Have you been to the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in NYC?

Brilliant place to drop in a for a while, an have a gander a the resplendent abundance of original comic art lining the walls, literally floor to ceiling. Amazing stuff to behold, whether you happen to be a hardcore comic and cartoon fan or no- the work begs for your eyeballs to wander.

I had the great pleasure of joining a panel of directors and animators as a ‘Spotlight Panelist’ following a screening of several stop-motion animation films, including my own award-winning short, The Pit and the Pendulum. The event was the brain-child of Aurelio Voltaire, a New York-based filmmaker and musician with a penchant for comically dark, mildly disturbing and always captivating stop-motion animated shorts, commercials and music videos, and a comic book creator in his own right.

The event was absolutely packed, with many of the fun-seeking folks standing thru the duration of the films & the panel discussion following. Voltaire was of course in fine form as usual, leading the way with numerous tales of comic mayhem in the industry. I got to share in some of the crazy fun, telling stories of days past at Broadcast Arts in New York, working with Voltaire on several insane commercial campaigns, and insight into the comedy and tragedy that consitutes the animation profession. Witness to the hijinks were several animation heavies from our salad days, including executive producer Russ Dube of Wowhouse Pictures, animation artist extraordinaire Ron Cole, and master puppet builder Sal Denaro. What a time! Too bad for me I was only around for a few days, I would have loved to jump down to the Tribeca Film Festival with Russ- maybe another year.

When in New York, do yourself a favour and check out The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art– wonderful, and they can always use your support. Many thanks to Voltaire for putting this thing together, the Museum curators and volunteers for making it a great night at their wonderful space, the filmmakers, and of course, the folks who showed to share some laughs, and inspiration- what a great time!