Oh, the Small Press Expo. I love it so much, and this year, my second year going, is already shaping up to be better than that last. It makes such a huge difference to be the one behind the table instead of in front of it. Last year I walked the floor, and awkwardly tried trading my comics with others, embarrassed of my work when compared to the awesome work that was there. I felt like a nobody. No confidence whatsoever.

This year, all different. I mean, I still admit, I’m not well known yet, but just being behind the table, it amped up my self-confidence to level 11! I felt like I COULD go up to other exhibitors and talk to them and show them my books because I am now one of them. That, and in the past year I have made 7 high quality minicomics compared to the mere two sub-par ones I had last year. That was a nice realization, to see how much I’ve grown in a short year.

I didn’t leave my table at all during day one, so I didn’t get to walk the floor to see what was around, but from what I saw it was very good and I will have an awesome time tomorrow getting awesome minis and books. I will also be much poorer, but whatever. Today I made enough to pay for my table and that was my goal money-wise for the show, so go me!

Drunk karaoke was awesome. Jon Chad and I sang an off-key drunken rendition of We Built This City on Rock and Roll. It was almost like old times. It was really good seeing him again. It’s sad not seeing him around Savannah anymore, but I guess that’s why we have conventions like these, to reconnect with old friends.

I know I name dropped a lot in this comic, but I don’t care. Sometimes I need an ego boost like this. Today I felt really validated as a cartoonist. Like I actually belong in this community. I hope tomorrow is even BETTER!

Tags: boxcar joe, bryan lee o'malley, drunk, ghost car press, hey pais, hope larson, john campbell, karaoke, kochalka, minicomics, pranas, sara bauer, spx, zak & sara

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.