Monday, June 23, 2003

Corollary: Comics and Community XIII

Sunday I woke early to head into Chinatown to catch an 8 a.m. Fung Wah Bus to New York City for the MoCCA Art Festival. I grabbed a quick breakfast and still arrived in time for the 7:30 shuttle. I was in New York by 11:30.



As I walked into the Puck Building, I ran into Greg Cook and his girlfriend. Small world! Made me feel like I was in Toronto for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival all over again. Inside, I quickly made the rounds of Alternative Comics, Top Shelf Comics, and Highwater Books -- as well as Dan Moynihan and Craig Bostick's tables -- to say hi before starting to browse in earnest.



There was a lot of amazing stuff on hand. The new edition of Top Shelf's anthology is awesome -- and the new Kramer's Ergot is even more impressive. What a piece of work! But I was most impressed by all of the individual minicomics makers who were tabling. Marc Ngui, Marcel Guidemond, and Jeff Kilpatrick, all of whom I met in Toronto, were there, as were a bunch of other self-publishers.



I took a quick break to grab a bite to eat for lunch and walk around the neighborhood before I ventured back to the increasingly crowded space to explore all of the exhibitors.



Some highlights of MoCCA:

  • My first Fung Wah Bus experience
  • Seeing so many Boston-area comics friends in New York -- as well as folks like Charles Brownstein, Chris Duffy, Jim Mortensen, and all of my publishing pals
  • Running into some of the TCAF crew again
  • The new Kramer's Ergot
  • My comics reviews in the new Top Shelf collection, as old as they may be
  • Jeff Smith, creator of Bone, buying me a beer at the bar across the street
  • Seeing Sarah
  • The weird, random moment in the alley chatting with an underground comics original art dealer from Miami Beach who offered me a joint
  • All of the minis, comics, and books I picked up to review for Media Diet



    It was raining as I left MoCCA to head back to Fung Wah -- and to Boston. A tired and crowd-weary Heath stood on the curb for 20 minutes waiting for the second 6 p.m. bus to arrive. Spent much of the ride back sleeping, listening to my iPod, and reading Cosmic Trigger. Arrived back in Boston around 11:30 to hop the T home. All in all, a good day. And you can't beat going to New York round trip for $20!
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