MoCCA Continued
My apologies to everyone at MoCCA who I didn't get around to visiting. I've heard from several people who saw me pass by their table - pass by being the operative word - and I feel kind of bad about that. For some reason I didn't pick up a map of tables and it took me a few laps to orient myself. I did stop and talk to several people, but despite my best intentions I didn't make it back for my final round after the Panter/Santoro panel. For instance I really wanted to talk to Katie Skelly some more about Nurse, Nurse but never made it back to her table. I saw Marek Bennet talking to someone and made a mental note to go back, and then never made it back.

MoCCA wasn't a total loss though, I got to talk to several people and pick up some great books. For starters, I ran into Marcos Perez and Justin Fox, two of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. I have a handful of their comics for upcoming reviews and it's been awhile since I've checked out their stuff. Also got sucked into the Partyka table. John Meijas had this amazing book with huge, painted wood covers. Inside was just too good to be true. When I asked him the price, he sheepishly said it was $100. I didn't get a copy there, but John says they are available at Desert Island, which I REALLY need to visit, and St. Mark's Books, which I did pop into on the way to Angel's Share cocktail bar on Sunday night.

Talked to John and Shawn Cheng for a bit and bought a couple comics that I hadn't had a chance to see. I really loved the self explanatory Matt Wiegle's Monsters & Condiments and Shawn's Whiskey Jack & Kid Coyote Meet the King of Stink. I haven't cracked open the copy of Paping yet, but it's on the nightstand. Here's a shot of the Paping books: Also talked got to meet Tom Gauld and picked up the third volume of Three Very Small Comics. Tom's packaging as always is first rate.
I talked to the super sweet Meghan Hogan of Good Minnesotan for a bit and was bummed that I missed her husband Raighne. Right next door I found Cathy Leamy and got to chat with her for a little bit. I'll have reviews of her stuff coming up. Then abruptly I was face to face with the wild-bearded Raighne Hogan. His beard was truly a site to behold and we held court on vegan and vegetarian food for a bit.

I also got to meet Kevin Church for the first time, which is kind of weird since I already feel like I know him from his many online ventures. Kevin, I hope you made it to The Spotted Pig after the show.

And that's pretty much it for my MoCCA visit. As the Panter/Santoro panel was winding down - it was at that point that I hate, where the audience members were asking questions (or also know as let me show everyone how smart I am) - I got texted away on a beauty emergency. So, everyone that I didn't get to talk to or return to, I'll see you next year or maybe at SPX.

Pictures of the PictureBox table:
Buenaventura Table:

SPX 2005 Report
This one will be centered on mini-comics as this is SIZE MATTERS. I’ll have a more publisher-oriented report tomorrow at Comic World News.
This year’s version of SPX was even more fun than last year’s show. At a show that seems to manufacture crazy amounts of positive energy, the smiles and hearty handshakes were off the chart. Friday afternoon seemed a bit slow as far as foot traffic, and almost everyone I talked to lamented poor sales. But the crowd on Saturday was often two or three deep at the more popular tables and there were bottlenecks at some well-attended corners.

For a mini-comic fan, SPX is almost overwhelming. Just the USS Catastrophe, Bodega Distribution, Sparkplug Comics and Global Hobo tables would be enough to make you dizzy, but everywhere you turn there’s another table full of mini-comics.

I started out by grabbing a copy of Couch Tag by Jesse Reklaw. Couch Tag is the story of Jesse’s thirteen cats that he had growing up and when I asked him if it would make me cry, he said probably. I haven’t read it yet.

Sparkplug and Global Hobo were right next to each other and between those tables I picked up about a dozen mini-comics, including the second issue of Reklaw’s Slow Wave, The Secret Voice by Zack Soto, the latest Service Industry by T. Edward Bak, and Stefan Gruber’s tiny Handy & Army. At the Sparkplug table I talked to Austin English about his beautiful Christina & Charles book. He showed me a stack of pages from another color book that he’s working on.

I met Jamie Tanner finally and he gave me copies of his two latest mini-comics, Diamonds and Always in Love & Other Stories of Death and Dismemberment. The latter is over fifty pages of Tannery goodness. I’ll probably try to hold off on reading these. I also learned a very valuable lesson Saturday. Jamie had about a dozen small watercolors for sale at the ridiculously cheap price of $20. One of them was an adorable little wooden bird resting on top of a street corner gas lamp. I didn’t buy it on Friday, because my bag was already overstuffed with goodies. On Saturday, it had been sold. Oh, the humanity!

John Mejias (Paping) was sharing a table with the Partyka crew and I grabbed issues twelve and thirteen of Paping. Issue twelve is constructed of one long piece of paper folded into a box with a lid and issue thirteen is printed in two colors on a NYC subway map. I met the very nice and talented Shawn Cheng for the first time, so now I’ve met all four of the Partyka people. I also bought a collection of “Daily Drawings” from the table. It was the only thing that I didn’t already have.

At the Little House table I picked up a copy of Drew Weing’s new Blar mini-comic. It’s early and I haven’t even looked at half of the minis that I brought home, but so far this is my favorite mini from the show. Drew and Eleanor were both so kind and personable. Their table was one of the most visually inventive ones at the show. Right next to them I met Joey Weiser. Like everyone I spoke with Joey was a super nice person. He gave me his two latest minis, including Tales of Unusual Circumstance number two that features another adventure of “The Unremarkable Tree Frog.” Awesome.

At the Buenaventura Press table I bought an issue of Julie Doucet’s mini-comic Sophie Punt. I think I paid twenty-five dollars for it, but I didn’t care. It’s Julie Doucet. I also took the plunge and bought a Sammy Harkham print. Alvin Buenaventura is a great guy and he’s got perfect taste in comics. There was a galley print of the book Elvis Road by Helge Reumann and Xavier Robel. That’s going to be exquisite. As I was paying I spied Tom Gauld’s comics and added Three Very Small Comics Volume Two.

Dan Zettwoch and Ted May were manning the USS Catastrophe table and Dan had a new mini-comic called Schematic Comics. This comic has some strips that were published in Arthur. Now I don’t have to find Arthur to read them, but maybe I should. There are some damn good cartoonists to be found in there.

At Jordan Crane’s table I found a mini-comic that I didn’t have called The Life Unlucky. I somehow found the strength to resist the deluxe version of The Clouds Above, but after flipping through a gorgeous copy of Non issue five, I bought the Non. I couldn't believe Jordan remembered an order I had placed almost two years ago. His table was one of the most colorful on the floor and SPX cover artist Brian Ralph was sharing it with copies of his books and a cool t-shirt that I'm sorry I didn't buy.

At the Cantab Publishing table I ran into Alex Lukas and purchased his new mini-comic Fire. This one has a section of black pages sandwiched between your standard white pages. The black pages show the firefighter being menaced by the black face of fire and smoke. Also at the Cantab table, I met the face behind the excellent magazine The Drama, Joel Speasmaker.

I spent a ridiculous amount of money at The Ganzfield/PaperRad table. After somehow managing to resist the $30 Ben Jones book (now I’m kicking myself), I bought the The Ganzfield 4-Pac Fun Pack! that includes the best Batman stories that I’ve seen in years. I also grabbed a copy of Fuckable Comics number six and a mini called Gif Papel. Between Ben Jones strips there are colorful collages of images from old comics circa 1980; this is a really neat comic.

I ran into Matthew Thurber when Kate was with me. Kate and I lamented over our failed plans to move to NYC, but Matthew gave us some hope. He also gave me a copy of the new Paper Rodeo, which I hadn't even seen yet.

Somehow I ended up with three copies of Bleep the Peeper. Two regular versions and the silk-screened cover version from Chris Pitzer. J. Chris Campbell blessed me with his Fat Pack, which isn’t a s kinky as it sounds. It’s a manila envelope full of his tiny mini-comics.

I met Matt Dembicki and grabbed the fifth issue of Mr. Big. the new baddie was just what I expected! Matt was a super nice guy and he told me that there will be a Mr Big trade collecting issues one through seven. It looks like issues one and two are all gone.

I met Mark McMurray and he had a Dumb Jersy White Boy 2.5 in color. He was also very nice and looked just like he does in his comics. I met Marcos Perez and Justin Fox. Marcos had three new Carl is the Awesome mini-comics and Justin had an issue of Lincoln isn’t the Awesome. Poor Lincoln is a hedgehog. Next to mini-comic funnyman Pat Lewis, I met Ed Piskor. I’ve got a few of his Deviant Funniesmini-comics that look great.

Look, there are piles of mini-comics that I haven’t even opened yet and many names that I haven’t mentioned. Starting tomorrow, there will be SPX reviews mixed in with review minis sent in over the past month. Also, I took Kate to the show with me for about an hour. She purchased twenty mini-comics with thirty dollars and she’ll be doing a few guest posts this week reviewing the comics she bought and giving her general impressions from the show as an “outsider.”

Also tomorrow, I’ll post my publisher-oriented SPX review at Comic World News. Here's another shot of the SPX haul. Had to stand on the couch to get this one. Hope everyone had a great time at the show!

See How Pretty, See How Smart #3 by Sean McCarthy and others

Sean McCarthy’s See How Pretty, See How Smart is not only the perfect showcase for his own work, it’s an opportunity for other Partyka members and allies to do pieces shorter than their own projects. Each section of these books takes up only two to six pages and the shorter format/shared environment seems to allow for greater risk taking. The physical size of this book is much larger than a typical mini-comic and it needs to be, especially considering the space that McCarthy’s images need to slowly writhe and creep their way into your brain.
Sean’s work is equal parts beauty and horror. He mixes bold lines and stippled patterns of pencil and ink to create a monstrous orgy of animals and beasts devouring, fighting, fucking, and evolving. Lost within the body of beasts are swirling pencil point patterns that meander and converge into recognizable figures. A quick glance gives you a simple impression of intertwining creatures, but a closer inspection reveals an amalgamation of bodies, organs and limbs. In issue four of See How Pretty, See How Smart, Sean gives you a peek behind his work in the form of rough sketches that are as fascinating as the finished product.

Sections by several other creators fill out each issue of See How Pretty, See How Smart. Issue three has work from Sean McCarthy, Andy Bodor, Zak Smith, Craig Taylor, Jeffrey Lewis, Shawn Cheng, Theo Rosenblum, and Matt Wiegle.

The cover to issue three by Sara Edward Corbett and Zak Smith is endlessly fascinating and the inside of both front and back covers feature John Mejias designs. Inside issue three things begin with Andy Bodor’s “Bunny and Ghoul.” Bunny and Ghoul stayed up too late watching “dancing dawgs,” and then they arrive at the radio station just in time for an on-air appearance. I’m not sure why they’re applying make-up for a radio gig, but things don’t go very well for Bunny and Ghoul. Bodor has a pleasant chunky style of drawing that uses rounded, stocky figures and ink wash backgrounds. Occasionally, he uses type font in addition to lettering, but it’s usually to drive home a point or to indicate the voice of someone other than the two main characters. The story is absurd, but kind of charming. The first panel is a close-up of the bunny and the ghoul sleeping in bed. The bunny has his mouth wide open as if he’s snoring and the ghoul has drool dripping from his mouth.

After five full page drawings from Sean McCarthy, Zak Smith has a bit called “Monsters Review Records” with two martini slurping monsters, uh, reviewing records in the voice of “distinguished gentlemen.” Here’s a page for your enjoyment.

Craig Taylor also provides seven pages of fairly abstract work titled “Marginalia of an Aesthete.” I would have liked to see these in color rather than black and white. The forms and shapes are interesting, but having only black and gray minimizes the effect of the images a bit. Taylor has an absolutely startling image to begin his section of issue four, which I found more remarkable than his work in issue three. Taylor also provides the striking cover to issue four.

Jeffrey Lewis has a four-page low brow Canterbury Tales strip titled “The Canterburied Tales” in issue three. Each character tells their story and each one is more far out than the previous tale. I’ll give you four words to describe this story: zombies, necrophilia, and Einstein’s brain. Lewis’ section most closely resembles a traditional comic format, but it’s EC Comics meets Robert Crumb.

Next, Shawn Cheng fills four pages with drawings of “100 Boys.” Each boy is actually a young monster and one of them looks like the guy in Vengeance at Cackling Mountain.

Theo Rosenblum provides a creepy “The Birth of Death” story that tracks death from an asteroid, a graveyard, a reanimated alligator and then finally into a regurgitated dog’s body. Initially I was turned off by the unfinished pencil shading in used in this strip; it gave the story an almost unfinished look. But the playfulness that Rosenblum uses with the art in his section overcame my hesitation. Rosenblum’s version of death snakes though panel borders in this silent tale and there’s a delicious glimpse on the second page of the story of what lies below the buried caskets in the cemetery. There’s a cavern with pipes and attached machinery, as well as a beast holding onto a burning torch that lights up the cavern. Theo, where's the mini-comic featuring this cavern, already?

Matt Wiegle closes the book with two pages of made up creatures. I’m charmed by anything that Matt puts down on paper, so these were a perfect way to end this issue. Here are four of his creatures for you to enjoy.
See How Pretty, See How Smart is about monsters. It’s about the slightly surreal. It’s a way for Sean McCarthy and friends to stretch their imagination and art in a collaborative environment. It may not be for everyone, but it works very well for the brave or the foolish. Here’s the preview link where you can check out several more samples of art from issue three featuring Andy Bodor, Sean McCarthy, Zak Smith, Jeffrey Lewis, and Craig Taylor.

I’ve got a few more mini-comics to review from Partyka, but they will be spaced out a bit over the next month or so. I really hope you’ve found something that you like between the four books that I’ve reviewed so far. Again, check out the Partyka online catalogue for some online samples of their work.

Again, I’m sorry for the delays in posting this week. Everything is back in order at the Size Matters office and there is a large stack of minis just waiting to be discovered.