MoCCA Fest takes place this Saturday and Sunday in New York, but the festivities aren’t waiting for 11am on Saturday to begin—there’s a number of comics events taking place around town all this week, even if they aren’t entirely related to MoCCA.
Tonight, April 5, check out Frank Quietly in one of his “rare” stateside appearances, discussing his career with professor and artist Jose Villarrubia. Tickets to this event held at Cinema Village cost $15 (available online or in-person at Forbidden Planet) and proceeds go toward the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
On Friday, April 8, Strand Bookstore is doing their own “Strandicon,” featuring appearances/signings all day and a panel discussion with the staff of The Comics Journal. Artists in attendance include Ben Katchor, Jillian Tamaki, R. Sikoryak, and Dash Shaw. The appearances begin at 2:30pm, the panel starts at 7:30pm, and all events are free to the public.
Also this week are several release events for books being sold at the con. Bergen Street Comics will have the original art for Rabid Rabbit #13 / C’est Bon Kultur #14 (a flipbook) on display, with an opening reception on Friday starting at 8pm.
Desert Island is holding a release party from 7–9pm on Thursday, April 7, for the new issue of its own Smoke Signal newspaper, produced in collaboration with KUTI, a Finnish magazine. Contributors to the issue Gabrielle Bell, Lilli Carré, Keith Jones, and David Mazzucchelli.
Stop by Desert Island on Friday from 7–10pm for another book release party and signing, this time featuring Peter Bagge and Leslie Stein. Bagge has a few things to promote: a new issue of Hate Annual, a new collection of Yeah!, and a collection of the weekly Bat Boy comic strips Bagge created for Weekly World News. Leslie Stein will be promoting her first book, Eye of the Majestic Creature.
Tickets to MoCCA itself are still available—buy them while they’re still cheap. One-day passes are $10, weekend passes are $15. Those prices go up to $12 and $20 at the door, so take a look at the schedule to decide whether you want to stick around for both days.