My MoCCA 2010

You know that giggly feeling you get in your belly when you find a comic on the shelf you thought might be sold out cause you couldn't get to the comic shop early enough on a Wednesday, but then it's there and you realize it even has a special guest appearance by someone awesome you didn't know was gonna show up like Deathlok or Kamandi or even FUCKING LOCKJAW?! That's what it's like for me CONSTANTLY when I wander the aisles at MoCCA, and this year's show had my big ol' belly all aflutter.

Unlike last year's oven-roasted death-trap, the show this year felt cool temperature-wise AND crowd-wise. I noticed there was a large hang-out area at the back of the hall I don't remember last year that made for a great meet-up/breather area, and with the show in early April, the weather meant the non-climate controlled Armory housing the event wasn't stuffed with heavy B.O. and WARMTH.

I also ran into an army of friends, co-workers and friend co-workers, which always helps make a show more fun thanks to the constant "Holy balls, what did you buy?!" or "Dude dude DUDE, lemme see the sketch you got from Lucy Knisley!" sorts of conversations. I know Frank Miller was at the show, but I never spotted him. And I didn't even try to break out my Watchmen sketchbook, though I now wish I had (re: Lucy Knisley).

The show was flowing with newsprint comics, which makes me wonder if that's a new grasp at nostalgia or if I was just NOT paying attention to past similarly formatted books. I literally doubled my newspaper-esque comic collection after this show. Meanwhile, I think I bought more comics from creators I'm not all that familiar with at this show than any other MoCCA, which was FUN. I skipped the panels, I took a break to eat (thanks for making me, Emily), I spent all the money I saved for this, and I want to roll the show up into a pillowcase so I can snuggle with it every night of the year. Here's what I bought:

pictured above:

SECRET PRISON - A free newsprint comic from a Philly-based comics collective with a rad yellow cover, this was the first comic I got at the show on newsprint. Flipping through, a creator named Art Baxter stood out.

HERO LAND #1-6 - Esther Pearl Watson's neat screen-printed superhero parody comics. NEON!

ESCHEW #2 - A new issue of Robert Sergel's creepy stark black and white comics!

DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL STICKER - This was available in support of the off-Broadway play based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Phoebe Gluckner. I'ma put it on your face!

pictured above:

EVERYTHING DIES #1-2 - Two great-looking minis from Box Brown, a creator I've only just started reading.

UNSYNDICATED PRESS - Box Brown's comic collection of his online strip Bellen!, this was the second comic I got at the show on newsprint.

HEAVEN ALL DAY - I'm so fucking excited about this book from John Martz that looks like it's about an alien and an average joe trying to find happiness. Reminded me of Jonathan Bennett, Graham Annable and Martin Cendreda all wrapped together!

MACHINE GUM #1 - A little anthology of John Martz's shorter works! Check this guy out!

THE SIDE EFFECTS OF THE COCAINE - My BFF Sean T. Collins wrote this based-on-true-events mini about a period in David Bowie's life where he did a lot of coke and had a pretty disturbing mental breakdown. Art by Isaac Moylan, you can find a copy here. This was the first book I bought at the show!

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POOD #1 - ANOTHER newsprint comic! This time it's an anthology with Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca (the Street Angel guys) and a whole lot of others including Hans Rickheit. This makes 3...

PHASE 7 #7 - Creator Alec Longstreth's Phase 7 series is usually made up of standalone autobio issues, but the fictional "Basewood" storyline was taking him a while to complete, so he broke up the series by skipping the numbering of the rest of the story arc and left room in the middle of the series for the remaining chapters. Now, three years later, chapter three of "Basewood" has arrived! I'm so excited!

PHASE 7 #15 - See above for why there's a new issue of Phase 7 and it's 8 issues after the other new issue. Alec's comics are so fun to read.

SNAKE PIT 2009 - Ben White's daily autobio comics about hard-party living in Austin, Texas, are now being collected by Birdcage Bottom Books after their last run at Microcosm. I can't explain how much joy I've gotten out of these stories about a young rock-baller kicking ass back in my home-state. That's what made it kinda poopy to hear Ben's gonna stop making the book after 2010's collected - his 10th anniversary of diary comics. MADNESS.

MIGHTY SKULLBOY ARMY #12 - New Jacob Chabot fun!

5 COMING OF AGE STORIES #1-10 - I've never heard of CCS student Max de Radigues, but his cute series of French-translated diary comics - each packaged as 5-issue bundles with a color band - are BOSS.

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FRANCIS SHARP IN THE GRIP OF THE UNCANNY CHAPTER 1 - Like something out of a long-lost volume of Flight, this 84-page story about a boy battling back against the unknown looks so AWESOME! Artist B. Sabo also gave me a mer-people print!

INVINCIBLE SUMMER #16/CLUTCH #21 - A new issue of Clutch I didn't know came out last year! I hear there's a big-ole "lost stories" collection coming this year?

WEIRD BUT TRUE TOON FACTOIDS - I got this Craig Yoe book poppin' with useless comics facts for free.

INKDICK #2-7 - Never heard of this diary comic till MoCCA! Unique book dimensions and fresh art style hooked me in for all the issues creator Pranas Naujokaitis had.

BEARD - Another book by Pranas, this time it's about BEARDS! Fun comic flap in the front, too.

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MOCCA PROGRAM GUIDE - Cover by Dash Shaw.

THE GLOW - Swedish Comic Fun #1! Creepy-bonkers story about a guy zapping himself on a roof while fixing the TV antennae. Nuttiness ensues. From Shamila Banerjee.

POOR PINKI - Swedish Comic Fun #2! Also from Banerjee comes this (creepy?) kitty tale.

YOU'RE TALKING WITH THE WRONG PERSON #2 - Swedish Comic Fun #3! A Martin Ernstsen autobio comic! Bought the first issue last year at a comic shop in the city. Clean, crisp art.

TRIGGER #1 - Mike Bertino's new mini looks like an ice cream tastes on a hot summer day and he's packed three stories in for maximum flavor fun. Reminded me a lot of Ted May if Ted May had a Cartoon Network show.

HOT TOWN - A summer of diary comics set in New York City from Robyn Jordan.

PEDAL PUSH - Also from Robyn Jordan - a roadtrip comic!!!

GETTING THERE - A comic about the interesting folks who perform in the NYC subways from Robyn Jordan! That's three minis about topics right up my alley and all for cheap! REALLY like this cover.

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CABOOSE - MORE newsprint comics?!?! This one from the CCS folks. My 4th at the show and it was free!

CCS FLYER - I've got the last three of these, but this one's from the previously mentioned Max de Radigues and laid out like a letter home from a current student.

LITTLE WOLVES - James Hindle comic starring a kid's book artist who goes through a little bit of a tough time. BEAUTIFUL cover.

EVERYDAY - A narrative comic (of sorts) by Joe Lambert!! Lookit his art lookit his art lookit his art.

HEAVY HANDED - JP Coovert is one of my favorite CCS grads and he had this new comic about a dude getting fired and going on a nuts adventure involving a wizard and some monsters. YEAH.

ONLY SKIN #5 - Do you like small-town mysteries, hand-made comics, ghosts, spooky forests, awkward interactions with your dead dad's secret lover and MURDER? Go right now and find copies of this series from Sean Ford, which is possibly my favorite series to pick up at MoCCA and SPX whenever it comes out.

FUTURE - New volume of the standalone 4-Square anthology series from a rotating crew of creators and I Know Joe Kimpel.


And that's it! Possibly the best thing of all was hanging out with and seeing all my best friends. TJ wrote up the show from his perspective over here and Sean did the same here. Otherwise, it was coooool to see Emily and Amy, Jesse, Ryan, Alex, David, Matt, Alejandro, Jon, Heather, Adam S., Darren, Rex, Rachel and John, Paul M. Adam P, Pornsak, Sal, and more and more and more. Comics and friends!

And this weekend? C2E2 - see you in Chicago!

BROOKLYN COMICS AND GRAPHICS FESTIVAL 2009

There was a new comic show in New York this weekend, so Sam and I headed down to Brooklyn to check it out!

Set up by Desert Island comic shop and PictureBox, the first Brooklyn Comics and Graphic Festival was held in the basement of a church in Williamsburg on Saturday only. I've always heard about comic shows back in the day being held in church basements, so I was glad I finally got to experience one. Generally, between my group of friends, we've all been looking forward to a new alternative comics show located in NYC to give MoCCA a run for its money. Don't get me wrong, MoCCA's been a highlight each year for me, but two shows are better than one, and any natural competition scared up by the presence of a second show should only provide increased entertainment for the show-goers. Besides, it's fucking New York City - there's room.

The weather wasn't the best this weekend. When it wasn't raining, it was slushing or snowing. But that didn't keep the crowd away from the FREEEEE admission and the small room - which the church quaintly decorated with orange and gold foil streamers and dangling accouterments which reminded us all we were still in a church basement - was constantly packed to, "Whoops, excuse me" capacity. Check out the pictures Sam snapped around 3 in the afternoon:

(The above is the view from the front facing the special signing stage set up in the back. To the left of the stage was an Asian hotdog stand)

(The view of the always-crowded far left aisle. We all love the PictureBox short-boxes and Frank Santoro's contagious excitement - you shoulda seen him pitch two kids on Shang Chi issues!)

We knocked the show out in about an hour because we'd seen a lot of the exhibitors at previous shows this year like SPX and MoCCA, but there was still PLENTY of stuff to find and buy that we'd never seen before. And the smallness of the show wasn't a problem at all. It kept table prices low so a lot of great people could afford to come out and it made the whole experience feel a lot more intimate than your average show. Here's what I picked up:

FIRST PICTURE:

• NEW MINI DASH SHAW MADE - Packed with drawings of people partying to the max, this new mini was free from Shaw, who I said hello to for the first time since I spoke to him back when I worked at Wizard.
• ESCHEW #1 - Secret Acres was selling this razor sharp mini from Robert Sergel for cheap! And it was the story inside titled "Thirteen Bad Experiences Involving Water that clinched the sale.
• SNAKE OIL #5: wOLF - Chuck McBuck's fifth issue was at the show! Great cover and I can't wait to read the insides.
• TALES FROM GREENFUZZ #2 - I got issue #3 at SPX this year and I'm still dizzy from the hilariously creative designs and colors inside. Want to see a 2-page spread where French Fry people and a hotdog seize a town of food people? Of course you do. Buy this book.
• FREE SHIT #16 - Charles Burns tossed me this little mini of random portraits.
• LOSE #1 - It's got a glossy cover and pages, it looks like it'll be ongoing, it's by a guy I don't think I've ever heard of and it's filled with cute little designs that remind me of vinyl toys. Check out creator Michael DeForge here RIGHT AWAY.

SECOND PICTURE:

• SMOKE SIGNAL #3 - A free comics paper Desert Island puts together. Garbielle Bell! Anders Nilsen! Chester Brown! And loads of others at the low price of nada.
• EPOXY #1 - I love John Pham (the cover to Sublife #1 is my desktop at work and it should be yours, too) and had no idea this book existed until I read Jog write about having picked it up at a PictureBox table at some show in the past year. Luckily for me, PictureBox had another copy at their table during THIS show, and I finally got it. Now I need to get issue #2...
• PROGRAM GUIDE - Sporting a big image from Charles Burns that I'm certain I saw somewhere else before, the program guide was just a single newspaper print with elements on the front and back. The back had the map of the floor and a list of exhibitors. I passed on purchasing the gigantic poster featuring the Burns art, which you can see here.
• WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS... - I'd never heard of Domitille Collardey, but her ink and brush style has this fierce sort of delicateness I couldn't pass up. The 4-page color section is the real winner here as her watercolor skills are on full, warming display. She also puts the book in an envelope when you buy it, which was fun.

And that's all I picked up other than my new sketches, which I'll post in the next day. All in all, the show was a lot of fun and I was glad to get to see Dave, Sean, Rachel and John while we were out. Hopefully enough people bought new stuff to keep the show going every year - or to at least promote other new shows to give it a go.