MoCCA Raton

Sorry for the lame headline.

This year was a first for us because we were exhibiting. We were selling preview issues of Comic Foundry Magazine for 25 cents and I definitely had my pitch down to a science by the end of day 1. I was tempted to change my approach to: "Hey, I have two words for you about Comic Foundry: Fucking. Awesome." But I didn't do it.

This was also the first time MoCCA put exhibitors on the 7th floor. Everyone will be saying this, so brace yourself for show report repetition: The upstairs definitely had less traffic (insert jaw-drop here), but the trade-off was two things. 1) The people coming up were more committed and devoted and bought better than most. 2) The atmosphere was amazing — with the natural light and room to walk around, it was much more calming. And much less smelly.

Also, all the panels were moved to MoCCA's gallery space and not the Puck building, but I can't really comment if that was a pro/con since I wasn't able to attend any. Though, I heard Bechdel was standing room only and the Jeffrey Brown panel was high-larious.

Laura Hudson manned the table with me and we did exceptionally well and moved a lot of books. Traffic was slow but steady and we got a lot of word out about the magazine. Everyone asked if the whole Diamond situation worked out, and it was great to get that recognition. And for the people who hadn't heard of us, I gave them the pitch and 9 times out of 10 I got a: "That sounds great! We need something like that!" The other 1 out of 10 was: "Wait, didn't you cry in that video?"

Random convention note:
Anyone else notice this? It's so odd in the men's room during shows, because you can ALWAYS hear someone reading a comic they just bought in one of the stalls. I mean, I'm sure it's good...but really?

Attendance:
I spoke with MoCCA Maven Matt Murray about it, and he was guesstimating around 4,500-6,000 (including exhibitors), which is slightly up from last year. This weekend was a tough draw for three reasons: 1) The Mermaid Parade, 2) The Gay Pride Parade, 3) The Big Apple Con. Okay, so really two since nobody goes to the Big Apple Cons anymore. Plus it was goooooooooooorgeous out. So, hats off to MoCCA and especially Derrick Kennelty-Cohen for running the show.

People Highlights:
–Meeting MF Grimm. The guy is super-cool and I love his tracks. He's got a book dropping from Vertigo in September and I wish I knew about it before because I would've put it in our first issue. Wait? You're not super-cool and don't know who he is? Check it.
–Meeting Douglas Wolk. He's very nice.
–Talking with Kiel Phigley. As Laura put it, Kiel's my Wizard equivalent of, "But wait, I have a black friend!" He's a very funny cat.
–The bloggers. Kevin Church. Neil Alien. Ed Cunard. Heidi. All quality people. Apparently I missed Chris Mautner and Jog the Blog, so I'll have to spite them.
–The catering people.

Book Highlights:
–SuperSpy by Matt Kindt. I can't tell you how excited I am to read this book.
–Michael by Fred Chao – an illustrated look at how Michael Jackson aged
–Sundays Anthology – I'm glad I bought one when I did, because those kids sold out
Honestly, I got a shitload of stuff but haven't looked at a single thing. Updates when I do.

People I did not expect to see:
—DC had a booth (technically Vertigo and Minx)
—Wizard had a booth.

People I expected to see but didn't:
—Bill Sienkiewicz. He was supposed to sketch and do an art jam with Arthur Suydam, but the dude did not show. SUPPOSEDLY everyone that was standing in line is going to get a free book from Sienkiewicz. Supposedly.
–Kevin Huizenga. By the by, I learned it's pronounced "High-Zenga." Learn it. Remember it.

Party Highlights:
I went to the Top Shelf party but didn't go inside. Everyone was spilling out into the street and because it was much cooler in terms of temperature and people, I chilled outside. It was the only official party I went to — hopefully other people can fill in the blanks. The one thing I didn't understand about the Top Shelf party was RIGHT next door there was this other party, the Sexy Mofo White Party, and all these B and T girls were wearing all white. Scantily clad, really, but what little clothes they did have were all white. It got the nerds in a tizzy.

Next Stop:
We'll have a table in San Diego so look for us. We'll have the exclusive advance copies of the book. Score!