MoCCA Festival Rundown - Best in Show - Justin Peterson's VERY NEAR MINT

This was the first year in a long while where crippling social anxiety and feeling insecure as a comics creator didn't ruin a comic book convention for me. In fact, I was reinvigorated, confirming all the work I've been doing on comic writing and networking via social media was leading me here, to the brink of my break into comics.

I made the rounds with my old friend and co-creator of Legend of Liquid Fury, Chris Chua, who was up for the Strange Tales signing, as he was part of volume 1. It was great seeing what all these creators from all over the country were offering up. Here's my top favorite creators from MoCCA Festival 2011.

***

JUSTIN PETERSON - 'Very Near Mint'

Okay this guy is my Best in Show choice. His style is great, reminiscent of Jim Mahfood, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Genndy Tartakovsky, Mike Oeming, Mike Mignola, but it's unique enough that it can stand shoulder to shoulder with any of those artists while doing his own thing.

But what I really admire about Justin Peterson is his ability to clarify the brand he's building. His comic is VERY NEAR MINT, a nod to the comic book collectors and the obsession in grading quality. The layout of the cover is nice and stark, the title really popping and sticking in the mind. His postcards and business card have the same font/design sense, and his websites: JustinPeterson.net and VeryNearMint.com are very similarly laid out. It's inviting, clean design, simple and effective with the asides of humor, striking a balance of straightforward self-promotion and honest creative individual.

I promise to review the book itself, as well as the sketchbook, and mini-preview for the spin-off comic, but if I could just show you just how this guy's got it right. After the promotion of Very Near Mint, we have an ABOUT - BLOG - CONTACT, then Flickr, DeviantArt, Facebook, Twitter, then a smaller row that promotes his other sites (VeryNearMint, sketchbook/blog, and promotion company). That's a clarity in today's social media environment that we all need. There's so much content out there and you need to make yourself as user friendly as possible online. Too much distraction so break it down and lay it out to spread the word as efficiently as you can.

Okay, now on to Very Near Mint. The book grabbed my eye right away. I knew this was the book I couldn't leave the show without. The cover was bold and fun, the art style was right up my alley, and as a comic reader of 20 years, I knew I'd appreciate all the in-jokes and pop-culture references that were bound to come up. And I did, in spades. The storytelling is tight and yet has a looseness in the plot that lets the story unfold very naturally, and really sells you on the universe right away, though there are some nice shifts in tone towards the end of the book that makes it feel like you've been in this world long enough to be invested and also watch it evolve into more.

The story is about two friends/roommates that own a comic book shop together. They've got a unique dynamic that harkens to Dante/Randall (Clerks) but also reminds you of any two guys you've ever known that worked in a comic store. They just are dudes who sit around reading comics and watching sci-fi, who maybe hate on certain other fans, but respect them enough as one of their own.

It's Wednesday, new comic day, but the comics will never come. And so begins the story of Colin & Sam, co-owners of The Splash Page, and their newest employee who must face the hordes of foaming fanboys, the new comic store across the street, and uncover a vast conspiracy that threatens all aspects of their lives. Will the Geek scene in town be the same? Find out in Volume 2!

That's my one complaint about the whole thing really. Volume 1 left us at the end of the Empire Strikes Back, right at the moment of final confrontation, and though it seemed a bit abrupt at first, I imagine the next volume and the direction it'll go, and I really can't wait. This is one of the most fun and entertaining reads I've come across in a long time. If you're not a diehard comic fanboy, there is some aspects of this that you might not be into 100%, but if you liked Clerks and never worked in a convenience store, well, you can imagine the guys that work in a comic book store, now can't you?


There were three options at the show which I thought was great. The $10 manga-sized copy, the sketchbook cover version, and the $20 oversized edition with extra material. This is a book I will buy once again when it's finally collected, as well as any other volumes that come out until that happens. And I really recommend the sketchbook which has some really fun takes on Spider-Man, Back to the Future, monsters, Vikings, Lost, dinosaurs...well, you get the idea.

The comic most wanted in the Very Near Mint universe is SpaceGirl 4199, which is Lee Bretschneider's mini-preview they gave me. It's a quirky indie comix take on space genre, and it made me laugh out loud. It's more great characterization here as it'd be so easy to rely on sterotyped cliches but SpaceGirl really feels like a real chick, more true to the girls I've known anyways.

So seriously, look into these guys. Justin Peterson's badass graphic novel Very Near Mint (the next Scott Pilgrim if I have anything to say about it), and his superfun artwork, as well as AdventuringCompany with Lee Bretschneider.