.  Image stolen from yojoe.com )

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 09112016.

"DJ Z, I suffer with you my friend."  -Jeff Hardy.

• Hello sisters and brothers of teh intronets and welcome to another episode of your Other Comics News Parade-O-Links.  My name is Shannon and I'll be your host.  I was driving east on Alternate 58 this morning behind the limousine of Nathan Stanley and under the golden rays of the warm September Appalachian sun when I remembered that, while file under other was on "hiatus", we lost one of the pillars of Bluegrass and American music, Doctor Ralph Stanley.  Growing up a few miles from where Ralph Stanley lived it was easy to take the man for granted.  He was just kind of always around.  You'd see him play at the fair.  You'd see him play at the UMWA rallies.  He literally performed at my summer camp one year.  When my employer was looking to set up shop in Southwest Virginia, it was Ralph Stanley that Senator Warner and the county called upon to welcome and entertain the suits and ties.  In some small way, I guess you could say I owe my paycheck to Ralph Stanley.  His legacy will be a part of this region and this country as long as the mighty Clinch River flows. 
• Alan Moore has announced that he has about 250 pages of comics left in him and then he will retire from comics.   Moore is probably the most influential English language genre comics writer of the past 40 years.  He could never write another word and that would not change.  He doesn't owe comics anything. If you want more Alan Moore comics, just go read the one's you've missed or re-read the ones you've loved. Despite the wizard beard, Moore is really not that old.  He was a very young man when he started knocking out masterpieces.  I hope he has a great many years ahead of him enjoying whatever it is he chooses to do.  And guys, 250 is a lot of pages. 
• A lot of us comics folks are thinking about pal of comics Tim O'Shea and his family this week.  The Comics Reporter has the details.  Tim has been a real champion of comics, minicomics and self-publishers throughout the years.  He's one of those "I probably would have stopped making comics without his kind words" kind of folks.  We need 100 more of him.  We wish all the best for Tim and his family. 
• Last weekend cosmic abomination DragonCon happened (again) in Atlanta, GA.  Adam and Shawn Daughhetee of the Dollar Bin went there for the first time and lived to tell the tale.   They compare DragonCon to HeroesCon a bit which, are two things totally worlds apart.  HeroesCon is a a comic book convention.  DragonCon is that time that Hunter S. Thompson and Zardoz drank an Atlantic Ocean sized vial of LSD and tiger adrenal gland then went to the Creature Cantina in Star Wars but only the Creature Cantina was the size of the Titanic.  Every year.  Repeat.  Totally different things. 
• Guys.  I just love Tarzan so much. (Link stolen from The Comics Reporter.)  Speaking of Tarzan, like I do, I read a lot of Tarzan comics this summer.  It's been a summer ritual since... I learned to read.  I read a lot of Joe Kubert Tarzan comics this summer and bought a lot of the Marvel "Lord of the Jungle" comics.  I almost have the full Marvel run now.  The 28th issue of the Marvel series was one of the first comic books I ever owned so Tarzan has and will always be a big part of what makes me me.  A big part of my brain is thinking about Tarzan junk most of my waking and sleeping hours.  It's weird.  I know.  So, of course I saw the new movie.  I really liked it. It was my favorite movie of the summer.  I really hope they make more movies with that Tarzan and Jane. 
• A lot of talk this week about the death of comics and whether or not it is dead and if it is just Professor X dead or is it Uncle Ben dead and who is to blame and is Soylent Green people or are people Soylent Green and if I use the F word more than you is my argument more valid than yours even though my argument is absolutely Donald Trump wrong on all of my historical references and should all of our best cartoonists just start making their comics with sidewalk chalk then post videos of them on YouTube but then get upset about that too because YouTube secretly won't let you make any money off videos anymore if you have dirty words in your side walk chalk comics and Kickstarter stopped being crowd funding the second it replaced the publisher's marketing department and Amazon really already killed publishing anyway and the music industry is deader than comics and it's just an illusion that it exists because, again, YouTube, and if it can happen to comics and music then it can happen to video games, and, in a way, it's already happening to movies, I mean, do you really think the movie theater chains are thrilled about you guys binge watching Stranger Things and eating microwave popcorn, and if you'll DVR and watch your favorite TV shows later it sure as hell won't take a TV exec long to figure out that you'd probably also pay for it in advance and most of what we really love will be pre-order anyway because comics isn't special, comics just is always the first in line for the firing squad, and about how we probably already lost this war and we need to just assimilate and get over ourselves because I'm literally wearing a t-shirt right now that I pre-ordered, while listening to digital music that was pre-ordered then downloaded, and I literally have a book beside my keyboard that was pre-ordered and as soon as I get through typing this I'm literally going to play some video games that I pre-ordered and maybe what you're calling death is just the new way of living and... You wanted everything for free so you stole it.  Now you have to pay in advance for it to even exist.  Money always wins folks.
• And now it's time for the return of...

THE BEST NEW NEWISH COMIC BOOK I READ THIS WEEK

She Wolf issue 3 by Rich Tommaso.  Published by Image Comics. 

I've been a big fan of Rich Tommaso for years and years but She Wolf might be his work for which I am the most excited.  Guys, I'm stupid for werewolves and wolfmans.  I've watched a lot of werewolf movies and read a lot of werewolf comics but Tommaso is on to something really fascinating here. He's using a waking nightmare form of narrative where he can tell this story from a both metaphysical and material world point of view at the same time while also fluctuating between the present and ancient folklore from panel to panel.  

Tommaso is letting the narrative take off in multiple directions within a single page and it is allowing him to really stretch his legs as an artists.  I've always loved Tommaso's drawing and character designs but with this comic he's being really ambitious with the motion and fluidity of his cartooning.  It's a major break from the conservatism and the obsession with the old fashioned that we've seen in indie comics over the past 20 years. Plus, he draws a balls out penis dangling Satan that can't be beat.  I can't wait for the next issue. 

This issue also features some great pinups by Chuck Forsman, Brandon Graham, Brian Level, Tom Neely, Eraklis Petmeza and my favorite one (below) by Patrick Dean.

• And finally... Playstation made some announcements this week.  Let's see how our ol' pal Francis feels about them. 

• Remember pals, life is hard.  Read comics every day, chew Glorp every day and you'll keep on livin' until your dead. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics.  Do you make comics?  Maybe you should hire me to write comics. 
p.p.s Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

p.p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too.  I guess it's a law or something.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 09042016

(Marvel Premier Featuring issue 45 from 1978.  Cover art by George Perez and Bob McLeod.  Image stolen from SellMyComics.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week month years ending 04042014 09042016

"Hear me, arisen Tyrk!  In the name of my comrades Sashiel and Barq, I swear vengeance from this moment on... The Man-Wolf is out for your stinking blood!"  - Col. John Jameson, The Man-Wolf.

• Hello sisters and brothers of teh intronets and welcome to another episode of your Other Comics News Parade-O-Links.  My name is Shannon and I'll be your host.  This is the first Parade-O-Links in quite some time.  I know most of you are thinking, "Where has the Parade-O-Links been during this darkest time of my life when I had nothing to live for and teh intronets completely let me down and all my favorite comics were canceled and the antidepressants had bad side effects and my favorite sports teams lost and all of my pets pooped in places I didn't want to clean?  Where was the Parade-O-Links when the world stopped turning?!?"  Look, friends, pals, I'd love to tell you everything that has happened since the last Parade-O-Links but quite frankly Frank Quitely, I don't remember.
• So, let's start fresh.  I feel like I have solid memories of life on Earth going back at least to June of 2016 so we'll star there.  Fair enough? Good.  I'm glad we agree.  I appreciate your respect and understanding.  And, might I add, you look great today.  Fantastic choice of footwear. I'm digging it.  Magnificent.  I've always said that only the sexiest of the sexiest people read the Parade-O-Links and it's as true today as it was a few seconds ago when I made it up.

(The Jack Tales wall based on Charles Vess art at Southwest Virginia Community College.)

• At some point in the epic adventure that is my life, the powers that be in acedemia decided that I am not only a genius and that I smell great but that I am also a comics scholar.  I was approached by the Appalachian Heritage Writers Symposium to present a workshop on writing for comics and graphic novels.  I turned that opportunity yes and put together a powerpoint presentation focused on the differences between writing for prose and writing for comics. 

I don't even know what a graphic novel is so these folks are in for a treat.

A photo posted by Shannon Smith (@sandfarmer) on Jun 10, 2016 at 7:00am PDT

 Most of the writers at the symposium were pretty up on their plain old writin' words kinda' writin' but they needed to know how to write so that an artist could actually do something with it.  A drawing is a hell of a thing to have to write.  I bestowed upon them this great knowledge along with a little minicomic full of blank panels so that they could practice writing using thumbnails.  I look forward to taking a sip of my cocktail and giving a knowing nod when they all thank me during their eventual Eisner acceptance speeches. I taught for two hours and met a lot of great folks.  Sharyn McCrumb was they keynote speaker.  I was able to attend her workshop and picked up a lot of neat ideas.  Southwest Virginia Community College hosted the event and they have a lot of Charles Vess art on display including a huge brick sculpture based on his design.  (I took some more photos of it that you can find on my instagram.)  Also, we had lunch.  It was a great experience and I'm grateful for the opportunity. 

• Did you guys know that not only am I a comics scholar but I am also a professional comic book writer? This is a true and well established fact.  Human beings have paid me to deliver to them words which have then been printed in comic books.  Perhaps you've read some of the comics? Perhaps you are a fan?  And who isn't? But how hardcore are you?  Do you have my earliest work?  Did you know that I did some work for the Glorp Gum Company back in the 90s?  Hah!  You didn't know that did you Mr. Fancypants? It's true.  Way back in 1991 the Glorp Gum Company hired me to do some scripting on a new comic book they had in the works.  I remember it like yesterday. I was sitting there in my dorm room, freshman year, smelling like teen spirit, listening to my favorite Bronze Vestal Virgin cassette tape ("Double Dead Again 2: Tokyo One Night Only") when the RA came a knockin' on my door to let me know that I had a phone call.  I figured it was the usual, some band wanting me to replace their guitar player or whatever, but when I answered the phone it was none other than comics legend John Sourcup. (RIP)  I thought the guy was already dead but here he is on the phone offering me a job.  Turns out he had read some of my Megaforce fan fiction in Slasher magazine and I thought I was just the guy to help him out with some last minute scripting on the revival of Glorp's comics line. I worked out some dialog for a little eight page skateboarding story called "Safety First Skater Later" that was printed up in the back of Glorp Comics and Stories.  Now, most of you are probably familiar with the story of how Glorp debuted the comic at a big skateboarding event and about how all those people and vee jays died. I don't really want to get into all of that.  I don't really like to talk about it. I was a big fan of a lot of the pro skaters that died that day... Anyway, as I'm sure you all know from the various TV documentaries, all of the comics were destroyed in the fire.  Or so we thought!  Friends, life is strange.  Years ago, there I am writing for the Glorp Gum Company and then one day, decades later, my pal Brad McGinty buys the Glorp Gum Company!  Can you believe that expletive? Sure enough, my friend and yours, Brad McGinty buys the Glorp Gum Company and what does he find when he's digging through the vaults?  You guessed it, the only remaining copy of Glorp Comics and Stories on the planet. But wait, it gets better.  My man, Brad McGinty, recently fired up the Glorp presses, pulled the lever down from the t-shirt setting to the comic book setting and knocked out a fat stack of Glorp comics that you my friend can pay for and read with your own damned eyeballs.  It's a damned hot boiled miracle. I've got to pause for a moment and just let it roll over me...
• Whew.  I'm back.  Ain't that somethin'?  
• Friends, this is real talk right now. This is serious business.  You, and not the collective internet you, but YOU, you right there, with your elbows and other unique characteristics, you can click this link right now and buy Glorp comics. And not just Glorp Comics and Stories!  No!  Other comics as well!  McGinty and fine people of the Glorp Gum Factory have printed up long lost copies of the legendary Moss Rot and Twin Cities Freakout.  These are two of the craziest comics I've ever witnessed.  Did you even ever imagine you'd have a chance to buy these legendary comics!?  On newsprint!?!  McGinty printed them on newsprint!  Do you guys understand the gravity of the opportunity that Brad McGinty is giving you here? These comics will dunk your donut! You can buy Glorp Comics, Moss Rot and Twin Cities Freakout all for one low price!  Or, for multiple individual low prices but that would be kinda stupid.
• McGinty done did it again.
• Santa Claus is crying himself to sleep wishing he could do for the children what McGinty has done for all of mankind. 
• Just let it roll over ya.

• Another thing I did this summer was take the kids to America's most beloved comic book convention, HeroesCon.  I've been going to HeroesCon fairly consistently since about 2004 but this was the first time I went as a regular old customer and not as an Indie Island guest or Artist Alley exhibitor.  I just went for good ol' fun and boy oh boy was some good ol' fun had.  The show has become enormous but, to its credit, it remains a comics show.  Sure, like every other show, it has become infected by the prints epidemic but at least most of the prints at HeroesCon are comics related and on Indie Island the prints are actual original creations and not just sexy Harley Quinn.  It's a still a show where you can shop for comics of pretty much any kind.  The kind I shop for are the kind that cost 25 cents or less.  I bought about as many comics as a grocery store bag could hold for $11. And boy do they smell terrible.  Sweet, sweet, mildew how I love you.  Pretty sure most of the comics I picked up had bong water spilled on them at least once.  Glorious!  I love it.

  

The only new books I picked up were on Indie Island.  Rich Tommaso was there with the first issue of She Wolf.  I've been a huge fan of Rich's stuff forever and this might be his best work yet. I love this comic. I got the new Atomic Elbow, the latest J. Chris Campbell mini, all of the Glorp comics (have I mentioned the Glorp comics?) and an original Blue Snaggletooth drawing by Patrick Dean.  And that's pretty much it.  There were a lot of folks there I would have liked to have talked to and picked up their latest stuff but they had solid lines or crowds around them and I ran out of time.  And that's cool.  I'll pick up their stuff online or at the next show. I'm happy to see their audiences growing.  I was just on the convention floor on Saturday and honestly it was a bit overwhelming for me as a customer.  There was just so much to look at. My usual con strategy is to walk the floor once before I spend money but by the time I walked HeroesCon I was ready to lie down.  My kids picked up some cool stuff.  My nine year old got a hand made sword because why not.  My fourteen year old picked up some Gravity Falls stuff and some rad buttons and stickers.  Thankfully, comics is currently in a place where there are some fantastic female creators working on books accessible to teens and some of my daughter's favorite lady creators were at the show.  I think it's the first show where my daughter had specific artists she wanted to seek out.  She left the show inspired and literally knocked out a new minicomic in the month following. (More on that in a future post.)

We also checked out the art auction. I was a bit underwhelmed by the art on display. Most of it appeared to be work done on the floor that day as opposed to some of the bigger more ambitious works I've seen there in the past. That said, Jared Cullum's giant Fantastic Four at HeroesCon painting was amazing and as good as anything I've ever seen at the show.  It went for around $7,000 bucks if I remember correctly.  A lot of my pals are friends with Jared so there were a lot of proud beaming faces in the Westin lobby and bar that Saturday night.

I love these guys. Damned degenerate comics Butch and Sundance. #heroescon2016

A photo posted by Shannon Smith (@sandfarmer) on Jun 18, 2016 at 10:44pm PDT

Speaking of which, the main attraction of HeroesCon for me is getting to hang out with all my pals.  

It was super great to see my former Atlanta bro doggers Brad McGinty and Josh Latta (and Erin of course, Hi Erin!).  Brad helped me with my first minicomic in 2002 and I've been sharing table space and hotel rooms with Brad and Josh for years now.  We all lived in the Atlanta area back in those days but have since all moved to different states so Heroes Con is about the only time we end up under the same roof now.

Also super great to see all my other pals that I see slightly more frequently, Patrick Dean, Robert Newsome, Rich Tommaso, J. Chris Campbell, Duane Ballenger, Rob Ullman, Adam and Shawn Daughhetee, all the Dollar Bin bros, Heather and Seth Peagler and all the HeroesCon staff, my man Jeremy Massie (who I live about 30 minutes from but see at comics shows more than I do in the wild), Matt Smith, all the folks I'm too lazy to list, all the folks I saw but didn't get to speak to but just waved and said "hey man!" to... everyone.  Everyone that has every lived.  I was super happy to see them and/or missed them terribly. 

I'm now the Mayor of Viking Hall and there is nothing you can do about it. #RobCon #Swarm

A photo posted by Shannon Smith (@sandfarmer) on Jul 31, 2016 at 9:17am PDT

• I was a guest a RobCon at Viking Hall in Bristol TN, this summer. The show was nice and packed with vendors and cosplayers but suffered some for being scheduled on the same weekend as neighboring Abingdon, VA's big summer festival.  I did well enough.  Sold original art and comics and my daughter Kassidy sold some art and her new minicomic Idea Box. I'll talk about Idea Box more on file under other once we print up more copies. 

Kassidy making art happen. #RobCon #StevenUniverse

A video posted by Shannon Smith (@sandfarmer) on Jul 31, 2016 at 11:55am PDT

Cooks and Books at the Saint Paul farmers market. Drop on by. What's better than reading and eating outside?

A photo posted by Shannon Smith (@sandfarmer) on Jul 30, 2016 at 2:48pm PDT

• Because I'm a super successful and popular comics creator in high demand, I had another apperance on the same weekend as RobCon.  I was a guest at Saint Paul, VA's Friends of the Library Cooks and Books event.  This is an annual fundraiser where area authors and area cooks are set up outside to sell books, eat food and drink wine and beer. It's pretty great.  The music was mostly Huey Lewis and the News so that's a major win for any getogether. I did well and the library picked up some of our comics for their shelves. 
• So, at this point in the post I've typed about a half million words about myself and my friends.  It's fine.  But maybe you want news?  Maybe you want the hard hitting critical analysis of the state of the comics industry at this exact moment?  Maybe I'll do that next week. This post was essentially a housekeeping post, we'll get back to the real nitty gritty soon.  But before I do I do have to acknowledge the redcent birthdays of comics titans Jack Kirby and Gene Colan. August 26th was also the birthdy of my father David Smith.  He would have been 67.  He's with me ever day.
• And finally... Let's check in on our old pal Francis.  Gotta catch 'em all Francis.

• Remember pals, life is hard.  Read comics every day, chew Glorp every day and you'll keep on livin' until your dead. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too.  I guess it's a law or something.

I drove 628 miles round trip to buy your minicomic: The 2014 fuo Fluke report.

This is Fluke. (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

(EDITOR'S NOTE:  I started writing this soon after Fluke but then I got busy with work that pays me money.  Sorry.  As much as I'd love to spend all day creating "content" for you to share with your mom on Facebook, I gotta get paid. The kids gotta have their My Little Ponies.)

FLUKE, APRIL 19th 2014. ATHENS GA, USA.

Fluke is a mini-comics and zine festival that takes place in Athens GA USA every spring.  I love it.  I think this is year twelve of the show.  I think I've been to maybe seven of them?  I like it so much that when I don't go I have Henry Eudy drop in by parachute to write a report about it for file under other.  (Or maybe he drives there?  I forget logistics.)  The point that I am trying to make with this opening paragraph is that Fluke is great.  I love it.  You love it.  We love it. 

I love Fluke so much that I requested to have off from work the Friday before the show months in advance so that I could drive down before the show and enjoy Athens.  This request was denied.  So, I had to leave after work and drive in the rain all Friday night showing up in town sometime in the Saturday AM.  Same as always.

The way you (and by you, I mean I) get to Athens GA from southwest VA is to drive to Kingsport, TN then get on Interstate 26 and take it through the Carolinas then on into Georgia.  I'd like to take a moment to talk with you about the abomination that is Interstate 26.  

I once read a book about traveling through Mongolia and post Soviet Russia and how terrible the roads were.  As in there were not any roads.  I'm assuming it was a lot like Interstate 26.  Calling Interstate 26 an "interstate" is the most flattering lie I could direct at Interstate 26.  Interstate 26 is a nightmare.  It is driving for three hours on road so bumpy that you have to keep telling yourself over and over that you do not have a flat tire.  Yet.  How do people in North Carolina live like this?  If you drive that road more than once a week I assure you that you are living with a constant concussion and you are most likely brain damaged right now.  Brain damage being the only thing I can imagine that has prevented every single citizen of North Carolina from marching on their state capital and demanding that Interstate 26 be improved and/or just murdering everyone in the building. 

Sections of I-26 have sings that read "Future".  They have said this for years and years.  The future is never going to come to North Carolina.  I guess the future can't happen everywhere.

Eventually, I made it to Interstate 85 and headed on into Georgia.  Touching tires to asphalt on I-85 after hours on I-26 is like arriving at Disney World after a days long journey.  I can only imagine what it must feel like for pilgrims to arrive at Mecca but I'm guessing the elation is much like that moment when you realize that all of I-26 is behind you. 

This concludes the Interstate Highway System review portion of the report. 

Around 12:20 or 1:30 AM (some time with a 30 in it) I finally arrived that the home of cartoonist extraordinaire and Fluke organizer Patrick Dean.  Patrick had graciously offered me couch space to I took him up on it as I am cheap and don't like sleeping outside. I presented my host with a collection of Werewolf by Night comics as is the custom.  Patrick gave me the tour of his lovely home.  He has some very impressive original art but I mainly looked at his kids' toys. We then talked about Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko for a while.  Again, as is the custom.

The next morning everyone got up and I met Patrick's wife and kids.  Patrick's son showed me his toys.  We had a nice breakfast and then it was time to get out there and make Fluke happen.  Patrick lives a few minutes outside of Athens and I enjoyed the drive into town.  The non-Atlanta parts of Georgia are very pretty.  Trees, ponds, ducks, covered bridges, Waffle Houses with giant bulldogs painted on the side... it's nice.

We went to Kroger and picked up a giant cake for the show.  As is the custom.

This is 40 Watt Club around 9 AM before the Fluking starts.

We got to the 40 Watt Club around 9 AM and met up with Fluke organizer, writer, editor, publisher, retired pod-caster and all round swell fellow Robert Newsome.  This is a good two hours before the show starts but there were already a few exhibitors waiting to get into the show.  Which is odd, because Fluke adopted a pre-show registration process last year so these guys knew they had a table.  But, who am I to question their enthusiasm?   I drove six hours in the rain.

At 9 AM on a Saturday, 40 Watt Club is an empty place.  It was strange to be in a bar in the AM and not be intoxicated.  I pressed on. Robert and Patrick's friends showed up to help set up for the show.  They included Joey Weiser, Michele Chidester, Drew Weing, David Mack and maybe some other people I apologize for forgetting.  In my mind, I call this group of people Athens Force and when I think the words "Athens Force" I see it in my mind in the font from the cover logo of  Atari Force.  They showed up to help load in the tables but the tables were not there yet.  Drama!
Not really.  The tables showed up a little while after 9:30.  We probably had them set up and ready for Fluking by 10.

Somewhere previously in that last paragraph, I should have mentioned that while we waited for the tables two fun things happened.  1) Patrick Dean went to Waffle House to get a knife to cut the Fluke Cake but he also bought and ate a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit because he felt it was the polite thing to do.
2)  Robert Newsome played with the Fluke megaphone.  Fluke has a megaphone.

This is Michele Chidester using sorceress powers to make a cake appear. (She did not really use sorceress powers to make it appear.  Patrick Dean bought it from a grocery store bakery. I saw it happen.  Both Michele and Patrick may have sorcery based powers but I'm pretty sure the cake was just eggs, flour, sugar and whatever else goes into cakes.  What does go into cakes?  I honestly have no idea.  (It's probably sorcery.)

This is the stage of 40 Watt Club.  Famous people have performed music on that stage.  I have never seen that happen.  I have seen people buy, trade and read minicomics and zines in a rock club though.

This is Robert Newsome harassing complete strangers with a Megaphone.  (He totally knows who those people are but the thought of him harassing strangers is funnier.)

 It was my understanding that the Earth revolves around the sun so the appearance of sunshine moving is just an illusion.  But, since these guys have an exact street address of where the sunshine has moved, I may be wrong.

Tables hungry for Fluking.

The line was backed up all the way to where the sunshine had moved.

At 10 AMish, exhibitors were allowed into the show to set up.  This is great because a lot of the exhibitors are my long time pals.  It only takes a few minutes to set up so that leaves some time to socialize.  As soon as Henry Eudy came through the door I flagged him down and asked if he wanted to share a table with me.  This is because I love him.
He said yes.
We used his cool Halloween skull tablecloth to cover our table.  It looked nice.

This is my table setup.  Kinda orange. 

After the tables were set up, the knife was acquired and Patrick ate his biscuit, the non-exhibitor patron type people were welcomed in at 11 AM and Fluke was on.

Also at 11 AM, 40 Watt Club's bar opened.  I believe I was the first customer.  I ordered Jim Beam with Ginger Ale.  Five bucks and a tip.  It was good. 

This is me making a face at Henry Eudy. (Image stolen from Henry Eudy.)

This is Henry Eudy (the world's most dangerous man) making a face at me.

 Robert Newsome.  The longest reigning The Atomic Elbow Professional Wrestling Zine World Heavyweight Champ of the modern era.

This is Robert Newsome yelling at my shoes with a megaphone.  (He is not really yelling at my shoes but, again, made up stuff is funnier.)  (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

Now there are people in Fluke doing Fluke things.  I see Rich Tommaso, J. Chris Campbell and Jason Horn.  We are doing Fluke y'all!   (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

This is Adam Daughhetee doing Adam Daughhetee things.  (Image stolen from Fluke.) 
Adam and Shawn Daughhetee had the new Dollar Bin comics zine thing and it looked great.  It contains an Adam Rose pin-up by me.  You should track them down and buy 12 copies. 

That is Eleanor Davis on the right being tall and awesome. (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

Yes, David Mack and Joey Weiser would like some cake. (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

Fluke does not have an awards show or panels.  Fluke has cake.  I think we started eating the cake around noon.  

It was probably also around noon that Patrick's wife showed up with more biscuits from Waffle House.  Patrick ate them.

Henry Eudy's cake kind of fell apart.  He cried for a while and then murdered all of us.  (No, he did not murder us.  But again, made up stuff is funny and murder is hilarious.)  (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

That is Adam Casey doing Adam Casey things. (Image stolen from Fluke.) 

 This is people Fluking.

The show had a good crowd.  All of the tables were sold out in one day of registration so we knew the room would be full.  I think the walk up non-cartoonist attendance was steady.  Not the most shoppers I've seen at Fluke but it was a rainy day and the day before Easter.  I didn't sell as much as I have in the past but a lot of the business you do at a show like this is with other cartoonists and I did not have anything new on my table that the folks that I already knew had not already picked up.  I was also out of what have been my two best selling comics so I guess I need to re-print those and finish some new stuff right now.

 Here is a picture I took from one of Henry Eudy's sketchbooks.  I think it is great.

Henry Eudy seemed to do very well.  Henry's table is a good example of my multiple price points philosophy in action.  Henry had small prints and comics in an affordable price range.  And his stuff looks great.  His bigger prints with their bold colors seemed to bring folks over and the smaller stuff gave them something to walk away with.

I didn't ask anyone about sales or numbers but Rich Tommaso seemed to be very busy.  He had a solid variety of Recoil books on his table.  The all look great.  Picking up some stuff from Rich was one of the main things on my to-do list.  So I did.

Other things on my to-do list included getting whatever Drew Weing and Eleanor Davis had to offer and getting anything that Patrick Dead had that I was missing from my collection.  I did those things and it was good.

I really was not focused on selling. I was mainly there to talk to my comics friends and see what was new.  I talked to J. Chris Campbell about Brad McGitny.  I talked to Rich Tommaso about Patrick Dean.  I talked to Drew Weing about Margo Maloo.  I talked to Robert Newsome about Jimmy Valiant.  I talked to a lot of people about wrestling.  A lot of people talked to me about how rad my Brad McGinty t-shirt was.  I regretted not talking as much as I wanted to to many other people.  (Sorry bros.  Get at me at HeroesCon.)

 This is Patrick Dean announcing that Fluke has cake for people to eat.  I really should have put this picture up above the pictures of people eating the cake but get your own blog and don't tell me what to do. Maybe try tumblr.  All the kids love tumblr.

Here are more Fluke people.  I'm pretty sure I've known everyone in this picture for about a decade but I don't know any of their names.  (I know some of their names but, again, comedy.)

Here is another picture that looks almost the same as the other pictures I took from behind my table.  Walking around and taking pictures honestly never occurred to me.  Professional photo journalists just stand in one spot and wait for something exciting to happen right?  Well, that's what I did.

The dude on the left is me and the dude on the right is my pal writer and former co-worker Todd O'Brien.  The last time I saw him was a previous Fluke show about 5 years ago.  He grew a beard.  And a hat.  Maybe he bought the hat.  I didn't ask.  Look, if anyone can grow a hat, it's that guy.

After Fluke we all went to the Bizzaro-Wuxtry comics shop.  As is the custom.  It is great.  You should go there.  They have at least one of everything.  Also, Devlin, the gentleman that runs the shop, bought copies of Fluke peoples' minicomic and zines to sell in the shop.  Go there now.  I several different minicomics on sell there right now.  Right now!

This is Robert Newsome playing with a Hulk toy at Bizzaro-Wuxtry.  I thought about cropping out that bending over dude's back but whatever.  When I put this picture on my facebook page it wanted me to "tag" all of those masks because it thought they were all real peoples' faces.  Ha hah hah!  The joke is on you Zuckerberg!  You may be worth a billion dollars but that website you "invented" that is just MySpace with the customization features turned off does not know the difference between a Sylvester the Cat mask and a human being!

We eventually left Bizzaro and headed out looking for some dinner.  I was super hungry having eaten only breakfast, cake and some tic-tacs.  Patrick was starving having only eaten at least breakfast, cake and three bacon egg and cheese biscuits.  Robert, Patrick, my pall Todd and I ended up at Yummy Pho where we found Rich Tommaso, his girlfriend and another fellow to whom I apologize for not remembering his name.  I ordered grilled pork.  It was great.  Robert and Patrick ordered these huge bowls of crazy Vietnamese noodles.  These bowls were the size of bowls you would use if you were going to make a large quantity of food that would then be served in several smaller bowls to several people.  They ate it all and did not die.  I was impressed.

Yummy Pho was very good and very affordable.  I recommend it.  I wish I was there eating right now. (Even though Robert Newsome thinks that adults should not say the word "yummy".  I kinda agree with him.  Maybe mothers can say the word yummy to their own children but a grown man should probably never say it unless talking specifically about a Vietnamese restaurant with the word "yummy" in its name or Chester Brown comics.)

This is a picture of the stuff I got at Fluke.  Actually, I got other things but those were for my kids and they took those things before I took this picture. 

After dinner and a stop in a record store (it was record store day) it was time to say my sad farewells and head back to Virginia.  Huge enormous thank-yous to Patrick Dean and his family for having me.  Thanks to Robert and everyone else for hanging out and having a swell time.  I miss you all already.  Let's do it again. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too now.  I guess it's a law or something.