Monthly Archive: June 2007

By this point you’ve probably read so many con reports on the MoCCA Art Fest that they’re leaking out of your brain (the best place to catch most of ’em is the Collective Memory link at Tom Spurgeon’s place), but some things probably bear repeating and others definitely bear linking to, so here’s how I saw the day.

Despite physical limitations and transportation difficulties which prevented me from attending on Sunday, I found MoCCA to be one of the most comfortable conventions I’ve attended in a long time, in many senses of the word.  The temperature both outside and within the Puck Building was ideal; the AC was working well and Manhattan was going through a few wonderful early summer days of negligible humidity and temps in the low ’70s, making for a great weekend to be out and about.

Moreover, the minute I walked into the first of the four exhibition halls (three on the first floor and a large ballroom on the 7th) I felt welcome and put at ease.  Professional informality and friendliness abounded from pretty much every table.  Nobody put on the stuck-up "we’re better than the mainstream" indie airs that had given me pause in years past.  The talent level ran the gamut from folks just starting out with photocopied minicomics (and places like ComiXpress make it easier than ever to self-publish slick-looking stuff) to major imprints, from homegrown to foreigners from as far away as Scandanavia.  As many have reported, the gender mix seemed to be about 50/50. 

As Cheryl Lynn noted, "There was also a wide range of people from different ages attending… There were also people of different races and ethnicities there as well. There were black women! More than I could count on one hand even! Sweet!"  The happy diversity truly reflected what Heidi has called Team Comics — a great example of the amazing possibilities of the medium and a real sense of "we’re all in this together."

As you can see, ComicMix was well represented at this convention as well.  Shown above are Kai Connolly, Mike Raub, Martha Thomases and Mike Gold.  Not pictured but present for the obligatory and always-wonderful ComicMix dinner were Glenn Hauman, John and Arthur Tebbel, Matt Raub and yours truly.

Con co-organizer John McCarthy did a terrific job, and even had a few seconds to let me snap a photo of him.  More observations and photos below.

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