It's so nice to sleep more than six hours in a night, in my own bed, and not wake up hung over to the gods. It's over... San Diego ComicCon was, as ever, an overwhelming morass of comics geeks, costumed freaks, star-fuckers and pop-culture thrill seekers. And while i was perpetually exhausted, i loved every minute of it.

For some very odd reason i can't pinpoint, the floor seemed less crowded than in years past, and yet our gross receipts reflected much more. Also, i felt like the vibe amongst the like-minded vendors in our little corner of the floor was overall fabulous. I heard much lip-service to the problems inherent in this show, but smiling faces belied the disgruntlement.

Intern Leigh Walton impressed my partners Chris and Rob. So much so in fact, that we hired him on the spot. Leigh will start part-time doing publicity and marketing. (Look for an official press release soon.) He's also doing a guest-blog on "Hey, Bartender" later tonight.

The Eisners were less painful than in years past, even though we didn't win any awards. (Renee French was awarded last weekend however, with an Inkpot Award for achievement in comics.)

I love seeing so many old friends, and meeting new ones, although it's hard to get in more than a short conversation here or there.

The CBLDF party was my favorite party this year, hands down.

My intern from last year, Jacquelene Cohen, who now works at Dark Horse, was assigned to be the "handler" for Joss Whedon!! ARRGGGHHH!! I'm so jealous! I'm a total Whedon-head. Moreover, I'M the one who turned Jacq onto Buffy and Firefly!! Anyway, kudos to Jacq.

I haven't had time to read many con reports, but i really enjoyed Steven Grant's "Permanent Damage" column over at CBR, and of course, the phenomenal reporting and commentary by Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter.

Brain is still fried...

• First Thursday is back tonight at Floating World Comics here in Portland, featuring spaz-rock cartoonists Corey Lewis and Brandon Graham. 20 NW 5th Avenue, (downtown, right off of Burnside), from 6 - 10:00 p.m. Should be fun. These guys can draw like muthas.

• Jeff Lemire is a cool guy. I love his comics and i love his terrific blog! How awesome are these drawings he made for San Diego!

• Chris Duffy, the mastermind bending the minds of our youth with the work of indy cartoonists in the Nickelodeon Magazine's Comics section, is the subject of an interview with Brian Heater over at The Daily Cross Hatch.

• I picked up a boatload of fanboy items at the show, including a couple back issues of the great great in-house fanzine, The Amazing World of DC Comics, an old old issue of Rocket Blast Comics Collector (which Scott McCloud informed included on his second ever published work, in an article written by Kurt Busiek), a super-funny issue of the wonderful (Fred) Hembeck comic magazine, and the newest issue of revived EC fanzine, Squa Tront.

I'll make a more comprehensive list of neat stuff as soon as i'm a little more caught up.