From the Field: MoCCA Art Fest 2010: A Librarian's Takeaways
<em>LJ</em>'s Graphic Novels columnist hit the recent MoCCA Art Fest in New York City in search of scintillating titles and debate
By Martha Cornog, Philadelphia -- Library Journal, 04/20/2010
- Swedish imports sell out
- Small publishers abound
- Origami comics show the value of paper
Do
nald Duck the national mascot of Finland? Who knew? The Scandinavian comickers were sounding off at the MoCCA Art Fest, a two-day confabby comic con held April 10-11 at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City.
Graphic novel publisher Top Shelf Productions is releasing a slew of Swedish imports, and its exhibit tables overflowed with colorful covers and booklets—all sold out by Sunday night. One on this columnist’s reading stand now: Simon Gärdenfors’s 120 Days of Simon, a quirky "graphic odysse
y though Sweden" boasting plenty of sex, drugs, and loud music.
Sprightly panels
Besides the Scandinavians, MoCCA panels spotlighted humor geniuses, superhero mythologies, favorite titles of the decade, how-to’s, Holocaust "motion comics," e-technologies for comics reading, and activist comics. All of the panels were well attended amid a mood of cheery optimism. The verdict on digital comics: good for print comics and vice-versa, since more and different venues equal more comics and more readers.
Only a handful of major publishers joined Top Shelf—Abrams, Drawn & Quarterly, Fanfare Ponent Mon, Fantagraphics, First Second, Lerner, NBM (which is planning a "Tales from the Crypt" parody of Wicked), Pantheon, and Vertical, which mostly sold out their wares, too. And no Stormtroopers!
Labors of love
MoCCA’s all about the comics creators, and few Hollywood influences were in evidence. So apart from New York’s School of Visual Arts and several other cartooning programs showcasing tons of student work, the rest of the many tables featured small publishers, tiny publishers, self-publishers, webcomickers, minicomickers, comics collectives, and zinesters—all with their labors of love and eager smiles.
A few table-hopping highlights. Lance Hansen’s E.A. Poe-eyed Young Lovecraft lassoed me with its tentacles, a creepy-cute graphic novel I just want to dive into. The distinctive, web-readable Sikhtoons of Vishavjit Singh offer a few easy chuckles—a Swiss army knife for Sikhs?—but many more thoughtful and disturbing messages about prejudice and xenophobic violence.
Print vs. online
Educators and activists, take note. As for the exquisite Origami Comics, Ken Wong created them to counter the claim that e-comics can duplicate the print experience. Certainly his tiny, real box to tell Pandora’s tale makes his point. Tiny Kitten Teeth is advertised as "a retro hand-painted webcomic...steeped in Wodehouse...[with] sprinklings of Salinger" in a dramatically jagged kawaii-like look and brilliant colors. The knock-me-out art is just screaming for a print collection.
Of the numerous minicomics, Monica Gallagher’s When I Was a Mall Model spoke to me with its swirly, tight art and free-form page design coupled with an appealing girl-stuff topic. This one really meets a need: Tapir Tooth’s Google Doppelgängers: Finding Yourself Online, a mini-anthology built around the question, Have you ever googled your name and discovered other you’s spread out across the Internet? Sure have! You, too, I bet.
The MoCCA experience
MoCCA makes a warm and friendly experience for Northeast Corridor librarians curious about the real people behind the ink and panels or simply drawn to the thrill of discovery. What arty oddity lurks at the next table? Many minicomics would make fine additions to local collections as well as prove useful for inspiration or prizes at comics-related library programs.
It was unfortunate that this year’s Kids’ Comic Con in the Bronx overlapped the same Saturday, forcing artists, publishers, fans, and librarians to split their involvement.
For much more MoCCA 2010, see the Comics Reporter’s links, Collective Memory: MoCCA Festival 2010 and the New York Daily News’s picks for The Best Comics from the 2010 MoCCA Art Festival.
