Next week I will be in Washington DC to see some old friends and meet new friends. We all have one thing in common, we love cartooning. I have never met a nicer group of folks in the world. My first Reuben Awards I crashed in my hometown of Asheville in 1997. Sergio Aragones was nice to introduce me to just about the entire Gang of Idiots from Mad Magazine. A weekend I will cherish forever.
My next Reuben weekend (2011) was when our favorite, Richard Thompson won Cartoonist of the Year in Boston. I was raising awareness for our up and coming Team Cul de Sac project. Everyone treated me as family, Another weekend I will never forget.
Then 2012 rolled around and I ended up in Las Vegas for the Reubens. That weekend our Team Cul de Sac book was launched to the crowd of many of our contributors. Nervous, yes. Proud of what we were accomplishing HELL yes. Everyone was so supportive and again it was like the best family reunion ever.
The Reubens in 2013 turned out to be pretty awesome too. I was now a member of the best family ever. Oh and if that wasn’t enough I had the privilege to play tennis with Bill Hinds and Rick Kirkman!
Here it is May 2015 and I am planning my family cartooning reunion in Washington DC. Next week I will be seeing Richard, Mo, Hilary,Rick, Shaenon, Andrew,Bill, John, Lucy, Lee,Tom,John, Nick and so many more. Family.
Remember being a blood related is just blood and it washes off. Good ink won’t.
BTW, if you see Mike Rhode, please give him a inky hug. Mike is now a family member. Long overdue.