Toronto Comic Arts Festival this weekend

This weekend sees the return of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, a celebration of visual storytelling where, Karen Whaley at Torontoist described it, "fans call comic books 'graphic novels' and story protagonists are often neurotic everymen rather than superheroes". And speaking as a neurotic everyman, it's a fine line-up and a great way to spend the day. And did I mention admission is free? And there are bound to be deals and freebies?

The TCAF will be be held at the Old Vic building (93 Charles Street West) at the University of Toronto campus on August 18 and 19. There will be over 200 creators from Canada, the United States, and Europe will be in attendance, with exhibitions, lectures, readings, and workshops running all weekend. And just like we're known for the best comedians and news anchors, Canada also produces the best graphic novelists. Canadians like Chester Brown, Svetlana Chmakova, Darwyn Cooke (who also drew this year's fine TCAF poster at left), Bryan Lee O’Malley and Seth are recognized as among the best graphic storytellers in the world, particularly in the fields of manga and alternative comics. Not to mention Canada is also home to eminent English-language comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly of Montreal.

Torontoist and BlogTO both have great previews of the TCAF, with schedules for specific artists and publishers, such as Drawn and Quarterly, Oni Press, and gorgeous anthologies like FLIGHT.

Songs & Pictures Party at Sneaky Dees
The official TCAF party is Saturday Night

(via Karen Whaley at Torontoist)

When the festival is done for the day on Saturday, head over to Sneaky Dees (431 College Street) and find out when happens when cartoonists get their rock on.

Opening the show is Kupek, Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley's one-man-band. According to O'Malley, "Scott Pilgrim 4 is set inside Sneaky Dees. Meta!"

Then, Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate creator Willow Dawson will take the stage as saw-player and vocalist with atmospheric alt/folk band Little Brown Bat.

On last is Jakub Zapotoczny and Brenden Fletcher of the band Ragni. Instead of creating a standard CD sleeve for their debut album, they worked with Karl Kerschl to create a 72-page graphic novel that suits the themes of their songs, fusing music and art.

TCAF PARTY SONGS & PICTURES - Live Music featuring Kupek, Little Brown Bat, and RagniSneaky Dees, 431 College St. @ Bathurst, Second FloorSaturday, August 18th, Doors Open at 9PM. $5 Cover. More info at: http://torontocomics.com/tcaf/events.html#sath

Toronto Comic Arts Festival is presented by The Beguiling, North America’s finest purveyor of comic books, graphic novels and high art funny books.

TCAF line-up

Includes: Chester Brown, Darwyn Cooke, Evan Dorkin, Paul Gravett, James Jean, Joe Matt, Paul Pope, Seth, Adrian Alphona, J. Bone, Scott Chantler, Svetlana Chmakova, Becky Cloonan, Danielle Corsetto, Arthur Dela Cruz, Sara Dyer, Tim Fish, Mike Huddleston, Kevin Huizenga, Stuart Immonen, Karl Kerschl, Hope Larson, Jeff Lemiere, Ryan North, Jim Ottaviani, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Chris Pitzer, Dave Roman, Jim Rugg, Thomas Scioli, Marc Siegel, Dave Sim, Kean Soo, Richard Stevens, Cameron Stewart, Jamie Tanner, Raina Telgemeier, Jason Thompson, J. Torres, James Turner, Maurice Vellekoop, Jose Villarrubia, Chip Zdarsky, and many others.