It just wouldn’t seem like a proper comics convention if I didn’t get the chance to gloat over all my purchases afterward. So, in order to satisfy my rampaging ego, here’s a look at nine books I bought at MoCCA on Saturday:
Pulphope by Paul Pope. As I mentioned earlier, this was easily the book everyone at the show wanted to get their hands on, and flipping through the thing it’s not too hard to see why. Adhouse did a nice job with this collection of drawings, strips and other Pope-related ephemera. While I haven’t managed to really sit down with it yet, it appears to cover his career rather extensively, with lots of choice commentary from the artist hisself.
Blue Pills by Frederik Peeters. The nice folks at Houghton Mifflin hooked me up with an advance reading copy of what will in all likelihood be one of the most talked about graphic novels this fall. A big hit in France (if you consider 20,000 copies sold a big hit) the memoir deals with the author’s romance with an HIV-positive woman and his relationship with her similiarly affected three-year-old son.
My Boy by O. Schrauwen. An odd, off-kilter, occasionally heartbreaking homage/satire to Winsor McKay and other early 20th century comic strip artists. Jog threw down the gauntlet and called the best book he bought at the show. He may be right.
The Ganzfeld 5: Japanada! At $30, this was probably the most expansive thing I bought at MoCCA, but it was well worth the dough. A sampling of avant-garde works by both Japanese and Canadian artists (hence the title), it goes a long way towards showing that not every manga-ka is doing stories about big-eyed junior high school lads who want to be the best at soccer/tennis/killing things/take your pick. I also picked up the latest issue of Comics Comics.
Angst: The Best of Norwegian Comics. There was a ton of stuff to sample from the Scandanavian table, and this slim collection of Norwegian artists, featuring a cover by Jason no less, seemed like one of the best bets.
An Endorsement of Smoking by Will Dinski. I wish I had picked up more books by Dinski at the show. I like his art style and his books seem clever and well designed. This $5 mini in the shape of a pack of cigarettes was all I could spare though. It’s slight, but it makes me want to check out his other work as well.
Injury by Ted May and others. Because he isn’t as prolific as his contemporaries, May hasn’t garnered as much praise as he ought. Hopefully this new series from Buenaventura Press will change that since it’s very, very funny. Worth owning for the line “When life hands you lemonade, kick it in the nuts!”
New Construction by Kevin Huizenga. Because you can’t go to an indie comics convention and not pick up a Kevin Huizenga mini. It’s just not done.
Paping No. 9 by John Mejias. This was another cartoonist I should have bought more from as his use of various media was always intriguing (comics covers made of wood? Yer blowin’ my mind man). This was a nice little mini though, about a man who loses his bike, and noteworthy mainly for the use of blue and white silkscreen printing to create a haphazard, etching-like style.
June 27th, 2007 at 10:32 am
I missed the Huizenga mini. Crapcrapcrap.