Here are some new and notable books that will be debuting at today’s MoCCA Festival at Center 548. The previous round-up is here. The exhibitor list is here. But first a reminder:
The Best American Comics 2016 will be accepted at the Rebus Books table. Any new, North American work published between September 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015 is eligible for The Best American Comics 2016. If Series Editor Bill Kartalopoulos is not present at the table, material can be given to anyone working Table 226 and it will be included with BAC 2016 submissions.
So get those comics ready to rumble!
Koyama Press:
MIGHTY STAR AND THE CASTLE OF THE CANCATERVATER
ISBN: 978-1-927668-16-0
$15.00
6 ½ x 9, 172 pages, b&w, trade paper
April 2015
Sci-fi superheroes eschew Gotham and Metropolis in favor of nightmarish neoclassical ruins in this surreal strip.
A. Degen has taken the superhero myth and put it in a baroque blender; the result is the cerebral, sensuous and uncanny Mighty Star and the Castle of the Cancatervater. Equal parts Dalí and Astro Boy, Degen’s mostly silent narrative is both metaphysical and mighty.
KICKSTARTER
The above link will take you to a review of the many Kickstarted projects available for sale at MoCCA such as Alisa Harris’s The Collected Counter Attack. Much more good stuff in the link.
Every spring the Society of Illustrators hosts the MoCCA Arts Festival in New York City, a weekend-long celebration of comic and cartoon art. This year the event takes place April 11-12 at Center 548, and many Kickstarter creators will be on hand exhibiting their work. Here are just a few.
Carey Pietsch
Gleam
MOCCA table location: 425
GLEAM is a lighthearted story about trust and making the most of where you are, in a setting that’s just a little bit magical. As part of a summer internship with an animal control team, Natasha and Andy travel out to a remote part of their island hometown to investigate a complaint. At first glance, it looks like just a prank call, but all might not be as it seems…
This 12-page, full-color, all-ages comic is a companion to Keepsakes and Rift, set in the same location and following some of the same characters, but can also be enjoyed as a standalone story. You can read a brief preview here. I’ll be selling it at table 425, along with Marceline Gone Adrift, The Snapdragon Queen, Keepsakes and Rift, which will appear in the SOI Comic & Cartoon Art Annual 2015 show.
EDITORS NOTE: Keepsakes is a real sock in the gut if you’ve never seen it.
Nick Offerman
(Ed’s note: the OTHER Nick Offerman)
Sprinkles
6 Pages, Black & White, Free
I’m going to be debuting this short comic for free at Mocca. I’m at table 382. It’s the first part of a web-comic I’m working on about a girl just out of high school who goes to live with her mother and grand-mother.
Fremok
The innovative Franco-Belgian publisher Frémok will again be exhibiting at the MoCCA Arts Festival this year at Table 227, directly next to the Rebus/Domino table at 226. One of the two individuals representing Frémok this year is the French artist DoubleBob. His first book, the wordless Le Chat n’a pas de bouche vous aime beaucoup, is drawn in a combination of delicate graphite, marker, and blue line achieved with carbon paper.
Much more totally cool stuff in the link. Check it out!
Actually not a con war, but a curiosity of scheduling with both the MoCCA Festival and Crucial Entertainment East Coast Comicon in the Meadowlands both scheduled for this weekend.
When I originally heard about the scheduling I was told that it had all been worked out and there was no beef, but it’s still unfortunate since there are great guests at both shows and I’m sure a lot of people would go to both. Although they aren’t that far apart AS THE CROW FLIES, the crow must fly over a wide river, and hopping back and forth between Jersey and the meatpacking distract isn’t totally easy unless you have a car and don’t mind paying a lot of tolls.
Someone also pointed us to the East Coast Comicon website, which has an updated attitude towards the press:
Everybody wants one, everybody has a blog. We’ve found that coverage of the con, during the con does little to promote our efforts. We have a finite amount of tickets and we can’t give them out to everyone who wishes to shoot some video or chat to a comic creator — yes, we’re mean terrible people because we don’t want to let you in for free. For the most part, your blog posts do not help us spread the word about our con. How do we know this? We’ve polled our customers. Why do other cons let bloggers and podcasters into their cons for free? Perhaps they haven’t done their homework to find out what helps for promotion. So please don’t feel ill of us, we’re glad you love comics enough to write or blog about the art form, but we just can’t justify granting all the requests we get; and we get a lot.
Which makes sense when you consider the number of comics media outlets these days. Most shows, especially larger ones, have had to put in a lot more guidelines for who is press and who isn’t.
All that said, Torsten will be on the scene for ECC covering all the breaking news. As for The Beat, we’ll be at MoCCA both days, and we have no idea if we’re on the press list or not—admission is $5 a day and that’s cheap enough that we can swing it no matter what.
Wherever you may be going, have a fun time!
Last event, but the one that I am moderating!
BK: European (Comics) Invasion with Darryl Cunningham, Penelope Bagieu, Sergio Garcia Sanchez & Nadja Spiegelman | WORD:
This event takes place at our Brooklyn location.
The artists are coming! WORD is proud to present a panel discussion with UK and European artists Darryl Cunningham (The Age of Selfishness: Ayn Rand, Morality, and the Financial Crisis), Penelope Bagieu(Exquisite Corpse), and Sergio Garcia Sanchez and Nadja Spiegelman (Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure), moderated by Heidi MacDonald.
I’ll be asking them about their own work, evolving comics traditions, storytelling, panel breakdowns, the economic crisis of 2008, the US-Euro comics cross fertilization and whatever else I can think of.Last event, but the one that I am moderating!
BK: European (Comics) Invasion with Darryl Cunningham, Penelope Bagieu, Sergio Garcia Sanchez & Nadja Spiegelman | WORD:
When I was a younger sprout in comics I often wondered if there had been any more women cartoonists than Marie Severin and Ramonda Fradon? What about in France where they loved cartoonistss? The ver very great Claire Bretecher was often mentioned but was that it?
Well, it turns out that all along there were other great French woman cartoonists, including Annie Goetzinger, whose amazing Girl in Dior is out now. Tonight she signs at the Kinokuniya Bookstore before apeparing MoCCA all weekend and going on tour on the below dates:
One of France’s grand dames of comic art, Annie Goetzinger, will be on hand for the premiere of Girl in Dior at MoCCA Arts Festival, one of her many appearances while visiting the United States. Other appearances include a panel at the French Embassy co-sponsored by Christian Dior Couture US and moderated by Dior House illustrator, Bil Donovan and a signing/art display at New York’s Kinokuniya Bookstore.
Below please find Annie Goetzinger’s appearance schedule.
April 10, 2015 6:00 PM
Kinokuniya Bookstore, 6th Ave. Between 40th and 41st Street. New York
Signing and Exhibit of Original Art from the Book (The art will be up early April through the middle of the month)
April 11 and 12, 2015
MoCCA Fest, Center 548, W. 22nd Street. New York
Premiere of Girl in Dior and signing at NBM Booth (401, 402) throughout the weekend. Original art will also be on display.
Annie will appear on the panel, Biography: The Lives of Artists on Sunday at 12:30 alongside James Romberger, Marguerite Van Cook and Barbara Stok.
April 13, 2015 7:00PM
French Embassy, 972 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 79th), New York
Dior House artist Bil Donovan will moderate a discussion with Annie, followed by a signing at the new “Albertine” bookstore. Event co-sponsored by Dior.
April 14, 6:30PM
Cambridge Public Library
Talk and signing. Organized by Million Year Picnic, Boston
April 15, 4:00PM
Conference at Smith College
“Girl in Dior: A Conversation With Annie Goetzinger About Fashion, Art, and Her Latest Graphic Novel”.
April 16, 4:00 PM
Dartmouth College
Annie Goetzinger Discusses Girl in Dior.
April 19, 2:00PM
University of Florida
Annie Goetzinger Discusses Girl in Dior.
April 21, 8:00PM
Books & Books, 65 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables
Inauguration of the French Corner, signing.
April 22, 6:30PM
Books & Books, Bal Harbour Shops, 9700 Collins Ave., Bal Harbour
Presentation and Signing. Cocktail hour
Ladies unite!:
It’s time again for the pre-MoCCA Fest Drink and Draw Like a Lady!
If you are a woman who reads, writes, draws, colors, edits, markets, reviews, or enjoys comics, this party is for you. All ages are welcome, you must be 21 to drink. Ladies only, please.
The party will be held on Friday April 10th from 7 pm to 11:30 pm at The Productive (40 W. 38th Street between 5th and 6th Ave. 5th floor)
This years’ super cute flyer was drawn by Savannah Zambrano. You can see more of her work on her Facebook Artist Page.
Work Made for Hire is generously helping sponsor the event again. If you’re a creative person who wants to protect your rights and get paid fairly for the work you do, check out their services!
Drink and Draw Like a Lady is organized by volunteers. Your donations help us to make the party as awesome as possible! We have a PayPal donation button on the top of our Tumblr page. We also welcome food, drink and cash donations at the party.
Spread the word! Thanks and see you soon!
And another event, this one a screening of a documentary about one of Charlie Hebdo’s earlier controversies followed by a talk with Art Spigelman and Francoise Mouly:
With TOUGH BEING LOVED BY JERKS, director Daniel Leconte (Fidel Castro: L’enfance d’un chef) offers a real-time account of one of the most important trials in the 21st century and dives deep into the political, ideological and media-related stakes of the trial with all key participants. The film features lawyers, witnesses, the media, editorial conferences, demonstrations of support, as well as the reactions of the prosecutors and of Muslim countries. Given new relevance after the January 7, 2015, attacks at the Charlie Hebdo offices, which left 12 dead and 11 wounded, TOUGH BEING LOVED BY JERKS also features candid interviews (and rarely seen behind-the-scenes moments) with acclaimed Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, such as Cabu, Charb, Tignous and Wolinski, who died on January 7. (C) Kino Lorber
Followed by a conversation with Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman, moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos.
Location:
SVA Theater
333 West 23rd Street between 8th and 9th Ave.
Click here for directions
Ticket info in the link.
MoCCA Fest has just announced its programming. With the festival of indie itself is set for April 11-12th at a new venue, the Center 520, programming will be held a short walk away at the High Line Hotel at 180 Tenth Avenue and 20th Street. Curated by Bill Kartalopoulos, the schedule includes several tie-ins to the current Alt-Weekly Comic shows up at the SOI, as well as three ticketed events, with Scott McCloud Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Raina Telgemeier. Tickets are free with MoCCA admission but you need to sign up at the SOI website now to reserve a space.
While the line-up of panelists is impressive, including the three above superstars and also Rebecca Mock, Annie Goetzinger, Kim Deitch, Julia Wertz and many more; Kartalopoulos has lined up an equally erudite slate of panel moderators, drawn from NYC’s greater cultural world: MoMA curator Laura Hoptman; avant-garde poet and Ubuweb founder Kenneth Goldsmith; curator and Saul Steinberg Foundation managing director Patterson Sims; Hyperallergic senior editor Jillian Steinhauer; New York Times art director Alexandra Zsigmond, and more.
All in all, state of the comics art and as usual the problem is finding time to buy all the new comics while still attending all the great programming.
Here’s the complete line-up:
SATURDAY PROGRAMMING
12:30 pm / The Matthews Room of the High Line Hotel
Scott McCloud Q+A *
Scott McCloud is widely acclaimed as North American comics’ most influential theorist. His 1993 analysis-in-comics-form Understanding Comics is a staple of university classrooms, and has found application in other forms including interactive and interface design. Reinventing Comics addressed the form and economy of digital comics and issues of diversity within the comics field, and Making Comics offered a guidebook to constructing effective narrative work. He was the Guest Editor for The Best American Comics 2014. His most recent work is The Sculptor, a fictional graphic novel. Moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos.
* Reservations required. RSVP by signing up for a ticket through the Society’s website.
12:30 pm / The Rusack Room of the High Line Hotel
Work in Progress
This is the ultimate sneak preview: Four artists will discuss graphic novels they are currently working on, showing pages yet-to-be-published from books yet-to-be-announced, and revealing material that lays bare their working methods. This session will offer a rare glimpse of work fresh from the drawing table, and will bring us directly into the processes of artists Kim Deitch, Sarah Glidden, Dash Shaw, and Julia Wertz, all of whom are currently working on new and surprising books. Moderated by Richard Gehr, author of I Only Read It for the Cartoons.
2:00 pm / The Matthews Room of the High Line Hotel
Aline Kominsky-Crumb Q+A *
Aline Kominsky-Crumb is one of the most significant artists to emerge from the underground comix movement of the 1960s and ’70s. Kominsky-Crumb fled an upbringing in Long Island, finishing a BFA at the University of Arizona and proceeding to San Francisco. She discovered underground comix and began drawing pioneering expressionistic, autobiographical work. After publishing with the Wimmen’s Comix collective, Kominksy-Crumb and Diane Noomin co-founded Twisted Sisters, which later became a pair of influential anthology books. She was the editor of Weirdo and has frequently collaborated with her husband, Robert Crumb. She will discuss her work in this special session with MoMA curator Laura Hoptman.
* Reservations required. RSVP by signing up for a ticket through the Society’s website.
2:00 pm / The Rusack Room of the High Line Hotel
Building an Image
In this unique and insightful panel, a group of striking image-makers will peel back the layers behind the process of creating memorable images. Sam Bosma, Kali Ciesemier, andRebecca Mock will discuss the artistic labor behind their work, revealing both the technique and the thought process behind their images. Nathan Fox, a striking image-maker himself and the chair of SVA’s MFA in Visual Narrative program, will lead the discussion and also share his own working process.
3:30 pm / The Matthews Room of the High Line Hotel
Raina Telgemeier Q+A *
Raina Telgemeier has distinguished herself as the leading American artist producing graphic novels for younger readers. Her autobiographical graphic novel Smile has spent more than two years on the New York Times Graphic Books bestseller list, and her follow-up, Drama, has won the Stonewall Book Award among other distinctions. Most recently she has published a sequel to Smile titled Sisters, and Scholastic will soon republish in full color her earlier series ofBaby-Sitters Club comics adaptations. Telgemeier will discuss her work with School Library Journal reviews editor Luann Toth.
* Reservations required. RSVP by signing up for a ticket through the Society’s website.
3:30 pm / The Rusack Room of the High Line Hotel
Plagiarism as Practice
The boundaries between inspiration and infringement are increasingly vague and increasingly contested in the post-internet era, even as we approach the centennial of Duchamp’s seminal masterpiece of appropriation, Fountain. Avant-garde poet and ubuweb founder Kenneth Goldsmith teaches Uncreative Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. He will discuss plagiarism as practice with comics artists Ilan Manouach, whose Katz re-presented Maus with all of the heads redrawn and sparked a legal action in France; Blaise Larmee, who has tested the limits of appropriation and impersonation online; and R. Sikoryak, whose Masterpiece Comics appropriate canonical literature and classic comics.
SUNDAY PROGRAMMING
12:30 pm / The Matthews Room of the High Line Hotel
Alt-Weekly Comics
Beginning with the Village Voice in the 1950s and peaking with a wave of publications in the 1980s and 1990s, alternative weekly newspapers spoke with an independent voice to local communities, and comics were a distinct part of those papers’ visual identities. Coinciding with the Alt-Weekly Comics exhibit currently on view at the Society of Illustrators, this panel will consider the phenomenon of alt-weekly comics with art director and editor Bob Newman (The Seattle Sun, The Rocket and The Village Voice) and cartoonists Ben Katchor, Michael Kupperman, and Mark Newgarden. Moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos.
12:30 pm / The Rusack Room of the High Line Hotel
Biography: The Lives of Artists
Memoir, non-fiction and biography have emerged as significant categories in comics. Comics about artists represent a special challenge: the cartoonist must represent the work of an artist through his or her own visual approach, revealing points of disjunction and harmony.Hyperallergic Senior Editor Jillian Steinhauer will discuss these issues with French comics legend Annie Goetzinger, whose Girl in Dior chronicles the first season of the storied fashion house; James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook, whose 7 Miles a Second was both a biography of and a collaboration with David Wojnarowicz; and Dutch cartoonist Barbara Stok, whose Vincent makes Van Gogh approachable through a style completely unlike his own.
2:00 pm / The Matthews Room of the High Line Hotel
We Hire Cartoonists
Cartoonists have often pursued split-careers as illustrators or other kinds of graphic artists in order to build stable careers. Increasingly, art directors and editors are hiring cartoonists to bring the entire capacity for visual narrative to editorial projects, especially online where new technologies offer another set of emerging techniques and formats. A panel of editors and art directors including Tablet’s Wayne Hoffman, Autostraddle’s Ali Osworth, and New York Times Art Director Alexandra Zsigmond have all frequently worked with cartoonists in a variety of ways, online and in print. They will talk about what they do, the innovations they’ve pursued, and what they look for in the work they commission.
2:00 pm / The Rusack Room of the High Line Hotel
Saul Steinberg 101
Saul Steinberg (1914-1999) occupies a unique place in cultural history. A popular modernist, his work as a cartoonist, illustrator and fine artist appeared on magazine covers and gallery walls. His work frequently referred to the iconography and conventions of cartooning and continues to fascinate with its inventive expression of sophisticated concepts through abstracted imagery and pure line. Cartoonist Austin English, multidisciplinary artist Richard McGuire, New Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly, and Morgan Library curator Joel Smith will discuss the lesson they’ve learned from Steinberg’s work with The Saul Steinberg Foundation’s Managing Director Patterson Sims.
3:30 pm / The Matthews Room of the High Line Hotel
R. Sikoryak and Neil Numberman Present: CAROUSEL for KIDS!
Acclaimed cartoonist R. Sikoryak brings a special KIDS’ edition of CAROUSEL, his long-running series of live comics readings and other projected pictures, to the MoCCA stage, co-hosted by Neil Numberman (Do NOT Build a Frankenstein!). Featuring Jon Chad (Leo Geo),Sam Henderson (Nickelodeon Magazine’s Scene But Not Heard), Kevin McCloskey (We Dig Worms!), Mark Newgarden & Megan Montague Cash (Bow Wow’s Nightmare Neighbor,Joey Fly: Private Eye), Nadja Spiegelman & Sergio García Sánchez (Lost in NYC), Raina Telgemeier (Sisters), and more! Stories, gags, audience participation, and more, for kids of all ages.
3:30 pm / The Rusack Room of the High Line Hotel
Comics and Disability
The rise of disability studies has prompted a non-hierarchical reconsideration of disability. In parallel, the emergence of “outsider art” has enlarged aesthetic possibilities within art, but not without introducing new category problems. This panel will trace emerging points of engagement between these issues and comics. Ilan Manouach will discuss Shapereader, his innovative 57-plate graphic novel for the blind. Anne-Françoise Rouche is the director of La “S” Grand Atelier in Vielsalm, Belgium, an arts center for persons with mental disabilities that organizes collaborations with contemporary artists. Frémok artist DoubleBob, who has participated in these projects, will join the discussion. Moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos.
The jury for next year’s MoCCA Arts Festival Awards of Excellence — a prize for cartoonists has been announced and it’s stellar: Charles Burns, Annie Koyama, David Plunkert, Andrea Tsurumi, and Alexandra Zsigmond. The awards recognize the most outstanding work on view at the festival and will be the subject of a show at the Society of Illustrators from May 12 – June 13, 2015. The rest of the announcement below:
Society of Illustrators Executive Director Anelle Miller says, “The exhibitors at the MoCCA Arts Festival are among the most daring and inventive voices in comics and illustration working today, and we are pleased to celebrate their importantwork and advance the Society’s long heritage of recognizing the finest artists in all fields of illustration with the MoCCA.
Judging of the MoCCA Arts Festival will happen Saturday, April 11th in the afternoon. Judges will convene and discuss each of their favorites based on submissions they will have received in February, ultimately deciding on 5 “Awards of Excellence” to be named that evening. All materials chosen in the jury’s initial survey will be acquired by Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library for a newly-established MoCCA Arts Festival collection, to be expanded Guidelines for submitting work will be posted on the Society’s website after applications are approved and tables are confirmed in mid December. The deadline to apply to the MoCCA Arts Festival is December 5th, and applications are available to download from the website at www.societyillustrators.org.
Charles Burns is an American cartoonist and illustrator whose dark and thrilling comics have received wide praise and multiple awards. Burns came to prominence in the 1980s with his work for RAW, and later went on to publish several books through Fantagraphics including El Borbah (1999), Big Baby (2000), and Skin Deep (2001). In 2005, Burns published a single volume of his hit Black Hole (Pantheon).
Annie Koyama is the publisher behind Toronto-based Koyama Press. Founded in 2007, Koyama Press is known for their alternative edge and diverse range of titles including Michael DeForge’s Very Casual, Julia Wertz’s The Infinite Wait and Other Stories, Walter Scott’s Wendy, and many more.
David Plunkert’s client list includes Capitol Records, Gatorade, NPR, Nickelodeon, Nike, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, to name a few. In 1995, he co-founded Spur Design, a design studio located in Baltimore, MD. He has been recognized by numerous organizations including Communication Arts, Graphis, and the Society of Illustrators. In 2014, he premiered his self-published comic Heroical, which received a 2014 MoCCA Arts Festival Award of Excellence.
Andrea Tsurumi is an illustrator and cartoonist whose comic Andrew Jackson Throws a Punch won the 2013 MoCCA Arts Festival Award of Excellence. She earned her BA from Harvard and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and her notable client list includes The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Ballantine Books, The New York Academy of Medicine, and many more. Her work also appears in several anthologies including Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream (Locust
Alexandra Zsigmond is the Deputy Art Director for The Opinion Section at The New York Times where she curates illustration and comics. Since graduating from Stanford University in 2004, she has worked as program coordinator and designer for several organizations including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C.
Speaking of CAFS, a couple of other newsy notes for the burgeoning crop of events next year,
• Exhibitor applications are due by this Friday, December 5th for MoCCA:, which moves to a new venue for the 2015 Show. 2015’s event will be held April 11-12th.
• Tom Spurgeon has a thorough report on 2015’s Linework, which will be held in Portland, OR April 18-19. The show is expanding to two days for 2015, and the week after MoCCA timeframe may open up touring possibilities. The event has a new framework—shifting exhibitors and guests for each day—an innovative approach:
LWNW co-founder François Vigneault elaborates: “Our hope is that changing our exhibitor lineup for each day will make Linework NW even more fun for our exhibitors. I know from personal experience one of the frustrations of exhibiting is that you get so little time to check out the show you are at, because you’ve got to stay at your table. With this new format, an artist could table on Saturday and have plenty of time to participate in a panel or visit with friends on Sunday, or vice versa.” An expanded slate of programming will take place both days in the Norse Hall’s Lodge Room, a much larger venue than last year’s event.
Exhibitor applications are open now until the end of the month.
I’ll be at East Coast on Saturday, MoCCA on Sunday.
Breaking news? Unless something major occurs (and I don’t think it will), I’ll report my general feelings, and the cool stuff I discovered in the Meadowlands. It’s a good show.
I do wish that ALL thriving comics shows (those in existence 5+ years) would plan dates years in advance. It makes it easier for everyone… planners, creators, fans. The WanderCon fiasco could have been mitigated with a five-year plan.
That said… it’s easy to travel. From the High Line, head to Port Authority Bus Terminal. Take a bus to Harmon Meadows. 15 minutes.