BY JEN VAUGHN – Fantagraphics Books isn’t necessarily THE MAN of the comics world but since I’ve only ever self-published my own comics, MoCCA 2012 was my first two days on the job as a staff member of the independent comics publisher. There are more than a few differences between the two experiences. Read on!
Fantagraphics’ Kristy Valenti speaks with Kim Deitch before his signing
1- The Work, as in amount of time spent working the table is constant. Seeing as there is a bit more marketing, publicity and established artists’ work on the table we rarely had to describe the content of the books. Jacq Cohen, Kristy Valenti and me (along with former intern Sophie Yanow) manned the four tables full of books and artists signings. Kristy and Jacq barely left the tables to eat and I’m pretty sure that bottle of lemonade under the table was not . . . lemonade.
2- The Digs where we stayed were MoCCA-recommended because they were smack-dab in the middle of Manhattan, right next to the Armory making for an easier walk each morning and night. The hotel room was tiny but the expansive lobby (pictured above) was an homage to both Breakfast at Tiffany’s and those plastic hamster balls. Originally built in 1903 and called the Martha Washington, this former women’s residence-turned-hotel was the perfect place for the woman of Fantagraphics to rest their heads. No long train rides in from Brooklyn this time!
Daniel Johnston and Fantagraphics’ Jacq Cohen
3- Cross-promotion of artists turned out to be one of the joys. Some Fantagraphics artists spoke on panels (like the ever-charming Shannon Wheeler) so an attendee would grab his Oil & Water book but then toddle off in search of a signature at the Boom! Studios table where Wheeler was selling his Too Much Coffee Man. Likewise, folk artist/musician Daniel Johnston was too busy pouring over our new Nancy book to be bothered to remember what time his book signing was until Boom! editor Adam Staffaroni herded him in the right direction.
Nicolas Mahler signs not only his Fantagraphics book called Angelman but also previous publications bought from the Top Shelf table.
4- Table set-up and take down turned out to be an all-day
Hold on Tight, this Winter has Bite
USA TODAY, the #1 paper in the country with a 1.8 million circulation,
broke the news this morning that
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: CABIN FEVER
the sixth book in the game-changing series by Jeff Kinney,
will go on sale November 15, 2011, with a 6-million copy first printing—the largest to date!
They are also the first to run the cover, which will be “ice blue.”
Please see the full press release attached and below. We expect all major daily trades to follow today and tomorrow.
Earlier this summer Jeff Kinney and his trusted team ( Charles Kochman, Jason Wells and myself ) took a trip to the Macy's Studios just over the Hudson river in New Jersey. Here they make all the floats and balloons that are seen in the parade Thanksgiving morning. It was like visiting Santa's workshop.
Jeff Kinney and team arrive at the Macy's Studio in New Jersey
Who knew the balloons started out as clay
sculptures?
This was the first time Jeff was seeing his creation, Greg
Heffley in 3D
By:
Chad W. Beckerman,
on 3/29/2010
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Last week the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie premiered and now there is talk of producing a second film. But how did we get here? It just seems like yesterday that we started work on the cover. Which was over 3 years ago now. The first time I ever heard anything about Diary of a Wimpy Kid was through a PW announcement informing us that Charles Kochman had acquired a book told in cartoons. It was the first time I had seen an announcement like that about a book I was going to be working on before working on it. I had yet to work with Charlie since he was an editor for the Abrams imprint and had yet to work on anything in the Children's Dept. Not knowing what lay ahead there was an air of excitement around this book from the day one. Charles Kochman took a moment last week to reflect back about the movie and how Wimpy Kid came to be.
Charles Kochman: It’s late in the afternoon on Sunday, February 26, 2006, and I’ve been working the New York Comic-Con since Friday. A young man walks up to the Abrams booth and we begin to talk about Mom’s Cancer, a Web comic we’d just published as a graphic novel that was starting to get a lot of attention. He then asks if we would ever consider an online comic that was written for younger readers. “If the material was right, sure,” I say. “I can’t see why not.” The man then hands me a 6 x 9 spiral-bound packet of eighteen pages. There’s a simple line drawing on the front and a title scrawled across the top, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I looked down at his proposal, smiled, then looked up, the eight year old in me thinking, Why wasn’t there something like this when I was a kid? I offer encouragement, leafing through the pages, and let him know I’d be in touch after I read it and looked at his Web site. The man walks away into the crowd and, as he told me later, called his brother and said, “I just met the guy who’s going to publish my book.” Little did he know, but as I watched him walk down the aisle of the Javitz Center that afternoon, I thought the same thing.
That night I went home, ate, and sorted through my stack of swag from three days at the con. Spread out on my bed were comics, books, posters, postcards, buttons, and proposals, each in its own pile. And then I unpacked Diary of a Wimpy Kid and read the first page and started to laugh. By the time I got to page seven and the Reading Group titles Einstein as a Child and Bink Says Boo, Jeff Kinney and Greg Heffley had won me over completely.
By:
Chad W. Beckerman,
on 2/18/2010
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Original hand-printed version of this "insane choose-own-adventure masterpiece" —Scott McCloud
About the MEANWHILEChocolate or Vanilla? This simple choice is all it takes to get started with Meanwhile, the wildly inventive creation of comics mastermind Jason Shiga, of whom Scott McCloud said “Crazy + Genius = Shiga.” Jimmy, whose every move is under your control, finds himself in a mad scientist’s lab, where he’s given a choice between three amazing objects: a mind-reading device, a time-travel machine, or the Killitron 3000 (which is as ominous as it sounds). Down each of these paths there are puzzles, mysterious clues, and shocking revelations. It’s up to the reader to lead Jimmy to success or disaster.
Meanwhile is a wholly original story of invention, discovery, and saving the world, told through a system of tabs that take you forward, backward, upside down, and right side up again. Each read creates a new adventure!
I first met Jason Shiga in a large ABRAMS conference room in 2008. At this point I had the opportunity to read Jason's early version of MEANWHILE, pictured above.
It was and is unlike any graphic novel I had ever seen. The amount of work and thought that went into it is staggering. On top of that the stories were great. Only like other books there wasn't one story to follow. This provided an interesting problem for the cover design. Jason's orginal cover was in Black and White and had elements that we liked but it wasn't quite to the place that we wanted. So . . . Ja
By:
Chad W. Beckerman,
on 10/11/2009
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By:
Chad W. Beckerman,
on 7/20/2009
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Great report as always, Jen!
Hey, you were the woman who sold me a Jason book and the new Thrizzle! You did a great job! I enjoyed meeting you!
Had a blast at Stumptown Comics Fest (as you’ll soon see) but DAMN I wish I could go to Mocca. Plus, David Mazzucchelli!
The Fantagraphics table was much smaller than previous years, and I was disappointed that you didn’t bring along the new Spain book, but I still love you guys!
[...] The Beat, May 1, 2012, “Working for The Man: MoCCa 2012″ ( with Shannon Wheeler and Liza Donnelly [...]
Fantatastic!
You Rock Jen! Great Job!