The ComiXology art show for Goliath Girls starte d off like most industry standard events, but certainly didn’t end that way. There was a gallery of art from the comic, a special guest, an open bar, and an interactive media booth that felt fun for the first 10min, then was quickly ignored for the open bar. We interviewed the wildly energetic Sam Humphries, toured the sample and test pages framed on the walls, examined the giant cityscapes built from cardboard all around the gallery, and gawked at a shocking well-decorated cake from the Great British Bake-Off’s Kim-Joy. Did I mention the open bar? We made sure to stop there a few times.

Most industry parties don’t feel like their being thrown by the people they are being thrown for. Their art is there and their presence is felt, but the parties themselves seem to revolve around them, rather then from them. At about 8:45pm this was the topic of conversation I was having with some colleagues- sure, it was a nice enough event, but nothing really special… And that’s when a Keven Bacon-esque Sam Humphries took the mic and like a 1984 teenage dance movie with a title track written by Kenny Loggins- Shit got awesome.

“You call this a party, Let’s dance.”

Sam’s voice is that of your best bud from home who has one screw loose and nothing to lose. His energy is infectious and leaps off the page the same way it leaps off his pages. He asked us to release our inner Kaiju and tear down the the city scape surrounding us. And by god, we did. We smashed with all our might, leaping and miniature crushing cars. Tearing down skyscrapers as big as ourselves, roaring our terrible roars, and gnashing our terrible teeth. And when all the walls were torn down and the people in suits and dress gowns were breathless… it got even better. Kim-Joy’s perfect cake was brought to the rubble, Ponchos were distributed and one lucky attendee was invited to join Kim-Joy and Sam in the destruction of the cake itself (not before a few smart people grabbed a bite here and there).

Moments like this take a standard party and bring it to a level of fun rarely seen amongst adults (AKA people in suits). It reveals who this party is for and what we are celebrating- a tremendously fun comic about Kaiju. Kim-Joy was a perfect counter part Sam, shy and quiet, but approachable- She lets her work speak for itself, uses her interview time to talk directly to you, drawing you in and maintaining the conversation long after being whisked away for hobnobbing, then coming back around to continue a conversation about board games or shared interests.

Although I’m not a fan of this pun, I see no alternative in describing this party- it was a smashing success.

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