Comicsgirl

Plus a review of a mini-comic I forgot about due to losing it (it’s possibly here, but I checked all my bags for it and didn’t see it. I’m still unpacking from moving so things are a little chaotic).

Next to You — Yali Lin

This is my sadly-missing mini-comic.

I remembered Yali Lin from last year’s MoCCA. I loved the comics I bought from her so I was glad to buy something else. She has a sweetly soft manga-style to her art that’s beautiful and her stories are equally meditative. This is a young woman’s dream where she’s thinking about all the things she needs — mostly simple things, like a notebook, a pillow — only to discover she already has what she needs. The whole thing has a quiet grace that really touched me (I am happy to see it’s online here so I can reread it).

PS Comics — Misty Lewis

PS Comics #4 was my favorite thing from Small Press Expo last year, so I’m delighted to have this collection. Lewis’ characters — who are, for no particular reason other than it’s hilarious and awesome, talking fruit or animals — usually end up in mundanely painful situations. She seems to intimately understand the ins and outs of office life and dealing with roommates. Her humor would still work well if she told these stories using humans, but it’s just that much funnier when they’re Yorkies. Buy this and laugh and then buy copies for your friends.

(It also came with little scratch-and-sniff cards, which were awesome.)

Little Miss May & Her Kitty, Jub-Jub — Patricia Burgess

I picked this up because I liked that Burgess had bound it together with yarn and she was sitting at the table working on crafts (she was sharing a table with fellow comic creator/crafter Megan Baehr).

Little Miss May is an odd fish-looking woman (all of Burgess’ humans have distinct shapes — a neighbor is blocky) who adores her cat, Jub-Jub, perhaps a little too much. Little Miss May faces some devastating tragedies regarding her cat but in the end finds out she’s not so alone in the world.

Burgess tells this story wordlessly (for the most part — there’s no dialogue) through six squares on each page. I liked the format quite a bit — the layout reminded me of storyboards (not surprisingly, Burgess works in animation) and her style is distinctive and fun. She told me this was her first comic and I hope it’s the first of many.

Infandum! Ad Infinitum — Molly Lawless

Lawless has quickly become one of my favorite comic creators and I think everyone needs to know about her. Her style of art is one part realism, one part cartooning with a depth provided by shading. Her faces are open and expressive and really draw me into her stories. She has a playful sense of humor that’s a little self-deprecating but also innocent. She’s a fan of old baseball so some of her comics are about that, which is uniquely fun. Her baseball history lessons have a spirit of silliness about them while still being informative. I am not a particular baseball fan — old or new — but I really enjoyed reading her comics about it.

And since she’s a fellow Arlingtonian, I think we totally need to hang out.

That’s it. The rest of the stuff is longer. I have two anthologies I may put together into one review, but I need to finish them first.

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.

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).