Thank you Toronto Comic Arts Festival, The Beguiling, and teenage mutant volunteers for letting us crash the party four years running
TCAF takes place on three of the seventeen floors in Toronto’s gigantic public library
It is pleasantly jarring to find a community that gives a shit about books enough to build such a monument, and open its doors to the public for a free indie comics festival of such scale
https://twitter.com/CarolynCNowak/status/995303860817223680
Silver Sprocket crew making good decisions at the time included Ivy Atoms, Hazel Newlevant, Carolyn Nowak, Ben Passmore, Isabella Rotman, Michael Sweater, Steve Thueson, and Jenn Woodall
In Canada you put a maple leaf on everything
Magical Beatdown won Jenn Woodall a Doug Wright silver boy
“Magical Beatdown deploys violence in a very satisfying way, and that, coupled with Jenn’s gorgeous illustrative style made this book a clear winner,” said the jury
https://twitter.com/ssbcpunk/status/995677208814456832
Ivy Atoms’ Pinky and Pepper Forever made its debut
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bir_UuqFZr9/?taken-by=ivyatoms
and Steve Thueson’s fantastic BORSQ
Some jerks wouldn’t get away from the Fantagraphics table so they had Michael Sweater and I do some push-ups while yelling COMICS to scare them off
This is the first and only time anyone has or will ever count on us to be the “muscle” in a situation
It took the entire weekend for these polite Canadians to land a Critical Hit
Bonus thanks Sacha for all the help and being the most responsible
we’re always the last table to finish packing up
got a bunch of fresh to death indie comics
Confused by the local customs
Fuckyeah Ben Passmore’s Your Black Friend and Other Strangers in the window display at Drawn & Quarterly
ok that was fun see you next year
(Photo: Jody Culkin / Publishers Weekly)
We’ll be at more comic fests coming up if you’d like to join the mess:
VanCAF in Vancouver: May 19-20 with James the Stanton
CAKE in Chicago: June 2-3, Table 231-233 with Isabella Rotman & Jenn Woodall
San Diego ComicCon in San Diego, CA: July 18-22, Booth 1718
Rose City ComicCon in Portland, OR: Sept 7-9
STAPLE in Austin, TX: Sept 8-9th with Ben Snakepit
SPX in Bethesda, MD: Sept 15-16 with *everyone*
CXC in Columbus, OH: Sept 29-30
MICE in Cambridge, MA: Oct 20-21 with Erin K Wilson, Isabella Rotman, Steve Thueson