Jason Truong’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) 2010 Report

Members of the Awards Association spent two enjoyable days at the Toronto Reference Library checking out the now annual Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Associate Director Robert Haines, Publisher Liaison Allison Covey, Associate Member Jason Truong and myself,  plus many members of the Association’s past and present Nominating Committees and Juries were milling about, as well as some of the past and present nominees of the Joe Shuster Awards (including J. Torres, Andy B., Kathryn and Stuart Immonen, Renee Engstrom, Kate Beaton, Karl Kerschl, Cameron Stewart, Kean Soo, Seth, Conundrum Press, Drawn and Quarterly, La Pasteque, The Beguiling).

I had a series of great conversations – with a lot of amazing people about the Awards, comic shows and the state of the comics community / industry in mid-2010. The overwhelming consensus at the event is that it was energizing for those that make comics, was profitable for quite a few of them, and that no one is quite sure where we are going – but that things are a lot better than they were just ten years ago.  While TCAF was not specifically about Canadian comics, Canadian creators definitely made up the majority of people exhibiting – and things are definitely blooming here in the Great White North.

I thought that the 2010 TCAF did a much better job of utilizing the space at the library this year. The main hall was well designed and never felt too jam-packed. There were no areas that didn’t receive proper exposure. The Transmission X room was slightly off to the side and the destination for many. The back room which was too hot last year seemed better filled and better ventilated with it’s focus on publishers like La Pasteque, Koyama, Boom! Kids, New Reliable Press. The newly opened Appel Salon on the second floor was a GREAT space – nice and open. They could have easily placed another island of tables in the centre of that room. The webcomics and zine focus of the upstairs worked very well in my opinion, with huge lines for Kate Beaton and Questionable Content whenever they were at their tables.

This weekend sees the return of the now annual TORONTO COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL:

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival

Saturday May 8th, 9am-5pm   &    Sunday May 9th, 11am-5pm

@ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St., Toronto, Canada, 416-533-9168

Admission to TCAF is Free.

Presented by: The Toronto Public Library, The Beguiling, Eye Weekly, Broken Pencil

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival exists to promote the breadth and diversity of comics, and what is considered comics, as legitimate medium of literary and artistic worth. The festival seeks to promote the creators of these works in their broad and diverse voices, for the betterment of the medium of comics and to reach as wide an audience as possible for them.

The first Toronto Comic Arts Festival (“TCAF”) was held on the weekend of March 29th 2003. It was the natural progression of years of disparate book signings, author appearances and miscellaneous events put together by a group of volunteers interested in promoting the literary and artistic merits of comic books and graphic novels.

Attendance and excitement grew during subsequent events, held every two years. TCAF 2005 was held the weekend of May 28-29 in large tents set up on the grounds of Honest Ed’s department store. TCAF 2007 moved back indoors to the Victoria College building on the University of Toronto over the August 18-19 weekend. TCAF 2009 was the biggest TCAF to date, taking place in partnership with Toronto Public Library in their massive flagship location, Toronto Reference Library  on the weekend of May 9th and 10th, engaging over 300 exhibitors consisting of authors, artists, publishers, from 6 different countries including France, Germany, Japan, and England.

While most of shows of this nature are pop-culture events, the organizers wanted to do something that dealt more specifically with the art form of comics itself, with an emphasis on genre appreciation and interaction between creators and their community.

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Editor’s note: Yes, the above information is taken directly from the TCAF website, however I’ve edited it slightly to exclude attendance figures and some potshots at other more traditional comics events for the sake of building this one up.

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Anyway, hundreds of guests, including some great Canadian guests that have never been here before, including creators from Quebec that rarely make appearances at English festivals — there is a huge focus on webcomics and kids comics. Highly recommended.

Captain Canuck (c) 2010 Richard Comely

2010 NOMINATIONS:

Part 1 (Artist, Cartoonist, Colourist, Cover Art, Webcomic, Writer)

Part 2 (Publisher, Retailer, Comics for Kids) 

Part 3 (Self-Publisher, Hall of Fame)

The 6th Annual Awards Ceremony starts at 8pm on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 at the Innis Town Hall (University of Toronto, 2 Sussex Avenue) with returning Master of Ceremonies Jonathan Llyr.

The awards ceremony is held on the same weekend as the Toronto ComiCON FAN APPRECIATION Event (June 5-6).