mikekn

My most favorite artist has a new book coming out. It has been a long time coming and its release has been pushed back several times, so it help make up for it they have put a 200 page preview of the entire book on-line.

Last Saturday I went to the Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda. I like to go when ever I can to try and find new and interesting books that are outside the mainstream. My last visit was two years ago, so I was hoping to find a good bit of new stuff as well as catch up on some books I picked up last time. I did well on the new stuff front, but not so good on the old stuff - most of the folks I was hoping to see were not there this year. Still, good time was had :)

( The Swag (images - 315k) )

ETA: Not shown are the four t-shirts I also got there. I would have only gotten three but the one was $5 and came with a free t-shirt...

I've mentioned this webcomic to a few people, so I thought I should put a link up for it. Daily, fun and twisted.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
( Two of the comics )

I'm addicted to web comics. In addition to the 27 comic I read through LJ, I also read another dozen that don't have LJ feeds.

You can see which ones are on my LJ easily enough, but my favorite there are: Girl Genius, Narbonic, Something Positive, Order of the Stick, Sinfest and Sluggy Freelance.

The non-LJ comics I read are: Questionable Content, Devil's Panties, Wapsi Square, Scary Go Round, PartiallyClips, Little Dee, Bruno the Bandit, A Softer World, Geebas on Parade, Girls with Slingshots, and Crap I Drew on My Lunch Break. I also keep an eye on Queen of Wands in case Aeire starts up something new.

So what other web comics should I be checking out?

I technically got stuff done, just not as much or what ( I planned on. )

So, when last we spoke I had a few things to work on and a few things planned.  Let's see how it worked out...

( The week in review )

( The plans ahead )

( 10 Things list )

Went down to Bethesda for the Small Press Expo.  Turns out this was their 10th convention.  I was at the first two or three, way back when.  It's gotten a lot bigger since then, but with fewer publishers and more folks publishing their own stuff.

Since I've got this big stack of books, I figure I'll go through them and make you all jealous ;)

( The details )

Well it's noon, and I'm still the only one in the office...  Admittedly, it doesn't take much for this office to be empty - there are only four of us here most days, and one of them is never in this early.

So, let's see ( what's new...  )

( Last week )

Today:  violet_amy has her class again, so I'll be home alone.  I'll probably try to catch up on some EK History stuff, since I won't get my usual Thursday this week.

( This week )

Yes!  Steve Jackson is releasing "Get Nifty!" a card game based on the Sluggy Freelance comic.  This is cool, not only because I like the comic and I like Steve's games (although this one is not designed by him), but I've actually played the game already.  Pete and the designer, Rob Balder, first introduced it at Ubercon I, back in Feb '03.  At the time they had no publisher, just a design and a few sets they'd made.  Well, it turns out that Steve Jackson was also a guest of the con, and attended their game session.  After hearing them present the game (and asking some good questions) he joined a bunch of us in trying it out.  My friend Neale and I got into the same game with Steve, which was cool to begin with, but then I went and beat him :)  (but it did take some help from Neale)  I'm glad he went on to publish the game.

This was also the same con where Neale got to play Pictionary with Phil Foglio (very cool) and where we first saw the Gamers movie.  The rest of the con was pretty small, the dealer's room was tiny, and we only day tripped, so we missed getting snowed in by the blizzard, but its highlights more then made up for it.

I think I'll have to go back there this year.

You hear folks talk about the "Holy Grail" of collectibles - always some hard to find item that everyone is looking for.  Every collecting hobby seems to have one, although for some collectors it's a more personal item (your "Holy Grail" may not be the same as mine, even though we collect the same stuff).  Thankfully, as if from the Monty Python movie there is usually more then one out there, so several of us can posses it at once.  ("No thanks, we've already got one...")

In terms of Elfquest collecting, I always considered Fantasy Quarterly #1 to be the Holy Grail.  It's the first appearance of the comic, and can be fairly hard to find.  It's a nice piece and something every EQ collector wants to get.  Not every collector agrees with me, but that's ok.

( The Questing Beast - w/images )

As a side note, I'm looking forward to The Searcher and the Sword: