Well, we’ll see. I’m guessing it will be incoherent.
The 69th Armory building is a really great space for this show. Last year was my first time going to MoCCA, so that was my only experience with The Puck Building as the venue. I think while the Puck Building is a nice space with a lot of character, MoCCA had clearly outgrown it. Now, MoCCA seems on the same level (or nearly) as Small Press Expo and I think that’s an excellent thing.
As crowded as it was (and there was a line to get in when we showed up around 2 p.m.), it never felt claustrophobic and there was plenty of room to move around. I felt like I had plenty of opportunity to see everything I wanted to see.
Yes, it got hot, but it was not unbearably so.
The first major thing I noticed at this show is there was a lot of new faces and new comics. I’ve been going to such things (off and on) for nearly three years now and there has always been a lot of the same exhibitors. I understand why that’s the case, but really, once you’ve bought all three of someone’s mini-comic title, you don’t really need to buy it again. So it was great to see a lot of people I’d never seen before mixed in with old favorites. It felt very welcoming.
The second major thing I noticed was the shift toward a longer format. I still love mini-comics and I’m still more than happy to buy them, but a lot of my money went to anthologies or compilations. I think this shift mirrors what I saw last year at SPX — the move away from autobiographical comics to more ambitious stories. I also saw several people playing with the mini-comics format — rather than your typical five pieces of 8 1/2 by 11 paper folded in half width-wise and then stapled together, some people where doing more vertically oriented comics or included fold-outs. That’s not something I’ve seen before and I like the inventiveness.
I was also delighted by the craftiness of some of the exhibitors. I think comics fit nicely into the DIY ethos of crafting and I love both.
I’m not exactly sure how much money I spent because I’m bad at math (and I would’ve spent more if I’d had it — I didn’t see Lark Pien‘s table until it was much too late) but I got a good haul and I had a lot of fun. Complete exhausted and wiped out now (but that’s kind of how these things go), but I’m so glad I came this year.
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