MoCCA, 2009!

Here's the report! I had a great time at this convention, even though it was held in a different location- the 25th st Lexington Armory, versus the previous year's Puck Building on Houston St. I really liked the Puck Building, though I was usually downstairs where it was cooler, I just like the neighborhood better. There are better bars, better restaurants, and more people who are likely to walk in off the street. The Armory was really stuffy, and lacked circulation so I got really light headed by the end of each day. And nobody wanted to hug each other because we were all too sweaty, ew.

There was also a snafu at the start of the con on Saturday, it opened an hour or so late. I'm not sure why, and I honestly wouldn't have known (I thought it was just really slow for the first half hour until somebody told me.) So I'm not sure what's up. Liz Baillie has some good thoughts on this, and the rest of the con.

Having the con in one big building kind of reminded me of APE, which was cool. It was nice to have everyone in one room, but I couldn't tell if it was larger or smaller than last year. Another difference I noticed was that it seemed like there were more comics this year. MoCCA is one of my favorite shows, but sometimes it feels too arts and craftsy- don't get me wrong, I love that stuff and I think it's great to do things besides comics, but sometimes I'd walk around and it was almost like the comics were being outnumbered by the other stuff. Whatevs I guess, it's still awesome- but this year, there were TONS of comics. EVERYBODY had a comic. It was so rad, I felt like this unprecedented surge of cartooning energy this year. Was that just me? Maybe it was the lack of oxygen to the brain...

Anyway, I was pumped. I bought so much shit, and I got some cool trades and some awesome gifts! Here's a photo with a bunch of it- I still haven't unpacked my suitcase so it's not all of them, but this is a good chunk!!


Here's a short list of some of the stuff (I got so much...):

Passenger Cahier by Alexis Ziritt- An amazing book of illustrations. Alexis works wonders with a brush! Alexis does work with Calavera Comics, they come to MoCCA every year and I look forward to their new books. I picked up a copy of Mekano Turbo from them this year, an anthology with a lot of juice!

Jardin Des Lunettes (A Megane Comic Anthology) by Kris Mukai, Dani Pigeon, Hilary Florido, Ada Price, Kat Mukai & Kim Hoang- Great collection of four short stories about lesbians with glasses in uniform! Beautiful silk screen cover, and each story is perfect. Love this!

Fågelhjärta by Sofia Falkenhem- Sofia was in from Sweden, and her silent story of a couple of foxes and a girl in a mask is touching and macabre in all the right ways!

Beyond the Canopy by Jonathan Griffiths- Jonathan graduated from SVA this year (and my class!) and it's great to see him continue the cutest story I've ever read about the adventures of Glenn, a little Sprigg who starts on an amazing adventure. Read the webcomic here!

Pierrot Lunaire by Antoine Dodé- Antoine is awesome. We met at TCAF last month, and I was really impressed with his work. He came to MoCCA with a preview comic of his book in English, which I'm really grateful for because I failed French. His work is seriously awesome, go check it out!

Flamingo Island by Hanni Brosh- I had Hanni last year at SVA as well, and she's amazing. Flamingo Island was her comic for class, and I'm glad to see it come to fruition! Hanni has a lot of talent, keep your eye on her!

Piracy is Liberation by Mattias Elftorp- Mattias caught me at the end of the day on Sunday, and I felt pretty bad because I didn't remember him right away from last year- but that changed once he showed me his work! He gave me books 3 through 6 of his series, to match 1 and 2 which I got last year. He's working on volume 7, so I hope he can make it again next year so we can trade :) Or maybe I'll just have to hit a convention in Sweden!

Prince Valiant Vol. I by Hal Foster- I don't even need to explain myself, it's Prince Valiant! This is a gorgeous new edition, collected in hardcover with the print quality we can expect from such a fine publisher as Fantagraphics! How could I resist?

Winters in Lavelle Chapter One, by Kasey Van Hise- Kasey was another student of mine who started a webcomic in class! I wasn't able to help much because I don't know much about webcomics, but she's really talented and picked it up right away :) She updates Lavelle twice a week, it's definitely worth checking out! I fell in love with the world Kasey was creating right away, plus I am a sucker for epic fantasy! Read her comic here!

Seks Sultne Menn by Bendik Von Kaltenborn- The guys at Dongery tried to warn me that this book was in Norwegian, but little did they know that I had picked this book up years ago at SPX, in English! To have one of my favorite mini comics printed oversize with a beautiful cover in the original language was too much to resist. I love it. The English title was Six Hungry Men. It's a murderously good story of a bunch of guys at a fat camp in the mountains. Love it.

And in case you were wondering what that weird shape is in that photo up there: I have a sword. It's Jason's. You know, the Argonaut. Comics are Serious Melee Business.



So that's that! I would talk about all the awesome people that I met, talked with and hung out with, but I'm pooped from writing all that shit up there!!! Now I'm so pumped with pure comic fury that I'm gonna draw until I pass out. Which will be in a few minutes, I'm fucking tired!!!

Three cheers for MoCCA!!!! GOOOO COOOMMMICCSSS!!!