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AFTER ACTION REPORT: Obviously I'm back from Duckon 12. It was a blast! Read the review below.

THE UF "ILLIAD FOR A DAY" CONTEST: Download this ZIP file, within which is a base strip graphic, the necessary font, and blanks for a 3- and 4-panel strip. Go into the cartoon archives and use whatever UF art exists. You'll have to get out some kind of raster image manipulator such as the GiMP or Photoshop. The goal: To put together your bestest, funniest UF cartoon you can manage! The rules:

1. You MUST use existing UF cartoon art. I don't want to be judging Mike the Anime Super Kung Fu Guy against an Edward Gorey-an Crud Puppy. That's cool and everything, but let's save that for another contest. Go forth and find the poses, furniture, whatever that you require in the archives to do the job.
2. Neatness and completeness counts! Try not to send in a cartoon that looks like this spider's breakfast. Speech lines, lettering fit, and your name at the end of the by-line!
3. Clever writing! Be clever! And stick to expected character behaviours unless the deviation is specifically a humour device -- absurdity is a good thing.
4. If you have trouble spelling words correctly, use a dictionary. See, I never make spelling mistakes. Ahem. :)
5. Keep it PG-13 or cleaner! No swear words. No truly angry, bitter trash-talking. Keep it to the spirit of UF as it has always been. And no snot jokes unless it involves Mr. Cola. Even then, imply rather than state.
6. Send all completed entries as .GIF files to my usual address (illiad AT this domain) and put "Illiad for a Day" in the subject field.
7. All entries become the property of me, and must be in by the deadline, 6:00PM Pacific Time, June 30, 2003.
8. A maximum of one entry per person, please!

There will be a two runners-up and a first place prize. The runners-up will both win a signed frameable print of a cartoon of their choice out of the archives. The first prize will be the a choice of two such prints and they'll be featured as a walk-on character in an upcoming UF strip! How embarassing is that?

DUST PUPPY ORBITAL: This in from Aleta:

Check out the cover of this magazine: http://www.eaa.org/benefits/sportaviation/index.html

You will see the Dust Puppy staring back at you; he's just behind Dick Rutan's shoulder. In case you don't know, Sport Aviation goes to every airport in the world, and about a million subscribers. ;->

Attached is a photo of the EZ-Rocket being brought back to our booth on AeroShell Square at the EAA AirVenture 2002 air show. You can see Dust Puppy beside the LOX tank. [in the cockpit - JDF] Over 500,000 people came by to talk to us and take photos; Dust Puppy was noticed and we explained about User Friendly.

ROCKETS! I love rockets. That little grinning hairball gets all the rockets and the chicks, damn him.

SPIFFS FROM THE MARCH SPONSORSHIP DRIVE SHIPPING! Finally! I do apologize to everyone who has waited this long and I really do appreciate your patience. It's been a dog's game getting the cluebats done, among a pile of other stumbling blocks! Anyway, stuff is shipping now and you should be seeing it appear over the next couple or few weeks. Thank you again for bearing with me during a hectic few months.

Next Backfeed update in about a week or so!

And thus I return from my second foray into the jungles of Duckon. And what a gas that was.

I had the good fortune to be invited as the Mad Scientist Guest of Honour for Duckon 11, so it was an honour to be invited back as a special guest this time around. This year the Duckon gang moved shop to the Radisson Lincolnwood, aka the Purple Hotel. It was actually a kind of lavender.

Over the three days the Duckon crew put on a show so organized it was obvious they had been doing this for years. These guys were sharp. There was no problem that couldn't be solved with a phone call or a short trip to Operations, and every event that I attended or was involved in ran like clockwork. What is especially cool about Duckon is that it's a family-friendly event, and is geared for it. There's a kids' track that allows the parents to drop their kids off at events so that mom and dad can go have fun too.

Cartooning with Illiad went off without a hitch and I'm proud to say that I've corrupted another dozen or so young minds with dreams of being a cartoonist. There were a few adults there as well who were soundly tromped by the skillful panelwork of some of the older kids. Duckon Illuminati was hysterically fun and I was lucky enough to pull off a win! DID I CALL IT OR WHAT?!?! BWAHAHAHAHHA!!!

Someone pointed out that it was kind of silly for the prize of the Duckon card I did for the game to go to me, so I stepped out of the game and it went to second place, which was as hard-fought as the first win. What was cool is that the Duckon card came into play in the first or second round, and was actually a minor lynchpin as it helped the Discordians with their goal of acquiring Weird groups. Cool. :)

All of this fun was held in a moderate --but very comfy-- hotel with exceptional staff. I hadn't seen that kind of attentiveness and politeness from hotel staff in years, and this includes the five-stars I've been to. (I got pretty annoyed one time when I saw a mess of sugar packets in the stairwell that a hotel staff member had to clean up by hand -- these people work damn hard and someone who attended the con either didn't care about the mess or couldn't be bothered to clean up after themselves. If the Con staff saw the culprit do this I could see the litterbug being ejected with much haste and glee.)

The programming this year was even better than last year's, which is a great indication of the progression of the con. The events were largely packed, and there were great parties and con suites to visit. Before I left, I was asked to come out next year for Duckon 13. I had an incredible time two years in a row. Think I'm gonna say no?

And of course we had a few UFies show up! My thanks to Da_Ediot, adiplomat and dad2tzk for hanging with us, and especially to chi_girl for organizing everything. To those dozen or so folks who wrote in with varying degrees of annoyance and sadness that you were unable to join us -- allow me to rub it in. It was a great time. :)

Mark your calendars. Next year, Chicago, Duckon 13!