SPX Rewind
What to say that hasn't already been said about SPX this past weekend? It was a blast and I'm so happy that I got to spend some time with such amazing people. How about a photo recap?




When we got to the hotel, the woman behind the desk told Colleen that they had placed the crib in the room already. We were thrilled, assuming that they had either left us in charge of a baby or very small monkey. Needless to say we were a bit disappointed when we found out that Colleen had just mistaken the "Reserve Crib" button for "Reserve Roll-Away Bed" button. Or she's trying to tell us something. I'm just glad that we didn't have to fit three people in that crib, it would have been a bit uncomfortable.


Colleen wound up choosing the short straw and wasn't too happy about the sleeping arrangements.


Lucky for her, Carol is SO nice that she graciously offered to swap for the closet floor. The crib did lead us to discover that there were at least a dozen places that we would be able to fit people in the room if need be.


Marriott has surprisingly comfy bathtubs.

Thursday night we decided to order room service, which was so bad that I wound up complaining and getting it comped.


Things started to look up the next morning when we were joined at our breakfast table by tiny dinosaurs!


Friday at the convention was a bit slow, so David made up an agenda to keep us busy.


My favorite agenda activity had to be 5 minutes of Clown Nose Wearing. It just so happened to coincide with a group of middle-schoolers passing by our table in search of comics. They loved it, but were a little confused as to why they were only supposed to wear the noses for five minutes.


Were jumping jacks even on the agenda?


Heather and Ben stopped by the table to give us puppet hugs and interview Colleen for their webiste.


Followed by pushups in the aisle.

On Friday night we stopped by Robin's room for the Nerdlinger Awards, where awards of beer were given to deserving artists that may not have otherwise received recognition at the Ignatz. It was lovely! I believe Colleen got the award for best moustache in a comic. We stopped at the bar downstairs for a while and then I called it a night. Being awake is exhausting.


Saturday's agenda was a bit ignored, however Cristi and I did buy hula hoops which was a lot of fun.


Speaking of Cristi, did I mention that she is not Jeph?


This is Jeph. Sporting the new Ghost & Crossbones wristband!

Saturday's convention turned out to be great. The place was packed and people were more enthusiastic about buying comics and Colleen's hot-ass shirts. There are some photos from the second day floating around in here, along with other weird things that didn't quite make the cut.

After David graciously accepted the Ignatz award for Perry Bible Fellowship on behalf of Nicholas Gurewitch, we hung out at the reception long enough to shove some food in our faces.


David Malki ! and Colleen Venable


Liz Baillie, Robin Enrico and Pat Lewis (Liz, if you're reading this, sorry for the weird photo. I just love Robin's expression in the background! Say the word and it's gone)


Matt Hawkins, Katie Skelly and Robin


Andy Runton, Katie and MK Reed

Ok, for the next series of photos to make sense, a little background will help. At the Nerdlinger Awards ceremony, Pat excitedly asked how many cherry tomatoes I thought he could fit in his mouth. My guess was 13. Clearly I've never tried to shove cherry tomatoes in my mouth, so I was a bit sad to find out that it was only five. Matt Hawkins seemed to think that he could beat Pat's record, so I approached Pat and Matt with the challenge at the reception. It didn't take much coaxing before people started shoveling handfuls of cherry tomatoes into their mouths.


Matt Hawkins begins the cherry tomato shoving contest, I believe he got six or seven Eight!


Colleen is happy to match Pat's record with five.


Jeph also comes in with a rousing eight tomatoes. He was the only contestant to successfully swallow all of the tomatoes after the contest!


David wins the tomato shoving contest by a landslide with 11 cherry tomatoes!


Matt didn't seem too pleased with his number and decided to hold a carrot stick shoving contest against himself.


He won.

As the contests ended, our party moved on to Katie-oke at a Korean karaoke bar. Luckily I avoided riding in the Rap Van (they turned out to be great guys) and shared a ride with MK, Matt, Robin and Katie. It was a good choice, since I wound up being initiated into the Matt Hawkins fan club. My gang name is Knife Fight. Better than Robin's, Dysentary.


Katie and I belt it out at Katie-oke


Zane, Jeph, "Rape-van", Robin and Colleen take a ride on the Crazy Train


I believe Jeph and Malki! sang Enter Sandman, but there's a 98% that I'm wrong. Anyone?


Hands...touching hands...reaching out...touching me...touching youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

The photos end at Sunday breakfast.


Tiger attacks pepper. Malki! unaffected.

There are more tales, but perhaps they are best untold. Although you can read Pat's report here and view Colleen's photos here, starting on page 2.