APRIL 15^th 2005

   My dad was already in Ohio when we left; He was helping Larry Blake build his new studio. And that’s where we were headed: tiny Reedsville, Ohio. We left at about 6:00 in the morning, thinking that the trip would take much longer than it actually did. It was a pretty uneventful trip, except for a few factory workers on strike.

   The first two signs that we saw heading into Pennsylvania were: 1) Low Price Fireworks and 2) Some stuff that has to do with nudity that I can’t say because this is an all-ages comic.

   As we neared Larry’s house (yes, finally) there was a detour. This added about 15 minutes to our trip. It was full of blind curves and had cliffs on either side.

   Larry’s studio was getting done amazingly fast. The last time I was there it was just a floor, a roof, and half erected walls. Now, the inside was all painted, Larry had built himself a desk, and there was Weird Al music blasting on the radio.

   I said hi to his cats (who are just starting to like me) and his mom.

   We decided we were going to stay at the Holiday Inn over night about 3 hours after we got to Larry’s house. So, we drove off (my dad included) in search of a fast route to Columbus.

   There was a traffic jam about 3 miles from the Columbus city limits. We were considering turning back but decided that it wasn’t worth it. It took about 20 minutes to go a mile and finally we were out.

   Jeez, could they make the entrance to the Holiday Inn harder to find? If it weren’t for me and my vast intellect and my photographic memory (yea right) we wouldn’t have found it at all. I remembered that the entrance was by a gas station and further down the road was a car garage type place.

   I figured the Holiday Inn was going to be sold out and they’d have to stick us down in the boiler room or someplace even more dreadful. But, we got a pretty nice room with a splendid view of a torn up parking lot.

   The best comic shop in the world is THE LAUGHING OGRE in downtown Columbus. This is where the annual S.P.A.C.E. bash- party-extravaganza is held. I got to hang out with my kind (comic folk, that is) including: Dale Martin, Larned Justin, and Matt Feazell, and the ogre had free pizza (woohoo).

   So, we staid there for about an hour and a half. I bought some comics. I blew all the money I had saved for the S.P.A.C.E. con (and two allowances there after).

   We went back to the hotel and read all the comics we had boughten. We watched Seinfeld, staid up till 11:00 and went to bed. I tossed and turned for about 2 hours. Maybe it was the fact that I was stuck sleeping with my older brother (Nate), or maybe it was that tomorrow I would get the money back to pay my printing bill.

APRIL 16^th 2005

   I wasn’t sure if I should wear shorts to the S.P.A.C.E con, but it was all I had so really didn’t have a choice. I woke up at about 6:00 in the morning. Everyone else was still asleep. I looked out the window at the torn up parking lot.

   My mom was the next person to get up. Then my dad, then my brother. We each took showers, folded and stapled last minute comics. I grabbed my suitcase full of comics and went down to the room that the convention was held in. We were some of the first people to go down there.

   It started out really slow (for me anyway). I only made $.50 in the first hour. Larry Blake had not arrived yet. We were worried he had gone off the road on that detour. Luckily he did not. About an hour later a phone call came for my dad. It was Larry. Apparently something had broken in his car and he had to pull over. So my mom and Bob Corby went to find him. That’s when things started to pick up. Soon I had made $20. Not bad. I’m 13 so $20 to me is about $100 to an adult. When Larry finally did get there he looked pretty tired but at least he got there.

   Well, it was time for me to walk around and pick up a few comics, and maybe a sketch or two. I got a chance to talk to some people I didn’t get a chance to at the ogre. Including: Michael Carroll, Ben T. Steckler and briefly to Brien Wayne Powell.

   The first year I went to the S.P.A.C.E. con I split a table with my brother, my dad, and Larry Blake. I had two comics out on the table (White Stallion Comics #1, Lemons Spectacular #1). I had lots of comics but for some reason I only brought 2. I made $4.50 and I was very happy. Hey, that’s 18 packs of gum.

   We had brought a camcorder to the show this year and the duty of making a S.P.A.C.E. movie fell on and crushed my shoulders. I did it anyway. I walked around taping various people and zipping around at light speed.

   This I can’t believe I missed: Some guy over at the UFO (United Fanzine Organization) tables got up and stood on his table and yelled at the top of his lungs “YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS”, so then my dad yelled from his table “you finally make a sale?” I just cannot believe I missed that.

   By this point I had made $40. Still not a penny profit. But who makes money at this stuff?

   At the end of the show I counted up my earnings ($45) and my brother counted up his ($43). I had made more than him (“there’s a first time for everything” he said)

   Larry had to go home with us because his car would not be fixed for at least a week. We upheld our S.P.A.C.E. tradition of stopping at KFC for some chicken (woohoo again).

   We went to Larry’s house to stay the night. We got there about 9:00 at night. We all staid up a bit and talked about comics and stuff.

APRIL 17^th 2005