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I was invited to I-CON 23 on Long Island, New York, at the Stony Brook University Campus. Overall it was an enjoyable experience. The following is a genral recap of the weekend.
Friday:
We left my apartment around 2am Friday morning. Ellen and I were going to carpool with our friend Kei for the long drive to Long Island. So 2am rolls around and Kei shows up, and Ellen frantically tries to pull me away from playing Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow multiplayer. It was a difficult task, I'm sure, and I longed for the game for the entire weekend.
We loaded up the Chevy Tahoe with boxes of shirts and posters, because it was my intention to set up a stationary post at the con to sell stuff and greet fans. More on this later. Five minutes after we were on the road, I laid down in the back seat to go to sleep. I drifted off the sounds of an Eddie Izzard CD.
Sometime around god-knows-how-fucking-early in the morning, I was awoken to Ellen jabbing me in the ribs. It was my turn to drive. So I groggilly exited the vehicle and switched places with an over-tired and headache plagued Kei. I climbed into the driver's seat of this huge mechanical beast, and immediately felt out of place. You have to understand- I drive a little red sportscar. This Tahoe was a galaxy-sized brick of metal. It had the acceleration of a wet sock and the turn radius of a fucking planet. And it was automatic. Thankfully, I was still too tired to gripe, and I headed back to the highway. Once we were moving on a main road again, I turned to Ellen to ask where we were, and where I needed to head next. She replied, quite matter-of-factly "I don't know. We're lost. I seem to have misplaced the Delaware Memorial bridge".
We were off to a wonderful start.
So we took Interstate 95 and met up with the New Jersey turnpike about halfway, instead of catching it at the beginning like we had planned. No big deal. The next few hours of the trip were relatively uneventful, aside from chronic sleepiness, a single restroom pit stop, and the entire spanse of crap on land known as New Jersey. I will never know what combination of factories and burning shit heaps creates the smell that emanates from New Jersey, I can assure you that I never want access to that particular tidbit of information.
We made our way to the Long Island Expressway, and of course, as our luck for the weekend would dictate, we hit an immediate forty-five minute delay. And we then experienced our first taste of lovely New York hospitality. Now don't get me wrong. I love New York. My best friend is from Brooklyn. But you cannot deny that the majority of the city has the attitude of a badger with a stick up its ass. But I digress.
Fast forward to 11am, and ignoring the bit where I got lost on 5th Avenue, I finally pull us into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn. Tired and hungry, we all trudge into the lobby. I approach the front desk, and give my name, hoping for a swift check-in, and a bed to crash on for a few hours before the convention starts. Instead, I'm met with a puzzled look and a "We have no room under your name". This was very curious to me, as I was a guest of the convention. I later learn that there was a mixup with the paperwork and my room was never booked, or cancelled by accident, or something of that nature.
Kei, however, did in fact have a room, and so Ellen and I would just crash with her for the weekend. But of course, at 11am, the room was not ready yet. This was also curious, because as a guest of past conventions, rooms are usually booked for the Thursday night before the con, so that you can get some sleep and get to the con well rested. This was what we were counting on by getting there so early in the day. Whatever though.
So with a few hours to kill, I decided I needed to put food in my stomach. As Kei and Ellen were debating the nutritional value of a McDonald's cheeseburger versus a Pop-Tart, I headed into the hotel restaraunt. We sat down for breakfast, practically the only ones in the room. I, being a huge fan of french toast, ordered their specialty- Cinnamon bun french toast. Hey, sounded good at the time. Ellen and Kei both ordered plates with eggs and bacon and other such mundane foodery.
As soon as I had polished off my breakfast, my stomach decided that the most recent delivery was not up to par, and I immediately felt sick. Tired, and now fed but nautious, I decided to go pass out in the back seat of the Tahoe until the room was ready.
Wake up some time later to Ellen, again jabbing me in the ribs. The room was ready, so we dragged our stuff to the hotel, and we all promptly went to sleep. On beds, this time. I couldn't tell you exactly how long we slept for. I actually did not have any panels, or any obligations at all for that matter, on Friday. It is entirely possible that Kei missed one of her panels though. Oh well.
Fast forward again through some boring stuff (waiting for the girls to get ready, etc etc) we arrive, finally, at Stony Brook Campus, for the convention, which at this point in the evening had been underway for a few hours. We made our way to the dealers room, to acquire our tables upon which we had planned to place goods to sell. And stuff.
Quick backstory here: Kei is a former employee of a rather popular Anime company. When it was discovered that the head of this company was a total fucking prick, she, and many others left the company. Kei proceeded to start her own business, the business which she was at I-CON to promote.
When we reached the dealer registration table, some cockburn in a cowboy hat very rudely told us that because Kei's former company had cancelled their appearance at I-CON, and Kei's name had been on the list of attendees with said former company, that they had gone and cancelled HER table. If you followed that at all, congratulations to you. So anyway, we left the presence of King Watermelon-head, in search of the person in charge of the Anime track, in hopes of sorting out this little misunderstanding. We made a quick stop to grab our convention badges (mine was a yellow ribbon that said 'Guest' but it got me into the Green Room for free food all weekend.)
We finally tracked down the head of the anime department, who turned out to be a very nice girl, and who said she would definitely go down at talk to the dealers registration and get things sorted out. Kei began conversating, and Ellen and I partook of the pizza and beverage in the green room. We then decided to take a walk, and check out some of the dealers room. I headed over and said hello to my friends Matt and Brianna from ConnectiCon and my friend Mookie. Matt and Brianna also mentioned their intention to crash in my hotel room, as had been past convention tradition. Since I, via paperwork mishap, did not in fact have my own room, I had to make sure it was ok with everyone for them to crash with us. The hotel room was getting smaller by the minute.
As we were walking the dealer's room, I got stopped by a fan who recognized me, either by face or by my CAD logo t-shirt. He asked if I had a table where I was selling my stuff, and I explained to him that there was a problem with the table and I probably wouldn't have one until Saturday, and that he should look for it then. He told me that Friday was the only day he could get there, and that he had come specifically to see me. I felt so bad. Sorry dude.
Anyway, the dealers room closed shortly after that, and Ellen and I were still pretty tired so we decided to head back to the hotel. Kei wanted to stick around a bit, so we took the Tahoe and left. And we got lost. Again. So tired and frustrated, we finally made it back to our room, where Kei was waiting for us (we had taken so long with our scenic route, she had beaten us back there). There were a couple of friends in the room, so we all sat around for an hour or so talking and joking about stuff. About twenty minutes after we finally turned out the lights and settled into bed, Matt and Brianna knocked on the door. I don't know how it started... someone said something. I'm sure of that much. Suddenly we were launched into a conversation so strange (the first of many that weekend) and so utterly hilarious, that none of us slept. Before we knew it, it was 4:00am. Thank god I didn't have any panels first thing in the morning.
Saturday:
Wake up bright and early around.. shit I forget.. maybe 11:00am? Perhaps a little bit earlier. Anyway, by the time we got to the campus, it wasn't quite time for my first panel, but Kei had to launch right into a "How to Draw" session, and Ellen was scheduled to assist. That left me with not much to do at the moment. I was expecting my best friend, Toby to show up. He's originally from New York, and was driving down from Cape Cod, MA (my place of birth) to attend the convention. I hadn't seen him since I moved down to Virginia, so I was pretty psyched to hang out with him. But knowing Toby, noon was far too early for him to be awake. So I decided I would head down to the dealers room and chat with some friends, and see how our table situation was working out. By now Jasmine must have talked to Dealer's Registration and gotten things worked out. So I slowly made my way in that direction, socializing along the way. As I approached the table. I was greeted by none other than Cowboy-hat Jerk. As politely I could, I requested information about Kei's table, and as rudely as he could, he explained to me that Kei's table had been cancelled, no one had gone to sort things out, and now they had given away the last of the tables.
Wonderful
I was in no mood to deal with him, and at this point it was just about time for my first panel of the weekend, about turning a web comic into a profit. Most of the fellow web comic artists I was on the panel with, I had never even spoken to before. I was familiar with their comics, of course. Randal Keith Milholland of Something Positive, John Rosenburg of Goats, J.D. Frazer of User Friendly and more. My friend Rob Balder of Partially Clips was there as well. Brian Clevinger cancelled for some reasons that I'm not aware of.
So Ellen and I headed over to the building where my panel was. The turnout was incredible. I mean, we packed these rooms. I'll say right now, the panels were easily the best part of the weekend. The fans were great, the discussions were great, I had a lot of fun. Meeting the other web comic authors was a great experience as well. They were all really great people. So the first panel went well. The hour flew by, and then it was time to
clear the room for the next panel. I stuck around for a short while after the panel to sign autographs, answer questions, take pictures and just hang out and talk. A lot of people were wondering where my table was, so I had to explain that there was a miscommunication, and that I didn't have one yet. But I insisted that I would have one soon, thus making myself look like a total idiot.
Anyway, I walked with Ellen back over to the building where Kei was doing her panels (she had like twelve hours of panels. Insane!) and hung out with her there for a bit. I used her cell phone to try and get in touch with Toby, to see where he was (I had inadvertantly left my cell phone charger at home, so my phone was dead by this point. I had to keep borrowing Ellen's). After playing a bit of phone message tag with Toby, I finally talked to him and found out he had been on campus for a while looking for me, but lo and behold- I had no table or other form of stationary post at which I could set up shop. So I gave him direction to where I was.
I left Ellen to help Kei with her string of panels, and went to meet Toby. I spotted him out the window walking towards the building, so I quickly got into position. As he walked through the door we engaged in an age-old greeting ritual- I, leaping out from my concealed spot in an attempt to startle him, and he, whipping his water bottle at my person, blasting me in the hand causing a loud crack from my thumb. Thankfully it wasn't my drawing hand.
Toby had brought his girlfriend, Dara, whom I had never met before. She turned out to be a wonderful person. At least Toby can do something right. Hehe.
I walked with them back to Ellen, to do hello's and introductions, etc. She also hadn't seen Toby since I moved to Virginia, so we spent a few minutes chatting as a group. Ellen couldn't leave the panel however, and Toby, as he always is, was hungry. So I decided to wander the convention with him and Dara for a bit, get some grub and just hang out until my next panel. Once we got into the dealers room, I was getting stopped left and right by
people asking me where my table was, and to each of them I had to explain the whole situation. Terribly fun. But it's always a blast meeting fans, and they all turned out to exceptionally cool
My next and final panel for the day was "How web comics reflect geek", which was basically about how geek culture is portrayed in web comics. Pretty much the same line-up as before, and again, a very entertaining panel. And absolutely packed. Ellen amused herself as well. She was sitting with me at all of my panels, and they give us a pitcher of water and cups. While I was talking away about numerous things, Ellen managed to surgically dissect a styrofoam cup into four equal rings, and then stack them
back together. I managed to stop her before she poured water into the cup.
After the panel, I did the regular meet and greet thing, and this time, when everyone asked me where my table was, I said screw it. I offered to anyone who wanted to pick up a t-shirt or poster to follow Ellen and I out to the Tahoe in the parking lot for the goods. If I-CON didn't want to give me a table, I'd just sell out of the back of the truck in a parking lot, ghetto-style.
So there we were, Ellen, myself and a good dozen and a half CAD fans trekking across the campus towards the car (of course the car was as far away from the panel building as you could get). Along the way I decided that everyone who was making this walk just to buy some CAD merchandise would get a free set of signed posters. So about ten minutes later when we got to the Tahoe, we popped the hatch and I sat there signing and handing out posters. When that was done, I started selling shirts, digging through boxes for the sizes and colors people wanted. Nobody minded though, and I got to hang out with some really cool people. Everyone got their stuff, everyone was happy.
It was at this point that I had realized that I had totally forgetten about Toby (he had been sitting in on the panel). In all of the excitement and rush of ther after-panel activities, I had just left. Doh.
I called him up to see what he was up to. Earlier in the day Ellen, Kei, and I, a couple of our friends, and Rob Balder and a couple of his friend, had discussed the idea of heading to Dave and Buster's that evening (for those of you that don't know, Dave and Buster's is a huge bar/restaurant/arcade chain). I asked Toby and Dara if they wanted to tag along, but they had a long drive back into New York city, and it was getting late. So I said my goodbyes,and Toby took off. I rounded everyone up, and we left for D&B.
Fast forward to Dave and Buster's. Ellen and I were pretty damned hungry at this point. It was a saturday night, so the place was bound to be packed, and sure enough we were greeted with an hour long wait for a table. Nuts to that, I couldn't wait that long. Ellen and I went straight for the bar and ordered an appetizer. As irony would have it, fifteen minutes later, just as our food arrived, Kei signaled to us that our table was ready. Hour long wait, huh?
So we sat down, Ellen and I, Kei, and our friends Kirk and some kid I whose name I can't remember for the life of me. Nice enough kid though. There we go, I'll just call him 'The Kid'. I went straight for the alcohol menu, and Ellen wasn't far behind. Kei doesn't drink, but Kirk does. The Kid wasn't old enough to drink. To start I wanted a shot, and then just a drink to sip on, so I ordered decided, like the moron I am, to order a shot called a "Lethal Weapon". It consisted of six or seven layers of Alcohol, including Bacardi 151, Jaegermeister, and a few others that I can't remember. I also ordered an apple martini, and the waiter's reccomendation. I don't remember what Ellen ordered. Kirk ordered a Mudslide that showed up with practically no chocolate in it. And Kei, the one that doesn't drink, ordered some little mint drink thing. It looked like used toothpaste. But she liked it enough that she ordered a second. She insisted she wasn't drunk, but I think we all knew better.
So when my "Lethal Weapon" showed up, I sort of just stared at it for a bit. I was fairly certain I didn't want to drink it on an empty stomach, so I decided to wait until my food arrived. The apple martini was delicious though. So our food shows, up, we're chatting, we're having a good time, I'm feeling not as hungry. I decide to see what this drink can do. I drop it back. Nobody was paying attention. And then the back of my throat exploded. That's right. Just blew the fuck up. All over the table behind me, brains, skull shards, you name it. I sat straight up in my chair like I had been kicked in the nuts. Good drink.
A short while later, as we're sitting around talking, I start hearing my name. I look around.. no one is talking to me. I figure it's just someone at another table. I keep hearing it. Then I start hearing "Tim, this is your conscience!". What the fuck? Finally I look up and there's Rob on the landing above. So Rob and a friend of his join us, order some foods, and Rob starts looking at the drink menu. We all immediately suggest a "Lethal Weapon". I was happy to see that I was not the only one kicked in the teeth by this drink.
After dinner it was time for the obligatory video games. You can't go to Dave and Buster's without getting drunk and blowing some money playing video games with the worst hand-eye coordination you can self-inflict. Most of the games they had there were shooting games and driving games. Ellen didn't want to play a driving game, and she wouldn't play Final Furlong with me, so we settled for some Virtua Cop 3. We did pretty well, for seeing double. I played a few rounds as I always love to do, with both of the light guns, John Woo style. I probably look like a fucking dork, but damned if it isn't fun. We also played some House of the Dead. Classic stuff right there. Toby and I used to play that on our DreamCast every day.
It started to get pretty late, and Ellen and I were exhausted. Convention can take a lot out of you, energy-wise. Especially doing panels, walking around all day, talking so much, greeting so many people, etc etc. So we headed back to the hotel for decent night's sleep. Nobody started any jokes that night, because I think they knew I would have bludgeoned then to death with the Gideon Bible.
Sunday:
Sunday went as convention Sunday's usually do: pretty slow, pretty laid back. As soon as wel arrived, Kei and Ellen went off to do their panels again, and I headed to the dealers room. My friend Matt and Brianna at the ConnectiCon booth were just arriving, and there was an empty table next to them, where some other convention was supposed to be but never showed. Fuck it. I went out and lugged my boxes inside, and commandeered the table. I set up my shirts and posters, and hung out for a while. People came by, I took pictures, I signed shirts and posters, fun stuff.
Time for my first panel. Matt and Brianna watched by stuff while I went to "The connection between gaming and web comics". Same lineup, but I was the only video-game comic represantative there. However the other comics were able to inject their input concerning role-playing and card games, of which I know very little. Fun panel, nothing out of the ordinary, back to my table.
Ellen and Kei finished their panels, and Ellen came to sit with me at my table. This was how we spent most of the afternoon. Tired, a little bit homesick, selling shirts and talking to fans. Matt was off running some board-gaming sessions, and Kei and Brianna had become quite buddy-buddy over the weekend. At this point they decided to go find some food, and asked me to watch the ConnectiCon table. "Sure." I replied. It was only fair. I mean, I was going to be sitting there anyway, right? Unfortunately they were got for like an hour, which caused me to miss my last panel of the day (Why people suck). I'm sorry about that. I know there were a lot of people there looking for me, and it was supposedly a pretty fun panel. Sorry I missed it.
Anyway, after that we were all just so tired and worn out that we decided to pack up early and start the drive home.
The conversation during the long trip back to Virginia was... interesting to say the least. I'd love to tell you the topic, but I'm fairly certain half of you would be disgusted, and the other half of you just wouldn't understand.So let's just say it was a very funny, very disturbing running gag for some eight hours of car ride.
Fast forward to home, tired and zombie-like, straight to bed. Lights out. End of story.
Summary:
I-CON was a mixed experience. There was a lot of it that was pretty crappy, but there was a lot of it that was really cool (the panels).
A huge thank you to all of the fans that came out to say hello. It really means a lot to me that you enjoy what I do enough that I can make a living at it, and it's really great to talk to you and thank you in person.
Matt and Brianna, I'll see you guys in the spring at ConnectiCon. Better not smell like cherries.
Thanks to the staff of I-CON for having me as a guest. Most of you were very cool people. |
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