TCAF takes over Toronto
This weekend is Mother’s Day – and TCAF: the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Entering its twelfth year, TCAF has grown from an attendance of 600 at the first one, to over 22,000 last year. What happens at the Festival? There are hundreds of exhibitors, almost a hundred debut books – including GEEKPR0N favorite: The Pitiful Human-Lizard #4 and Toronto Comic Anthology Volume 2- and panel streams including Comics versus Gaming, Kids programming, as well as Q&A and discussions into the industry. There are also movie screenings and social gatherings. Organized by The Beguiling, this is the most concentrated blend of all aspects of the comic world possible.
They have a mobile Guidebook app. To properly prepare for all the awesome things to do, my advice is to use the map to see where your favourite artists/creators are located, write down the times and locations of panels, and then find out where the social events are being held. Spreadsheets are your friend.
Or you could read some of our highlights.
Panels
Title:Q&A with Kate Beaton of Hark! A Vargant fame.
Time/Place: Saturday 10-11 am Hinton Learning Theatre Toronto Reference Library
Title: The New Mainstream? A discussion of the new diverse offerings from Marvel and DC by the creators of such works as Ray Fawkes (Intersect, Constantine, and Gotham by Midnight) , Brendan Fletcher (Batgirl and Gotham Academy), Karl Kerschl (Gotham Academy), Ryan North (Squirrel Girl), Cameron Stewart (Batgirl), Babs Tarr (Batgirl), and Chip Zdarsky (Sex Criminals and Howard the Duck).
Time/Place: Saturday 11 am Forest Hill Ballroom, Bloor Yorkville Marriott (Just east of Yonge on Bloor)
Title: Spotlight on Noelle Stevenson (co-writer of The Lumberjanes and creator of award winning webcomic Nimona)
Time/Place: 2:45-4pm High Park Ballroom Bloor Yorkville Marriott (just east of Yonge on Bloor)
Title: Building a Better Anthology
Time/Place: Sunday 1:30-2:45 Forest Hill Ballroom Bloor Yorkville Marriott
Events
Celebrate 25 years of Drawn & Quarterly
Friday May 8 6-8pm Free
Appel Salon Toronto Reference Library
There may be some extra tickets for this retrospective of twenty five years of this Montreal based comic publisher.
Tatsumi: Movie Screening and Tribute
Saturday May 9 3-5pm Free
Japan Foundation Toronto 131 Bloor Street West (before University)
Celebrating the life and work of gekiga manga artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi who ushered in an age of more adult realism in manga.
2015 Queer Mixer
Saturday May 9 7-9pm Free (and there may be prizes)
Buddies in Bad Times – 12 Alexander Street
Come and hear stories from some of TCAF’s great queer comic creators.
Doug Wright Awards
Saturday May 9 8-10pm
Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel
Celebrate the 11th year of these awards that celebrate the best in English-language comics (for translations of French comics) by Canadian cartoonists.
Creators to See
Kate Beaton – New York Times Best Seller for Hark! A Vagrant!
Michael Cho – The Shoplifter
Megan Lavey-Heaton creator of fantasy webcomic Namesake and Valor
Kate Leth – founder of The Valkyries (women who work in comic shops) and writer of webcomic Kate or Die as well as Fraggle Rock.
Jason Loo – creator of The Pitiful Human-Lizard
The Raid Studio – so many fantastic Toronto creators, all working in the same space.
Chip Zdarsky – Sex Criminals AND Howard the Duck!
Jim Zub – creator of both Skull Kickers and Wayward
So if love your comics a bit on the indie side, why not check out this event designed for you!
This year’s TCAF poster is by Charles Burns
