Comicsgirl

I didn’t buy too many this time around for reasons mentioned here. Reviews are in no particular order.

Starfish — Marguerite Dabaie

In this beautiful, wordless comic about a sailor who meets a mermaid who saves his ship, Dabaie plays with the form of mini-comics. It’s horizontal with two fold-out pages in the middle. Her art here has a simple, anime-inspired feel and she definitely knows how to express a story through images alone. This is one of the comics from MoCCA that surprised me the most.

Click — Sara Ryan & Dylan Meconis

Ryan’s and Meconis’ simple tale of a confusing friendship between two high school seniors is well done but fairly standard slice-of-life mini-comics stuff. Ryan’s story does capture the emotions nicely, but Meconis’ art makes the characters look a little too old. While I enjoyed it while I was reading it, its poignancy was pretty temporary.

Lipstick & Malice #1: So Hot Right Now — Monica Gallagher

I loved this. Honestly, though, what’s not to like about a supermodel who is also (more or less) a deadly assassin. Gallagher’s art is sexy and gorgeous and she has a good ear for the gossip of the beautiful people. The tall format of the comic is a lot of fun and compliments our heroine’s stature. This is definitely one of those “should’ve bought the other two issues while they were in front of you” cases. I really look forward to where the rest of this story is going.

Gang of Fools: Paper Trailer — James Smith III

This is, in case you were wondering, where my last $2 went. This is meant to be a preview of the Web comic and I’m suitably intrigued by the futurist urban paranoia that’s presented here. The art very dark — mostly black with only our character’s faces emerging from the gloom. It definitely provides the right feel for where the story seems to be going. Sadly, at least right now, the Gang of Fools web site doesn’t seem to be working. I’m looking forward to when it’s back up.

Jin & Jam No. 1 — Hellen Jo

I believe I first encountered Hellen Jo’s work on the back page of Giant Robot and I’ve been crazy about it every since then. She has a dangerous and quirky sense of humor and awesomely bad attitude to spare. Jin & Jam is full of angry girls badmouthing each other and getting into hilarious fights. It is sometimes intentionally off-putting, but it always feels playful. Jo’s artwork is amazingly detailed and expressive and her style is like a mix between manga and Robert Crumb while being absolutely distinctive. Jo is a creator to watch.

Green Blooded — Cathy Leamy

Subtitled “An Introduction to Eco-Friendly Feminine Hygiene,” this is an informational pamphlet done in a comic style. The subject matter isn’t for everyone (I can kind of imagine that half of the population isn’t going to be too interested) but it’s done in a fun way while still being educational. She lists the pros and cons of different “green” products and includes drawings of how to use each. I think that this subject is something a lot of women haven’t thought about and I actually learned a few things. Even if the subject isn’t appealing to you, this does show how comics can be utilized to inform people in a quick, easy and fun way.

That’s it for the mini-comics. I have some less-than-mini comics that might go up tomorrow. I’m still reading so there will be more reviews. Oh yes.

I am newly arrived home from New York. The train ride was a train ride — fairly comfortable overall (I did doze for a bit) but the Metro ride home and then the walk back to my car weren’t too thrilling (hey, the plan sounded like a good idea on Friday when I left … I think I could’ve sprung for a taxi in the end). I’ll start digging through my pile of comics and stuff tomorrow.

But that’s not the point of this post at all. My last stop in New York was Brooklyn’s Bergen Street Comics. It’s a gorgeous store and if it was nearby, they would be taking all my money. The layout is excellent — children’s comics within easy reach of little hands, graphic novels organized by genre rather than author or title, and a table in the middle with selections of note. The single issues line the walls. It feels like shopping in a boutique bookstore rather than a comic book store.

I am not, overall, a hater of traditional comic book stores — you know, the sort that have lots of T-shirts and posters and action figures. Some of them do this kind of thing very well and they can be fun. But others don’t and they can make some of us a little uncomfortable sometimes.. Those sorts of stores aren’t welcoming to the people who were never superhero fans but will read graphic novels like Persepolis.

Bergen Street Comics is a store for those people. It’s far from being some snobby, intellectuals-only place — owners Amy and Tom are very friendly and welcoming and obviously love comics of all sorts. It’s a store for everyone and that’s an awesome thing to me. They know what they’re doing.

I wish them all the success they deserve and I hope to get back there one day.

(There were many things I would’ve bought, but I picked up The Color of Earth from First Second. Really, First Second needs subscription plans.)

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.

I didn’t stay very long (I was newly off a train and hadn’t eaten) but it was an amazing event. The turn out was incredible. I think if there’s any question that women are making comics and/or fans of them, something like this puts them to rest. It was delightful to see so many women there.

I met a few people, including the ever-lovely Raina Telgemeier and Jenn Jordan, the co-writer of the web comic Darwin Carmichael is Going to Hell. There are a couple more people whose names escape me right now (no disrespect to them meant — I am tired and suddenly, it became late).

It was very cool to see this. I’m glad it happened and it definitely makes me excited to see what MoCCA will have tomorrow. This just feels like a really exciting time for comics.

Unlike last year where I spent less than 24 hours in New York total (and about 30 hours total for the entire trip), this year, I’m doing it right.

My train leaves tomorrow at about 3:30, putting me in New York around 6:40 (probably more like 7, but let’s just hope everything is on time), just in time for Drink & Draw Like A Lady at Madame X. That’s the plan anyway.

Saturday, I’ll have all day for MoCCA and possibly KRAZY!, which despite my promises, I haven’t managed to get to. (My trip to MoCCA always seems to coincide with some Japanese awesomeness — last year, we did the Takashi Murakami exhibit.)

Then I depart on Sunday, but I won’t be in a rush, which is nice.

It looks like a great year for MoCCA Fest — the new venue promises to be “bigger and better” and all of that, but I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of people who will be there. I may even try to get to some of the programming this year since I won’t be in such a weird caffeinated rush. It also seems like it will be a nice weekend in New York, unlike last year where it was entirely too hot.

I will probably be Twittering — those will show up on the sidebar (you can always follow me, of course) and I will be bringing my netbook so there will probably be a Saturday night update (possibly a Friday update, but we’ll see).

This should be fun. But after this, that’s it for a while (I probably, sadly, won’t have it in me to go hang out with Timothy Lantz at Wizard World Philly, but he could try to talk me into it).