Yeah, Terry Parr's work kicks ass...

This Saturday, the Busy Gamer Reckon Crew will be appearing as exhibitors at the Staple! Independent Media Expo at the Monarch Event Center in Austin, TX. The event, now in its sixth year, is shaping up to be an excellent time for everyone involved. And our tables should be a party with the usual suspects from the Reckon Crew (Timothy Danger, Crutchboy, and myself) and one of our favorite artists Terry Parr and his guest Halo. Swing by for some BG swag.

Aside from the presence of our awesome selves, which should be enough for anyone to want to attend, there’s an impressive list of other exhibitors that will be there as well as some special guests. Among the special guests will be “Owly” creator Andy Runton who received an Eisner award for his comic in 2006. Artist Guy Davis who has worked on projects for DC, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and many other companies will be in attendance as well as Chris Schweizer and Jason Neulander.

Among the exhibitors will be some of our personal favs here at BusyGamer.com like Danielle Corsetto of “Girls With Slingshots“, Monica Gallagher of the website eatyourlipstick.com, and Vinh Luu of Space-Gun. You can get a complete list of the exhibitors here. There will be a lot of artwork to catch your eye, portraits and commissions to be drawn on site, and a whole lot of interesting people to meet.  So if you haven’t made plans for Saturday, head up to the Monarch Event Center for Staple! and we promise not to make fun of you, mostly. You’ll have a great time… If you don’t, you’re probably some kind of alien.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

STAPLE 2010 will be held at the Monarch Event Center (6406 North IH-35 Suite 3100 Austin, TX 78752) in the Lincoln Village Shopping Center at the corner of 2222 and I-35, right across from Highland Mall.

Illustrator John Lara from RobotBully.com made this custom print for the BG Crew!

Last year, one of the most memorable stops on our world-tour-that-didn’t-quite-make-it-outside-the-U.S. was actually pretty close to home. While we enjoy travelling, when an event is in Austin, Texas, it’s hard to pass up the opportunity not to visit. And while Staple! may be a bit less commercial (yeah!) than the other cons out there, we jumped at the opportunity to pay our respects at this event. Far more than what we expected, we found one of the largest gatherings of “indie” artists ever assembled in one location.  Needless to say, the Reckon Crew was in geek heaven.

It all started as a group of local artists in a coffee house and has grown to a full blown collection of some of the biggest names in webcomics and self-published comics. Last year’s gathering included Scott Kurtz of PVP Online, Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots, and Eric Powell of The Goon. We were able to land an interview with each one of them (Danielle’s was devoured by my recorder) and attended a couple of the panels and still managed to be “fanbois” for a large part of the day.

Staple! 2009, now in year five, will be held on Saturday, March 7th at the Monarch Convention Center. There will be several big names attending as guests, including Stan Sakai of Usagi Yojimbo, Jeffrey Brown, and Chris Onstad. Featured as well will be panels on Self Publishing and a Q&A with Stan Sakai. A complete listing of guests, exhibitors, and sessions can be found at www.staple-austin.org. And, no, your eyes do not deceive you when you glance over the exhibitor list, that is indeed the Reckon Crew listed.  Joining us will be the talented Terry Parr as well as Gamettes Amber Alert and Miss Genocide. We just thought it would be nice to have a place to set down the booze for a while. And sell some t-shirts. Terry will have his artwork up for sale and the Reckon Crew will be… wandering aimlessly.

Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots and the jerk who lost her interview

Seriously though, if you haven’t had the opportunity to check out Staple!, you should take the opportunity this Saturday (March 7th) to come out and see what we’re so excited about. Drop by the table and we’ll make fun of your t-shirt, offer you one of ours, and send you on your way with a pat on the head and a koozie for the beverage of your choice.

Take note that there will be a pre-party for Staple! at Austin Books beginning at 7PM Friday, March 6th as well as an after party (March 7) at Red 7 (on East 7th street) in downtown Austin beginning at 9PM. We’ll spend both nights in the drink, I imagine.

If you don’t show up, you’ll be a bigger nerd than we are… and that’s hard to do.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

Find the Busy Gamer Reckon Crew at Booth #004 exhibiting at the Monarch Event Center, come grab some swag!