MoCCA Art Festival 2007

It’s my favorite time of year: the MoCCA Art Festival in SoHo.  This is my fourth MoCCA show, I think, and I imagine that, as usual, it’ll be a blast.

 For the non-comics fans in the audience, the MoCCA Art Festival is the antithesis of everything in the popular culture conception of a “comic book convention.”  You won’t find nerds dressed up in costumes that… well, let’s be polite and say “costumes that are not quite right for their frames.”  You won’t see the open, yawning mouths of “booth-babes” there to earn a paycheck by selling nerds books by virtue of their flesh rather than the quality of said books.  You probably won’t see many people rocking Superman t-shirts either and, if you do, it’s probably just Michael trying to piss off the hipsters in attendance.  You won’t see middle-aged men haggling over the price of a comic from the ’60s, debating the finer points of spine creases.

What you will see–an impressive amount of comics fans checking out some of the best comics being published.  You’ll see people that just fucking love comics.  You’ll see that a surprising number of them happen to be attractive and that half of them will likely be women.  The space is simply gorgeous–no hotel convention center stuff here.  Ballroom.  Big windows.  Hardwood floors.  It’s simply wonderful.

 My excitement level will be so high that I will literally be on Mars Friday night.

To kick things off, Rocketship is having a release party/MoCCA kick-off for Paul Hornschemeier’s The Three Paradoxes Friday night at 8pm. More information on times and location can be found at that link. I will be there, enjoying the rampant nerdery and spending lots of money.  It’s funny how quickly Rocketship has become a part of the New York comics scene–it’s really taken it’s place and is just a joy to be at.

 Let’s not forget about the important thing, though–the books.  Sure, not everything at MoCCA is great, nor to everyone’s tastes, but there really is something there for everyone*.  For the record, here are things I’ll be on the lookout for:

• Because of graduate school, there are a bunch of First Second books I’ve missed, so I’ll be catching up with: Joann Sfar’s Klezmer and, with Emmanuel Guibert, The Professor’s Daughter; George O’Connor’s Journey into Mohawk Country; Gipi’s Garage Band; Lat’s Kampung Boy; Eddie Campbell’s The Black Diamond Detective Agency;  and Leland Myrick’s Missouri Boy.  Yes–I’m way behind on my comics reading.

• I’m pretty caught up with things from AdHouse, but I will likely pick up Jamie Tanner’s The Aviary while chatting with Chris Pitzer and gushing over Project: Romantic, which I l-0-v-e loved. 

• At the Drawn & Quarterly table, I plan on snagging copies of Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds and, if it’s available, James Sturm’s James Sturm’s America: God, Gold, and Golems.  I’ll also pick up anything from Gabrielle Bell and Kevin Huizenga that I might not have.

• My first stop will likely be the Fantagraphics table, though, so I can pick up all the issues of Mome I have missed–they tend to go really fast at MoCCA; last year, when I worked for Gary and Eric, they sold out of the newest issue by 1PM the first day of the show.  If there’s a copy of Meanwhile… A Biography of Milton Caniff by R. C. Harvey or And I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets by Fletcher Hanks, I’ll likely get those, as well as whatever else Eric forces on me. I will probably be making other people buy Tales Designed to Thrizzle, one of the few comics I make a point to get when it comes out.

• I guess Vertigo and Minx will be there from DC Comics, which I think is a first at this show.  In any case, I’ll finally snag a copy of Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg’s The Plain Janes, something I should have bought last month when it came out.

 It’s not all publishers, though–lots of artists have their own tables, which means I can do my yearly stocking-up-on-minicomics thing, as well as visiting and talking with people.  I’m terribly excited that Alison Bechdel will be there–I’ve been dying to meet and talk with her after I read Fun Home.  I’m going to pick up The Handcuff King from Nick Bertozzi–I was going to pick up The Salon as well, but I ended up buying it Wednesday.  If Cathy Leamy has any minicomics I don’t have, I will buy those–I love her Geraniums & Bacon minis.  Any Pat Lewis minicomics I don’t have will also end up in my bag. I’ll finally pick up the latest volume of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim as well and a bunch of shit I’ve been meaning to buy from the guys at Cliff Face Comics.  If there’s cash left over, I’ll be picking up some of Dave Roman’s Astronaut Elementary for my friend’s daughter–she loved the Jax Epoch graphic novel I gave her for her birthday.

There’s a lot going on at MoCCA. Here’s a quick list of some of the events:

• The aforementioned Rocketship kick-off party.
• The MoCCA website has the Festival Program listed.
• Fantagraphics has it’s MoCCA Signing Schedule up.
• Saturday night, Top Shelf is having it’s Tenth Anniversary Party.

There will also likely be lots of other groups of hipster nerds drinking at assorted locations–watch the real blogs that update regularly for more information.  Most convenient, I imagine, is Puck Faire, which is a great bar right across the street from the Puck Building.

* By “everyone,” I mean “people who understand there is more to the medium of comics than people in funny outfits solving problems through punching.”