As expected, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art event was fabulous. I never fail to have a good time there – the level of creativity and passion and attendee engagement is much higher than the usual con at which the attendees expect to be entertained, rather than be part of the entertainment.

As always, my sincere thanks to David Stanley and Prism Comics. I cannot say enough good things about these people. Every time I’ve had the pleasure of their company it has been a genuine pleasure. Thanks to Peter, for finding good coffee, to Chris and his boyfriend Chris and special thanks to Kate Fitzsimmons of Girlwonder.org/Four-Color Heroines for hanging out with us all day and keeping us company. And also for having the line of the event – Is it so much to ask that a manga have a couple whose lives *won’t* be ruined by them having sex? lol

We were right next to Jennifer Camper, who was selling her cool new mylar-covered artbooks and her fabulously funny comics. Abby Denson’s Dolltopia 2 is out! Got a couple of copies of that. Spent some quality time busting J.D. Glass’s chops – she got posters made for “Sakura Gun,” her American Goth side story which will run in Yuri Monogatari 6, and X, her next novel. (Which is my favorite so far, fyi.) And it was a pleasure to see Allan Neuwirth and Ivan Velez again.

Oh, oh, oh! I got to meet Mariko Tamaki, author of Skim, which I absolutely adored. If you haven’t, you should definitely read it.

Here’s the self-promotion bit. The Prism Comics Guide 2008 is now in print and its chock full of GLBT-themed comics by many talented artists. And coincidentally, it contains an article by me on Yuri (I know, can you believe it?) Right now you can only get it by having your local comic book store order it from Diamond. But soon it will be on sale on the Prism Comics shop. Support independent GLBT comics and get the Guide!

Kate (thanks Kate!) gave me a copy of Comic Foundry, a new comics culture magazine which, I have to say, seems pretty cool. Volume 1 includes a glossary of manga/anime-related terms, which includes Yuri, and lo and behold! ALC’s books are recommended. Who knew? A nod of appreciation to the CF folks for that.

Before I wrap up, I have a few more names to drop – hello to Margeaux and the Comics Alliance folks, Eve is once again starting up Blood and the Art of Baking, a Vampire lesbian baking adventure comic I quite like, and great big thanks to translator extraordinaire Mari Morimoto, reviewer and writer Casey Brienza and brilliant journalist Kai-Ming Cha, all of whom I got to spend some quality time with and as always, laughed my ass off, traded good gossip and had some fun. :-)

Seriously, IMHO, MoCCA is the best comic show of the year. See you at the MoCCA Art Festival, 2009.