Before i rant along here about my weekend visit to Seattle, you should take a moment to look at the full shot of the Broken Miho image that Merekat and I showed at Sakuracon. A rather amazing piece of work, is it not? I think it does a real good job of capturing the feel of the piece. Yes, there will be posters, sometime in May, don't start email-bombing me. ^^;;

I can honestly say that Seraphim and I had a blast at Sakuracon. The trip started to look bad when we changed planes in Minneapolis and ended up being in two center seats, one in front of the other, rather than next to each other (doh!), but it worked out ok in the end. We put the Sakuracon crew, most of all poor Lony, who had never read MT before and no idea what he was getting into as our 'liaison', went far and above the call of duty for us on many things, and for that you guys have our thanks.

Of course, one of the highlights of Sakuracon was the ability to toss things at Tycho and Gabe - though honestly it was great seeing them again. Last time I saw them was E3 almost 2 and a half years ago. One of the most satisfying moments of the con was watching this cute little girl giggle her head off as she smacked Tycho in the ass with a paper tube as he talked to me. Our webcomic panel was a lot of fun. In fact, i think it was better than the MT panel itself. I did chuckle at the wide eyed dazed confusion of panic you could see in their eyes as they experienced their first Anime convention. Tehehh. I hope we get to see them at other conventions, honestly - these guys are a hoot. There are reasons why i tell people to go read PA when they complain to me about lack of humor in MT. :)

Oh, and yes, Tycho and I do disagree on issues such as donation systems for supporting a site like this, but i should clarify that I FULLY respect and encourage people to use the system if they are comfortable with it. It really does directly support great sites like Penny Arcade, and my resistance to using such a system has more to do with personal neurosises and a highly evolved guilt complex (i think it even has its own zip code now). By all means, support the comics you read if they have donation systems in place. I just have different ideas of how to survive on the web, thats all :)

Both Seraphim and I want to thank all the fans who were patient enough to stand in line as i slowly drew stuff for everyone. For me, this is the best part and the most important part of going to a convention. It lets me indulge my masochistic side, as well as have a chance to meet as many MT fans as i can and give them something in return for all the respect they give me. MT fans are the nicest bunch of people. :) Well... there was the 'sign my balls' incident, but lets not go there. ^^;; I've been collecting con pics, and with dom's help we'll see what we can do to get a decent gallery system going so people can see how things went.

I also had a great time meeting and having dinner with the Japanese guests on Sunday night. Nagahama-san is one of the nicest guys i've ever met, and we spent dinner talking without the help of an interpreter, and given the limitations on both sides, it was a fun and interesting conversation. The con staff even gave me a Con Survival Kit that contained aspirin, a wrist brace, water, and a thing of Icy Hot. ^^;;

K, that said, one more time - Sakuracon was a great con, and thank you to everyone who helped make it a good con for us. :)

Of course, being somewhat masochistic, guess who is traveling again tomorrow afternoon? :P On Saturday, April 12th, from 9:30am to 4:00pm both Seraphim and I will be in South Bend Indiana at the St. Joseph County Public Library Open Book Festival. So, if you live in the area, you can come down and hear me talk about the process of getting published ^^;; I believe there will be an article in the local Tribune paper as well (yikes, need to get the reporter some artwork, gotta do that next ^^;;)

I've got to get back to work on Friday's comic, but i'll post some pics from Sakuracon next week. Please enjoy the above linked image of the Broken Miho - Merekat worked very hard on it, and we'll be showing some closer up details so you can see some of it in full droolage - probably as some wallpapers. My favorite part really is the hair and the eyes... and the lace. Yes, amazing lace, it really is...

okies, off to work...