Props to John for drawing all these guys and Flo for tagging them. So, here’s the start of that story…

It was 2012, and I was joining up with some cartoonists and other nerds to help plan a Washington, D.C. convention where Guilded Age would sell its wares for several years. One of the planners had a DeLorean, the car featured in the Back to the Future movies, and we spent some time checking it out on the lot. My own appearance, however, also gathered a fair bit of attention.

“You look like hell,” said Janice, then known to me as a convention planner and significant other of my old friend, Greg. She was a native of the D.C. area, and Greg was not, meaning she was on her own for this event. She spoke with affection and not a bit of concern, and her observation was true enough. The bags under my eyes showed the 1,500 or so miles I’d driven in the last 48 hours. But I smiled.

Flo was there too, to give me a warm hug. I had earned it, even if the work of the last two days had been spent addressing a problem I myself had partly caused.

To be continued…