The ladies were a hit with the crowd at Staple!

This past weekend, the Busy Gamer Reckon crew attended the Staple! Independent Media Expo. Hosted at the Marchesa Hall & Theatre, the Staple! Expo was held on Saturday and Sunday and is one of the favorites on the Crew’s list of events we visit, year after year.

The Staple! event was created by local Austin artists and saw a humble beginning as a congregation of like-minded individuals meeting in coffee shops to compare works, learn from one another, and generally just share their love of art. It has grown over the years to an event that spans two days, sees artists from all over the world attending, and has become the event of the year for new and established
artists to exhibit their works.

Staple! has seen some famous attendees and speakers (infamous in the case of the Crew) such as Danielle Corsetto of “Girls With Slingshots???, Scott Kurtz of “PvP Online???, Stan Sakai of “Yojimbo???, and James O’Barr, creator of “The Crow???. This year we were seated alongside the likes of Monica Gallagher of “Lipstick Press??? and Brian Cleveinger of “8-bit Theater??? and “Atomic Robo??? fame.

Saturday night, the Staple!’s attending artists put on a live art exhibition at the Club Deville in downtown Austin where they showed off their talents in front of an audience. Once they finished their pieces, they were put up for auction for the charity of keeping KOOP radio, an Austin co-op radio station, up and running. It’s an admirable goal and one that the Crew supports wholeheartedly by purchasing the pieces and drinking heavily at the exhibition… we’re not actually sure how the heavy drinking helps them but we’re doing our part. For charity.

We're fairly certain this is one of the coolest con pics ever...

Sunday saw most of the attendees a bit hungover. There was a lot of charity going on the night before… a lot. We don’t judge. But for the most part, the energy from the prior day was recaptured and everyone was able to enjoy themselves for a second day of the event.

There was plenty of swag to be had at the Crew’s table. The yearly koozie made its appearance and we had sci-fi trivia questions for those who were brave enough to pit their knowledge against ours with a t-shirt as the prize. Hats off to the winners… if I’d been thinking about it, I would have gotten their names to send out some congratulations but I’m certain they will wear their shirts as a badge of honor.

After all was said and done, a good time was had by all. Some of the ladies who honored the Crew’s table were first timers to Staple! and to conventions in general but reported enjoying themselves immensely which is testament to the power of Staple! as opposed to our hosting talents.

We’d like to thank Chris “Uncle Staple” Nicholas for having us out again and to all of our fellow exhibitors for coming out and making the first two day expo one of the best we’ve attended.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

(Press Release) – Join tens of thousands of fellow fans as they converge on the Austin Convention Center at Austin Comic Con to celebrate the best in pop culture. Austin Comic Con brings it all – Movies, Comics, Toys, Video Gaming, Games, TV, Horror, Wrestling, MMA, Original Art, Collectibles, Anime, Manga & More! This is Texas’ best new Comic Con! Austin Comic Con is brought to you by the group who produces the most widely attended Comic Con tour!

FRIDAY
2:00-2:45 P.M.
WIZARD ART SCHOOL W/GREG HORN
Superstar Marvel and DC artist Greg Horn (Blackest Night covers) leads a discussion on digital art and takes you through his creative process.

3:00-3:45 P.M.
THE INCREDIBLE HULK Q&A W/LOU FERRIGNO
The original Hulk, Ferrigno sits down for an exclusive Q&A about the classic show and his status as a pop culture icon.

3:00-3:45 P.M.
THE ART OF ‘CHEW’ AND ‘SWEETS’
Indy art sensations, Rob Guillory (Chew) and Kody Chamberlain (Sweets) join the Wizard World Tour and discuss their breakout Image hits.

4:00-4:45 P.M.
WOMEN OF WRESTLING W/TORRIE, LITA, TARA, CHRISTIE AND JACKIE
Join Torrie Wilson, Amy Dumas, Lisa Marie Varon, Christy Hemme and Jackie Haas as they talk about the ups and downs of being a woman in professional wrestling.

WIZARD ART SCHOOL W/ALÉ GARZA
Fan-favorite artist Alé Garza (Superman/Batman) takes fans on an artistic tour of his style and storytelling.

5:00-5:45 P.M.
BIONIC BUDDIES
The Bionic Woman, Lindsay Wagner, and co-star Richard Anderson discuss the pop culture hit and its continued popularity with fans across the world.

5-5:45 P.M.
WIZARD SCHOOL: HOW TO SCULPT WITH THE SHIFLETT BROTHERS
The fan-favorite sculptors take fans and aspiring toy and statue makers through their creative process.

6-6:45 P.M.
JAMES O’BARR Q&A
The Crow creator talks about his dark creation and the plans for a new Crow franchise in the movies.

7:30-10:00 P.M.
THE MATRIX SCREENING (FREE)
Relive the movie phenomenon that changed filmmaking for a generation! Starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne, this visual feast is NOT to be missed.

8:00-10:00 P.M.
DRINK & DRAW W/UNCLE STAPLE
Join Uncle Staple of STAPLE! Independent Media Expo, and some of comics’ top artists and newcomers, as they join forces to raise cash and art for charity. (Club Deville, 900 Red River St.)

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The Reckon Crew gets together to talk about the Pre-Staple! party and plans for tomorrow at the actual show.

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.

Gritskrieg and the talented Danielle Corsetto, author and artist of Girls With Slingshots

Danielle Corsetto of Girls With Slingshots fame was gracious enough to take time from her busy day at Staple! to sit down with me for another interview.  Yes, that’s right, I said, and stress, *another* interview.  A freak tape recorder incident last year and I’m short one GWS creator story.  Fortunately, she was our booth neighbor so it was really easy to sit and stare at her until she relented to being asked some questions.  I call it “the creepy” method.  Not so good for getting dates but great when you want to get some questions answered.

Danielle tells us about McPedro’s origins, “falling” for Seth Green, and how at least one of her characters is deathly afraid of meat.

BG Gritskrieg: Looking at your itinerary on your site, you’ve been pretty busy since the beginning of the year. Are you busier this year as opposed to last year?
Danielle Corsetto: Travel-wise, definitely. I started doing signing tours in January and they’ve gone so well, I’ve decided to do more of them and that means I’m not in the house as much. So it’s been a lot of extra work but it’s worth it. I get to meet a lot more people and travel to wacky places. That’s always good.

BG Gritskrieg: What’s been your favorite stop this year?
Danielle Corsetto: That’s a hard choice. I’m in love with Toronto so any time I get to go there it’s always a good time. I love Austin though, I mean the weather alone might make it unfair for me to judge because it’s been so freakin’ cold back east so it’s a welcome change. I like Austin an awful lot, I don’t know if that really counts as an answer.
(ed. note: You read it, folks. She likes Austin, Texas the best so “neener” to the other states!)

Jamie of GWS sporting a BG Tee and representing the Old School Gamin'

BG Gritskrieg: Which event has been your favorite so far?
Danielle Corsetto: Wow, that’s a tough one. New York Comic Con was not my favorite. *laughing* Driving to New York sucks. I guess this one (Staple!). I really haven’t done a lot of other events this year other than the signings. I guess I could say the signing in Toronto was awesome.
(ed. note: We’ll forgive that last bit because she said Staple! first which is in Austin, Texas… so “neener” to the other states!)

BG Gritskrieg: This is probably something you get asked a lot but where did you come up with the idea for McPedro, the talking cactus in your strip?
Danielle Corsetto: *chuckling* That’s actually a good question. It started when I was approached by a company that wanted to make plushies of the characters from my strips. I thought about it and figured there would be some perverts out there tearing out the crotches of the dolls and… Well, it freaked me out a little  and I thought I would never let that happen to my “girls”. But they were looking for something that could be turned into a plushie and so being the snarky asshole that I am I said, “How about a cactus? That’s really cushie. It’s a plant, you can squeeze it.”  And so he just turned into one of the characters. I’m glad he did because the strip needed some sort of weird anthropomorphic character in there. He was good comic relief. Some people really hate him which I understand and appreciate but a lot of people really dig him. So that’s where he came from. Poor guy.

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PLUTOPIA 2009 @ SXSW

So what do you do to cap off SXSWi’s biggest year yet? Why throw the mother of all parties of course. Not the same old event where you stand in line with a worn out badge and may not get in, but a huge living system that is designed to make you think and interact. Hey kids… this is SXSWi we’re talking about, it’s not your Dad’s corporate stiff shirt event.

The word “Plutopia??? came about when party organizers were thinking of pluralist utopias. That’s right PLURAL, not just a single idea of a good time. This party is designed to have it all, and even if it goes over your head, it’s just a hell of a party to go to with music and lots of social interaction.

I met up with two of the event organizers, Shanta Stevens and Bon Davis who consider themselves “Plutopians???, at a Staple! Pre party in Austin Texas. I was not only intrigued by the event, but by the enthusiasm both of them seemed to have for the event. “Myself and the other Plutopians have very wide social networks and are always out at different events looking for kindred spirits,??? Bon Davis, Techinical Producer said, “We try very hard to make our events appeal to a wide variety of people and are always trying to get the word out. Amongst other things, we try to promote Social Sustainability, so the more people we talk to the more people hear about our participants and what they have to offer. Hopefully we get more converts to our cause. I think personal verbal invitations are so much more valuable than mass market media advertisements.??? The grassroots approach worked, while we discussed the event, music and playing in bands (both Shanta and Bon are musicians like yours truly), you can’t help but be intrigued what kind of party two guys drinking beer in a comic book store would help throw. “I work professionally in Theater and Event Production and am always looking for ways to combine my interests in Futurism and Technology and Art with my Production efforts,??? Davis continued, “These Events at SXSW are a Great opportunity to present to a National Audience while keep trying to keep true to our local roots.???

So what does Plutopia have to offer you? This year’s theme is “Living Systems??? and participants were invited to explore this concept. In short… there will be tons of things for you to interact and play around with. In addition to this, there will be a number of speakers and performers, 70 art installations and exhibitions with artists from all over the world, and nifty technology.

And what’s a party without music? The headlining musical act is Ian McLagan who’s 40 year span of music has let him play and record with everyone from Bob Dylan to John Hiatt as well as a member of the band Small Faces. There are also 15 other bands spanning over 3 stages including Hipnautica, Black Pig Liberation Front, Exstus, Tolera Storm, DJ John Gomi and Beatimprint.

The event is being held at the PALMER EVENTS CENTER in AUSTIN TEXAS, Monday March 16 2009 from 6pm to midnight. The event is free to badgeholders, and ten bucks to the general public. There are also too many things going on at this party to list in this article, but definitely worth checking out online at Plutopia’s website.

-T.Danger

There’s always the danger that the Reckon Crew will show up hungover for an event. It’s just the way things seem to happen when we roll into town and it’s even worse when the event happens to be in Austin, our local stomping grounds. So it shouldn’t be any surprise to anyone who knows us that we showed up for Staple! proper hungover and running on two hours of sleep. The lack of sleep didn’t stop us from perusing the show’s considerable talent lineup, nailing some great interviews, and schmoozing with our table’s neighbors.

Pre-Party at Austin Books and Comics

The Staple! weekend officiailly launched at Austin Books and Comics at the pre-party event Friday night. In exchange for letting a strange bearded man draw marks on our hands, we were given free beer. This made us happy. Once there were three marks forming, in most cases, a smiley face, there was no more free beer to be had. This made us sad. But we pushed on despite our thirst and the Reckon Crew wandered the crowd that had assembled for the bash, snapping pictures and introducing ourselves to those who hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting us yet.

Saturday morning we showed up bleary eyed at the Monarch Convention Center to set up our table for the event proper. Once our “flag” was up and the swag was set out, the Reckon Crew began wandering the floor to see the various works of the artists who attended the event. The following is a short list of events and people who caught our notice.

Staple! at the Monarch Convention Center

We spoke to Martin Whitmore of tastyflesh.com and martinwhitmore.com. His online comic Tasty Flesh is a tale of strippers surviving a zombie apocalypse using knowledge gleaned from classic zombie movies. Honestly, he had us at “strippers”. Look for more of Sir Whitmore in coming months as his artwork and twisted humor really caught our fancy.

Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots fame was our neighbor at the event and was kind enough to sit through a second interview with me after last year’s was consumed by recorder gremlins. She was also courteous enough to draw a quick sketch of Jamie, one of the characters from her strip and my personal favorite, wearing a Busy Gamer t-shirt. Look for our interview with her in the upcoming days.

Stan Sakai of Usagi Yojimbo did a Q&A about his comic and events throughout his career. We learned that one of the reasons for his fame initially began with a toy based on his work. So no matter how old you are, you should always play with toys. At least that’s the message we’re taking with us.

Monica Gallagher of eatyourlipstick.com and Gods and Undergrads caught our eye with her artwork… and a book titled “Boobage”. Yeah, so we’re pervs. She was sold out when we went by so our perving was countered by that simple fact. Her works include the adventures of Bonnie N. Collide, a roller derby girl working a nine to five job, and the aforementioned Gods and Undergrads, an unusual tale of college kids, Greek mythos, and magic.

After Party and Art Show at Red 7

We managed to drag our tired butts out to Red 7 in downtown Austin for the after party and we’re glad we made the trip.  It was a pleasure watch many of the artists who attended Staple! strut their stuff in front of a live audience. The pieces done were donated to be sold with the majority of the proceeds benefiting local community radio station KOOP. There was live music by Terp2it, a nerdcore hip hop group that managed to keep us laughing the whole time they performed, and DJs who keep the turntables spinning while the artists did their thing.

Finally, tired and content, the Reckon Crew made their way home to sleep off the hangover and quietly plot our next event. While we’re sad to see Staple! end, we look forward to seeing everyone who attends next year. Our warmest thanks to Chris “Uncle Staple” Nicholas for inviting us and putting together Staple! five years running with no end in sight.

See you next year, Staple!

Gritskrieg – End of Line

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!

Fuzzy Gritskrieg and Terry Parr

At the Dallas Comic Con back in January, we had the opportunity to sit down with Terry Parr and get an interview out of him. We held off on posting it until we were closer to attending Staple! in Austin, Texas where Terry will be kind enough to share a table with us. Terry’s a talented individual with a sharp wit, a formidable artistic skill, and a Gamette for a girlfriend.

BGG: What was the first comic that you ever read?
Terry Parr: First real comic that I really read and enjoyed or first comic…?

BGG: Was that comic the reason you decided to start drawing or what was the reason you started drawing?
Terry Parr: Well, I’ve always drawn, probably since the second grade. I used to draw stuff like Snoopy and all that. But when Dragon’s Lair came around and I saw that, that was what I constantly drew all the time. And then around that time was when I started getting into Swamp Thing, like middle school, and then I kind of dropped out. I still drew but I didn’t really have a focus. I mostly drew Iron Maiden stuff. I drew Eddie all the time. I probably drew him for like two years straight. I was always the Iron Maiden guy. Even in my high school photos, I was wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt. But I started getting back into comics, right when conventions started up, and I was a huge Jim Lee fan. If you look at my old stuff, way back when, I drew just like Jim Lee. It was kind of sad. Right now, I’ve moved on.

Boba Fett as drawn by Terry Parr

BGG:It seems like you have a pretty free flowing style. You can go from some of your dark, gothic work right into the pin up styles. Is that something you’ve always been able to do or is that something that’s recent?
Terry Parr: I would like to say that I’ve done that all the time but I think it’s been the last couple of years. I try not to be classified by one style. I feel an artist has to grow. But I’m still improving on that and it’s pretty tiring.

BGG: When you sit down to draw do you know what style you’re going to use or does it just flow as you go?
Terry Parr: It can happen both ways. Sometimes I’ll have an idea in my head on how I want to approach it but then again, once I approach it, I’ll just bug and won’t do that, I’ll do something else. It just depends on the need. Most of it comes out the way I want, others I end up altering and changing. 

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