In celebration of once again missing the circus that is the San Diego Comic Con, I’m posting a long overdue review of an entirely different kind of event.
In June 2002 a buddy of mine, who’s really into comic books and does a lot of design work in the field, dragged me out to this indie comics convention. As I had associated indie with underground (you know, the R. Crumb-type books) I wasn’t too excited to go.
I was pleasantly surprised.
This “festival” was the first hosted by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) and had exhibitors ranging from larger well-established publishers, like Top Shelf, to individuals.
It was the work that the individuals were producing that really caught my eye. Their odd-sized, small-press, hand-assembled works were diamonds in the rough.
A common format seemed to consist of an unusual selection of colored card stock cover printed with 2-colors (probably either silk-screened or from a small offset printer) saddle-stitched with one-color interiors produced in a similar fashion (or even from a copy machine). You could really feel the passion that went into producing these things.
I quickly got caught up in going from table to table purchasing these quirky publications, meeting the artists, and getting them to sign their comics. The artists, who were quite excited to meet the public, would sometimes include a little illustration with their signature. By the end of my visit I had accumulated a small stack of these precious creations.
I propped them up on my shelves at work as a reminder to get to the next show - which I continued to miss for the years to follow until this past June.
The show has massively grown over the years. Previously held in New York’s Puck Building, they’ve relocated to the Lexington Avenue Armory. Present still were the individuals, but they were there in greater numbers, as were the publishers.
What was particularly interesting for me was the make up of the crowd. Over the past 15 years mainstream comics have begun to develop more of a female fan base, largely due to the non-superhero titles produced by publishers like DC’s Vertigo. But you still don’t see a lot of women at comic conventions. That wasn’t the case at the MoCCA festival. There was probably an even male/female split - a good portion of them were likely artists or students. The exhibitors were more varied as well - there were a lot of non-US publishers, women publishers, and gay publishers. This was not the comics crowd that I knew. I have to say it was pretty cool.
As the crowd was thicker, it wasn’t as easy to make the rounds. But I still managed to grab a few goodies - even one from Connor Willumsen, who I’ve had my eye on online.
Even if you’re not a fan of comics, if you’re an admirer of art and design, I encourage you to check out the festival next year if you’re in the area.
Here’s a few of the things I picked up at both shows.
All work copyrighted by their respective owners.
June 2002
One of the creators that I met was, the then unknown, Brian Wood. He was selling these amazing books with high-contrast art produced with pen, ink, and photo-copiers. He included a cool sketch with his signature.
Nick Bertozzi’s Rubber Necker. What a cool cover. He has some fun videos on his site.
I picked up a few things from Vincent Stall. This one had some beautiful embossing on the cover. He sells his work online as well.
June 2009
See more of Mark Burrier’s work online. You can even purchase some books there too.
I’ve really been diggin’ Connor Willumsen’s work. I really like his superhero stuff too, which unfortunately was not available at the show.
Who could refuse Matt Wiegel’s Monsters & Condiments. He included an illustration of a chef with his signature. You can buy some of his work here.