MoCCA was great! I had a fantastic time in New York, met awesome fellow cartoonists and picked up tons of new comics to read. As I get things read and my thoughts sorted, I’ll write more about my MoCCA finds. I want to give the books and creators the time and space they deserve, so it may take me awhile to get through everything.
For now, I’d like to start with James Kochalka’s Conversations #1 and #2. Though these little beauties have been out a couple of years, I was completely unaware of their existence. It was in the last hour of the con that I stumbled across the first book, a thin paperback volume on a table full of larger books, and allowed myself to be convinced to purchase both that book and it’s partner.
It was a lucky choice. Part of me wants to hide these books under my pillow and treasure them forever, in secret, letting no one else know of their existence in case they fail to appreciate them. But that would be a selfish reaction, and I must trust that these books have and will continue to find their way into other appreciative hands.
In essence, the books are each a conversation between two cartoonists. I credited James Kochalka above, though he makes up only one half of each book; the first book is a collaboration with Craig Thompson, the second with Jeffrey Brown. Each conversation explores the creators’ thoughts on cartooning, art, life and purpose in a meandering path that doesn’t necessarily give any solid answers.
They are small and lovely strange little books, and I would recommend them to other creative people struggling to figure out why we’re doing what we’re doing and why it can be so hard at times to do the work we love. They don’t give solutions, but they make the struggle seem less lonely.
More reviews to come! Last thing for today, I’d like to draw your attention to the right side of the page, where you will find progress bars for my final project for this semester. I’ll update those every few days, so if you’re curious about where I’m at on that project, that’ll be the place to look.