The fellow, whom I shall call Wilbur for this anecdote, found out who I was and raved about the UF. Very nice, very flattering, I thanked him profusely and we had a beer together. He found out who the other cartoonist was (let's call him Wally) and raved about his strip as well. Excellent, it's always good to spread the love around.

Then Wilbur, for some reason that is beyond my understanding, said, "I love your strip Wally, but Illiad just destroys you with UF." He then stood there grinning at both of us like he had just revealed some kind of deeply moving truth about the human condition. I couldn't believe my ears. Wally just sat there smiling faintly; me, I felt awful for him.

To make it worse, Wilbur seemed to expect some kind of chortling response from us. I just stared at him until he looked away.

When Wilbur left...or rather, when I snuck away from his company with my colleague in tow, I said "What a jackass!" Wally just shrugged and said, "No biggie." We went off and found a better party suite with beer.

I don't mind being criticized. There's always someone better than me, and I'm always better than someone else. But a reader who claims he loves the work of two creators, and then denigrates one of them in front of both...

It's no wonder some geeks never get any.

_{*It's probably not who you think it is. And I have no intention of revealing their identity, so don't even bother publically guessing.}