Fantagraphics Blog

That's what you would have seen if you were among the first attendees to visit our table at this year's MoCCA Art Festival. Check out our "Day 0" recap here, and read on for the full rundown on Day 1 (Saturday, June 7, 2008).

We got to the Puck Building (traditional site for the Festival) early (so very early) on Saturday morning to meet Alex and Mary from Rocketship. This year we arranged to have our books shipped to their store, and they made two trips across the river from Brooklyn to deliver everything to us at the Festival. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Alex and Mary, who were solid-gold superstars, going above and beyond the call of duty and providing us with invaluable assistance the entire weekend (not to mention loaning us a spare spinner rack). If you're in the area, get your butt over there ASAP and have yourself a spending spree — you'll be giving your comics budget to two of the nicest folks in the business. (Plus, their store is fantastic.)

So as not to overwhelm, I'm going to split up my recap of the 2008 MoCCA Art Festival by day, so stay tuned for further posts and be sure to hit those "Read More" links to read the full report from each day.

This year's experience began on the evening of Friday June 6 at the Museum's gallery space on Broadway at the exhibitor reception and early check-in, where enthusiastic volunteers were distributing badges:

Here's a bunch of autographs by EC/MAD folks — Jack Kamen, Al Fedlstein, Angelo Torres, Russ Heath & Marie Severin — as well as Michael Chabon. 

"[W]hen I start painting I think of where's the water. You don't necessarily see the water, but that's the first thing I think about. You already have air, or you'd be dead. You have a while to find water. In the paintings, that's what I think about. That's the first moment, anyway. " (Above: The Fantagraphics House.)

A two-fer this time around, since I was out last Friday. I need to come up with a better name for these link roundup posts. Any suggestions? • When Comic Books Ruled the Earth is enthusiastic about The Education of Hopey Glass by Jaime Hernandez • Sequart on Amor Y Cohetes by the three Hernandez brothers • Also at Sequart, their in-depth look at every issue of Love and Rockets Vol. 1 has reached issue #33 • Joe McCulloch (a.k.a. Jog) reprints his Comics Journal review of the first two issues of Gabriella Giandelli’s Interiorae • Chris McLaren, in discussing…

Our beloved Ray Fenwick has been busy lately, check out his New print: And his Limited edition Hall of Best Knowledge bookplates from Tiny Showcase (available with or without the book): And his amazing hand-painted Friendship Bracelet slideshow:  And his most excellent recent illustration work for The New York Times, The Stranger, and Swindle magazines. See here. And his Hit List. And most especially, the slow jams mix tape he made for you.      

Our fourth and final preview today is of Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by Blake Bell. Unfortunately we weren't able to debut this book at the MoCCA festival as planned, but here you can take a quick virtual tour, and of course it is available for pre-order! Watch the video above and click here for a gallery of preview photos. (And don't forget you can also read the intro and, if you're logged in, get a downloadable PDF preview too.)

Our third preview of the day is of Our Gang Vol. 3 by Walt Kelly. This book is due in July and is now available for pre-order! Watch the video above and click here for a gallery of preview photos.

Our second preview of the day is of The Comics Journal #291, which features Tim Sale, Josh Simmons, Ralph Steadman, Dan Gordon and a whole lot more. It's due in 2-3 weeks and is now available for pre-order! Watch the video above and click here for a gallery of preview photos.