After a weekend surrounded by high priced high fashion and high priced ‘Affordable Art’, I needed a low-priced respite. I needed to be among real people, real artisans, and real things I could afford. I’m a man in love with all extremes - I’ll chase my filet mignon with a bag of Cheetos, and I’ll relish both experiences.

New York City had chosen the weekend of June 14th to somehow exchange climates with the muggiest depths of Hell itself, so while Brooklyn’s Renegade Craft Fair was an awesome delight, the weather made viscous slugs of us all, sleepily oozing our way around the abandoned and emptied McCarren Park Pool. For such a vast collection of DIY-ers, recyclers, and use-every-part-ers, holding the Fair in an unused pool was an exceptional and clever use of space.

When I attended Renegade 2 years ago, I was charmed by the handmade feel of everything. Magazines and comics were stapled together, many cloth things had visible stitching, and loose ends were the norm. Signs were handpainted. It was an aesthetic that I learned to love, and even embraced in my own works - the hands deliver the heart and soul, as imperfect as they may be. It’s not that this year’s collection of vendors were off-putting, but there’s definitely a climate change in the crafting scene, if Renegade is any evidence. Gone were many of the smartly recycled items from the past - old books and scraps of wood and LPs turned into new things - and replaced by glossy, printed signs for many of the vendors, and mini-mass-produced items at almost every table.

What I’ve always loved about the young crafting scene is that you could look around, get some ideas, and with a little bit of ingenuity, make something similar to what you’ve seen - but with your own flair. It’s that kind of open source crafting that really builds the community into something strong. Pressing prints on your own small printing press is a completely different entity than sending them out to be digitally, professionally replicated, and while I can appreciate and see the merits of both things, the latter seems to be less in the spirit of a ‘Craft Fair’. It makes the process inaccessible, and even worse, costly. No, you can’t do it yourself anymore, and there’s no smart acronym for whatever the opposite of DIY is.

And maybe it’s the cost of living going berserk everywhere, but prices seemed to be twice as much as what they were 2 years ago. Crafters are finding it harder to survive while doing their art, and the cost of materials has also gone up. None of this is to say that any of the artists there were anything less than inspiring - I fell in love with everything, no matter where it came from - carefully-sewn, cartoonish trophy heads, a whole array of great t-shirts and art prints, squid things and robots everywhere, adorable dolls and crocheted monsters that I would have loved to take home with me, were it not for premium costs.

Still, in the true spirit of Do-It-Yourself, there was one girl set up in a tall, vending machine-shaped tent, advertised as a ‘Postcard Machine’. Insert $2 and you’d get a postcard fed back out to you - which would be drawn on the spot by the artist hidden inside of the mini-tent. Somehow, the entire heart and soul of the Fair were inside of that ‘device’ - everything that I loved form previous experiences, which felt absent from this year. An inexpensive, precious item, made by hand, accompanied by a personal experience - isn’t that at the core of crafting?

The heat made the day a sweaty blur, and while I was hesitant to touch too many things lest I leave a moist handprint on them, I felt the need to support my fellow creators. I purchased a small, felt squid doll-thing (which is holding a tray of sushi) for $19 from Cleo Dee, and a set of 10 ‘Presidential Facial Hair Hall of Fame’ buttons to add to my button collection. Plus, I secretly love Presidential trivia, not to mention how funny they looked, and my affection for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. The set of 10 was $20, and even though I own a button maker, I felt the moral need to perpetuate the crafting scene with my wallet. 1” buttons for $2 each, however, is just the climate of things. I miss the 4-for-a-dollar days. Man, I stocked up that year. So, after $40 spent, the rewards were in quality, not quantity.

Nonetheless, I won’t concern myself with having a pocket full of small bills next year, since everything cost over 20 dollars anyhow. I WILL be returning, of course - even the intense heat couldn’t keep me away from such a gathering of pale, dark-haired crafty girls. Oh, and they neat stuff they make.

Last weekend, I bravely made my way down to NYC’s trendy SoHo area to visit the annual Affordable Art Fair, being held in the Metropolitan Pavilion. I attended with the hope that I’d come away with some inspiration, or maybe some ‘affordable’ art. At the very least, I’d be able to shoot a watergun into a clown’s mouth, inflate a balloon, and win an flammable Spongebob doll, because really, how can you use the word ‘Fair’ without including that clown balloon pop game? It would be a travesty.

Being entrenched in the art world as a creator of moderate success, my perspective on art sales probably isn’t the purest, objective thing out there. I’m embittered by the sheer mess of confusion, luck, cronyism and coincidence that swirls at the core of the art world, giving me no clues about what to expect, what to produce, and where to show it off. As a result, many of my thoughts were dominated by ‘they’re charging HOW much for that junk?’, but the fact remains : as obvious, unaesthetic or pretentious as an artwork may be, THEY did it and I didn’t. I accept my defeat… but I retain my undying soul. I’m looking at YOU, poorly Photoshopped ‘art’ print of the Mad Tea Party. There’s no forgiving you. If there’s an art Hell, I damn thee to it.

Handsome, clean booths with moveable partitions and walls were erected by various galleries - every wall full of prints, paintings and photographs of every size and style - mostly traditional, framed, square stuff - with the occasional strange sculpture peppering the fair. There were a few paper works that seemed to be painted onto the walls themselves, or tattered to a point of absurd delicacy, leaving me wondering exactly HOW one would display these things in their home.

The purpose of the fair was to acquire - there was never any doubt about that. No one was there to show off things that they liked - they wanted to sell things. One can’t get around the word ‘Affordable’ without evoking the idea of collecting and purchasing - an act which (some would argue) cheapens the value of art itself, but remains an essential thing if the lowly artists want to survive. Let me just state early on that the word ‘affordable’ has never had a wider definition than at The Fair, with the median price for an artwork resting somewhere around $3000. Interestingly, that price didn’t apply to a single medium or size - original oil paintings of photorealistic pool balls, awkward collages and drawings on wood, photographic prints of underwear clinging to youthful female behinds, lithographic prints of squiggly lines - all were fair game for the multi-thousand dollar price tag.

Having heard of precisely none of these artists, one can only assume that even an ‘accessible’ art fair such as this involves a lot of insular self-referencing, and since ‘aesthetic quality’ is one of the most variable properties a thing can have, it would be impossible to price such works based on ‘how pretty they are’. Prices, I’d like to conjecture (and I say this as a painter), are usually based on how much money the artist has conned out of a previous client, thereby setting a standard price point for all subsequent similar artworks. Other points of relevance include previous gallery showings, other noted art collectors who might have this person’s work in their private collections, if this artist has been mentioned in an art journal of note, the astrological year, the color of socks you happen to be wearing, and how many leprechauns live in said artist’s yard.

To describe the incomprehensible pricing structure, one object of particular note was a series of simple, crocheted food items set into shadow boxes and under glass. These sold in the multi-thousand dollar range. The very next day, I saw a series of similarly themed and constructed items at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, selling for about $20 each. I remain unable to identify the real disconnect.

One thing that does NOT seem to influence the price of an artwork is ‘effort’. The artist’s time-consuming layering of dozens of media and meticulous attention to their craft would easily cost the same as a bizarre pencil scrawl on an old wooden block, and there were many examples of this. Regardless, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder. I liked some of those wooden scrawls, darnit - but I also have a Home Depot and a pencil. See, that’s me being bitter.

Other reviews of the AAF have been far more critical than I could be, calling the work mediocre and the dealers ignorant. I’d have to disagree with those assessments. Let’s make an analogy.

Let’s say ‘art’ is a washing machine. When you go to Sears, the salesman (‘art dealer’) is going to sell you a washing machine, and he’s going to sell it based on the formal and superficial qualities of it - what it looks like, what it does, its efficiency, and maybe a little bit of its history. Still, he won’t begin to have a clue about what goes on inside the machine (‘art’) - which wires go where, how much power each component needs to run, which gear turns which belt. That’s the job of the mechanic (‘artist’), who knows the heart of the machine itself. The salesman does their job just fine, and their inherent distance from the truth behind the product is something that can never be completely bridged, and that’s something that us as artists, and collectors as collectors, need to understand. It’s an inefficient, frustrating system, but it works for some. Everything, even things as potentially pure as love and art, is a business.

I didn’t buy anything, but it wasn’t for lack of falling in love with some of the works there - a life-sized sculpture of a dog made entirely of toys, a series of astute oil portraits of twenty-something slackers on boards (by Ian Strawn), a wall of mini-robots (and larger oil paintings of other robot toys), a bizarre Superman painting by Steven Skollar, Amy Hill’s businessmonster portraits. There was genuinely something for everyone, no matter what your art preference might be - abstraction, figural, surreal, pop, landscape - The Fair brought together a staggering variety of works, which is a rarely seen thing. I came away with at least $17 worth of inspiration (as well as frustration and confusion) - so the $17 price of admission just about balanced itself out. Check out our community for a bunch of photos from the event!

So, as Toy Fair 2008 ends, I come to you with my report from the first day of the Big Event. On Saturday, February 16th, Hasbro hosted their ‘Collector Event’ in their rented showrooms near the Javits Center in NYC, and preceded that with a handful of powerpoint presentations at The Times Center regarding their upcoming and continuing toy lines. We got free popcorn and water, and afterwards, we even got a cookie. Which was delicious - even if it was printed with the Hasbro logo. If Hasbro tastes like sugar cookies and white chocolate, feed me more.

Sure, ToyFair hadn’t even really started yet, but Hasbro likes to get ‘the nerd herd’ out of the way. It goes something like this : they shuffle us into a maze of displays, we crowd like so many camera-wielding lambs to slaughter, and we struggle to get suitable shots for our own sites around the wide stance of that annoying guy from that Transformers fan site. Seriously, guy, you don’t need 15 shots of Optimus Prime’s nostrils. I’d just like one of his chassis, please. The difference between nerds and lambs, though, is that lambs have a sense of direction and are soft, whereas nerds depend entirely on their elbows to make their oblivious treks right smack into your nether regions.

Can you tell that I was more than a little perturbed by the claustrophobia of the showroom? To top it all off, one of the new American Gladiators was standing in the doorway to greet us. You know, pecs bigger than your head, glistening, making us all regret every decision we’ve ever made in our nerd-lives, called something like Kickface or Hemorrhage or something such. I’m much more of an American Gladiola.

But I digress. For the first half of the afternoon, no recording devices of any kind were allowed. We sat in a comfy theatre as toy planners and execs told us about Hasbro’s’ plans for 2008, all revolving around their “boys’ properties” of Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk, Star Wars, G. I. Joe, Transformers, Marvel Comics, and Indiana Jones - all of which have a movie or TV show of some sort coming out this year. The great things about Hasbro’s properties is that Hasbro capitalizes off of them in as many ways possible - so while the Iron Man movie might be hot, they’ll use this momentum to delve into Iron Man comics and fan-favorite history stuff to make more products that collectors AND casual fans would love to see on a toy shelf for different (and still all valid) reasons. G. I. Joe fans will see classic stuff revisited, and Indiana Jones fans will see figures from ALL of the Indiana Jones movies - not just the new Crystal Skull one.

Now listen up, collectors - there’s a lot of dates I’m going to drop on you for when you can find these toys, and what you’ll be looking for.

- IRON MAN will see seven basic 6” scale figures, which will arrive on shelves on March 22nd, preceding the movie release, scheduled for May 2nd. Expect a ‘first appearance’ Mark I Armor, a Mark III armor, and Titanium Man, among other action-featured Iron Men - as well as a funky Iron Man roadster, ‘cause every hero needs a vehicle. Especially when they can fly. The movie’s designs are based on the comic cover artwork of Adi Granov, which is a great nod to the comics themselves. There will also be a beautiful, deluxe 12” figure, and at least two sets of Superhero Squad figures - which are 2” tall, kid-friendly, cartoonish plastic hunks of neatness. These will be Iron Man related, but not movie-centric at all - including Hulkbuster, First Appearance, Silver Centurion, War Machine, Unmasked and other neat armors. Keep an eye out for an additional Iron Man armor included with the Hulk Superhero Squad packs!

- THE INCREDIBLE HULK MOVIE will be the kind of movie that says, “You know what? We never made that Eric Bana one. Let’s start over & do it right!” The toys will drop on May 1st, and the movie is released on June 13th. The 6” scale movie toys seem to be a whole lotta very similar Hulks with action features, an Abomination figure (not shown at Toy Fair), and a few army guys - nothing incredible. What collectors SHOULD take note of is the ‘Marvel Legends’ style figures that’ll be coming out at this time also - again, not movie-centric, but very much related to Hulk comics. The first wave will include Savage She-Hulk (pictured at left), Wendigo (a more accurate one than the other Marvel Legends one), Absorbing Man (returning, after being impossible to find a few years back), and ‘The End’ Hulk. A second wave will come shortly after this, and if you collect all eight figures, you can build a genuinely huge Fin Fang Foom figure - the dragon that fans have been clamoring for for YEARS. I’m psyched. (One will also be able to get all 8 figures, along with Foom, in a ‘Collector’s Box’ at San Diego Comic Con this year). As mentioned earlier, there will also be at least two Superhero Squad packs, all comic related, including Green Scar, Silver Savage, and a few other Hulks.

- SPIDER-MAN is getting a new animated show on Saturday mornings, and Hasbro’s toys will release on March 1st, capitalizing on that great animated style that I recently wrote about. While there’s no new Spider-Man films on the immediate horizon, Hasbro will be releasing a ‘Spider-Man Classic’ line, which will feature comic characters that we haven’t seen yet, including Tarantula, which will drop on August 1st. All of these are 6” scaled, so everything is compatible with everything else, as Hasbro’s learned their lesson from the ill-fated 5” Spider-Man line of late last year that no one seems to be buying.

- MARVEL LEGENDS are going to have an odd year, with only 2 waves of single-packed figures this year, which run from 5 to 8 figures per wave. No figure or Build-a-Figure plans were revealed for these, but the year will also see eight 2-packs, which makes up for the figural absence otherwise. These will include Ultimate Nick Fury & Ultimate World War II Captain America, and Elektra & Ronin. Fans will note that these are all new, current characters that are important to current storylines, and even better, Marvel Legends will start coming with relevant accessories again, including alternate heads and hands. An Elektra with a Skrull head? YES PLEASE - but it all still means that we’re going to be shorted on buildable, huge figures.

Also planned for 2008 is a San Diego Comic Con exclusive 3-pack under the ‘Savage Land’ theme, which includes Shanna the She-Devil, Ka-Zar and Zabu. I hate the sound of the word ‘exclusive’, I hate that San Diego gets almost all of them, and I hate trying to find them for fair prices - but at least HasbroToyShop.com has offered these to online buyers in the past.

- SUPERHERO SQUAD will see, in addition to the aforementioned Hulk & Iron Man packs, twenty-four more 2-packs, and eight more 4-packs, which will include Hobgoblin, Psylocke, Shang Chi, Nighthawk, Carnage, Ares, and other figures that are so obscure it’s ridiculous and awesome. The new MIGHTY MUGGS line, which feature generic, cartoony, urban vinyl-styled bodies done up in different decos, will have 16 new marvel figures this year, including Thing, Doctor Doom, Hulk, Venom, Iron Man and a bunch of other good choices. SDCC will have an exclusive (shudder) Iron Man Movie figure.

- MARVEL UNLEASHED, a line of extra-sized, super-articulated, premium figures will see four more waves, starting with Iron Man. These can be equated to ‘a step up from regular action figures without breaking the bank’. MARVEL TRANSFORMERS will also begin, mixing Hasbro’s properties up into a myriad of neat things. They start off with an Iron Man and a Hulk that turn into vehicles, Transformers-style! And speaking of mixing properties, there are strong rumors of a Star Wars-scaled Marvel figure line… and who doesn’t want to see Darth Vader and Doctor Doom duke it out?

As big a nerd as I am, my knowledge of G. I. Joe and Transformers is next to nothing, so I regret that almost all of the information about these two properties went right over my head, not knowing many names or which toys have come before. I can mention that a second Transformers movie is starting to film (though no toys were shown), a kid-friendly Transformers cartoon is starting up (with a few figures shown), and a G. I. Joe movie has also started filming. I also went out after this presentation and bought my first three Joe figures. Note, please, that every company I’d talk to this weekend had their own 3.75″ scale line brewing, and ergo, everything would be compatible with the tiny Joes.

- INDIANA JONES promises to be a hot property, with Hasbro delving into every IJ movie, answering fan pleas that have echoed annoyingly for years. On May 1st, all of the toys are going to appear. We have an initial offering of seventeen 3.75” (or ‘Star Wars’) scale figures, with plans to expand the line into at least twenty-nine figures by the end of the year. There’s a lot of lost time to make up for, and they’re doing it well. Each figure will come with a ‘relic’ from one of the movies, amassing a great little treasure trove. There will also be a 12” line, more Adventure Heroes (much like the oft-mentioned Superhero Squad), a ‘Taters of the Lost Ark’ Mr. Potato Head, more Mighty Muggs, and even a classic mail-in program for every line. One can collect 4 proofs of purchase to earn an Adventure Heroes Indy on his horse, a 1/6th scaled Ark, or a 3.75” scale mystery figure that was not revealed to us due to its importance in the new movie.

And finally STAR WARS! As if there wasn’t already an information overload, there’s a ton of SW stuff coming. On July 26th, ‘The Legacy Collection’ will drop, which will include Stormtrooper helmet packaging and will include 30 figures. One week later, The Clone Wars Animated figures will happen, on Clone Trooper helmet packaging - so that fans can distinguish between the two. This will include 23 figures. All of these will include bonus parts to build a few Droids similar to R2-D2 and C-3PO.

These early offerings will include an ‘Episode Six Deleted Scene’ theme, with our classic Star Wars heroes in desert gear for the first time. Now, most exciting for me out of all of Toy Fair was catching a glimpse of Yarna D’Al Gargan (pictured above) - one of Jabba’s Palace dancers that was never made into a figure, and who was featured more prominently on the screen than 90% of every other Star Wars character ever made. The reason that she’s never been made is her semi-controversial feature of ‘having six breasts’, but FINALLY. Finally we can complete out Jabba’s Palace cardboard dioramas with Yarna.

Beyond these basic offerings, there will be comic 2-packs, with characters from throughout the non-canon history of the Star Wars comics, including Cade Skywalker, Darth Talon, Dengar & Fenn Shyshd. There will be four ‘Evolutions’ themed 3-packs, including a trio of Rebel Pilots from Episode 6, and a triple-pack of a Padme Amidala from each movie that she appeared in. And the line extends into even more Mighty Muggs and ‘Galactic Heroes’ - which are the same thing as ‘Adventure Heroes’ and ‘Superhero Squad’.

And, of course, Hasbro had a large Cloverfield Monster on display. For many people, including those who saw the movie, this is the first clear image that they’ve ever seen of The Monster. I’ll refrain from spoiling the movie for you by posting a picture here, but CLICK HERE if you’re curious and want to know more. It’s 14″ tall, touts 70 points of articulation, and comes with a handful of accessories. Itis currently available for purchase through Hasbro’s website and nowhere else.
The showrooms were packed with nerds who had no awareness of anyone who was standing around them, and I was inadvertently groped a handful of times. And I do mean ‘handful’. Hasbro, I love you, but you need bigger showrooms - especially when your sweatiest clientele will all be meeting there at once. I had a claustrophobic moment or two, which prevented me from seeing half of the showroom. You’ve shown me that I’m not elbowy enough to be a ‘reporter’, that toys turn grown men into animals, and that it’s going to be an expensive year. Stay tuned for more Toy Fair this weekend!

For now, CLICK HERE to see a full gallery of Hasbro images, and enjoy!

Before New York had any conventions of serious nerd merit, we had the tried-and-true Big Apple Comic Con. The BACC has always been the summer convention equivalent of the hot cousin - it’s nice to look at, and maybe visit once in a while, but you really don’t want to GO there, if you know what I mean. Sure, it has a few goodies, but at the end of the summer, you were still groping in a damp basement because there was nothing better to do.

The New York Comic Con (not to be confused with this convention, the Big Apple Comic Book, Art, Toy & Sci-Fi Expo, oft simplified to just ‘Comic Con’) has taken over the NY convention scene, leaving the BACC in the undesirable position of ‘that other, smaller convention that isn’t really as good’. The BACC was held at the Penn Plaza Pavilion, in the convention area of the Pennsylvania Hotel, which is across the street from Madison Square Garden. For the past handful of years, it’s been held in that general area (with at least one summer in which it failed to make an appearance at all), from some weird attic area of Madison Square Garden to its new home in the Pennsylvania Hotel.

For those of you looking to attend the convention at any point in the future, let me note that the Pennsylvania Hotel is one of the older, more historical structures in NYC, and it shows. And if you happen to stay in room 933, pull UP on the handle to flush the toilet. I know, it sounds like some kind of crazy Bizarro World hotel, but trust me. I spent about ten minutes playing safecracker with the shower knobs (one of which defied logic by being attached at a nigh-unturnable diagonal angle), trying to find a combination of temperatures that didn’t remove my flesh from my bones, but only found it when I turned she shower valve halfway off. And that ringing, whistling sound that you hear is not a fire alarm, despite the completely alarming noise that it’ll wake you up with at 2 AM, it’s just someone in another room showering, and the pipes clearly rebelling against it. The TV remote is pretty much vestigial, and you’ll need to chisel away at the dirt on the windows to see the glorious view of the 9th floor rooms across the alcove from you… but at least you’ll have a place to sleep. Kinda.

Accommodations aside, we awoke semi-refreshed for the BACC in the morning, after attending the MOCCA Festival on the previous day.

The BACC took over a large area of floor immediately to the left of the Hotel’s entrance and up an escalator. The United States Post Office was stationed at the base of the escalator, selling Star Wars stamps and pins, and giving away first day bird stamp packets. In my early days of attending the BACC, it was a great place to score some discounted, hard-to-find toys and comic collections, meet big-name artists and get tons of free stuff, but over the years, it’s evolved into something far less rewarding. There were no company-supported giveaways, most of the larger artists were either over at MOCCA or had already attended NYCC instead, and most of the toys there were being sold at inflated scalper prices. Most impressive was the guy who was selling pins that were available for free from the DC Comics booth, which could be found at every comic convention ever. His price? Only one dollar each.

This decline in overall Convention quality has had two positive results for the remaining attendees - the attendance on Sunday was sparse enough to allow us plenty of walking room, and because of this limited population, the nerd-smell usually present at these conventions was barely noticeable. My only brush with it was the guy breathing Dorito vapors directly into all of my five basic senses (and irreparably damaging my sixth one). The BACC can’t be blamed for the malodorous nature of those who view bathing and deodorant as bi-monthly endeavors, though. My cohort remarked that this Convention was very much like picking through someone’s grimy basement - an environment that nerds are likely very familiar with, but which might deter the casual attendee.

Much of the floors were taken over by long boxes of comics at various discounts, as well as walls of non-discounted, rare comics, so the BACC is a gold mine if you’re looking to fill up on back issues and original printings of things, with half-priced boxes of things and dollar comics at every turn. There are also a good number of tables selling ‘bootleg’ DVDs, mostly of TV shows that are not yet on DVD. Of course, there’s a large number of things being released on DVD lately, and some of these bootleg DVDs duplicate published works, making them extra illegal. If you need your fix of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon though, here’s the place to go. None of the DVDs are going to be any better than fuzzy VCR quality, so proceed with caution.

One end of the convention hall was taken over by ‘celebrities’, but please note that when your biggest celebrity is David Faustino, the kid from Married With Children (and who is roughly 16 inches tall), you might have a problem. When you include the son of some guy who was an extra on that sci-fi show that no one remembers on your list of celebrities, you’re well into the danger zone. I did get to glance at Captain Lou Albano, and a couple of mummified porn starlets. The aging porn starlet tables often remain unvisited at these conventions, with nerds still uncomfortable in their own sexuality and usually not ready to admit that they’ve seen said starlet in whatever tawdry publication they’ve appeared in. What do you say to one of those lovely ladies anyhow? I venture it’s something along the lines of “It’s great to finally see your breasts in person!” Which is why I’m still single. And I genuinely don’t recognize them anyhow.

One other table had a couple of people from Ghost Hunters, including ‘Brian’. You know, the guy who breaks all of the expensive equipment, has tantrums when he has to go back and get something he forgot, quits the show, comes back, and runs away terrified anytime he ACTUALLY sees a ghost, failing to get any valid footage besides that of him wetting himself. I chose not to talk to him, mostly because I didn’t want him to run away screaming if I moved too quickly. The BACC didn’t even attract Peter Mayhew, the mighty Chewbacca, and he’s at every convention I’ve ever been at.

Big Apple does well enough for itself, though, and it’s not a bad convention if you’re looking for actual comic books and little else. By the end of our meanderings, we only saw a few Jedi and one guy in an apparently hand-painted Blue Beetle costume, whose enthusiasm didn’t seem to match his costume. After I took his photo and had walked away, the following conversation took place between him and his friend :

Guy : “Why are people taking photos of you?”
Blue Beetle : “Blue Beetle died a few years ago and now everybody likes him.”

I refrained from turning around and telling him that I dug Blue Beetle well before his untimely demise, but it wasn’t about to engage in a public Out-Nerding Competition. At least he was gracious enough to pose for a photo for me.

I bought a handful of shiny superhero fridge magnets for fifty cents each and headed home. Check out a few extra photos of the event in our Community section - and when you’re done, upload a collection of your own!

This past weekend was a significant one for New York comic nerds of all ilks, from those exclusively into spandex and punching to those collectors who prefer their comics brooding and embarrassingly autobiographical. Not only was the seven millionth annual Big Apple Comic Con happening across the street from Madison Square Garden in the decrepit Hotel Pennsylvania, but the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art was having their amazing annual Festival. It would seem that I had a big weekend ahead of me.

On Saturday, June 23rd, I attended the MOCCA Festival, located at the Puck Building (in the ridiculously trendy NoHo / SoHo area of NYC). The Puck Building, or at least the areas that we were allowed to access, was comprised of a series of large, interconnected ballrooms. In each one, artists and small publishers had set up simple 6-foot folding tables to display their works. There was no ridiculous fanfare, no corvettes decked out with TVs and people blasting out Guitar Hero tunes, no Marvel Comics shilling their latest galaxy-spanning, glossy-covered saga. The deceptively subtle, unadorned ballrooms were the perfect quiet atmosphere for artists to practice their art and explore each others’ works, without the constraints of ‘the industry’ telling them what was and was not appropriate. It would seem that a large portion of the overhead lighting wasn’t completely functional, but no one seemed to mind too much.

‘DIY’ or ‘do-it-yourself’ culture has recently found a significant foothold among the 30-and-younger crowd, as evidenced by such sites as Etsy and the vast collection of artists who choose self-publishing as a viable option for dispersing their artworks to the world. Xeroxed copies of small, hand-stapled books weren’t an uncommon sight, whereas that kind of presentation would have once been viewed as unprofessional. Now, the xerox machine has become an integral part of ‘zine and comic culture, as it’s become abundantly clear that the insights that you find in a professionally published book are the same insights that can be found in a cheaply mass-produced work. DIY, at least in a material sense, sprung out of the need for economy, after all - the trendiness was just a coincidence that came along later.

Because of this, the variety of artists and approaches covered the entire scope of the comic industry. From artists who had a few small piles of photocopies, artists who’d handmade books on a printing press, artists who had books professionally bound and printed in color or black and white, and even artists who took the ‘comic’ format and stretched it to its limits by presenting piles of individual panels in small boxes, packaged with 45s, and even as original paintings. Some were published by indie labels, while others were simply there to share their own amateur (and often impressive) creations.

I had my own mission, though, and that was to once again get my Bizarro Comics book signed by Tom Hart, Nick Bertozzi and Jessica Abel, to add to my collection of artist signatures I’ve been accumulating since 2002. By the end of the convention, I’d found everyone but the elusive Tom Hart, and even had a great conversation with Mr. Bertozzi about Jack Kirby and the recent release of the second volume of the DC Archive Edition of Kamandi. With my recent appreciation of Jack Kirby just being explored in earnest, it was enlightening to see the invisible barrier between ‘hero’ comics and ‘indie’ comics being broken down, as they often exist in two very different worlds, and are not always at ease with each other. He signed my Bizarro book right next to his own drawing of Kamandi.

Jessica Abel didn’t seem quite as receptive to my appreciations, but added the seventh signature to my Bizarro book anyhow.

Other attendees included Gary Panter, who was recently profiled in Juxtapoz Magazine for his influence on current ‘pop surrealist’ art culture, as well as his role as designer on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse (which was integral in my mental development, probably to no surprise). On the other end of his row of tables was the seven year old daughter of Denis Kitchen (founder of the notable Kitchen Sink Press), Alexa, perhaps with the most elaborate display of all, including a banner heralding her arrival and title of ‘the youngest artist in comics!’, with stacks of pink books overwhelming the table around her, while she continued to draw and her mother looked on proudly. All of this convinced me to come home to my own seven year old niece, make her a pot of coffee and let her burn through a ream of printer paper at high speeds… though this is something that she does fairly regularly anyhow without the aid of caffeine or goading. Coffee would probably blur her to a white-hot light speed from which we’d never recover.

Interestingly, there were a few artists who normally attend the Big Apple Comic Con who opted to lend their support to the MOCCA Fest instead this year, since odd planning had both events on the same days. I can see this as an active support towards the ‘art’ side of things over the ‘industry’ side, so Kyle Baker and Evan Dorkin be praised. You guys made the right choice.

Also of note was Dr. Cube from Kaiju Big Battel, a being of unspeakable evil and megalomania. From behind his table, he grasped at my friend’s complimentary Wizard Magazine and tore it open in order to sign it. When he handed it back to my friend, it read ‘Wizard Magazine is for sucker MCs! Dr. Cube!’. Shortly after that, he snatched someone’s water bottle and wrote ‘WATER!’ on it, and it all became clear. Dr. Cube and Los Plantanos were the only costumed folks at MOCCA. This was a good thing.

The MOCCA Fest spread through four or five ballrooms on the first floor, as well as a large room on the seventh floor. Table spacing was fair, and allowed foot traffic easy passage, which was a bonus as I have limited patience for crowded convention floors. As the day wore on a bit, the ballrooms filled up to ‘crowded’ levels, but the mood remained calm and unfrustrated - which is not something that can be said for the purely ‘BUY AND SELL’ atmosphere of the traditional comic convention.

Another added bonus? Art chicks are HOT. Unfailingly. So… there’s that, too.

By the end of the day, I’d spend $200 in limited edition, small run books, original paintings and records. As I purchased them, I had the opportunity to talk to an inspiring collection of genuine artists, half of whom seemed a bit surprised that I wanted them to sign their works for me, unpretentious and unassuming as most of them were. Stay tuned for an exploration of just what $200 in small press books looks like.