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Thursday, September 2, 2010
Getting Some MoCCA Reviews Out
Rich Watson looks at a couple of books from the MoCCA Arts Festival
I got a lot of books at this year’s MOCCA Art Festival. I got so many, in fact, that it’s gonna take two columns just to review even a portion of them. I don’t know what it was – perhaps it was because the show lasted two days instead of one – but I really pigged out on comics this time around. Anyway, let me begin with a brief description of the show in general. Once again, the show was held at the Puck Building in Manhattan’s SoHo district. In addition to the second day, another major change was the opening of a third exhibition room. This south room used to house the panel discussions, which got moved upstairs. From talking to some of the creators in this room, I got the impression this was the least populated area (it was certainly the smallest). The central and north rooms remained much the same – the north room went with a different table layout this year, arranging them horizontally instead of vertically, likely a result of the bigger guest list. The floor there was also more than a little sticky, which was, I was told, due to some spilt beer from the previous evening. The central room remains dimly lit by comparison – it would be nice if they could get some more lights in there. Criticisms aside, it was another outstanding show. Once again, MOCCA attracted patrons of all ages. There were quite a number of kids in attendance, which was encouraging. It looked like the crowd was spread out over the two days, as opposed to the heavier traffic at the one-day show last year, which is to be expected. The Small Press Expo experienced the same thing last year when they expanded to three days. There were consistently big crowds at the Fantagraphics and Top Shelf tables. Among the other indy publishers present included Dark Horse, Drawn & Quarterly, iBooks, Slave Labor, Alternative, and IDW. Individual creators like Jeff Smith, Mike Mignola, and Kyle Baker, also had long lines of fans. Among the rest of the guests, there was the usual wide range of talent, from the old (90-year-old Golden Age cartoonist Hilda Terry at the Friends of Lulu table) to the young (6-year-old Alexa Kitchen, daughter of veteran publisher Denis Kitchen, who had a collection of self-published comics!). MOCCA hosted the Harvey Awards for the first time this year, and while I was told emcee Evan Dorkin was a little hoarse, all indications were that he carried on gamely. Craig Thompson’s graphic novel Blankets was the big winner among individual titles with three awards, including Best Original Graphic Album. Drawn & Quarterly, led by the one-two punch of Chris Ware and Chester Brown, topped publishers with five awards. The complete list of Harvey winners can be found
here. Next week I’ll talk about who I met and hung with. For now, let’s get to the comics… Stone Rabbit by Erik Craddock
stonerabbit.com, $5.50 for #1, $4.00 for #2 The author’s many thoughts and ruminations, given voice by a cartoon rabbit. The unfocused nature of this book works against it, I think – instead of riff after riff on “What should I talk about,” I’d prefer to see the creator focus on a single subject per issue. For instance, in issue two he takes a big swipe at Scott McCloud without going into further detail as to why he thinks McCloud’s ideas on the Internet and comics are invalid. He doesn’t really say anything new with this book otherwise. The art is the saving grace; it’s very energetic and fast-paced. The production values are tops, as well. B- Inkstains: The School of Visual Arts Comic Anthology #10 by various
sva.edu, no price listed A collection of short stories by students from (full disclosure) my alma mater. While the stories here were interesting, I found I cared more for their art or their technique. Exceptional highlights include Chaim Garcia’s strip about the Jewish equivalent of Halloween and Veronica Hebard’s reflection on mortality while rescuing her cat. B- Outside #7 by David Stanley
outsidecomics.com, $1.50 each An anthology of stories, the longest about a man under hypnosis who thinks he’s looking for one thing when he’s really after something else. All three stories have a metaphysical edge to them that I found appealing. I liked how the protagonist in the lead story kept getting younger as his search widened and drew him further back into his past. The art, while not flashy, does its job well, though I didn’t like the squiggly lines used to render the grassy field. Worth a look. B Artesia by Mark Smylie
Archaia Studios Press, $24.95 A former concubine turned warrior priestess leads a revolution against her own king, who has abandoned the traditional religion in favor of another as a means to gaining great power. Meanwhile, another army is on the move, conquering all in its path. This is a series that began at Sirius before the creator went solo, and has since been collected into three trade paperbacks, this one being the first. Artesia is, in a word, breathtaking. The full color, Barry Windsor-Smith-like art will draw you in from the first page. Artesia is that rare female character in comics who is able to kick ass without sacrificing her femininity, or indeed, her humanity. She has ties to both the physical world and the spiritual one, and is able to find a balance between the two, even when other people try to pigeonhole her into one role or another. The decisions she makes have had harsh consequences, and some are easier for her to deal with than others, but deal with them she does. Be warned – the story starts in the middle of the action and you’ll have to catch up with what’s going on, but once you do, you will be rewarded. If you like books like Promethea, Lady Death or Sojourn, this book is definitely for you. A Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks by Gene Yang
Slave Labor, $9.95 Microscopic alien being inadvertently brings together high school bully and his favorite whipping boy – the former a big doofus with strange and ultimately prophetic dreams, and the latter a quiet science whiz who has issues with his dad. Don’t let the goofy premise fool you – there’s quite a bit of heart to this story, in which the main characters must grapple with repressed anger and feelings of insecurity. And though Gordon may be a bit too much of a Homer Simpson-like dunce, he does at least grow out of his initial role as a bully. The cartoon art is very pleasant and pulls off the bizarro stuff well (like a giant, four-headed, sentient animal cracker). This is a fun little book you could give to your teenaged brother or cousin. B+ Hello by Fay Ryu
fayryu.com, no price listed A graphic novel about the size of the palm of your hand, consisting of dialogue-free vignettes about city life. This is one of the most beautifully constructed mini-comics I’ve seen in years. The pages are folded accordion-style in groups of four and glued together very neatly in the back. The cover and endpages fold around from the back to the front and the whole thing is held in place by a notched strip of paper that matches the design of the cover and endpages. It’s an ingenious way of binding a book without staples and it looks remarkable. Then there’s the art – monochromatic watercolors of mostly blue and red (not unlike a DC Focus book) with abstracted, simplified images of people rushing to work, walking down streets and parks, etc. For all its abstraction, though, the cityscapes have a great deal of detail to them also, and often get twisted out of perspective and proportion to match the mood. I don’t know if there’s anything here that could be called a plot in the traditional sense – we see a character, perhaps female, bombarded by words within the cityscape meant to emphasize the hardships and oppressive atmosphere of the world. She finds shelter in a dark, wooded park until a bird leads her out. The final image is of her on a street corner wailing the word “Hello” to anyone who’ll listen… but no one does. I get the impression this book is about searching for connection amidst isolation – the “protagonist” is surrounded by people every day who are little more than Metropolis-like worker drones indistinguishable from one another. We see her literally breaking away from the pack, right before she enters the park, so it seems that she knows there must be more to life than this (in an earlier vignette, we see what appears to be her head exploding from a massive headache). Even the park though, defiled by the junk and detritus left by others, is as oppressive and menacing as the city outside. Perhaps her cry of “Hello” is an assertion of her individuality – her way of saying she’s alive and she exists and she’s more than just a random face in the crowd. Hello is a masterful achievement both in terms of story and presentation, evocative of the works of Peter Kuper and Art Spiegelman. Without a doubt, this was one of the finds of this year’s show. A MUSIC REVIEW
Tracker
Blankets: Recordings for the Illustrated Novel
FILMguerro/Top Shelf Productions
The runaway smash hit graphic novel of 2003, Craig Thompson’s Blankets, gets its own soundtrack, with music from the band Tracker. It’s mostly instrumental stuff, with only one of the eleven songs coming with lyrics, the final track “Everything is Beautiful.” It’s part jazz, part atmospheric, and I kept thinking of the outdoor scenes in the snowy countryside more than anything else – Craig playing with his brother as kids, and then with Raina later on, with the bare trees all around them and the mountains of snow everywhere. I’m not sure, however, how well it captures the spirit of the book. None of the tracks suggest the religious nature of the story in any way; I don’t get the same spiritual feeling the book conveys so well. In terms of mood, the tracks all have the same even keel to them; they’re all very mellow – and mellow is not the word I would use to describe the book. Taken on its own merits, the music of Tracker here is quite good, and I would recommend getting this soundtrack if you read and enjoyed Blankets. Just don’t expect it to be very evocative of the book and its themes. B- Back next week with more reviews from MOCCA. --Rich Watson
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
