For the second year, I took a trip up to New York City for the MoCCA festival. It was a whirlwind of a 24 hours. My wife and I rode a bus from Pennsylvania, a trip that took so much extra time due to rush hour traffic that I ended up almost finish the book I started at the beginning of the trip, Raymond Queneau’s “The Sunday of Life.” Our Friday night out started with dinner in Brooklyn with Matt Madden, Jessica Abel, Charlie Orr, and Susanne Shaver. I’ve had online communication with Matt for a few years now and this is the first time I got to spend any time talking with him, though I think I mostly did a lot of listening (I’m still working on my social skills). After dinner we attended the Rocketship MoCCA launch party, which was also part of Paul Hornschmeier’s tour for “The Three Paradoxes”. I didn’t end up meeting (or even seeing) Hornschmeier, but Matt was kind enough to introduce me to a lot of people. I had very brief chats with Leland Purvis (whose Vulcan & Vishnu is the highlight of Act-I-Vate, in my opinion), Nick Bertozzi (who will be ALA (that is the big librarian conference which many of my colleagues were attending while I looked at comics)), Tom Motley, Tom Hart, Tim Hodler (of Comics Comics), and others I am probably forgetting. The store was hopping.
The next morning we started off by attending Paul Karasik’s talk on Fletcher Hanks in the MoCCA museum itself. While they set-up (and had some tech difficultes) we browsed the Stan Lee show that was up, including a lot of Kirby art. I’m probably a heretic in saying how little I am interested in it. Paul did a slideshow reading of one of Hanks’ stories, talked about the trademarks of his work, discussed the Hanks/Ed Wood comparison–which included Paul’s impersonation of Bela Lugosi in “Bride of the Monster” (hilarious)–, made a new/better Hanks/Chester Gould comparison (with some great slides from Dick Tracy), and ended off with the silent appreciation of a few of Hanks’ panels. I’m expecting the book, “I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets,” in the mail any day now.
We stuck around for the (unfortunately Huizenga-less) Drawn & Quarterly session. Gabrielle Bell did a slideshow reading of one of the stories from her latest issue of “Lucky” and Anders Nilsen did a brief reading from “Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow” and another work. Perhaps it was the inability to get a good look at the art or maybe the content itself, but the slideshow reading didn’t work for me.
Then, over to the festival itself, now in three rooms across two floors. The amount of tables, comics, and people were overwhelming in many ways. I made my way around as best I could, scanning for familiar names or images (I had a few people/comics that I was specifically looking for) and trying to suss out any new names/books that might be of interest. I think I spent over a hundred bucks on comics (books, pamphlets, and minis) trying to focus on things I couldn’t easily get elsewhere (i.e. not D&Q, Fantagraphics, Top Shelf, and the like). Lots of lots of tables that looked completely uninteresting, which I had to go by quickly so as not to feel the pain of the artist who really wants your attention.
A few highlights:
*I noticed a lot (more than last year I think) the shifting/blurring of comics and fine art: the unique item or nearly unique item, handmade, hand printed, limited edition. Some beautiful work that was more expensive. Molly Colleen O’Connell had some beautiful etchings and silkscreens in various forms from books to prints that I wish I could have spent some money on, but I’m not quite at the art collector point. Hopefully we’ll be seeing some more comics from her in the future.
*The Sundays Anthology from a bunch of the CCS students provided not only a giant handprinted comic but also a large silkscreened paper bag that served us well for the rest of the day in carrying all my purchases.
*Finally met Isaac Cates, who does Satisfactoy Comics (with Mike Wenthe) and is a big proponent of constraint in comics.
*Talked a bit with Mike Cavallero whose “Parade (with Fireworks)”, a story of pre-WWII Italy, has been appearing on Act-I-Vate. I asked Mike about the story and learned that it was based on stories from his grandfather. It’ll be published as a comic from Image soon, and you should give it a read. (You can see some page by going to his site and clicking on “Other Projects”.)
*Got to talk too briefly with Frank Santoro who was at the Picturebox table, which was featuring the new Comics Comics and Ganzfeld issues.
*Matt Kindt’s treasure box comic has to be seen. A selection of small single panel on individual pieces of paper packed in a box with a map that shows you how to lay on the panels to make a story. I haven’t put mine together yet, but I’m excited about this unique comic.
*A number of European (Dutch mostly) publishers had a table. I found most of it too far from my stylistic tastes to spend the money (they were costly too). Unfortunately, Belgian’s Bries didn’t have a full selection of their books (I was hoping to grab a copy of Frederic Coche’s other book and something more from Stefan J.H. Van Dinther).
*Matt and Jessica had print-outs of their comics textbook that is coming in the spring from First Second. I am very excited about this one. A browse through the pages shows information on everything from laying out pages and panel transitions to ink pen types and stretching exercises.
*Houghton Mifflin is slowly building their graphic novel line. They had advanced copies of a translated volume from Frederick Peeters called “Blue Pills” (originally “Pilules Bleues”), coming in January. It looks great.
*First Second had advanced copies of their next wave, including Sara Varon’s “Robot Dreams”, the seeing of which was the definite highlight for my wife.
*Somebody was selling Comics Journal back issues, which I wish I would have had the time/money to really browse through, as I’m sure there were some great out of print interviews and articles to be found.
*Paul Pope is a rockstar. That was my impression from seeing him at the AdHouse table signing books for a long line of people.
Here’s what came home in the bag (reviews/posts on many will be forthcoming, I am sure):
*The Cat Nap by Susanne Shaver
*Folk Wars by Erin Womack
*Windy Corner Magazine 1 by Austin English and co.
*Boys by Ron Rege and Joan Reidy (an old Highwater books pamphlet)
*Lumakick 2 by Richard Hahn. I’ve never heard of him before but this looks great. He also has an interesting piece in the Winder Corny mag (quelle coincidence!).
*Satisfactory Comics 7 by Isaac Cates and Mike Wenthe
*The Others by Matt Madden
*Chain 8. This is a literary journal that actually comes out of Temple University where I work. This issue from 2001 focuses on comics and is guest edited by Gary Sullivan.
*Super Spy: The Treasure by Matt Kindt (the aforementioned box of panels)
*Elsewhere 3 by Gary Sullivan
*”Habitual Entertainment” 1 and 2 and “Others” by Will Dinski. Somewhere before I’ve seen Will’s comics and noted his use of word balloons as whole panels.
*A small booklet on Finnish comics from the Finnish Comics Society and the Consulate General of Finland.
*A 4 page photocopied comic folded into a plain white envelope hand labelled “Sarah”. The comic is done as a letter (“Dear Sarah”). It was thrown into my bag by one of the guys at the Sundays Anthology table. I’m not sure who did it.
*”Noose” and “Dead Letters and Rare Words” by Mark Burrier, whose work I discovered at last year’s MoCCA.
*The Anatomy of Us by Karla Krupala (short and beautiful)
*Phase 7 #011 by Alec Longstreth
*Abscond by Mollie Goldstrom
All in all a fun and busy time. I wish I had more time and inclination to talk to people, but I am a slow social interactor (it takes me a while to warm up to really talking to people I meet). Still it was great to put some faces to names.
Plan for next year: Get a table and have a book to sell.
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10 Responses to “MoCCA 2007”
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I do recall liking Boys and Lumakick a good deal when I first read them – I especially thought Rege’s visual style worked well when put toward emotionally delicate teenage material. I thought the new Ganzfeld was very nice, although I’d have liked more sequential manga in the illustration-heavy Japan section. Still, I’m enthused about the King Terry monograph they’re doing… he’s an artist I’ve heard talked about a number of times, without much of his actual work available for perusal. I also loved Mark Connery’s comics in the Canada section.
Hey, if you have a table next year, you’ll have one of those handy name tags! I’ll find you for sure…
The one time I got a table was at MoCCA, back in 2004. I hated it: I hated having to pimp my comics, and I hated being stuck behind it when there was so much stuff I wanted to see (though, admittedly, my gracious wife generously helped with the latter). I’ve never done it since, and not regretted it one minute.
I was there today, BTW, Derik. Sorry I missed you!
Sorry to have missed you both.
Andrei: The pimping comics aspect is the part that gives me pause, but I’m hoping, starting to think about it now (with a year’s time) I can come up with some good plans. Maybe recruit someone(s) to share a table with. Also, after walking around that show, I’ve got some ideas about display set-up.
I was thrown by that “Sarah” comic. I found it in the bottom of the fancy silk-screened Sundays bag given to me by the CCS students and I thought it was a private letter I got by accident. I took it over to the Sundays table only to see a big pile of them on the table! I still haven’t opened.
Derik, it was great to hang out.
M
Hi Derik,
My tablemates said someone from Temple had stopped by, but I had no idea it was you! I wish I would have known so I could have found you. Well, tried to find you, given how huge this year’s show was.
Richard Hahn is great! Looking forward to seeing what you’ll think of his work.
The Norwegians on the 7th floor had a great full-color comic bio of Edvard Munch and Kurt Schwitters, each bio done vaguely in the style of the artist. I got it for the Schwitters, which was incredible. Sadly, I’ll never be able to actually read it, though it was worth it for the images & layout.
Did you happen to see J.T. Waldman’s graphic novel adaptation of the Book of Esther. That was my favorite book from the show. Really intense drawings, vaguely early-Mack Whitish, but entirely without irony. A preview here:
http://www.megillatesther.com/preview.htm
though it really doesn’t do it justice. The layouts become increasingly strange as the story goes on. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Waldman I think lives in Philadelphia.
Again, sorry to have missed you. Maybe we’ll see each other at SPX? I won’t have a table there, but my table mates & I are tossing around the idea of going down there just to see what’s being exhibited.
I actually picked up the Fletcher Hanks book Friday night at Jim Hanley’s — the last one they had. There was a rumor going around that Fantagraphics had already sold out of the *entire run* of the book. I don’t quite see how that’s possible, but they definitely sold out everything they brought to the show. It’s pretty unimpeachably great.
I was an idiot and did not get the Sundays anthology. It sold out. I didn’t even get to flip through it on the table. Everyone was talking about it.
Anyway, hoping all is well,
Gary
Hi Derik,
Thanks for the mentions. It was great to meet you. Wish I’d had more time to talk with you, but it was all so hectic, wasn’t it? I seem to have shopped like you did; didn’t buy any books I could get elsewhere, but stocked up on minis and other handmades. Can’t wait to dig into them.
Have got your site bookmarked and will definitely be back. And hopefully will see you again in the city soon.
Susanne
Gary: Sorry I missed you. Thanks for the link that Waldeman book looks interesting. I’m not currently planning on being at SPX.
So far The Sundays book is not looking as good as I’d hoped. It might be a great idea whose execution doesn’t quite live up to it.
Susanne, It was great to meet you too. I’ll have to spend some time checking out your website.
Based on a relatively quick first skim, there are a couple of problems with the Sundays anthology that also seem characteristic of other work I’ve seen coming out of there:
1. many of the stories are quite clever, in a meta sort of way, but ultimately unsatisfying. I’d call this the Iowa syndrome, and I’m surprised that CCS fell into it so rapidly (it took the IWW maybe a couple of decades to get there). We have a formalization of the tricks of the avant-garde, which, by being formalized, stop being avant-garde and become a new academicism.
2. The book is beautifully designed, as are most of the strips–but I’d just like them to learn to draw better!!! It seems to me–also based on Sturm’s lectures about the CCS I’ve seen in the past–that at CCS all the emphasis is on narrative technique, and little on actually learning to draw. I don’t care whether they learn to draw like Charles Burns or like Gary Panter, but I would want them to realize that while learning the basic grammar of storytelling is important, it’s not the only thing, and you won’t achieve a fully aesthetically pleasing end result unless you work as hard on your inking as on your breakdowns.
Ah, yes, there goes Andrei, being all negative again…
Andrei: I read the book last night, and I have to agree with you. There is potential in there but mostly… it’s a pretty book and a great idea, but it fails to really… move me in any way, be it narratively, thematically, aesthetically, or formally.
Hi Derek,
Thanks for the kind words. That impromptu Lugosi imitation had me sweating bullets!
If your readers are unfamiliar with Fletcher Hanks , they may want to wander ovver to my website for a sldeshow sample of a Fantomah story that does NOT appear in my book:
http://www.fletcherhanks.com
Best,
-Paul