Back like a whale, baby! Tha's right, Mangled Stare was at the SECOND annual Staple! Expo... "how'd it go", you may ask... well, I'd respond, "Get your hand off my butt, I'm married!"

 

It's my young Manglers-in-Training here and what you don't see (thanks in large part to my love of Chipotle) is the poster behind me! This was the first appearance of the poster that Puckk was so kind as to provide for me. (thanks, girl!) I also debuted the 3rd Mangled Stare comic at Staple!2. What a fantastic day.... let's get started, shall we?

This is the OTHER Rodriguez clan... Meet Joseph and Allison Rodriguez ( Grandmaster Detectives ) They're not related, but they still had my back. Alli and Joseph came through for me when I thought for SURE I was gonna miss this expo!

The contraption to the right of Joe is his mega cutter. He's so dedicated that he was stapling comics on the ride from Houston to Austin and stapling comics in his hotel room the night before the expo! That cutter was awesome! Watch your fingers, though!

Chris couldn't get enough of Staple!, either! He came out for this year's expo and brought another jam poster for me to screw up. He was really too sypathetic to give me another chance to redeem myself after last year's failed THOR drawing... gah!

I drew a Capt. America that actually didn't completely suck for Chris' jam piece... you can't see it at the bottom of the sheet, and really... you're probably better off just seeing my smiling face and Chris pretending to enjoy my wobbling artwork. I'll try harder next year, Chris... promise!

Monster chic! Really, I couldn't grasp that this was someone in costume. It took me a moment to realize that I wasn't playing WoW and was, in fact, still at STAPLE!

She built her costume completely from scratch and I was both impressed with the craftswomanship and relieved that Lori had taken the kids home for this expo... whew!

Joseph brought cascarones with him from Houston to add a more "festive" look to our table. In case you don't live in Texas or are just oblivious to hispanic tradition... cascarones ( or confetti eggs ) are used to signify a festive occassion.

Or, in my case, allow me to make a complete juvenile out of myself by lobbing these suckers all over the convention hall and thoroughly pissing off plenty of artists. Here, you see me measuring up my first and MAIN target of the day's attacks... Dave Hopkins.

Note how completely OBLIVIOUS he is to what's about to begin. [darth vader march]

Allison and Joseph winding down after a really hectic day. I'd invited these cats out for burritos, but they were not in the mood for burritos after the large lunch they'd had.

Joseph has lit in me a fire I never knew I had... cascaron bomber. Thanks again, primo!

 

I hope I didn't incriminate us or hinder our hopes of returning to next year's STAPLE!, dude. Lord knows the cleaning crew probably came in and cursed my name.

Dave was a great sport about the cascarones... I think it's largely due to the fact that his soft, supple chest repelled my repeated attacks. Honestly, the frikkin eggs would NOT BREAK! I nailed Dave TWICE in the midsection and they just. bounced. off.

Yeah, I blame Dave's obvious dealings with unholy minions... or his chest is really that soft. ^_-

 

No hard feelings, right Dave?

I've gotta remember the supersoaker next time....

Danielle Corsetto, of Girls with Slingshots fame, was also a victim of my flying confetti egg attacks. That's only because I love her artstyle and, really, the only way to appreciate someone's hard work is to pummel them with cascarones, right?

 

RIGHT?!

*looks up for any confetti eggs at all...*

And, of course, my little charmer had to work his mojo.

My oldest decided that the lovely ladies of Staple! were in need of his artistic prowess so he was going to fill the voids in their lives. He shouted... nay, BARKED at female passers-by with offers to draw anything within their hearts.

He told me that he realized that he loves to draw for people. I know it didn't hurt when ONE of the young patrons actually fished through her purse and gladly paid my aspiring artist for his talent with a pencil. My boy's first commission... excuse me a moment....*snif*... I'm....*snif*..... sorry....

I'm SO proud! *sob*