It all starts and ends in Kitchener, Waterloo with the grand finale of the Spirits of Independence convention tour.  The first thing that happened to me was a hair cut.

—I arrived at the hotel with my mop looking rough to the point of chips, and Tara and Caroline went into a fit.  "Geez Mark!  When was the last time you went to a barber?  You look like you’re from the seventies!"  (It was true.  Plus, I’d just stepped in from the wild wind of Kitchener.)  Half an hour later Caroline had me sitting over a bath tub while she trimmed my hair.  Did a fine job too.

The next morning, I was thrilled to bump into Steve Bissette, (one of the bona fide stars of indy comics.  He does a book called Tyrant.  About dinosaurs).  Anyway, Steve has this incredible quality about him which inspires a ‘best friend’ sort of feeling in people and until recently, I hadn’t figured out whether his nice guy routine was genuine or some sort of artificial ‘Media Presence’ type of charm.  So partly out of curiosity, and partly because I hate being ‘charmed’, I verbally poked him on a couple of occasions to see what sort of reaction I’d get.  —Purely instinctive on my part, mind you.  It’s not nice to poke people on purpose.  Especially not a guy who, at the Pittsburgh show, donated all the cash he’d made in order to help out Steve ‘Boondoggle’ Stegelin, who’s car had broken down on the interstate.  (Now that’s class.  Hats off to Bissette, I say).

Next I saw Michael Cohen, another of my favorite people.  (He and his girl friend rescued me from wandering the streets of San Diego for seven hours all alone before my flight back home from the convention last summer.  The three of us had a fine dinner that evening and drove to the airport together).  Anyway, it occurred to me that the inside back cover of T&K is work, so I asked Michael to send me something to fill up the space.  Hopefully, if it arrives on time, you can all get a look at some Strange Attractors.  If not, then next issue.

Colleen Doran of A Distant Soil, was making her rounds after the show ended.  She was visiting all the tables while people packed up, shaking hands and pep talking with the small timers.  —A nice touch; she’s another of the big stars of the indy crowd.  Anyway, she came by my table and I finally got to meet her.  She seemed cool, but we were both still in ‘Talk Show’ mode, so it beats the heck out of me what she’s really like.  Afterwards in the pub, neither or us were terribly awake and our pleasantries were somewhat strained;  She gave me some comics, but instead of thanking her I said something like, "Great, now I have to walk around all evening with stuff in my hands."  And she said, "Tough.  I’m trying to get rid of them for the same reason."  —A truly magic moment between creators.

I saw Rick Veitch the night before and we nodded at each other.  The car was still running outside though, and I was rushing to find somebody, so we didn’t get a chance to talk.  —I embarrassed Rick at an earlier show by saying that I came about as close to idolizing him as it’s possible for someone like me to do.  Not because of Rare Bit Fiends, (which is a pretty fantastic book), but because he’s one of the most earnest and understated people I’ve met so far in this business.  I don’t think he has a ‘Talk Show’ mode or a ‘Media Presence’ like everybody else.  No wonder his dream comics are so warped.

Paul Pope, (creator of THB), whom I must admit I’d become irritated with over the course of the last year for his being so swamped with work as to not have time for anything but the most perfunctory hand shakes, pleasantly surprised me in the pub by coming up to say Hi.  Pope doesn’t do ‘Talk Show’.  Whether he wanted it or not, he was firmly slotted into ‘Rock Star’ by the comics industry.  Like I said, it was really nice to hear from Paul.  Around the same time, Dave Sim came by my table to chat and I got to tell him of my dealings with the Hollywood movie machine.  I’d been looking forward to that.  —Dave is 100% against corporate dealing when it comes to creative rights.  Makes for entertaining conversation.

Lessee. . .  Oh, right.  I talked with Charles Vess and got the dirt on his Ballads & Sagas project.  His first issue was a huge success, both with his bank and with his fans.  Major congrats, Charles!)  Also, I saw Marcus Lusk, who’s Tales From the Bog #1 shipped a short while ago.  His first issue crossed the break even point, where sales paid for the printing cost.  Marcus is now in the game with a solid book and a circulation many indy publishers would kill for.

Anyway, that’s all the space I have this issue.  See you in March.  (The big issue 10!)