Fanfare/Ponent Mon
MoCCA in words and pictures
This is why I came to MoCCA!
With a cheerful crowd, a pleasant venue, and plenty of exciting creators and books, this year’s MoCCA seems to have been deemed a success. Both Christopher Mautner and I were there, and we decided that rather than write two separate blog posts, we would have a dialogue in which we contrast our impressions of the show. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive report on the show, check out the MoCCA report by our CBR colleague Alex Dueben as well as Tim Callahan’s writeup of his visit.
Chris: I’ll start: Was this your first time at a small-press comics show? I know you’ve gone to NYCC and several manga/anime related shows before, but I didn’t know if you’d been to something like MoCCA before? What was your general impression?
Brigid: This was my first time at MoCCA and my first time at a small-press comicsshow like this, although I have been to art shows with a similar feel.
First of all, I loved the locale. I actually used to live a few blocks away, so it was a bit of a homecoming for me to walk through Madison Square Park in the sunshine. The building itself had a nice, open, loft-like feel with plenty of rough edges—it felt artsy.
The show itself seemed like a giant, really good, Artists Alley. (I kept getting this feeling of deja vu because there were so many people I had just seen at C2E2.) The show definitely felt crowded, but never overwhelming. I made a pretty good circuit of the floor, but I felt like I missed as much as I saw, and I could easily have spent twice as much time there as I did.
- April 25, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Make mine MoCCA: Publishers
MoCCA Fest 2011 is this coming Saturday and Sunday, April 9 and 10, and as always, the show is bulging with new artists and established creators showing off their latest, most experimental, projects. I’m going to round up of some of the announcements that have come our way, starting with those from publishers.
Fantagraphics plans to have creators signing at their booth pretty much the whole time, with a roster that includes Kim Dietch, Peter Bagge, Dash Shaw, Michael Kupperman, Gahan Wilson, and others too numerous to mention—check out the full list at their blog. Their people are also going to be involved in a ton of panels, and with a four-table block (J1, J2, K1, K2), they should be hard to miss.
Abrams will have their usual crowd of A-list creators at their booth: Jerry Robinson, Michael Uslan, Chip Kidd, Al Jaffee, and Craig Yoe. Jaffee will receive the 2011 Klein Award for volunteer of the year, and Uslan and Robinson will be on the panel Batman, the Joker and Beyond on Sunday.
Top Shelf will be debuting two new books, Liar’s Kiss by Eric Skillman and Jhomar Soriano, and Night Animals, by Brecht Evens. Both Skillman and Evens will be there to show off their new books. Jess Fink will also be in attendance, although her Chester 5000 isn’t due out until May.
- April 7, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
What Are You Reading?
Key Moments from the History of Comics
Having had Thought Ballonists’ Craig Fischer over as our WAYR guest the other week, it seemed more than appropriate to invite his blogging colleague, scholar, educator, critic, author and all-around nice guy Charles Hatfield.
Find out what Mr. Hatfield is reading and see some embarrassingly complimentary birthday greetings about yours truly by clicking on the link below. And don’t forget to tell us your own reading picks in the comments section.
- December 6, 2009 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
What Are You Reading?
Cat Burglar Black
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is scholar and critic par excellance Craig Fischer, whose musings on comics can be regularly read on Thought Balloonists, the blog he shares with Charles Hatfield.
To see what Craig and everyone else is currently reading, click on the link. And don’t forget to let us know what you’re reading this week as well.
- November 8, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner
APE ’09 | Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly and more
The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D.
The Alternative Press Expo, or APE, is coming up this weekend at The Concourse in San Francisco. The show runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Special guests include Jamaica Dyer, Phoebe Gloeckner, Dean Haspiel, Batton Lash, Lark Pien, Dash Shaw and Jeff Smith. Here are a few more items of interest if you’re attending …
Fantagraphics | Fantagraphics sent over their signing schedule for the show:
Saturday
11AM – 1PM: Jon Vermilyea (MOME) & Frank Santoro (MOME)
12:00–12:45 Spotlight on Dash Shaw
1PM – 3PM: Dash Shaw & T. Edward Bak (MOME)
3PM – 5PM: John Pham
5PM – 7PM: Renee French (MOME) & Andrice Arp (MOME)
Sunday
11AM – 1PM: Jon Vermilyea (MOME), Frank Santoro (MOME) & Dash Shaw
1PM – 3PM: T. Edward Bak (MOME) & John Pham
3PM – 5PM: Renee French & Andrice Arp
They’ll have many new releases on hand: The Troublemakers by Gilbert Hernandez, Conceptual Realism: In the Service of the Hypothetical by Robert Williams, Pim & Francie by Al Columbia, Sublife #2 by John Pham, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. by Dash Shaw, MOME Vol. 16 by various, The Great Anti-War Cartoons by Craig Yoe, and Ganges #3 by Kevin Huizenga.
“As an added bonus, Dash Shaw is an official APE guest this year and will be signing copies of his new book, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D.,” writes Eric Reynolds. “For anyone who buys the book at one of his Fanta signings during APE, Dash will do an original PAINTING on the front cover! You will not want to miss out.”
- October 16, 2009 @ 09:10 AM by JK Parkin
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: Fanfare/Ponent Mon’s 2009 plans
My Mommy Is in America
Just when you thought it was safe to wade back into the Internet I return! Nyah hah haaah.
Anyway, today I thought we’d take a look at this year’s publishing plans for Fanfare/Ponent Mon, a small but well-regarded company that’s made a name for itself by releasing a number of high-quality manga and manga-influenced books here in the states. Here’s what they’ve got, according to their latest online catalog:
- February 11, 2009 @ 09:14 AM by Chris Mautner