MoCCA Festival 2011

On Sunday, April 10, 2011, I headed over to the annual festival of the Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art.  Held in Manhattan at the 69th Regiment Armory (right across the street from my alma mater of Baruch College), it’s an annual event gathering some of the brightest and best people in the field of independent and small press comics.  To be honest, I was amazed at the diversity of content there.  I always thought that alternative comics were counterculture, protest, and shock value.  There was all that – but there was also cutesy material, excellent stories, and even a smattering of manga and superhero influenced work.

MoCCA Fest poster

I met a lot of neat people at this event and even attended a super duper panel about comics and graphic design.  So who exactly did I meet?  Well, I did meet the lovely Jodi Tong, a talented and very beautiful young woman with superb skills.  Also there was Nathan Schreiber (winner of the Xeric grant) and Chris Sinderson (he snapped a photo of me in my captain’s hat).  I also got to meet Morgan Pielli who is also in my LinkedIn network.

One of the more interesting finds was a webcomic called the Fuzzy Five which was tied into a neat line of stuffed animals known as the Squishables.

Their site has more of these neat plushes so go on over and check them out.  I did purchase some work from exemplary marketers who were present.  The first one was from a table occupied by a straightforward name – 3 Guys Making Comics.  I got a title from them called “How to Survive Working in Retail #1”.  It is very well written and definitely shows off fantastic line art.  Check out their page for more information as well as to browse through their gallery.

Another piece that I bought was from a gentlemen named David Blummenstein, who hails from Australia.  He had come here to MoCCA to sell his work and managed to sell me one of his books.  How could I say no?  I got a Swedish fish out of it – oh yeah, the work is really entertaining too.  This little book contains various strips involving a energetic yet EXTREMELY inept producer named Bret Braddock who works in television and the new staff toiling for him, Sally.  Given some of the stuff I’ve heard from those who worked in television, guys like Braddock do exist.  Anyway, check out David’s work.  The strips are worth reading.

All in all, I had a very good time.  The MoCCA festival is one of the quintessential comic conventions to visit that covers the small press scene.  Make sure you check it out next year.  Your humble writer, Max West, just might have a table there next year to sell the Sunnyville comics.  On that note, please enjoy this short little video I took while on the con floor.  It ought to give you  a good idea of what the event was like.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry4GsGPRJZw[/youtube]

If anyone else attended MoCCA Fest, please drop me a line here.