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FEATURE: TCAF REPORT   There was more work to be done so we didn't stay long, but the show was an excellent kick off to the weekend's events. SATURDAY MORNING - ENTER THE BEGUILING Ed: Ed Mathews here. I join you for this part of our TCAF report as this is when I become involved. I was not at the Kid Koala show and Chris Butcher asked if I could help with set up at 8:00am, so since I wake up early on a regular basis anyway... TCAF volunteers earned their t-shirts and then some as they helped set up inside the two main tents quickly and efficiently. The last time TCAF took place it was held in a church and a bar back in March of 2003. This time, the events took place in the alley behind The Beguiling, the comic shop owned by Peter Birkemoe, which is also known as Honest Ed's Alley. Honest Ed's is a five and dime store of the classic variety harkening back to the days of Woolworth's. Two main tents were set up for the outdoor part of the festival where creators could sell their wares. This part of the festival was free and had the most foot traffic during the entire weekend. One tent was set up for Scholastic Books Canada, where Jeff Smith of BONE fame was the main draw.     HACIENDA Ed: Set up did not stop at the tents, however. There were two other locations off site and a signing table in front of The Beguiling to prepare simultaneously. Thank goodness for the festival that there was no shortage of volunteers. The two off site locations, VICTORY CAFÉ and HACIENDA are bar/restaurants where the TCAF panels were held. In 2003, all retail activity was held at the church location while all panel activity was held at the TRANZAC bar. This year, VICTORY CAFÉ kept to that tradition, while HACIENDA tried to merge an expanded artists alley with the programming all under one roof. Jon: Much of Saturday morning was actually spent just being in charge of La Hacienda, meaning clearing the floor, setting up tables and chairs, making sure everyone and their needs were taken care of and helping artists set up their tables Ed: Tables were set up for artists and chairs were set up for people to enjoy the panels on stage, but for some reason, the foot traffic never got heavy enough on Saturday to justify the retail tables. Had the panels all been held at HACIENDA, which was a better suited forum for larger audiences than the charming, yet crowded second floor of VICTORY CAFÉ, things may have gone smoother as there was a midday mass exodus of creators from their tables at HACIENDA to try and find space at one of the two main tents, to better attract the foot traffic filling the tents which hadn't necessarily made its way over to LA HACIENDA.  Jon: The tents themselves were out in the open and thus privy to large amounts of foot traffic, the bar itself, very much less so. In fact many people didn't know there was another venue at La Hacienda which seemed to mirror knowledge of the event overall. Although featured in all the major metropolitan papers, several times in fact, there would still be people in the store on Friday with no knowledge of the event on Saturday.You really need to appreciate the amount of effort it takes to make a festival such as this successful, luckily the Toronto Arts Community is very supportive of its own. Props to the volunteers who were actually decorating the streets with chalk pointing people towards La Hacienda and the Victory Café. TENTS Ed: Fortunately for all, the weather remained relatively raindrop free despite local forecasts of "Thunder boomers" (Which is what the car service driver from the airport called thunderstorms and I always get a kick out of hearing). While there was some rain, the intensity and duration was not sufficient to dampen the festival and the sun shone for most of the day. Jon: Friday, Saturday and Sunday all called for a 60 % chance of rain with possible thunderstorms. The weekend was actually quite beautiful with sudden showers lasting only a few minutes. Ed: Speaking of sunshine, Becky Cloonan [DEMO, EAST COAST RISING] returned for her second trip to TCAF, this time she shared a table with Bryan Yount [SCURVY DOGS] and Brian Wood [CHANNEL ZERO, DEMO]. Becky appeared to be having, dare I say it, a good time and her table was popular for the duration of the festival. Located on the other side of their corner was where the ROYAL ACADEMY OF ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN hung out. This motley crew consisted of Kagan McLeod [INFINITE KUNG FU], Chip Zdarsky [PRISON FUNNIES, COMICS FESTIVAL!, MONSTER COPS], Cameron Stewart [CATWOMAN, SEAGUY, SEVEN SOLDIERS: GUARDIAN], Ray Fawkes [PINK, MNEMOVORE] and Ben Shannon [RUMBLE ROYALE].  At the opposite side of tent one, Carla Speed McNeil [FINDER, FRANK IRONWIRE] was in town selling her critically acclaimed FINDER series and original art. Caught in between this tornado of talent in Toronto was the TOP SHELF crew, including Andy Runton of OWLY fame, Jeffrey Brown [CLUMSY, UNLIKELY] and José Villarrubia [MIRROR OF LOVE, DESOLATION JONES]. Right behind them were the lovely and talented Monica "I must sketch you Ed Mathews" Gallagher [GODS & UNDERGRADS] and the shy yet impish Tim Fish [CAVALCADE OF BOYS, YOUNG BOTTOMS IN LOVE] who just recently made THE ADVOCATE's top 20 summer reading list with CAVALCADE.The Scholastic Books tent was packed. The PA system set up in the back of the tent with chairs could only mean one thing: panel discussions outside. This went much smoother probably due to the high traffic of the rest of the tent coupled with the focus of keeping that tent for all-ages works. Scott Robins of Scholastic manned the table while Jeff Smith signed for hours. PANELS Ed: Jonathan and I ran different panels this year to spread the love and to make sure the two panel locations were hosted when needed. My first panel was at the VICTORY CAFÉ and I couldn't have asked for an easier assignment: introduce Paul Pope and let him discuss anything he wants for about an hour. Watching Paul Pope discuss his work, his approach, and generally connect with his fans in an intimate setting showed a level of academic discourse that treated his audience with respect and reminded me why TCAF was so successful in its first iteration; the panelists were top notch and the audience was sharp. Over at HACIENDA, a panel on COMICS IN THE ACADEMY was well attended and there was even a table with representatives from New York City's NEW SCHOOL.    Jon: My first duties included introducing Chester Brown who did a presentation at the Victory Café which was supposed to be followed by a Young Cartoonists Panel with the talented Paul Hornschemeier and the lovely Leslie Stein but with a slow start and low attendance, the Young Cartoonists panel became the first in a number of cancelled panels that day. Next up was the All About Manga Panel at La Hacienda which featured Leanne Sentaur, Svetlana Chmakova, Amy Kim Ganter, Becky Cloonan & Vasilis Lolos which went well as the panelists decided to ditch the stage which separated the panelists from the audience and rather formed a sort of roundtable arrangement so everyone could sit together. The rest of the weekend no one really used the stage, opting for the more personal, closer seating of the floor set up.  As the Manga panel was ending I had to rush over to the other venue for the Paul Pope & James Jean: About Illustration Panel, having to quickly pass the many people I ran into just from one bar to another. When I got to the Victory Café it appeared that James Jean had just learned about the panel and thus decided to wing a presentation by attaching his laptop to the digital projector and speaking about some of the pieces on his site. Paul Pope pulled up a seat at the front of the room and took an active interest in James' work. With that panel now in good hands my end of the programming side of things was pretty much complete.STONE PIMPING Jon: I really wanted to do some sort of promotional thing with PopImage for TCAF but really couldn't afford to. Some passed ideas included chocolates with the PopImage logo [too hot, they would melt], pens with our logo [cheap pens - pass], T-Shirts [Only worthwhile with large quantities and thus too expensive] and my favourite was Mint Tins with our logo on the tin but I didn't have the best feeling to go with the company who offered to do so. So in the end I went with Donuts. Tim Hortons Donuts. More specifically 15 freakin dozen Tim Hortons donuts which were given to select people with the intention they would share with those around them. So as a gift from PopImage we went around to various artists handing out dozens upon dozens of donuts.  So for everyone wondering where those all came from... Yo.My favourite reaction came from Willow Dawson who was in pirate mode promoting her new book VIOLET MIRANDA and let out a boisterous "ARRRRRR. I'VE GOT THE DONUTS!" which was unexpected and thus part cute, fun and a little jarring. DOUG WRIGHT AWARDS Ed: Jonathan will have to guide you through the DOUG WRIGHT AWARDS. When you go away with your significant other, sometimes you make concessions. This one was "let's go out" and since we had coverage for the awards, it seemed like an easy enough of a concession to make. This was a fine compromise as it allowed me to convince him that we should attend the industry drink up... another story for another day, but whatever anyone has to say about Dave Sim, he is a charming conversationalist at a bar and his reading earlier in the day was talked about all weekend. Jon: So Jason Azzopardi and me went to support our boy Bryan Lee O' Malley who was nominated for the Best Emerging Talent Award, which he won. Personal highlight, not only seeing our boy win but seeing him congratulated by the likes of Seth, Chester Brown and Don McKeller. Yes. Don McKeller. And then we went for Sushi.  Afterwards we went to the party at Rocco's, much of that time was spent with Ed and Tim Fish as they... well how would you describe it Ed? Bitched each other out? Engaged in a delightful conversation?Ed: Love comes in many forms. Our form came earlier in the evening while Matt and I were having BEAR-B-Q Burgers (No, I did not make that up) at an Irish pub on Church St. where Tim and Monica joined us for a cocktail. What Jonathan bore witness to was the continuation of a Spirited Conversation in a Friendly Environment with a Group that can be Honest with each other. Plus, Chip Zdarsky was there and what's not to love about that? Jon: Chip was there, Jose was there, every-freakin-body was there. Just having a chance to chill after the festivities is always the best time.    SUNDAY Ed: Sunday, I woke up to discover that I could get my GST taxes for staying at the Bed and Breakfast back by going to SEARS and showing them our receipt. For a nominal fee, they put the taxes back on to our credit card instead of having to deal with mailing things back or getting receipts stamped at customs. KUDOS TO YOU, SEARS! Meanwhile, back at TCAF, HACIENDA had changed its format: it was now a panels only forum, which did work out better. People showed up, sat and stayed for the whole panel. Markham street was also blocked off and even more artists and tabled were added on top of all the ones in the tents. Jon: My first panel of the day, and perhaps my favourite of the weekend was the Putting Together A Great Anthology Panel with Zack Soto [STUDYGROUP 12], Sammy Harkham [KRAMER'S ERGOT], Kazu Kibuishi [FLIGHT] and Chris Pitzer [PROJECT TELSTAR, PROJECT SUPERIOR]. The great thing about this panel was that they all took such interest in each other's work and the process in which they create their books.   Everyone had great enthusiasm for the creators they work with and everyone anthology was, in its own way, an album to help introduce certain cartoonists to a wider audience that may not already be familiar with them. Chris talked about how after seeing Jim Rugg's contribution to PROJECT SUPERIOR he had to include it in the full colour section, and Kazu talked about how he fell in love with Vera Brosgol's contribution to the first volume of FLIGHT, which you've certainly fallen in love with yourself. In fact just reading Vera's name just now you've already fallen in love. It's true, don't fight it, it's love. Zack Soto also announced an upcoming Dirty Comix book with himself, Renee French and others. From there I went directly to La Hacienda for the Making Mini-Comics & Self-Publishing Panel, luckily Michael Comeau was large and in charge and had things well in hand with the panel itself already begun. I just had to lead Carla Speed McNeil over to join the panel and with everything going along smoothly, left things in their capable hands.   I decided to give Ed a call to let him know all the panels had been delayed half an hour and he informed me he already knew and that he and Matt had just sat down to brunch at the Victory Café... so, back to the café it was for me. Ed: Prior to doing the panel I was assigned to Sunday morning, we had brunch at VICTORY CAFÉ, and a nicer staff you couldn't ask for. Big props to the VICTORY CAFÉ crew! All panels were pushed back on the schedule by a half hour (allowing for the time to eat brunch).  Jon: Ed's panel was over at La Hacienda while at the same time I had to introduce Darwyn Cooke for his Effective Storytelling panel upstairs at the Victory - since I was going to be sticking around I joined Ed & Matt and ordered the French Toast. By the time I finally sat down to eat I was half knickered so it really hit the spot, in fact I couldn't even finish it. Also, Ed & Matt paid for my food, those bastards. Thus I simply left a sizable tip before leaving to check out Ed's panel.Ed: My one and only panel of the day was a SEXUALITY IN COMIX panel in the handout program, which is listed as GAYS IN COMIX on the website - for some reason didn't carry the name Queer or Gay in the program. I pushed for SODOME, SODOMYOU, but was shot down on that idea quickly by Chris Butcher. Jon: I changed it. The idea started with Ed wanting to do a Gays In Comix panel, which then became tentively titled Queers in Comix which then became Sexuality in Comix which allowed for a broader range if needed and the programming that appeared in the hand outs was the final programming decided on and confirmed Friday night whereas what was on the website went up earlier and was subject to change. Ed: Sexuality is more fluid than rigid, so no problems there. Joining me on the panel were Leanne Franson [LILIANNE, BI-DYKE COMICS], Tim Fish [CAVALACADE OF BOYS], Paige Braddock [JANE'S WORLD], and José Villarrubia [MIRROR OF LOVE]. I had never met Leanne Franson or Paige Braddock in person before, but Tim and Jose have done similar panels in the past with me at SPX. Despite that, every time I get these guys on stage, interaction with new people brings out new information. It was wonderful learning about Paige Braddock and Leanne Franson on a level that is apparent in their work, but also on a level that would not normally be realized and I hope the audience got that same feedback from the panel. Topics ranged from the personal history of the talent on stage to local laws vs. Texas to just how much arbitrary power customs has over censoring material from reaching bookstores on both sides of the Canadian/United States border.   The final panel I had the pleasure to attend... Jon: And the final panel of the weekend. Ed: ...was run by Jonathan Ellis and was the "Don't Quit Your Day Job" panel. Ramon Perez, Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod answered questions of self-publishing, keeping on schedule and taking illustration work to help subsidize this filthy, filthy love affair that they have with comics. More to the point, Chip Zdarsky raised the issue of why on earth would he want to leave his day job? "I love my day job!" he exclaimed as indicated by the exclamation point in the previous quote. Jon: Chris named that panel.  Ed: After this panel, I said goodbye to Toronto once again. This has been my fifth trip to a convention in Toronto in three years and we always have a wonderful time. It is due, in most part to the wonderful hospitality shown us by the locals in general and the hosts of the conventions in specific, so thank you Chris and Peter and all the folks at The Beguiling for helping create an atmosphere of a true festival, thank you Toronto for being so hip, and thank you Jonathan for being as awesome as you are.Jon: We love ya babe. Although Ed had a plane to catch, for the first time during the whole weekend I got to walk the floor - the show was ending but I still got to meet and chat with great people. Talked with Chris Pitzer about artists like Jay Stephens [who came up a few times in different talks with different people, but was unfortunately attending the Reuben awards that weekend], J. Chris Campbell, Kean Soo and Hope Larson. Adhouse Books newest release is Hope Larson's SALAMANDER DREAM. You should buy it, you should also pre-order it, and maybe buy a second copy... because I said so. Chris sold out of all the copies they brought of James Jean's PROCESS RECESS that weekend which is great news, though big apologies to James for never getting the chance to say hi. Got to meet the wonderful Brett Warnock of Top Shelf Comix as well as Andy Runton and Derek Kirk Kim. I was happy to see copies of the excellent WAY OFF MAIN for sale and Brett informed me that Josué Menjivar was actually there the day before. I missed Josué but luckily they had copies of WAY OFF MAIN left, which meant I wouldn't have to order it offline. Said hi to our pal Adam Fortier of Speakeasy Comics, who continues to draw in some excellent talent for their forthcoming titles. Picked up Tim Fish's THE MOD MONSTERS OF MARVY MANOR book, which, if not for the cover alone, a quick flip through is enough convincing to make you want it. Little bits of dialogue like "That Dreamy Demon Looks So Sad" had me laughing out loud.  Bought my copy of Scott Pilgrim volume 2, as much as everyone [and I mean EVERYONE] wanted to grab one as soon as I brought them from the printers, I insisted on waiting so I could buy one from Mal myself.Chris took great pleasure in taunting everyone with a copy of SCOTT PILGRIM 2 as soon as the books arrived from the printers, which weren't for sale until Mal showed. As soon as Mal did show up on the Friday people were buying copies before he could even look at the book himself. All in all I actually spent very little on books, which is disappointing, and yet somehow managed to spend far too much. Such is the way of these events. SUNDAY NIGHT Ed: Matt and I landed at Newark Liberty Airport and were getting our bags from baggage claim at about 9:00pm, so we called Jonathan to let him know we made it back to the Garden State. He, of course, was not quite done with TCAF events... Jon: I made Ed call when he landed so I could make sure my babes Ed & Matt made it home alright. I'd just like to add that thanks to Ed I now have in my possession the only jar of EVIL HOT Habanero Hot Sauce in all of Canada. That's right, me, not you, me. Mwah ha ha ha!  Ahhh... as the tents were being torn down there was a bit of business to take care of. See, just like at the first TCAF we decided to do a little present for Chris as a thank you for organizing the event. A sketchbook went around the floor gathering sketches. Unfortunately the book started at La Hacienda on the Saturday and when the artists moved to the tents the book didn't really make its way around. By Sunday it was picking up speed but still didn't get very far, luckily Carla Speed McNeil wrangled anyone who was still kicking around to add to the book, this included several of the Flight crew.Now I was going to present the book on Sunday night. We were having a bit of an after party at the Red Guitar, which is situated next to the Beguiling and as such The Beguiling has now called 'dibs' and it is now THEIR bar. In attendance were a few guests and employees of The Beguiling. The Red Guitar is the new place still being constructed in what was previously The Bordello bar. At one point in the night Chris yelled out "Jon! Where's my sketchbook?" which, as you can guess, wasn't exactly a surprise present. I went to get the book from my car and just after I got back, the bar started to fill up with people; Atilla Adorjany, Tara McPherson, Cameron Stewart, Chris Stone, Becky Clonnan, Vasilis Lolos, Kagan McLeod, Jim Mahfood, Steve Manale, Adam Fortier, Eric Kim, Zack Soto, Ramon Perez, the Flight crew with Kean Soo, Kazu Kibuishi, Vera Brosgol, Amy Kim Ganter, Derek Kirk Kim, Andy Runton, Rich Stevens, Mal, Hope & Rey, and even more... It was like everyone all showed up at once. I started grabbing people aside to add more pieces to Chris' sketchbook. The rest of the night was great just getting the chance to chat with people, watch them add to Chris' book, seeing Cameron Stewart's pictures from Karaoke the night before, watching Carla Speed McNeil trying to work her way out only to be continuously sucked back into the party... we hung around until the bar started kicking us out and hung out some more on the street after presenting Chris with his sketchbook which everyone lovingly adored.  For me, this was pretty much goodbye to everyone as people were flying home in the morning. It was great meeting everyone I did and I'd just like to thank everyone who had a hand in making the event possible. Thanks to Tyrone for the pics, keep an eye out as there are SO many more that are sure to end up on Tyrone's site soon. The next TCAF will take place in 2007 but maybe I can convince Chris to have a little mini-TCAF in 2006. Until next time Cheers Jonathan Ellis & Ed Mathews
 Jonathan Ellis and Ed Mathews are the Co-Editors in Chief of PopImage.com  PopImage Forum - Discuss this message at the PopImage forum. E-Mail Us - E-Mail Us To Comment On This Article torontocomics.com - The Official TCAF Site Corduroyhigh.com - Official site of Tyrone McCarthy & Corduroy High Beguiling.com - Official Site Of The Beguiling Book Store. TCAF Reports: Hope Larson Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier Ryan Sias Kean Soo Vera Brosgol & Rich Stevens Corey Lewis The Rey Scott Robins Matthew Forsythe Andy Runton Chris Pitzer Zack Soto B.Munn, Director of the Canadian Comic Art Centre Diana Tamblyn Tim Johnson Salgood Sam Monica Gallagher CBC Report on Doug Wright Awards Jonathan Encarnacion @ Silver Bullet Comics Creator Websites - Click Here for website links of Guests in attendance at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Upfront Archive - Read past Upfront articles |
