Stylish Vittles Dot Com

Monday, September 22, 2003

Cori and I decided to take this past weekend off and go camping. Actually, we've been trying to go camping for almost the last 2 years but it simply hasn't been possible.

The task was made more difficult by the busy Con schedule this summer, but we just finally picked a weekend and planned to go. It's odd that I realized I hadn't been camping in over 2 years, when I've gone camping at least once a year for pretty much my whole life. So it was a nice weekend getaway, and a nice introduction to camping for Cori.

I have to admit I didn't 'enjoy' myself as much as I usually do when camping. I wasn't able to 'get away from it all,' as they say. I guess the responsibilities I've ladden myself with over the last couple of years just couldn't leave me alone. And well, realistically, I just want to work on Book 3.

Nonetheless, it was enjoyable time. The weather cooperated on Saturday, we hiked, we ate s'mores, we hiked some more. We ate pie. A nice weekend away. Check out our adventure!

posted by tyler 8:36 PM

So SPX was a bit of a let down. Not that it was a bad show necessarily, but when I was last there, 3 years ago (with the beginnings of Stylish Vittles) it seemed much busier, more filled with people. I'm sure expanding to three days had something to do with traffic, but Cori and I agreed that it seemed like half of the people we saw come by the table had exhibitor badges on. Add to that the fact that I just wasn't in that sociable of a mood. While I had fun, truthfully I just wanted to be home in my studio working on Book 3. But oh well. The show was only okay sales-wise, which I heard from many others as well, but Cori and I managed to eat lots of good food over the weekend and have a decent time.

It occurred to us over the course of the show that it really was much more of a party/gathering for the creators than anything else. And that's okay, but I really just want to sell books and talk to people about the work. It didn't help that I wasn't feeling talkative. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to see a solid sense of community and so forth, but the weekend was a little disheartening when faced with our high expectations. Then again, when I attended three years ago, I knew much less, and didn't make the distinction between exhibitor or attendee badges, so my perception may have been a bit skewed. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens next year with the move to Baltimore.

Jay Laird, whom I first met in San Diego last year, chatted with us for awhile, and wrote a nice little blurb about our conversation in his SPX wrap up over at PopImage.com. Thanks Jay!

It was especially interesting/fun for me to head back to Bethesda, since it's kind of where Stylish Vittles began in an official capacity. Back in 2000 I decided to attend since I had never been to a con and I was in the process of putting together the first SV book. At that time it was going to be an anthology of stories, with each issue containing one more part of Tyler and Nan's adventure. So I hand-made 300 comics and set off. When I finally got around to SV in its current incarnation, many retailers and fans remembered that ashcan, so it did really turn out to be a worthwhile experience.

posted by tyler 5:38 PM