You would think that when you finally meet your sworn enemy face-to-face, you would realize the gravity of the situation and react accordingly. I should have researched my foe, studied his every move, and memorized the face of the man I would one day conquer. But no, instead, the first time I saw Gary Tyrrell (of Fleen) in real-life, full-on three-dimensional, Technicolor glory he was pulling various pans of food out of an oven at a house party on the Friday before NEWW kicked off.

Of course, you can’t take a man by surprise when he’s wearing freakin’ oven mitts and an apron. That’s just how things are done in Manland. I opted instead to remember that mustachioed, thin competitor of mine and resume this battle on the floor of the Eastworks building.

What I’d built up in my head to be an all-out, bloody, epic battle for the ages was actually a cordial, soft-spoken (as softly as you can speak on the floor of a convention, at least) conversation wherein Gary and I traded a teeny little bit of respect for one another. We even bonded over taking away business from Bill Barnes (Unshelved), who was also Tyrrell’s roommate for the weekend. Terribly sorry about that, Bill.

Listen in and join me in verifying Fleen as a great site for webcomics news. Completely different than ANYTHING Digital Strips does, but great nonetheless.

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