STAPLE! or How to Buy a Sarah Palin Sex Doll

This weekend was...interesting.
I’ve always been wary of road trips with the boys. What rational girl would be willing to spend 12+ hours in a car filled with nerds who want to argue about Doc Manhattan’s junk the whole time?

Apparently this one.

Friday we spent most of the day on the road. Myself, Padawan, and Sasquatch loaded up my car and hit the road about mid-afternoon. We soon learned that trying to caravan with Wombat, JP and Master Cylinder wasn’t gonna work. So we spent time entertaining ourselves with stapling together comics, listening to music, and talking about who we wanted to see at the con.

In Austin we had time to kill before heading to the Drafthouse on South Lamar to see Watchmen. So being the good Austin-ite that I am, I steered the boys towards Waterloo Records and Book People on Lamar. There are many fond memories of this corner of Lamar from when I was a kid. My mom, brother and I would come down here during the summer to grab a burger with my Dad and wander around Book People. When I was 16 the back of my ’69 VW Bug was covered with bumper stickers from the store and I met Bruce Campbell that summer. (The story of meeting Bruce Campbell is an Arnold family favorite at major holidays)

Padawan picked up a Joanna Newsome vinyl, proving even more to me that he’s secretly my Dad at 23, my Dad’s the Doctor.

And the three of us looked around Book People for a bit. The best part of visiting Austin with friends is seeing how floored they are at the variety and selection of things. The graphic novel section of Book People (which isn’t that big) alone had them picking things up saying, “I didn’t know he came out with a new book…” or “Wow, I’ve been wanting to read this…”

It’s hard to find things just sitting on the shelves in Lubbock, many times you have to order things you think you might like.

After that we headed to the Drafthouse to stand in line for Watchmen.
I’m not going to go on a Watchmen rant here but I will make a few points.

~I’m wanting to hear the feedback from people who haven’t read the book and see if they could follow it or found it entertaining.
~There was no need for that amount of gore and sex. This book changed many things for the graphic novel and that much gore and sex took away from that.
~The rape scene went too far for my tastes. And I can handle a good amount of violence.
~The last ten minutes insulted my intelligence. Really, millions of people dyeing is a BAD thing? Who knew?

Ok, I’m done.

The boys had many of the same feelings. Overall it’s a fun movie but does no justice to the book.
As soon as we got outside the theater the ranting started and the volume only got louder and louder till I finally pointed out we were bitching about a three hour movie at 3 am in front of the theater, maybe it was time to find the hotel.

Saturday was a touch more stressful.

I had no idea what to expect when I got to STAPLE. I’ve been to several Cons but never as an exhibitor or artist. It’s a different animal.
I was able to push a few comics and hand out a bunch of flyers. I got some great reactions from people who glanced at the table and stopped,

“Zombie Cow?”
“Yeah, it’s exactly what it sounds like.”

I’m glad I went with the decision of editing it down a bit to be more geared as an all ages comic. People seemed to appreciate it, plus I need to balance out the horror that is Brady’s comic.

I made a few rounds as well passing out free comics to people like Danielle Corsetto, Mitch Clem, and Jeffery Brown.

Oh man is Jeffery Brown adorable. I can’t help but turn girl to 11 when I’m around those kinds of guys. It didn’t hurt either that I played the game of wearing a low cut shirt for the day either.

Our conversation went something like this;
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Buh,…good.” Super quiet shy guy voice.
“That’s great. I just wanted to give you these. I just started my own comic and publishing company and I would love if you checked it out sometime.”
“Yeah, cool, thanks.”
“So your day’s been going well?”
“Yeah, yeah. You know a lot of nice people.”
“Awesome. Are you going to the after party?”
“Uh, yeah. You?”
“Yeah. I’ll have to find you and buy you a drink.”
“Buh, ok…yeah that sounds great.”


That man is a ball of awkward in a man shape. And that’s the best kind of guy to flirt with on a weekend like STAPLE. I didn’t manage to get him that drink (he looked like he’d had a few by the time I got to him) but I did pick him up a bottle of water.

I got the best reactions when I walked up to him and his friends, a lot of “Dude, did a girl just try to buy Jeff a drink?”
Anyways back to STAPLE.

Overall I’m going to give it a thumbs up for NerdBoy Comics. I’ll be getting a table for Lubbock Comic Expo and maybe looking at some other cons this year.
Saturday night was on an epic level.

We went to the after party at Red7, where we ran into Jeffery Brown and Danielle Corsetto again. After Red7 we walked down to Oil Can Harry’s to see Kyle. Man that bar was PACKED with gay dudes. I don’t think I’ve ever been called sweetheart so much in so little time.

We ended the night at Fado’s, the best Irish pub in Texas. There was a punk band, Irish beers on tap, and the ability to actually make conversation.
This is where the night gets interesting and a little fuzzy. I’m told by Padawan that on our way back to the hotel we stopped by Dreamers and made a purchase. We were all responsibly sober of course so I blame aliens for the purchase of a Sarah Palin sex-doll.

Ah yes I am indeed a classy classy lady.

But it made for a great morning and great pictures of Sasquatch, although it was a touch creepy with him groping the doll and saying, “Oh…yeah...Sarah.” Ew.
So overall good weekend.

It was capped by lunch at my parents house which is always awesome. I think the boys enjoyed it too.
OK, off to write and work on the website.
WHOOSH!