Cookout in Omaha: Day 1

For the last seven years, a few members of Comic Genesis have chosen the first weekend of June to hold a cookout together and meet each other on "the other side of the screen." I've attended three cookouts so far — two in St. Louis in 2006 and 2007, and one in Nashville in 2009. These started as small get-togethers but eventually grew into fairly large gatherings of 50 or more people wreaking havoc in hotel ballrooms. This year's cookout was a little bit different — we had a smaller crowd, but we managed to wreak just as much havoc, and this time we did in our house.

The official cookout kick-off started Thursday night when Mixed Myth and Dragon Kingdoms arrived. We had some Papa Murphy's pizza at our house and then walked it off across the pedestrian bridge into Council Bluffs. We wanted to stop by Ted & Wally's for some ice cream, but they had a line running out the door, so we decided to stop by tomorrow instead. We returned home and spent a while drawing together while waiting for a few other guests — Fading Aura, Vort, and Michelle — to arrive. I can't describe how surreal it was to have these old comic friends in our house together, but it was quite awesome.