Comic-Con: Day 5
Monday July 24, 2006 • Howard Tayler
So the Blank Label Comics team is sitting in a restaurant with Eisner Award-winner Scott Kurtz, and the appetizers show up. Kurtz and Willis have pot-stickers in front of them, and the rest of us are just shooting the bull eating our plates of nothing patiently. Willis looks down at his last potsticker like it's a dead mouse or something, and Kellet says something along the lines of "if you're not going to eat that potsticker, just say so." Willis: "What's a potsticker?" Kellet: "That thing in front of you." Willis: "But Scott and I ordered the lobster." And now the hilarity ensues. Willis didn't order potstickers at all. Straub did. And Straub sat there very patiently, very non-confrontationally, and watched Willis eat his entire order of appetizers while wondering why the lobster came packaged as if it were a sausage-stuffed asian pastry. I don't think I've ever laughed that hard at a friend's expense. Willis not only didn't know what lobster was like (excusable) but didn't know how to tell the difference between lobster and potstickers. He told me I could post this. Hopefully he'll post something about it too. Social gaffes like these must be exorcised, lest you find yourself dreaming that you're at the mall naked without your homework, and you've just eaten all your friend's food. The convention today? Meh. It was another day of hard work. I met some new fans and friends, ate cheap food at great expense, and then tore down and packed up our booth with the help of some of the finest people this industry has to offer. I think I grossed almost half a month's pay, which probably means that I netted about a week's pay. It took a little more than a week to do it, so your garden-variety bean-counter would call it a wash. There's no substitute for being at this event, though. I'm glad I came. I'll be glad to get home tomorrow. I've got a twelve hour drive ahead of me, and I can hardly wait to get started. First, however, sleep...
