Event wrap-up: STRIP! The Dallas Webcomics Expo

Our annual pilgrimage to STRIP! has completed, and now all we can do is look ahead to next year's show.  STRIP!  was formerly known as DWEX, and was intended as a showcase for webcomics and their creators.  This is the third year the event has been held, and is also the third year we've attended.

Our first foray here was made not long after our arrival in Texas.  We peripherally "knew" one artist, Randy Milholland, and being admirers of his comic we set out to meet him.  We achieved that goal, and also met such great people as Samantha Wikan, Barry Buchanan, and Rebecca Hicks.  We've attended every year since and met more great artists.  This year was no exception.

Our day started early with a trip to the bank to withdraw some money, and then it was off to the Southfork Hotel in Plano.  We arrived a bit early, and had to wait for the doors to officially open after we checked in and got our little "it's okay, we already paid" stamp.

Once inside, things became a whirlwind of activity.  We saw Rebecca, Samantha, and Barry before I went to reconnect with Leroy Brown, whom I met at the first show.  We then went and said hello to David Wilborn, and I went to see Mark Largent. (sidenote: Please be sure to check out Greyhawk and the Starbucklers -- it's an excellent read and I don't think you'll be disappointed.)  It was also great to see Will Rodriguez again this year, and I even bought a couple of pictures from his son, who is turning out to be a very talented artist as well.

We were able to check out a couple of panels -- one of which was announcing a special premiere event, which I will be able to attend (I'm glad my on-call wraps up before then), and later in the day we went to the Women In Webcomics panel.  It was a very good panel discussion, but I wish it could have touched on more subjects  As it was, we had to clear the room for the next panel and a lot of questions went unasked.  Still a very nice panel to attend and hopefully next year we can touch on more topics.

Joel Watson and the Cyanide & Happiness crew were there, and we were even treated to an impromptu concert.  I never thought I'd hear Word Up and I'm Your Boogieman played on the ukulele, but Joel did a great job playing along.  There were some pretty decent cosplayers walking around throughout the afternoon, and The Taffeta Darling did an excellent job portraying the expo's mascot.

I also met a bunch of great artists, and if I missed anyone, I do apologize -- these are the ones from which I was able to collect information:  Scott Tapp; Jason Poland; Jason McLean; Elia Madrid (making her first convention/expo appearance); Thomas Overbeck; Terry Wagner of Mental Diversions; Michael Hawkins; Brad Diller; Jose Ramirez and Jamel Jones from Drink & Draw DFW; James O'Barr, author and illustrator of The Crow; the crew from Grrl Power, Halloween Man, and The Jupiter Palladium; and JediCole and the United States of Geekdom.

The show wrapped up and we had time to kill, so we went looking for food.  The hotel bar was full of poker players (no-limit Texas hold-'em tournament, happens every Saturday) and the restaurant proper was closed, so we braved the heat and walked across to Twin Peaks.  I was hungry.  The food was ... edible, and had some decent flavor to it.  Although, for what they save in the wardrobe department, they could invest it back into the kitchen.  My steak could have been cooked a little bit more, but at least it didn't moo at me.

After dinner, we returned to the hotel for the Live Art Show and charity auction.  We shared a table with Rebecca and James, and Chris Jeffrey and his girlfriend joined us as well.  Earlier in the day, there was talk about "booth barnacles," and sitting in the company of such talented artists (joined later on by Jamel Jones, and DAMN he's talented), listening to them talk about arty things, sort of made me feel like one.  So, I decided to post this tweet and wouldn't you know, this is the one the event organizers chose to re-tweet:

Hanging out at the art show post-STRIPcon. Sitting with the cool kids. Feel so out of place. Hate having no talent. #boothbarnacle

 The table got a big kick out of that one, and Rebecca encouraged me to run with the theme, so I composed more booth barnacle posts over the course of the evening.  I also come away with some more awesome art and was pretty sad when the evening was over.

Yesterday was a blast, and I can't wait until next year's show!  Special thanks to Rebecca, Samantha, Barry, Chris, Mr. Largent and Dave Wilborn for allowing me to be a hanger-on and tolerating my presence, and special gratitude to Jonathan Caustrita, Bobby Blakey, and Michael Moreno for organizing and putting on this wonderful event.