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MoCCA Art Fest 2006: Part I
Ed Mathews
On June 10, 2006 at 11:00am, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art kicked off the 5th Annual MoCCA Art Festival. The festival has the distinction of being held at the Puck Building in SoHo, NYC, a location that can generate an unusual amount of casual foot traffic from people who might just happen to be passing by. While it appeared that this was less the case earlier in the day on Saturday during this two day festival, foot traffic was noticeably heavier from 3pm till the closing of the doors at 6pm. While there was a line outside the door before 11am, the volunteer staff handled it in a professional manner, allowing current cardholding members of MoCCA first entry.
 One of the more charming aspects of the festival is something common at events like SPX; these are artists and publishers from the indy comics community, but MoCCA is not so stuffy that they can't have an exhibit at the main museum for Todd MacFarlane and then follow it up with an exhibit entitled "SHE DRAWS COMICS: 100 Years of America's Women Cartoonists." In that vein, MoCCA Art Festival holds panels with topics ranging from political cartooning to a Q&A with Jessica Abel (La Perdida, Artbabe).
 Meeting with artists and picking up books is the main reason for coming to one of these festivals, and this year I was pleased by the output. Abby Denson's Tough Love: High School Confidential topped my list of books worth noting. It's a teen coming out story and has a list of resources for teens struggling with similar issues in the book.
Tony Consilglio's 110PER¢ is about a middle-aged woman and her obsession with a boy band. It's 134 pages long, and is just like TOP SHELF's Blankets, only shorter, a lot funnier, and not boring. They both have a sex scene, but this one is with consenting adults. Ok, so it's nothing like Blankets. Pick it up and make the comparison yourself.
Neil Kleid hooked me up with a copy of Ursa Minors! #1, which lives up to its claim of being smarter than the average comicbook. The Rabbi Ninja backup story may be worth it alone.
Chip Zdarsky collects his Monster Cops stories into an aptly named single issue. Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman are guardians of good as police officers. Oh, just read it. It's fun. There's an authorized Vampirella crossover. Seriously.
Hope Larson's Gray Horses is stunning. Visually graceful, the use of English and French is done in a natural flow that language becomes visual poetry. The choice of using one colour works well with the piece.
Friday: Part II - More on the audience, more books, and more photos. Also, Saturday night's musical performances by cartoonists! 
Ed Mathews is Co-Editor in Chief of PopImage.
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