SPX 09 REPORT PART 02 :: Attack of the Return of the Hotel Room (Redux)
CONTINUED FROM HERE
So the next morning we dragged out of bed and down to the convention center, where we wisely decided not to eat breakfast until like 4pm or so. By "wisely" I mean "super-stupidly", at least in my case. My little skinny body starts eating itself 20 minutes after my last meal, and having the residue of a previous night's party in there doesn't help. But anyway.
Guys let me tell you: Scott Campbell is a joy to sit next to at a convention. I don't want to turn this into a Scott C. lovefest or anything, but hey would that be so bad? I don't think I've ever heard him say a bad thing about anyone, he's just uniformly sweet to every single person in the world, it's incredible. Being around him, you just want to be sweet too, y'know? Like "how can I let this dumb stuff bother me when Scott is over there grinning like a lunatic and calling everyone 'my bro'?"
And all sorts of people would come up to our table to meet him, from hot ladies to giggling schoolgirls to worshipping video game types to people with ideas for how Scott could make them money--he treated every one of them as if they were the only person at the convention, as if it were the first time someone had complimented his work. My favorite time was when this beauuuuuuuutiful girl named "Ariel" (when I signed a sketch to her she said "like the Disney Princess" and I was quick to point out that I was no authority on Disney Princesses), went up to Scott and said "Hi I'm Ariel I basically Internet-stalk you." Without hesitation Scott says "Oh awesome, that's great my bro!" I love him.
It didn't hurt that so many people would come up to meet him and have to wait sometimes, allowing me to proselytize them to my own dark ends. I'm sure that about 1/3 of the money I made at SPX is directly related to Scott. Do I feel guilty? No way my bro, no way.
After a semi-delicious but fully fun dinner, we just barely missed the Ignatz Awards, but were just in time for all the merrymaking afterwards. Drink tickets are the best tickets, my friends, oh yes. Me and Scott and Kate hooked up with new bro David Huyck, forming the nucleus of another adventuresome evening. Our buddy Jah Furry told us about some legendary hotel suite party, which sounded pretty exciting, like it must be the big fancy brother of our own previous night's hotel room party. But it was not--as soon as we showed up, we were immediately shushed, like "Hi, my name is Dusti*SSSHHHHHHHH!!*" Super lame, but as the rest of our group bailed, me and Matt Wiegle were just having delicious beverages poured by Jah/Jeff, and it would have been lame to bail with our new drinks. So we hung out for a little bit, enduring shushes every time the conversation hit half the decibel level of a ladyfart. Heidi MacDonald was there and I chatted with her for a little about con gossip, and then we beat feet as soon as we could. Guess what was going on back in our room, shushless?
Super good night, for sure. Chris Duffy introduced me to Bob Sikoryak, he of Masterpiece Comics fame, and in my late-night state I'm afraid I might have gushed a little bit (a lot) about his comics. He's probably the best comics technician working today, and I'm super psyched to read his book. The Saturday night party did draw two noise complaints, which isn't so bad considering that at one point there were probably between 20 and 25 people in the room, including Heidi, who snuck out of the shush party in disguise:
Around 2am, Kate announced she was going to take "a little nap", and curled up on the bed where she lay unmoving for the next two hours of party. She is like Rip Van Beaton for sure, let me tell you, because that party got loud. But the cool thing about it was that--again--the group was so good that you could go to sleep there and not worry about anything. No one was macking on anyone, no one was stealing anything, it was just a bunch of good friends happy to see each other and meet more new good friends. Definitely the vibe of the show if you ask me; and if you've read to the bottom of this, then you basically have. Haw! Tricked you!
Okay, just one more installment to go for tomorrow, and then all doneski. I'll be trying to whip up a related comic this weekend, but we'll see how that goes. Past experience says I'll be late. SO WHAT?!
Complete Flickr photoset
Report Part 01