This year is already kind of blurry. It was certainly dominated by Small Press Expo for me but I’m OK with that. It was an incredible amount of fun and I’m already looking forward to next year (we’re already working on it!).

I also read a tremendous amount of comics. There were plenty I loved — many I didn’t expect to — and I still get a thrill picking up new comics. Yes, there was certainly some silliness with regard to the DC reboot, but Wonder Woman has me hooked (in a lazy way — I read it when I remember). It was also an amazing year for indie comics — I am awed by all the talent that’s out there.

I didn’t get to travel to shows as much as I would’ve liked to — most of that was a money issue, but I was feeling pretty burned out on the usual ones. I didn’t attempt to go to the MoCCA Festival or New York Comic Con; KingCon III was postponed and as much as I would’ve loved to have gone to Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, the timing just didn’t work out. SPACE was fun but I don’t know if I’d go back. I always love the Baltimore Comic-Con, but that was more of just a hanging out opportunity for me this year.

(I will totally take sponsorships if people want to send me to Stumptown or Alternative Press Expo next year. Kids Read Comics Celebration is taking place in Ann Arbor on my birthday weekend and that’s a definite possibility. It may end up being mandatory.)

For some reason, in 2011, I expanded my “media” “empire.” I started up a Tumblr account (or started using it?) and a Facebook page. I also appeared on local show Fantastic Forum and Rusty and Joe interviewed me during SPX (I need to learn to speak into the microphone better. Also? No real idea what I said).

I was also greatly honored to be a part of Big Planet Comics Podcast #17 and I do hope they invite me back at some point because it was a great deal of fun (you should always listen to the podcast — even when I’m not on it).

And the photo on this post? Well, that’s me sorting through Dean Haspiel’s minicomics. Now, everything is going to the Library of Congress (I believe all are in the LoC’s possession now), but Warren Bernard just wanted to do an initial sort/inventory before we sent them off to see what was there. And certainly, it’s fresh in my mind, but when I think about all the things I’ve been privileged to be able to do this year, this felt like one of the bright spots. It was thrilling seeing all these incredible comics, even if I didn’t get to keep any of them.

I am lucky to know such amazing people who let me do so many cool things. I hope that continues in 2012.

SPACE was pretty great overall. I liked the broad range of exhibitors, from young and old, from established creators to newcomers. It also felt very welcoming and I felt a good sense of community. The exhibitors all seemed excited to see each other and to get to spend time together.

Now while I’m not an exhibitor at these sorts of shows, I know plenty of creators so I do benefit and enjoy the hanging out aspect. But I think if you’re just a general attendee, SPACE probably isn’t big enough to fill up your entire weekend. Although I’ve heard mixed things about sales, I do know exhibitors who did well this year and usually do fairly well at this show. I have nothing to compare this year to since I’ve never gone before, but while it never packed, there seemed to be consistent attendee traffic most of the time I was there. (People wondered if the conflict with C2E2 mattered but I don’t know if anyone came up with a conclusion. I bet there will be more discussion of that in the next few days.)

The hotel itself is fine — pretty clean and spacious and maybe it’s a Midwest thing, but the drinks at the hotel bar were cheap (but I’m used to DC-area drink prices so maybe I don’t have a good comparison). Yes, there was some amusement over the other groups in the hotel (hunters and beef farmers, apparently) but everyone behaved themselves. As far as I know.

I do have to complain about the area, though. I know many factors go into why events like this are held where they are and I completely understand why SPACE would have to be there, but it is fairly isolated. I didn’t have my own transportation and the nearest major grocery store was about a mile and a half away. I don’t think the neighborhood is particularly dangerous, but there’s just not much around there.

If I go back next year, I’ll just be better prepared.

I took some photos of the, er, fun on Saturday night, which I may put up on Facebook and/or Flickr, but I completely forgot to take any photos of the show itself. Rafer Roberts has a few on Flickr (including one of me intently studying my bottle of Mexican Coke) and Matt Dembicki has others on his site, including a few from the pre-party at Packrat Comics.

Overall, I’m very happy I went. I’m very excited to dig through the comics I bought and I came away with a couple of new friends. I’d say it was pretty much a success.

Still, money is an issue, so that quickly began ruling things out (one of these years, I’ll make it to Stumptown Comics Fest, I swear). But Ohio didn’t seem to far off and the list of exhibitors had some old favorites and some creators who don’t seem to go out to the East Coast too often, so it seemed like a good idea.

So I enlisted my friend Timothy Lantz to come along and suggested he get a table (it’s not necessarily his scene or crowd, but he knows a few people who do exhibit there every year). It will be great to see him for an extended length of time.

Yes, I know everyone else is going to C2E2 and while it wasn’t an option for me, really, I’m still happy to be going to SPACE.

If you’ll be there, I’ll likely be hanging around Tim’s table quite a bit. Otherwise, I’ll be buying and reading comics and the sorts of things people do at shows like this.

I will probably be updating throughout on Twitter and Facebook, but I’ll have something up here no later than Monday evening.

It will be a fun vacation. And will continue my tradition of visiting places and really only seeing the inside of a hotel/conference center.