MoCCA Festival 2016: Indie Comics & Animation

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Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Saturday, 12 March 2016 16:51

Written by Renzo Adler

(art by Noelle Stevenson)

MoCCA Fest, one of the best conventions for indie comics, returns to New York City this year, now at it’s new venue, the Ink48 Hotel (653 11th Ave, New York, NY), on April 2 - 3, and it’s bringing indie comics fresh faces and old pros with it.

Along with the usual cavalcade of independent artists and publishers, this year’s special guests include:

 

• Cece Bell
  Her colorful, fun and quirky drawings can be found in her best-selling books Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover, Crankee Doodle, Bug Patrol, Itty Bitty, Bee-Wigged, and the Sock Monkey series. In 2015, Bell received the Newberry Medal Honor for her graphic novel El Deafo, a story based on her own experiences growing up deaf.

• R.O. Blechman
  His many books include the groudbreaking 1953 graphic novel The Juggler of Our Lady and the forthcoming Amadeo & Maladeo: A Musical Duet. He has received multiple recognitions including a Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Cartoonists Society in 2011, was inducted into the Society of Illustrators’ Hall of Fame in 2012. His work has been shown at The Norman Rockwell Museum, The School of Visual Arts, and MoMA.

• Phoebe Gloeckner
  Phoebe Gloeckner began cartooning after moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, and was greatly influenced by the underground comix movement led by artists including Robert Crumb, Aline Kominksy, Bill Griffith, Diane Noomin, and Terry Zwigoff. Her early work appeared in anthologies including Wimmen’s Comix, Weirdo, and Twisted Sisters. Both her 1998 collection A Child’s Life and Other Stories and the 2002 novel The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures received notable recognition as well as controversy for its honest portrayal of teenage sexuality with themes of drug use and childhood traumas. The book has been adapted into a theatrical production and a critically acclaimed feature film of the same name. She is the recipient of the 2000 Inkpot Award, received the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008, and is currently the Faculty Fellow at the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities.

• Sonny Liew
  Sonny Liew is a comics artist, painter, and illustrator whose work includes the New York Times best seller The Shadow Hero (with Gene Yang), Doctor Fate (with Paul Levitz), Malinky Robot and titles for Marvel Comics, DC Vertigo, and Image Comics. He has been nominated for multiple Eisner Awards for his collaborations on The Shadow Hero, Wonderland, and Liquid City, a multivolume comics anthology featuring creators from Southeast Asia.

• Rebecca Sugar
  Animator, composer and director started making comics like Pug Davis and Don’t Cry For Me I’m Already Dead, before heading to Cartoon Network to write and storyboard Adventure TIme. Now Sugar helms the show Steven Universe, and became the first woman to independently create a series for that network.
  
  

MoCCA Fest also includes a series of panels and Q&As from the guests of honor and exploring topics like the dangers of being a satirical cartoonist, feminist alt-comic anthology Wimmen’s Comix, and making comics for a younger audience. Leading up to the festival is The Society of Illustrator’s Comic and Cartoon Week with events at the Society of Illustrators (128 E 63rd St, New York, NY) and throughout NYC.

See our coverage of MoCCA Fest 2015 here:

To learn more, go to: http://www.societyillustrators.org/

MoCCA Festival 2016
April 2 - 3, 2016

Ink48 Hotel
653 11th Ave.
New York, NY 10036