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

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

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

Knight Interview on Comic Critique

The folks at Comic Critique uploaded my Keith Knight e-interview on their
site:

http://www.comiccritique.com/interviews/ginterviewSt53.html

© Frank Reynoso, Oct. 2007, All Rights Reserved

What is he reading now...?

The Improvised Play: The Work of Mike Leigh by Paul Clements

An unnecessarily complicated but insightful look into the methods of a brilliant playwrite and filmmaker. You can own this out-of-print book at the low half.com price of $145.

Art by Committee by Charna Halpern

Although targeted to comedy, an invaluable resource for improv and performance arts based on the teachings and theories of the late Del Close.

Apparat: The Singles Collection Vol. 1 by Warren Ellis, Jacen Burrows, Laureen McCubbin, Carla Speed McNeil, Juan Jose Ryp

A collection of fantastic and weird tales - inspired by old time pulps - from a master comics writer with great art by some of the best artists around. A kick in the head to a medium with so much potential.

© Frank Reynoso, Sept. 2007, All rights reserved

A Sip of Texas Tea

A while back James Spruill and I made a comic that we submitted to a publisher for consideration. "Texas Tea", written by James and illustrated by me, is a metaphor for the Iraq War. We were rejected. James and I turned it into a zine called "Lung Juice" - along with some other comix - that we gave away at MoCCA Art and Comic Fest 2006.

Ahh...memories... :)

© Frank Reynoso Aug. 2007, All rights reserved

Fly in Your Eye: excerpt from my interview with LES cartoonist Fly

FLY IN YOUR EYE: An interview with LES cartoonist and activist Fly















Here's an excerpt from my interview with radical cartoonist and awesome person, Fly. You can find the full interview at Comic Critique or the Indypendent. Thanks to Louis Vitela at Comic Critique, and John Tarleton and Irina Ivanova at The Indypendent for punching this material up.

- Frank

Fly’s distinctive style and message came to my attention some years ago on a flyer for a political event at ABC No Rio. Her actions and works speak volumes of the enigmatic person: a consistent presence in New York City radical circles, a member of the World War 3 Illustrated collective (founded by Seth Tobocman and Peter Kuper), and an adamant supporter and teacher of DIY zines and comics. From the cover of the first issue of $pread, a magazine by and for sex workers, and PEOPS, her zine-turned-book by Soft Skull, which chronicles the lives of many downtown Manhattan residents, artists and activists, Fly hardly shies away from the controversial and the commonplace. The prolific cartoonist and illustrator took some time out to talk about the laborious task of making zines, her artistic growth inspired years ago by Sue Coe’s powerful work and Fiona Smyth’s techniques, and the transformation of the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

FR: What she makes of the transformation of the Lower East Side?

FLY: That’s a big question. The LES has been transforming for so long! It’s sort of the nature of the place. People have been fighting [the latest wave of gentrification] since way before I arrived here in the late 80s. There was of course the real estate boom of the 80s that sort of went bust. Anyway, when I got here it was still pretty rundown and crazy in good ways and bad ways. I have to say that I do not miss the drug dealers or the people shooting up on the street but I do miss all the insanely talented artists and performers and just general characters that used to populate the area and I also think it is very unfair that so many people who were born in the Lower East Side now cannot afford to live here. It used to feel a bit like a small town around here but with all the options of a big city. Now if I am out in the evening, especially on the weekend, I am horrified walking along the sidewalks — even on avenue C! — to see the multitudes of loud drunken idiots making so much noise and making a big mess. I don’t know what the hell they are doing but its just so boring! I think a big problem with the Lower East Side is that it used to be a neighborhood and it had real character — and you can still find that here but it is seriously threatened by the dorm mentality of some idiot developers and the fancy restaurants and hair salons that no one living here can afford to go to. With the whole clean-up of the area of course it became safer and so suddenly since it’s considered so “edgey and hip” everybody wants to live here and the rents have become ridiculous. So what happens in the long run is that the real neighborhood gets displaced because people can’t afford to live here and they are slowly being replaced by a very transient population, NYU students and other high priced renters who are not interested in working on a connection to the real soul and history of the place. The LES is just a stepping stone for them, a place to sleep and to use as a background for pictures — oh — I could rant for hours about this. I know I am generalizing but hopefully you get the idea. There are some books I could recommend for your further edification like the recently published Resistance, edited by Clayton Patterson and published by Seven Stories

FR: What would be your dream collaboration? Living or dead.

FLY: Hmmm…. That’s a really hard one because there are so many people that I’d love to collaborate with… and lately I have been collaborating more… But I’m such a control freak. I think my dream collaboration would probably be not with another visual artist but with a writer. There’s so many writers that I really love so it’s hard to… I know: Kathy Acker. She died a while ago but I would love to have been able to work with her on a comic. (excited) Oh man, yeah. Kathy Acker. Definitely Kathy Acker. I first read her stuff in the 80s when my life was really chaotic and transient. I felt like the way she wrote was like the way I was thinking; it was like the voices in my head mixed with what was happening in the moment mixed with what already happened. It was like deconstruction or something… sorry I’m not much of a literary critic. Her writing to me was just really authentic — she wasn’t afraid to just put everything out there. I could feel it in my bones and the thing about it was that when ever I read any of her stuff I would get so inspired that I would end up doing a lot of writing and drawing myself and I would also have the craziest dreams — I used to do a lot of comics based on dreams too. I just think I could have done some amazing comics in collaboration with Kathy Acker! Hmmm maybe I should try to do a piece on her.

© Frank Reynoso, Aug. 2007, All Rights Reserved