Well another MoCCA Art Fest has come and gone, and as expected, it was amazing. I was there on the behalf of the Friends of Lulu, which meant selling memberships and copies of Broad Appeal (the latter which I’m always happy to do), but I still found plenty of time to scope out the multitude of cool stuff on hand.
This past year was very much like last year’s, just a bit bigger and a day longer. In fact, I really didn’t see too many new books or minis, just mostly stuff that did well last time back again, which I actually welcomed. The thing was I had absolutely no money to spend… I know I always say that but end up spending about $150, but seriously, I had no money. At first it didn’t bother me that much…. I simply kept a mental note on what to get at the next show. Besides, at every con, almost 20% of what I purchase is out of pure impulse (or out of guilt in an attempt to brighten some poor artist’s lackluster day) and it turns out to be junk. But as time wore on, it started to really get to me. Especially when I reminded myself that I wasn’t going to San Diego this summer, SPX is many months away, and I still hadn’t picked up Craig Thompson’s masterpiece, Blankets, which premiered at, and subsequently became the breakaway hit of, last year’s festival.
Anyhow, if you go to enough of these kinds of shows, you sorta know what (and who) to expect. But each year I always discover something totally new, something completely awesome. This time around was BB&PPINC and their assortment of uber cute comics, prints, and shirts. So despite being on an ultra strict budget, I simply had to pick up the shirt of a weenier dog doctor giving a roast chicken an examination. Plus I also picked up a shirt from the Sara Varon, who’s not only one of my favorite cartoonist, but is also a boxer! As I figured it, I like mini comics and all, but I need new clothing, so if it’s based on mini comics, then that’s two birds with one stone.
But even if I only had just one dollar in the entire world (actually, that wasn’t so far from the truth…. Jesus, I wish GMR would be faster with their checks), I still wouldn’t have hesitated to pick up the latest mini from Todd Webb, who as I’ve stated before, draws robots better than anyone else (plus he can draw pretty much anything awesomely, including turtles as I learned this weekend). Plus Todd’s like the coolest, nicest guy in the world and it’s always great seeing him. He was there sharing a table with Dalton Webb (no relation) and Quicken Forbidden. I actually got the chance to attend the ceremony even though I technically wasn’t supposed to be there. But thanks to the help of very talented (and also nominated) Tomer Hanuka, I was able to make the event anyway, and even had desert passed along to me, which was really nice.
The MC was the much loved and sometimes loathed Evan Dorkin who was actually seriously ill and in no real shape to talk, let along dole out insults, but he did so anyways, and was easily one of the best things about the whole affair, (the other being Neil Gaiman and his great speech). It was also a pretty educational event; insults were thrown at various parties and I was ignorant as to why, since I really don’t follow the comics scene all that closely. Luckily Scott Roberts was on hand to explain why this person was hated and why that person’s names elicits boos, and so on. Unfortunately Dave and John did not win, but as they say, it is an honor to be nominated, and they were among some great company. By the way, Craig Thompson won best cartoonist of the year, and everyone knows he deserves it.
And before all that, I had dinner with Todd, Dalton, Toby, Scott, and Erin Houlihan, who designed Broad Appeal, at Two Boots Pizza. The original plan was Kat’s Deli, but thankfully I managed to steer the course from a gastrointestinal disaster just waiting to happen. Plus at Two Boots, we had the friendliest waitress in all of New York City and got a chance to explain how I envision our futures as slaves to aliens plus my potentially Nobel Prize winning idea for the perfect pets (it’s all about eating nutritious cubes from an assortment of anuses).
As for the rest of the show, I chatted with ton of people, which is also par for the course for any con. Got to see many old friends (whom I had no trouble remembering, thank God), that either flew into town and a few of which I hadn’t seen in years, or still live the city but never get to see as much anymore. It was especially great to see Babyhead Magazine guys were present; they still hate the Matrix and still love Tron as much as I do, hence why they’re awesome in my book. Plus they finally made shirts based on their killer design of the three bad guys from Superman 2, which I alas, had to pass on due to lack of funds. And sadly, the guy who does Pape Rad was not present, and it was a loss felt by not just myself.
Plus you get to meet tons of cool new folks; I ended up talking at length with Entertainment Weekly’s comic reviewer, and also introduced her to all my friends in hopes that their work might get covered. I even helped filling her in on info for numerous stories that she was working on (such as going into the back-story between Jeff Smith and Dave Sim). And of course, there was a healthy contingency of super cute girls eager to show off their comics and zines, and I was more than eager to oblige.
Though the one person who stood out the most was Alexa and she was the “world’s youngest cartoonist”, or said her mom. Alexa was a very friendly and spunky 6 year old girl, but her mother…. should seriously be ashamed of herself. I was invited by the mom to check out the daughter’s work, which were collected into volumes and being sold. First off, Angelica’s work does look like a 6 year old’s, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and there was a great sense of whimsey to everything, as well as a rather sophisticated sense of narrative (for her age mind you) to most of her pieces. But as I was flipping though the pages, the mom would make remarks like “oh, that’s not a very good one” or “that’s not her best work.” Jesus Fucking Christ woman, she’s six years old! And besides that, that’s your own goddamn daughter you’re talking about!!!
But the worst part was how the mom explained how Alexa used to love playing with play money at home, but now that she’s “figured out” that drawing pictures can be profitable, no she likes making the real thing. And with that, Angelica exclaimed “I love money! Love money!” It was so sad….
Anyways, it was a stellar show from top to bottom. Even though I didn’t go away with a ton of cool comics, I did leave inspired to do my own, which is perhaps that best thing one to take from any show. Oh, and I did get a really nice drawing of myself that Todd did.
Some people think it looks like Dave, and while the similarity is there, if you look closely, you’ll notice that there’s a slightly prominent chin, like yours truly. Also, you might have noticed that Todd wrote 2008, which means it’s from the future!
