Where the Action is

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More pictures from this year's MoCCA Fest

Here's another batch of picts from this year's MoCCA Fest.

(Liz Tillotson and I sharing a moment.)

(Check out the spread. Toy octopus courtesy of Nik Moore and Liz Tillotson.)

(The always-in-demand Nik Moore and Liz Tillotson on the frist day of the fest.)

(A couple of tired pups after a weekend of comix fun. Moi and James Spruill.)

SPX anyone...?

© Frank Reynoso, June 2008, All Rights Reserved

Re: MoCCA Fest 2008

(James Spruill and I. Finger-raising excitement.)

(Liz Tillotson chilling while I chat with a MoCCA Fest attendee.)

This year's MoCCA Fest inspired and reinvigorated me. Thank you to all the folks who stopped by the table and to all who I chatted with. Lots of great conversations.

Rock on!!!

© Frank Reynoso, June 2008, All Rights Reserved

Moon Boy, Lil Death, and other prints at MoCCA Fest 2008

Here are some of the prints that'll be available at this year's MoCCA Arts and Comic Fest. Reserve your copy at ill.jodienda@gmail.com.

These prints along with copies of Buenas Noches and Wish will be at booth B39.

© Frank Reynoso June 2008, All Rights Reserved

Frank at MoCCA Arts and Comics Fest 2008

Tis that time again: MoCCA Arts and Comics Fest. It's cool, it's inexpensive, and it's sooooo much fun.

I'll be there with copies of Buenas Noches, Wish, and high quality prints of my watercolor paintings.

You can find me at booth B39.

B39 .B39.
Such a pretty, pretty rhyme.
B39. B39.
Gotta go while I still have time.
B39. B39.
Man, I can't believe this line.
B39. B39.
Wow, these comics are so fine.

© Frank Reynoso June 2008, All Rights Reserved

The Indypendent #118: Down and Out - Your pain is Wall Street's gain

The latest issue of The Indypendent is out. Below are the two main stories on the economy.

Bailing Out the Billionaires

By Max Fraad Wolff

Posted in National

House prices need to continue to fall and will. This will place increasing pressure on household balance sheets. To begin to address the situation, we need to concentrate on elevating earnings and reducing debt levels. read more »

Inflation Nation: A Guide to Your Pocketbook Blues

By A.K. Gupta

Posted in National

Unless you live in a bubble, like George Bush, who expressed total surprise in February when a reporter told him gas was nearing $4 a gallon, you've been socked hard in the pocketbook by rising prices. read more>>

The Indypendent's Arun Gupta on Democracy Now!

Respected Indypendent journalist, Iraq War specialist and my good friend Arun Gupta was in a three-way debate on General Petraeus' role in the Iraq War. There are video and audio streams.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/9/as_petraeus_urges_delay_of_troop

(Photos from Democracy Now!)

Funny short short by Barrett Brown

Bush Writes a Novel

http://www.antimuse.org/cgi-bin/pageserver.cgi?page=04100112

Recommended Reading/Viewing List

Rather than barraging you with a list of the films and books I've read, I'll post a monthly recommended reading/viewing list. The list will comprise of stuff I've read or seen the previous month. Let's get cranking:

Films
Scanners, written and directed by David Cronenberg
Le Temps De Loup, written and directed by Michael Haneke
No Country for Old Men, screenplay and directed by Ethan and Joel Coen, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy

Books
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Strange Wine by Harlan Ellison

Comics/Graphic Novels
Making Comics by Scott McCloud

Review of World War 3 Illustrated: Facts on the Ground

Review of World War 3 Illustrated: Facts on the Ground

(panel from Seth Tobocman's Disaster and Resistance)

The Indypendent printed Hueso Taveras' review of the World War 3 Illustrated Collective's latest anthology.

Here's an excerpt:

While most comics anthologies like Mome and Drawn and Quarterly aim for diverse and multicultural content, World War 3 Illustrated has consistently provided a breadth unmatched even by contemporary publishers. For their latest anthology, Facts on the Ground, the collective culled stories from around the world, including Baghdad, Johannesburg and El Salvador. As the title suggests, most are first-hand accounts, featuring everyday folks up against institutionalized corruption.

The first comic, by writer and Voices in the Wilderness activist Cathy Breen with artist Edowyn Vazkez, illustrates a letter by an Iraqi woman and the daily perils she faces in occupied Baghdad. Peter Kuper captures the complicated and sordid story of last year’s Oaxaca teachers’ strike and their battle with the state’s murderous, corrupt governor — which ended with the death of numerous people, including journalist Brad Will — in his firsthand mixed-media account “Oaxaca.”

Other comics take a look at familiar locales. Standouts include Seth Tobocman’s excerpt from his new book Disaster and Resistance (AK Press), about the struggle of residents of a NOLA housing project to return home after the devastation of Katrina and authorities. Mac McGill’s “Hurricane Katrina” is a meticulously rendered expressionist pantomime about life, loss and hope of New Orleans residents. Fly’s interview with Bill DiPaola serves as the basis for her rollicking, illustrated history of radical environmentalist group Times Up! “NYC Cyclists Memorial” is Christopher Cardinale’s lyrical and poignant mixed-media comic about the bicyclists killed by motorists and the city’s inhospitability to bicyclists.


Read the full review.

Comics Great Steve Gerber, RIP

(Photo from: http://www.stevegerber.com/sgblog/)

Comics creator Steve Gerber (Howard the Duck; Man-Thing; Omega the Unknown; Thundarr, The Barbarian) died earlier this week. I never read any of his comics but recently I read an interview with him and his intelligence and wit came shining through, encouraging me to look at his work.

Feeling incredibly inadequate talking about him, I'd rather let you read about him from people who knew him a hell of a lot better.

http://comiccritique.com/columns/gcolSt499.html (where I heard the news)
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_02_11.html#014809 (from Steve's longtime friend Mark Evanier)
http://www.stevegerber.com/sgblog/ (Steve's blog)

Peace,
Frank

Lynne Foster showing at The Harlem School of the Arts

Lynne Foster, a frequent contributor to The Indypendent, is part of an upcoming group show.

Praise for "Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm"

Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm written by Percy Carey and illustrated by Ronald Wimberly came in at number 9 of Time magazine's Top Ten Graphic Novels for 2007. And CNN's Best of the Rest 2007.

See my interview with Percy Carey at Comic Critique.

© Frank Reynoso, Feb. 4, 2008, All Rights Reserved

Interview with Ayo

In the midst of the 2007 MoCCA Arts and Comics Festival, I briefly spoke with Ayo, author of the irreverent and often pantomimed mini-comic Little Garden.

Where are you originally from?

I’m from Mount Vernon, New York. It’s a small town north of the Bronx. Home to such rappers as Heavy D and Pete Rock and CL Smooth. That’s right. And Rob O who I see sometimes. I live in Brooklyn now.
That’s good company to have in Mount Vernon.

(Laughs.)
What do you think is the best musical accompaniment to your comics?

I used to post track lists on my blog with the panels, the cartoons I did – stuff like Jimi Hendrix and the reggae Bad Brains. But really what I listen to mostly is Dead Kennedys and gangsta rap.
What is your comic embarrassment?

Hmmm… I put out some minis [comix] in 2005, which I didn’t like them when I made them, but for want of nothing else to do, I put them out and gave them to people blindly. So I... hopefully they’ve discarded them unread. (Laughs.)
What comic would you never publicly admit to reading?

Wouldn’t that be like publicly admit to reading it? I can think of some stuff but like at the same time…I don’t know…Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what: Sizzle magazine from NBM because they publish this really gross, hardcore porn but they also publish good people like Brandon Graham from Ciero so I was “I love that guy so I’m just gonna pick up this thing no matter what the person behind the counter thinks of me.” (Laughs.)
Fill in the blank: milk is to cookie as ___ is to my comic.

As color is to my comic. You see I eat cookies without milk but at the same, you know, if I wasn’t lactose intolerant, it would be a nice thing to go along with it. I would love to combine if I could. (Laughs.)
Where can people find your comics?

Mostly people can only find my comics in New York City at the major comic stores [Jim] Hanley’s [Universe] and Rocketship and Forbidden Planet. The main thing I do is a comic called Little Garden but there’s no words on the front. Title’s on the back. Make you work for it. (Laughs.)

Thank you very much, Ayo.

Thank you.

© Frank Reynoso Jan. 2008, All Rights Reserved

LocoMotion: Jose Carmona art show Feb 3

Jose Carmona, a frequent contributor to The Indypendent, is having an art show in Washington Heights on Feb 3rd.

10 Fort Washington Ave. Penhouse level btwn 159th/160thst
New York, NY 10032. Tel: 212-568-2030 Ext. 208

Did he really read and watch all this...?

For the sake of brevity and lack of motivation, I'm going to use a rating system for the list of works below. Bear in mind that I normally don't like using such a thing but I think in this instance it'll be helpful.

We're all pretty familiar with the star-rating system: One star (*) is the lowest and 5 stars (*****) is the highest. The 1/2's give leniency to works that have a little more to them. :)

Best,
Frank

PS. This list is far from complete. I've read and watched more than twice what I have here since I originally began compiling this post.

Solaris by Steven Soderberg (****1/2)
Cutting Edge: Art Horror and the Horrific Avant-Garde by Joan Hawkins (***1/2)
Gremlins (****1/2)
The Exorcist directed by Martin Friedkin (*****)
House of a 1,000 Corpses directed by Rob Zombie (**)
Assscat 3000 by the Upright Citizens Brigade (*****)
Zodiac directed by David Fincher (***1/2)
The Art of the Laugh by John Sweeney (****)
Miyazaki's Spirited Away (****1/2)
Loveless Vol.1 by Brian Azzarello and various (***1/2)
Loveless Vol.2 by Brian Azzarello and various (****1/2)
Hellblazer: Rake at the Gates of Hell by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (***1/2)
Seven Soliders Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison and various (***1/2)
X-Factor: The longest Night Vol. 1 by Peter David, Ryan Sook, and Dennis Calero (***)
It's A Bird by Steven Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen (****1/2)
Orbiter by Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran (****1/2)
Persepolis directed by Marjane Satrapi and Parannoud (*****)
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (*****) [Note: I read the first graphic novel years ago but haven't read the second.]

© Frank Reynoso Jan 15, 2008 All Rights Reserved