Fresh from its debut at Word on the Street, Toronto’s annual outdoor literary fair, Cold Iron Badge: Book 1 will be available for order online via this site very soon!
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Pending a print collection of Cold Iron Badge (we’re planning one, but it’s going to contain the entire first storyline — the one you’ve been reading, which isn’t quite finished yet) and with Greg Beettam and I having deliberately kept Xeno’s Arrow on the back-burner, I haven’t been attending many comics events as an exhibitor. So I didn’t have a table at this year’s Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF).
The advantage of that, is that instead of sitting at a table and selling, I get to attend as a member of the great comics-reading public, and really wander the aisles — look around and see what there is to see.
And man, was there ever a lot to see.
Due to family obligations, I was only at the show for a couple of hours on Saturday; from about 2:30 until it closed at 5:00. But I can’t imagine having the stamina to stay for longer. It was a madhouse. The crowd on the first floor of the Toronto Referece Library was so heavy that I could barely walk through the aisles.
Happily, my friend Jim Ottaviani‘s table was in a quieter corner, and I was able to stop by and say hello. He had copies of his upcoming new book, Feynmann — but only for display, since at the request of his publisher, First Second, he wasn’t selling them (the book officially debuts in August). However, I was happy to be able to fill the other gap in my Jim Ottaviani collection, and picked up a copy of Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards, his wonderful history of duelling paleontologists in the 19th Century, when fossil-hunting was both literally and figuratively the Wild West. I read it with delight, and recommend it to anyone with an interest in science or things that are awesome. And my FSM, the Feynmann book, with art by Leland Myrick, is gorgeous. I look forward to reading it when it debuts.
Upstairs, the crowd was a bit lighter, at least in the sense that people wearing backpacks weren’t a hazard to life and limb.
My first stop was at my friend Tory Woollcott‘s table. I picked up a copy of her new minicomic, Toronto to Tuscany, a collaboration with Kean Soo about their recent trip to Italy. Like all Tory’s work, it’s funny and honest. The contrast between Tory and Kean’s art styles was interesting and fun; it’s particularly cool to see how they illustrate themselves and one another.
Next it was over to the adjacent tables of Tara Tallan and Mike White.
Our readers will know that we here at Cold Iron Badge are great fans of Galaxion, and I was delighted to pick up Tara’s brand new Galaxion Book 2: First Contact, the second volume collecting the webcomic. This one’s also full of fun extras, like her Christmas strips and a detailed script-to-page appendix detailing her process.
And Mike White. I’ve known Mike for longer than either of us would probably care to admit. He first met me (and the rest of our Toronto comics crowd) in his teens — back when Xeno’s Arrow and Galaxion were still mini-comics! — and started creating his own comics almost immediately. When, at TCAF he introduced us to people, he very generously described Greg Beettam and me as some of his inspirations; to the extent that’s true (Mike is also, you know, phenomenally talented and hard-working) we did a heck of a job. His new book, Amity Blamity Book 1 (published by Slave Labor Graphics) is the story of a little girl who lives on a farm with her dotty grandmother, her lazy, drunken uncle and her best friend, a talking pig named Chester. And then things get really strange. It’s… it’s as though Berke Breathed and Jeff Smith teamed up to create U.S. Acres. It’s adorable and funny, with great cartooning. Just as an example, here’s a sketch Mike drew in my copy of his book:
The advantage of that, is that instead of sitting at a table and selling, I get to attend as a member of the great comics-reading public, and really wander the aisles — look around and see what there is to see.
And man, was there ever a lot to see.
Due to family obligations, I was only at the show for a couple of hours on Saturday; from about 2:30 until it closed at 5:00. But I can’t imagine having the stamina to stay for longer. It was a madhouse. The crowd on the first floor of the Toronto Referece Library was so heavy that I could barely walk through the aisles.
Happily, my friend Jim Ottaviani‘s table was in a quieter corner, and I was able to stop by and say hello. He had copies of his upcoming new book, Feynmann — but only for display, since at the request of his publisher, First Second, he wasn’t selling them (the book officially debuts in August). However, I was happy to be able to fill the other gap in my Jim Ottaviani collection, and picked up a copy of Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards, his wonderful history of duelling paleontologists in the 19th Century, when fossil-hunting was both literally and figuratively the Wild West. I read it with delight, and recommend it to anyone with an interest in science or things that are awesome. And my FSM, the Feynmann book, with art by Leland Myrick, is gorgeous. I look forward to reading it when it debuts.
Upstairs, the crowd was a bit lighter, at least in the sense that people wearing backpacks weren’t a hazard to life and limb.
My first stop was at my friend Tory Woollcott‘s table. I picked up a copy of her new minicomic, Toronto to Tuscany, a collaboration with Kean Soo about their recent trip to Italy. Like all Tory’s work, it’s funny and honest. The contrast between Tory and Kean’s art styles was interesting and fun; it’s particularly cool to see how they illustrate themselves and one another.
Next it was over to the adjacent tables of Tara Tallan and Mike White.
Our readers will know that we here at Cold Iron Badge are great fans of Galaxion, and I was delighted to pick up Tara’s brand new Galaxion Book 2: First Contact, the second volume collecting the webcomic. This one’s also full of fun extras, like her Christmas strips and a detailed script-to-page appendix detailing her process.
And Mike White. I’ve known Mike for longer than either of us would probably care to admit. He first met me (and the rest of our Toronto comics crowd) in his teens — back when Xeno’s Arrow and Galaxion were still mini-comics! — and started creating his own comics almost immediately. When, at TCAF he introduced us to people, he very generously described Greg Beettam and me as some of his inspirations; to the extent that’s true (Mike is also, you know, phenomenally talented and hard-working) we did a heck of a job. His new book, Amity Blamity Book 1 (published by Slave Labor Graphics) is the story of a little girl who lives on a farm with her dotty grandmother, her lazy, drunken uncle and her best friend, a talking pig named Chester. And then things get really strange. It’s… it’s as though Berke Breathed and Jeff Smith teamed up to create U.S. Acres. It’s adorable and funny, with great cartooning. Just as an example, here’s a sketch Mike drew in my copy of his book:
Stephen and Chester exchanging a high five: AWESOME!
Nearby was Jim Zubkavich; I picked up issue #6 of his swords-and-sorcery buddy comedy Skullkickers. Very violent, very funny, and… come on, a genre-bending fantasy comedy about a dwarf with an axe and a barbarian with a six-shooter wreaking havoc? How hard was it to sell me on that?
Then I wandered the aisles a bit (on the second floor; the first was still packed and I get testy in crowds), and made my one genuine impulse buy of the con (from someone I haven’t known for years) when I stopped by Spike‘s table and picked up Templar, Arizona – Book 1: The Great Outdoors, the first volume collecting her webcomic.
OMFSM. Why have I not been reading Templar, AZ ’til now? As far as I can tell from the first volume, Templar is a slice of alternate-history-life in the titular town in an alternate Arizona. And it’s awesome. It reminds me a lot of Finder, and that’s exceptionally high praise from me, because I consider Finder to be one of the best things being done in the medium. And yes, Templar, AZ has similar qualities: A richly detailed world that we get in tantalizing hints instead of having it shoved down our throats. Engaging characters who are believable people who just happen to live in an a world with a different history than our own. Freaking gorgeous art. I’m hooked; it’s archive binge time. You’ll probably want to go do the same, because wow.
That — I’ve subtracted a lot of needless detail about even more navigating my way through the throng — was enough to take me to the end of the day. When the show closed, I met up with some of my comics friends and went to our now-traditional post-TCAF Vietnamese restaurant for dinner.
I love TCAF. It’s the reason, really, that there’s a Cold Iron Badge; it’s the show that made me want to do comics again. The show was fantastic, as it always is — so thanks and congratulations to the hard-working TCAF organizers and volunteers! Maybe next year, I’ll have a table. I’d love that. But even if I don’t, TCAF will still be one of the high points on the calendar.
