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The MoCCA Festival is just around the corner — April 9-10 — but not much information about the show has been released; however, all that has changed. The show’s GORGEOUS poster is by Peter Kuper and guests include Johnnie Arnold, Peter Bagge, Nick Bertozzi, Ken Dahl, Jules Feiffer, Pascal Girard, Tom Hart, Dean Haspiel, Ben Katchor, Chip Kidd, Michael Kupperman, Robert Mankoff, Tom Neely, Joe Ollmann, Bill Plympton, Alex Robinson, R. Sikoryak, Eric Skillman, Ted Stearn, Adrian Tomine, and Gahan Wilson.

It’s a pretty great guest list, drawing mostly on the incredible New York scene but one thing is missing: female cartoonists. What year is this again? Despite this oversight, we’re told that Julia Wertz, Jessica Abel, Lisa Hanawalt, and Leslie Stein will be guests as well.

Update: Other guests include Sarah Glidden, Domitille Collardey, Meredith Gran, and Kate Beaton.

The Klein award will be presented to Al Jaffee this year.

The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art — MoCCA is pleased to announce that PETER KUPER has designed the image for the 2011 MoCCA Festival poster and t-shirt in honor of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art — MoCCA’s 10th anniversary. PETER KUPER is the co-founder of World War 3 Illustrated. His illustrations and comics have appeared in magazines running the gamut from Time to MAD.He has published over twenty books including an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. His latest book is Diario de Oaxaca a journal of two years he spent living in Mexico. More of his work can be found at

Kuper’s design for the Festival poster can be seen on MoCCA’s website.

Special guests at MoCCA Fest 2011 include Johnnie Arnold, Peter Bagge, Nick Bertozzi, Ken Dahl, Jules Feiffer, Pascal Girard,Tom Hart, Dean Haspiel, Ben Katchor, Chip Kidd, Michael Kupperman, Robert Mankoff, Tom Neely, Joe Ollmann, Bill Plympton, Alex Robinson, R. Sikoryak, Eric Skillman, Ted Stearn, Adrian Tomine, Gahan Wilson and more…..

Featured exhibitors include Abrams Books, Buenaventura Publishing, Danish Consulate, Drawn & Quarterly, Evil Twin Comics, Fantagraphics, First Second Books, Kirby Museum, Mammal Magazine, NBM, New York University, Pantheon Books, Papercutz, Parsons Illustration, Picturebox, Random House Publishing Group, Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Sparkplug Comic Books, School of Visual Arts, The Center for Cartoon Studies, The Daily Show, Top Shelf Productions, Will Eisner Studios and Zip Comics

 The 2011 Klein Award will be given to Al Jaffee by Peter Kuper!!

 The MoCCA Festival will take place over April 9-10, 2011 at the Lexington Avenue Armory located at 68 Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets. The annual two-day event attracts thousands of comic art lovers and creators from around the globe to celebrate the world’s most popular art form in the heart of New York City. Since 2002 the MoCCA Festival offers a unique venue to experience comics, mini-comics, web comics, graphic novels, animation, posters, prints, original artwork and more. Each year, the Festival invites dozens of established and emerging creators, scholars, and other experts to participate in two days of lecture/discussion panels on a variety of comics and cartoon topics. For 2011, the panels and programs are being organized by Brian Heater (The Daily Crosshatch).

 The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts education organization dedicated to the preservation, study and display of all forms of comic and cartoon art. The museum promotes greater understanding and appreciation of the artistic, cultural and historical significance of comic and cartoon art through a variety of events, exhibitions, and educational programs. The museum is located at 594 Broadway (between Houston and Prince Streets) in New York City. MoCCA is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays from 12:00-5:00 pm. Suggested donation to the museum is $5 but free for MoCCA Members as well as for children 12 and under (when accompanied by a paying adult).

1 COMMENT

  1. I think I was just looking earlier today to see if they’d announced guests yet (it may have been yesterday, though, but it was within the past 24 hours). So this is timely.

    As indecisive as I’ve been about going this year, I think I’ve known all along I would probably end up doing so.

  2. I have to believe that indie comics festival can do better than four female guest cartoonists. Now, I’ll admit I’ve also put together panels and what not, doubled checked my panels later only to realize that I had not included women. It happens. but this is a major indie festival and it seems really strange that so few women artists were invited as guests.

  3. Hey Calvin,

    There are a number of female guests on the panels this year. It’s certainly something I’ve taken into account. Why those names were left off the press release I can’t say…

  4. I’m super honored to be one of the special guests, but is this true that there are no special guests, or only four, who are women? Because there’s at least eight female cartoonists I can think of in Brooklyn alone who are more talented than me, with more books published, & a wider readership.

    After reading this article I’m kind of unclear about what’s going on. Are Wertz, Hanawalt, Abel etc special guests, but just not listed in the press release? If so, where’s the whole list, and how many women are on it? It probably would be good to clear that up soon… twitter’s all a-twitter!

  5. Yes friends, there will be women at MoCCA. And yes, some of them will even be on panels. I have offered some of the names up to Heidi for the post above. Why they didn’t make the release, I’m not really sure, but I’m being told that the situation is being–if not remedied, then at least amended. Whatever the case, it’s definitely unfortunate…

    Also, more guests–male, female, etc.–will be added to the list as we get closer to the show.

  6. Hey Tom,

    That’s my fault. I was told you were going to be on the list. We’ll take you off the poster–unless you want you want to come. We’d be happy to have you.