Conventional Wisdom

This was an unusually tough update to finish. Not just because I’m REALLY tired and burned out on CW at the moment (though both are certainly true) but… well… the first panel is pretty true. I really DIDN’T have that much fun. Given my physical state, fun probably wouldn’t have been an option under any circumstances, but especially not these. My first batch of comic ideas were downright MEAN, with waaaaay more potshots at crowded, smelly halls and loud, obnoxious kids and the like.

…but that’s not what I want my comics to be about. The Internet already has a surplus of mean-spirited complaining without me adding to the pile. And what’s more, picking on the con because of my own sucky weekend isn’t FAIR. It’s not THEIR fault I got sick right before the con. If I’d been well enough to actually go do stuff and hang out with people (and if my weekend wasn’t tied into the financial success of the AA table), I probably would have had a pretty good time at Ichibancon. I know for a fact a lot of other people did, and I don’t wanna go wizzing all over their good time because I didn’t have one.

Well, that was a long, rambling way to wrap up an update. Now comes the part where I go think about ANYTHING other than convention stuff and… yeah right. I’ve gotta get stuff ready for Katsucon and finally figure out once and for all if I’ll be going to Anime Boston again and aaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuggggggghhhhh…

(Historical Notes: This wound up being one of the most popular comics I ever did, and it’s still one of my all-time favorites.  Obviously, Those Kids turned out to be an invaluable addition to the Conventional Wisdom roster, and I’m just proud in general that I was able to pull a positive attitude out of this lousy weekend… but yeah, we can’t gloss over the fact that this was probably the first all-around BAD times I’d ever had at a con.  I mean, I’d been to conventions that were objectively worse, but I still had enough residual “OMG IT’S A CON!” geek energy to carry me through whatever annoying circumstances came up.  But this time?  Between my physical exhaustion, the stress of needing to break even in a business sense, and just the fact that I’d already BEEN to a convention that month, nothing about this weekend felt special or fun.  It was just another thing to show to for and get through, and I could never have imagined feeling like that about a con ten years before.  But like the comic says, at least SOMEBODY had fun.)