A Mess Of Everything Indeed

Now that I’ve more or less fully recovered from the weekend, time to finally file a report…

First off, I want to thank David Bonan for inviting me to take part in the Connecticut Film Festival’s inaugural interactive portion of the show. Aside from being a super swell guy (and I’m not saying that just because he’s such a diehard fan of Jizzmoppa), Dave simply did an amazing job whipping together a massively stacked and supremely high quality offering, especially for something’s first time going. I kid you not, I’ve been to similar things by folks in their fifth or tenth time doing something similar that are still no where near as close in terms of scope and depth. Again, it’s a real shame I wasn’t able to spend more time at the show, and am crossing my fingers that I get invited next year!

But on that note, regarding the subject of attendance, there was only one slight problem with the festival as a whole, albeit from my very brief experience with it…

“Raccoon City”

The CFF took place in Danbury, as in it more or less completely took the city over, in a similar fashion to that of ICON when that used to be held at Stony Brook University. Meaning, programming was literally everywhere, which was impressive to say the least. Just poke through the website and you’ll notice that about a billion things were happening, all at once!

Now, I had no idea what Danbury would be like; I had only been in CT once before, and that was years ago, when I accompanied my ex-roommate on a trip back home (which was immediately preceded by “The Body At The BAM” incident, as detailed in UNLUCKY #3), which was somewhere totally different. I’ve always had a vague notion of what the state was like as a whole, and give the event and it’s offerings, I had assumed Danbury to be more of a mid-sized city than a small town. But once my train spent ten solid minutes passing through nothing but foliage, it soon became clear where and what I was headed towards. Danbury itself turned out to be quite picturesque, and strongly reminded me of those quaint little old fashioned towns that one can find all over Jersey, near the shore, and which are teaming with tourists. But with one key difference: there was nobody there. A fact that was immediately noticeable and creepy, even a tiny bit scary.

After checking in with Dave, I was left to roam the streets to find some food until it was time to talk. About that: I was initially under the impression that my speaking commitment was only thirty minutes, which might seem a bit silly to anyone, given all the time and travel I had to put in towards it. Well, it was actually an hour and a half, so I guess all that effort was not such a waste after all. But that meant that I really had no idea what I was going to say; given all MoCCA prep I had been preoccupied with, I had zero time to collect notes and come up with a basic outline. Granted, I’m pretty good with thinking on my feet, and panels sometimes go totally left field of where they’re supposed to be, but it’s still always good to have backup material. Anyhow, I almost immediate ran into my buddy Josh Shabtai, who was the dude who gave Dave the head’s up about me in the first place and fellow panelist for the afternoon. Josh also confirmed all my suspicions about the area: there was something genuinely strange going on. Here’s a shot of just one of the many very empty streets…

… As you can see from the one lone dude all the way to the right, it wasn’t completely deserted. Aside from the cars parked on the street, there was a few people seen walking around, but most appeared to be totally crazy. While heading towards a possible lunch destination, this clearly insane woman began making conversation with us, mostly to ask about the badges we were wearing. As Josh humored the woman, I took a sneak peek into her bag sitting right next to her on the bus bench. There was a Disney coloring book, partially torn to shreds, and at least three empty and crumpled up bags of gummy worms. This woman looked like no grandmother in case anyone was wondering.

The venue for our topic was at the Polish American Citizen’s Club…

… And here’s what it looked like inside. Yup, it’s a Polish “club” alright…

… Note the bar’s big screen with the Xbox 360 hooked up at the bottom, which I’m pretty sure if you asked to turn the ball game off to play would have gotten one’s ass kicked…

… Not too far away from the big music stage that made up the third and final component of the three-tiered show…

… Not too many people in the audience, which I guess is somewhat odd given that it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. From what I would gather from other folks who had been at the festival all day long, attendance was a major issue all throughout, at least at all the interactive panels, with the biggest session bring out eight people. No idea why the numbers were so low, since from what I could gather, the entire thing was heavily promoted. Sorry, but I didn’t take any of the numerous signs and banners all around the city to advertise the event. Which again was quite massive, and it should also be noted that it was a well oiled machine as well; every volunteer was extremely friendly and enthusiastic, and quite a stark contrast to those one could find at, say, ICON (sorry to trash-talk about all, but it’s still the best example given the circumstance).

The talk itself, which again was titled “New Media Frontiers” went as well as could be expected, given that we only had three or four people in the audience and I believe six people on-stage. Including Nikita Mikros from Tiny Mantis, whom I had been meaning to meet for sometime now, and who was also super swell as well. Guy also has a background in cartooning! I had expected to talk about video games as a new form of communication or canvas for the artist, but most of the talk was spent on blogs and Facebook and Twitter and the such. Still lots of interesting things were discussed, just sucks that no one was around to really absorb any of it.

The original plan was to stick around for a while and check out the rest of the show, but I just wasn’t feeling it, so Josh, his wife, and I grabbed the next train out of town, especially since they’re three hours apart. The three of us also got the vibe that we weren’t exactly welcomed by some of the locals, via their dirty looks, and not just from the crazies. Aside from the aforementioned loonies, everyone else were angry looking white dudes in MMA attire, and those types are raring for a fight any chance they get.

The trip back to the city was noteworthy for two reasons: first, there was this surly old guy with a leather fanny pack which made Josh go: “I bet you anything he’s got David Carradine’s cock in that thing.” Either old guy heard the comment and thought it was I who said it, or simply my laughing at it, cuz from that point on, his eyes were on me like a hawk?s. Josh and I were so certain he was gonna try to gut us like fish. Next was when the train came to a sudden stop at one station, to the point where everyone was knocked around and one could have sworn that we came kinda close to getting derailed (being in the very first car surely didn’t help). Apparently… and get this… some kids were lying on the tracks, dead ahead of us, but on purpose, as if they were goofing around? Huh? Didn’t see any of this myself, but that’s what we pieced together from our conductor. Had no idea people from Connecticut were so strange.

Eventually, as in almost three hours later, we found ourselves back in Manhattan. I went down to the armory on Lex where MoCCA was just closing its doors for the day. Ran into a bunch of folks, all of them sweaty. Katie, Pat, and myself all joined a few others, including Colleen AF Venable, Marianne Ways, and Jess Fink, to some Indian restaurant (naturally, given our location) for dinner. Highlight there was reminiscing about “the good old days” spent as a SVA student in residence at the George Washington Hotel. Afterward, we went downtown to Grassroots to meet up with Hilary and her crew and get our drink on. Took plenty of pictures, but once again, I have a crappy camera (which seems to be getting worse, I don’t know why, perhaps it’s broken), but the low level of light certainly did not help (could have used a flash, but also given everyone migraines). This one from outside at least came out pretty decent…

… Didn’t stay out too late, since I was exhausted from traveling, and everyone else was beat from the day one of the show. So onto day two…

Boiling Point

Before going any further, I want to thank everyone out there who came to the show and picked up the new zine, or whatever book it might have been. The support was very much appreciated, plus it afforded me the chance to meet a few new faces, such as Andy Frederick, whom some might recall through his Persona art contest entry. Thanks again everyone!

And here’s a picture of me and my tablemates, a happy little family…

… Note, this was taken way in the morning, before the day fully got under way, and when we were all in the best of spirits. Also, there was actually four of us this year; not pictured was Hilary’s pal An Nguyen, aka Saicoink, who was also lots of fun to hang with! Okay, now onto the complaints.

As noted previously, the new location was the armory on Lexington Avenue, a sharp contrast from the Puck Building down on Houston Street. From the very beginning I’ve tried to stay as positive about this change as possible, since so many others had been complaining about endlessly since day one. But secretly deep down, myself and Hilary were dreading it, because it was so close to the GW, which as also noted was a place that many SVA graduates would like to forget about, or at least stay far away from as much as possible. I know some fellow classmates might feel a bit differently, but after living there for four straight years, plus all the others spent as an employee of the school, along with how virtually all of the best parts of the neighborhood (with the exception of Frank’s Pizza, which is still the best damn slice you will find anywhere on the island of Manhattan, and that’s no joke) has been bulldozed thanks to development, and taking all of its charm with it, I have zero love for that neighborhood anymore. But as it would turn out, the new location would indeed totally suck and the old one became dearly missed by my lone day’s end.

For starters, there was the heat. I heard plenty of complaints about it during dinner and drinks the night before, but nothing could have ever prepared me for what laid ahead. After being there for just five minutes, around 10 in the morning, and well before the place was even half-full, everyone began sweating like crazy, whereas the temperature outside was nice and pleasant. The place is more than capable of air conditioning, but it was never turned on. Why? From what I understand, MoCCA didn’t want to pay the extra X amount of dollars. Funny thing is, one of the main complaints with the Puck Building was how its AC always failed, whereas here, it never had a chance to prove itself. Perhaps bitching about the heat seems a bit silly, but it seriously became a MAJOR problem for everyone involved across the board. I spoke to numerous attendees (after the fact of course) who confessed to leaving much sooner than originally planned, due entirely to the stifling heat. But for those behind the tables it was even worse; as a direct result of the heat, everyone was miserable and surly throughout the entire day. Including myself. I hate to admit it, but twice on Sunday I almost totally lost my temper for silly little things, which was so not cool. I try my best not to be a prima donna behind the table (mostly due from past experiences), but I almost couldn’t help myself, so during the final hours of the day, I had to take a chill pill (almost literally) in the form of two shots of rum at a bar nearby.

But there were other issues directly related to the space. As someone astutely pointed out, much like SPX before it, the entire notion of throwing everything into one gigantic room and moving away from having everyone sectioned off in smaller rooms totally ruins the intimacy that a small press event should have. MoCCA now feels like ICON to a certain extent; just this big, hard to handle noisy space. Though imho, the larger room is not without it?s advantages as well. I’m not in total agreement about SPX either, since those smaller rooms really did bite, and I was also always happy that I never had to be in the far corner or 7th floor space in MoCCAs past. But it’s an interesting observation nonetheless.

Anyhow, trying to find anything or simply checking stuff out in general was a nightmare. Before, if someone had something cool, you could ask where they got it and then hear “oh, in the back corner of room X” or something similar. But this time, when asking Katie where she got the totally awesome Sinbad comic for example, the answer was along the lines of “umm… somewhere over there? I think?” Keeping track of what rows one went down and what tables had been scoped was practically impossible. Because of the layout, everything melted together, and as a result, it was very easy to miss virtually everything.

Each year I seem to get less and less, but this past show I paid for literally five things. Was it because there was nothing good at MoCCA? I’d like to believe that the answer is no, and that I just never got the chance to come across any of it. Then again, a few other people, the types that are generally far more positive than myself, found themselves bored stiff with the offerings this time around, which was rather shocking. I heard the same general complaints, over and over again: “Great, not another whiny auto-bio comic.”

Additionally, there were almost zero shirts, handcrafted goods, or any other DIY goods as in the past, something I simply cannot explain. I guess this might be a good time to mention how I did. In a word: horribly. The first zine hardly sold at SPX, but that was less than a shock, given how it?s mostly a mini-comics only affair. But MoCCA has become somewhat of a DIY-centric event, or at least I had thought. This year, I think I might have had one of the few zines on-hand and perhaps suffered as a result. Another thing that totally perplexes me: in past years, video game related goods have always been hot sellers, whether it be shirts or original artwork. This time I hardly saw anything of the sort, aside from the Life Meter collection and one lone mini about Sonic the Hedgehog. Guess everyone is totally over them and I somehow missed the notice? Then again, maybe there were tons of shirts, stuff toys, bags, buttons, and other zines that I completely missed for the just stated reasons! Or maybe Etsy has completely taken over that territory?

Yet another complaint about the new space: the lack of natural lighting and what the armory offered instead gave myself and others headaches. Even when things got hot at the Puck, at least things were prettier. Even the big hotel space at SPX had enough doors on one end to easily see the sunshine.

And another thing: the attendees themselves. Again, perhaps I’m totally wrong here, since I was only there for day two, with day one having the most people. But when stating the following, I’ve yet to be corrected thus far: previous MoCCAs always brought out a mix of folks who are clearly into indie comics and folks… who simply are not. I can’t even begin to define this latter group, but fellow cartoonists might know what I’m taking about. Just New Yorkers who are into art and junk? Well, I got the feeling that most of those folks were absent. Maybe it was the change in location? Perhaps there was indeed more off the street traffic that I had assumed there was? Did MoCCA’s Art Fest ad run in the Village Voice like it does every year?

All right, so the show was not total gloom and doom. As is always the case, it was a chance to catch up with some old friends. Like Steve Flack, Dave Roman, and Matt Loux…

… Other folks I had fun hanging or simply catching up with, but never took pics of (since my camera once again is rather frustrating these days) was Nate Powell, Kevin Colden, Scott Price, plus both John Green and Marion Vitus, with whom we spoke about the splendors of The Room!

And here we have Lamar (you know the dude who did the totally awesome cover to the latest zine… and who I forgot to credit in the actual thing itself, cuz I’m an f’n retard… sorry about that, and obviously, future reprints will fix this glaring mistake) with his brand new book, and looking totally scared…

… Seriously, it was the book of the show for me (along with Katie’s Nurse Nurse 4 and Hilary’s mini about her dearly departed dog Elvis, of course)…

… Though coming in at a close second was the aforementioned Sinbad mini, which I was never able to track down myself…

… Then you had the Batman comic written and drawn by the 5 year old…

… Here’s the creator himself, Max Mutch, signing the very last copy for me!

… As it needs to be said, but this kid easily blows away that Alexia Kitchensink brat out of the water (the 8 year old girl “sensation” that was a staple of MoCCAs past that basically gave most people douchechills, though it was mostly her idiot parents’ doing than anything else). Props to his parents for not censoring the kid. Sometimes a writer must use the right words, no matter how risque they might be…

… Stopped by the Dongery table, of course. In addition to their latest assortment of comics, I also got this DVD…

… When I asked them what was in it, they claimed that they had no idea. Not sure how many copies they had, but I nabbed the last one once again. Unfortunately, when it didn’t work on my DVD player, I wondered if it was due to region code, but the disc plays on my Mac. Haven’t had much of a chance to watch it, but thus far… its appropriately weird. Kinda like Splendid Recipes, but from a different country.

The best book that I didn’t get was A Mess of Everything by Miss, simply because she had sold out of copies. I’ll just pick it up at Rocketship. And the one book I was hoping to see, but alas didn’t, perhaps because it doesn’t exist, was Bear Bear 2. Damn.

In addition to a total lack of interesting shirts to purchase (picking up all my threads at comic shows used to be my thing), I hardly saw anyone wear anything of note either. Except for this tie-dyed cat shirt, that was apparently purchased in Japan!

Ultimately, the biggest issue other than the temperature was the cost; MoCCA jacked up the prices for the tables this year, so all the stupid little problems, like the ridiculously inept preplanning (which even vets of comic shows, who normally shrug off such things, were fairly livid about) and the insane heat (which I guess made an impact here as well), were all insult to injury. Furthermore, the prices were raised yet again for next year’s event, to the astronomically high price tag of $400. And given that half tables are more than half the price, what you basically have is highway robbery. Maybe someone can correct me, but I understand that table prices aren’t even as high as the San Diego Con, which is the grand daddy of them all. People were already barely coming close to covering $325 via their $1 comics, but $400? What’s the deal with the jump? If there is no AC this year, there WILL be a full-scale riot, I kid you not.

Yet, when all was said and done, I still handed in my form and payment information at the end of the show. Why? To be honest, I’m still wondering that myself. Especially since I’ve been mostly complaints for the past few shows, plus I make it no secret that the world of indie comics flat-out annoys me to a great degree. Though I’ve also heard others make the same complaints as I most recently (and are even being a tad-bit more vocal about them as well), which I mostly attribute to stagnation of the scene as a whole. Thankfully there’s always new blood coming in, but many who were “hot sh*t” a few years back are still hanging around, even though their time has somewhat passed. Me thinks that once the old blood has been completely flushed away, meaning their influence as well, things will finally feel fresh again and some interesting new directions will being to emerge.

Granted, it might take a while and won’t be pretty; some good folks might get dragged along with it, i.e. publishers may become casualties. But sometimes things have to bottom out before they get good again (it’s more or less happens in pretty much EVERY creative field). Plus, I will admit, one of the more entertaining things about going to such shows is seeing whomever that was yesterday’s flash in the pan superstar acting like a grumpy rockstar due to increasing irrelevancy. Especially if they’re ones that push the nonsense and hallow “yay, team comics” sentiment, and I did witness some of that at MoCCA. Then again, we were all grumpy that weekend thanks to the heat. BTW, I’m fairly certain that I will never ever be hot sh*t in the world of indie comics, and am I totally happy with that. Not trying to be modest here, just realistic. If UNLUCKY ever gets picked up by a publisher and collected, that’s totally good enough for me (that’s always been my primary goal to being with).

Then again, with the cost of entry being so high, I’d have to assume that many aspiring, just getting started cartoonists might be scared away from doing MoCCA and other similar shows, so that stagnation I speak off (which I’m more than certain many will disagree with me, or perhaps do but are afraid to go on record as agreeing with for whatever reason) might be happening for some time now. Meaning more whiny auto-bio comics for some time now, but thankfully the bad Paper Rad rip-offs seem to have died down, at least from my perspective.

Back to why I’ll be back at MoCCA, at least this upcoming year: like most comic shows, its a great chance to see old friends whom I wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. Plus, given that I won’t be doing SPX, I’ve already saved over half a grand from not traveling and other associated costs. I should maybe also mention that the only reason why the upcoming $400 price tag won’t be that hard to swallow is thanks to the table being split by four people (me, Katie, Hilary, and An). But once it hits $500… no thank you. My goal right now is to check out other, lesser-known shows, mostly because they’re just cheaper. I hear that the new con in Maine I believe was pretty awesome, feeling much like the SPX of old. There’s also a pair of zine shows going on soon, one in Manhattan, the other in Brooklyn, in the next couple of weeks, and am looking forward to those. Chatted with someone about the latter, though I forget who; this person mentioned how last year’s was somewhat of a bust because too many comic book people were exhibiting, which annoyed those that had turned out, or something like that. Hopefully that means I’ll finally be at the right place and the right time. I’m also eager to attend shows that I’m not apart of directly and therefore am not jaded by all the behind the scenes nonsense. Basically, I simply cannot wait to hit Otakon once again later this summer!

Time for two last pictures, of Pat later that evening, taken while him, Katie, and myself were all decompressing, as we do after each show, posing with the cat like she was his daughter…

… I swear, I have like 40 of these. That’s what Flickr is for!

Meanwhile, On The Internet

Since then, I’ve been taking it easy, catching up on rest, as well as all the stuff I’ve missed online since gearing up for the show. Which means the tail-end of E3 (what’s this about Microsoft’s new motion sensing device not being able to detect black people?), as well as catching up with my own neck of the internet woods as well. Or so I thought in the case of the later.

As some might have noticed, the fort90forums is down. Has been for days now. What happened exactly? Well, according to Mike…

“… basically, a phpbb 3.04 backup was made and for whatever reason all attempts at restoring it in the same version # don’t work. no error messages using the auto-restore function in phpbb…”

… Whatever the hell that means. And because neither Mike nor I know nearly enough about sql and php, we could really use some help if anyone out there would be gracious enough to offer it! All interested parties should email matt at fort90 dot com. Thanks!