Well, I've actually been back from the Funny Times party in Cleveland for a week, but all it takes is a few days of travel to utterly discombobulate my routine.

Editor Ray Lesser and co-founder Sue Wolpert kindly let me stay at their home, along with cartoonists Andy Singer (No Exit) and Isabella Bannerman (Six Chix). It was the first time I'd met the very cool Ms. Bannerman; I also got to meet "American Splendor" creator Harvey Pekar at the opening party at the Funny Times offices. We talked about his upcoming projects (four books, two of which will be collections, I think), and I told him that I included a story in my senior thesis written by his wife, Joyce Brabner.

The next day, I saw the "Body Worlds 2" exhibit at the science center (not part of the official Funny Times program). I did not want to go at first, as the exhibit consists of numerous plasticized corpses and body parts, but by the end of the afternoon I was like, "Oh, a plasticized corpse skateboarding. Been there, done that." The weekend's events also included a Lake Erie beach party, a tour of the graveyard where John D. Rockefeller and James Garfield are buried, and a big outdoor BBQ and concert to which subscribers were invited, some of whom stopped me to say nice things about Slowpoke, which is always pleasant and highly encouraged.

Here's a shot of us in the graveyard (L-R: cartoonist Matt Wuerker, Sue Wolpert, Andy Singer, myself, and Ray Lesser):