More MoCCA.

Today I went to the MoCCA fair, and I had a lot more fun than last year. By some great windfall, the Charles Burns panel ended up being moderated by Adrian Tomine. I was far more excited to see Adrian Tomine on the stage, and I felt so good knowing that as accomplished as he may be, he still walks the more awkward side of life. It was strange to hear the voice of someone whose handwriting I love. It didn't feel like his voice and his handwriting correlate, but once he spoke more and more I got accustomed to his voice. Does that make me sound absolutely insane?

Anyway, yeah, it felt really good that whenever Tomine opened his mouth, the questions sort of struggled to form, even though he had these index cards right in front of him. I know I sound like a total ass, but I don't mean to describe all of this in a mean way. I thought it was absolutely endearing and he seriously seems like someone I'd want to be friends with. Doris got two books signed by him, and I think she really enjoyed it.

The panel discussion was pretty cool, too. It made me take Charles Burns more seriously, and it was cool to see how methodic he is in his work. Man's got discipline.

(We were gonna maybe sorta not really see Jessica Abel, we were eating and we didn't make it in time, not that it mattered because we wanted to just look around for the last hour of the fair. I spilled like 30 ounces out of the large 42 ounce drink that Kat and I were planning on sharing during our late lunch. :/ I still feel bad about it...)

But the other great thing about this event: I TOTALLY GOT TO TALK TO DOROTHY GAMBRELL! My life is complete!! See, I spied a couple of people with Cat and Girl comic books in their hands, and I was like, "Uhh holy shit I need one," and I mentioned it to Doris, and she's like, "Yeah, I know where they are," and she walked me to the table. So I thought it was the publishing company that had brought the book to sell it, but when I asked who I needed to pay, the guy at the table pointed to DOROTHY!!! And I was like, "ZOMGZ YR TOTALLY HERE ZOMGZXCORE YOU TOTALLY LOOK LIKE YR PIX ZOMGZ 4 LYFE MY MOM TOTALLY RUINED MY ICELANDIC T SHIRT." She understandably avoided eye contact with me. Can I get a LOL? I was a bit too intense, but I was just so excited to meet her. Damn, yo. I swear to God, next time I'll be more chill about it. Haha, she was very nice, shook hands and asked my name and everything. Lovely. The whole encounter was quite goofy.

Man, there was so much shit I wanted to buy! There was this David B. thingy and Love and Rockets books and and and and and oh god... Next year. I thought it was really cute, there were plenty of artists themselves just walking around looking at their peers' work and buying stuff too! Aww.

Seriously, that L&R volume I got out at the library was fucking excellent, I love it love it love it and I love Los Bros Hernandez and Adrian Tomine and David B. and Marjane Satrapi and Dorothy Gambrell and Craig Thompson and I'm so glad I have geeky friends who encouraged me towards this sick path of comic book love.