Our good friends at Vertical/Kodansha hooked us up with some free Sailor Moon posters, featuring Chibi Moon, to give to all of you! They’re available at the second floor cash register.

Kodansha’s re-release of Sailor Moon is now up to volume 6! All of them are in stock too, check them out!

– Chris @ The Beguiling

We don’t carry a lot of merch, but Adventure Time is pretty darned cool and created by friend of the store Pendleton Ward, so, lets all just make an exception.

Out now, we’ve got these amazing Adventure Time plushes at The Beguiling and Little Island! Finn, Jake, Ice King, LSP, and Lady Rainincorn. We’ve also got some other cool stuff, come check it out in-store to see. 😉

– Chris @ The Beguiling

Who likes kick-ass, self-published comics!?

New in the store is BLACK CHURCH, the graphic novella by Andy Belanger! This story was conceived of by Belanger and then adapted into the video game of the same name at this year’s TCAF! It’s 40 pages of METAL comics, complete with a hand-silk-screened carrying case. $10.

And we’ve Fiiiiiinally got Becky Cloonan’s killer new mini-comics back in stock (our bad)! WOLVES and the TCAF 2012 debut THE MIRE are now available, and they are also totally awesome! They’re just $5 each and come with silkscreened covers too!

Both are available on the main floor, don’t miss out!

– Chris @ The Beguiling

PEOPLE OF THE COMIC BOOK: JEWS AND THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
With Keith Friedlander
Thursdays, July 19 – August 9; 6:30-8:00 pm
@ The Miles Nadal JCC, 750 Spadina Ave Toronto ON M5S 2J2, 416-924-6211
$45 for the series or $12 drop-in/$6 students with valid ID + HST
http://www.milesnadaljcc.ca/jewish-classes/jewish-learning/729-people-of-the-comic-book-jews-and-the-graphic-novel

“Superman, you don’t think he’s Jewish?” asks Michael Chabon’s character Sammy Clay. “Coming over from the old country, changing his name like that. Clark Kent, only a Jew would pick a name like that for himself.”

Explore the prominent role of Jewish artists in comic book history. From the superheroes and their largely Jewish creators to more modern innovations such as A Contract with God, Maus, and The Rabbi’s Cat, graphic novels have become an important subgenre of modern Jewish literature, exploring themes of generational conflict, assimilation and Americanization, and the diasporic search for home.

July 19: History of Jewish Contributions to Comics
July 26: Will Eisner’s Contract with God
August 2: Art Spiegelman’s Maus I
August 9: Joann Sfar’s The Rabbi’s Cat

Students must procure their own copies of the texts in advance of each class.

Keith Friedlander is a local academic and teacher. He has previously taught in the English departments of the University of Ottawa and Trent University.

—

From The Beguiling: Not our event, but sounds cool eh? Go check it out.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

HELLBERTA – Book Signing & Exhibit
Thursday, August 9th, 7pm-10pm
@ Magic Pony, 680 Queen Street West
http://www.facebook.com/events/160858820716675/

Hey folks! Our friends over at Magic Pony are hosting a signing and art exhibition for Michael Comeau’s HELLBERTA, the Doug Wright Award winning satire of Central Canada and a certain Canuckian Superhero. “In a pastiche of political satire and exploitation films, Comeau has created an insightful and hilarious exploration of the Canadian condition.”

Jeet Heer, of the Doug Wright Awards, described Hellberta as: “Many things — a pastiche of superhero comic, a political satire, a post-apocalyptic fable – all melded together to form a single nightmarish vision. Michael Comeau brings to this tradition an energetic line, a fertile imagination, and the courage to put his most outrageous ideas on paper.”

About Michael Comeau:
Michael Comeau is an award-winning print artist, activist, educator and entrepreneur whose art has lined Toronto streets for events like Vazaleen, Hump Day Bump, and Kung Fu Fridays for over 10 years.  Comeau has played many roles in the Canadian art community – as co-founder of the Penny Arcade Low Art Print Shoppe and Gallery in Kensington Market, the director for the Cut and Paste Zine Fair, publisher of the Regal Beast art anthologies and an active member of the Punch Clock Print Collective. He has been an advocate for the local community for public art in against Toronto’s attempt to ban postering. His recent activities include the The Imperial 6 exhibition at The MacLaren Art Centre, teaching at the AGO and as a primary contributor to the posthumous retrospective of Toronto artist Will Munro, entitled History, Glamour, Magic at the Art Gallery of York University.

Official After Party: The Greasy Skeletons @ The Silver Dollar

The fun continues at the Silver Dollar with some kick ass garage rock from the Greasy Skeletons.

Silver Dollar
486 Spadina Ave.
MAP
Min. Age: 19+

Also featuring:
Baseball Furies
Tin Coffin
and Others

The following comics and graphic novels are scheduled to ship The Beguiling Books and Art on Wednesday August 1st, 2012. All Prices listed in U.S. Funds. Variant prices are generally accurate, but in any dispute between web price and in-store price we will defer to in-store price.

Click here for complete list: http://beguiling.com/120801shipping.txt

– Chris @ The Beguiling

The Underwater Welder: Book Launch & Discussion
Featuring author Jeff Lemire and host Mark Askwith (SPACE)


Saturday, July 28th, @ 7pm (Doors @ 6:30pm)
at Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave (at St. George, one block south of Bloor St.)
$5 admission or free with book purchase
http://www.facebook.com/events/288602321238139/

The Beguiling is proud to announce the official launch of The Underwater Welder, the new original graphic novel from Jeff Lemire. Lemire is the award-winning author of The Essex County Trilogy, picked as a Canada Reads finalist, the author of the graphic novels Sweet Tooth (series), Lost Dogs, and The Nobody, and a prolific contributor to DC Comics’ superhero line, including the hit series Animal Man and Justice League Dark.

The Underwater Welder is Lemire’s eagerly anticipated thematic ‘follow-up’ to Essex County; its seemingly benign rural slice-of-life tale set off the coast of Nova Scotia giving way to far more mysterious and unfathomable experiences. Lemire’s work has been praised with starred reviews by Publishers Weekly and Booklist, and the accolades are already pouring in for The Underwater Welder:

“The most spectacular episode of The Twilight Zone that was never produced. I really, really care about the people in this story… And I can pretty much guarantee you will too.”
—from the introduction by Damon Lindelof (LOST, Star Trek, Prometheus)

“A moving, brilliant, and fiercely original work about loss, longing, and love. Full of piercing moments that will stay with you for long after you’ve finished reading, The Underwater Welder is a testament to the basic truth that down in the depths or up on land, there’s nothing more haunting and wondrous than the human heart. A masterpiece of visual storytelling.”
— Scott Snyder (Batman, Swamp Thing, American Vampire)

The Underwater Welder Book Launch and Discussion will take place on Saturday, July 25th at Innis College Town Hall, and will feature a presentation by Lemire from the new work, an on-stage interview with Q&A, and a signing. Admission to this event is $5 for two persons, however, anyone purchasing The Underwater Welder in-store at The Beguiling or on-site will receive a free ticket good for two admissions and guaranteed seating. Tickets and The Underwater Welder advance copies on sale at The Beguiling now.

PRESS
This event is being hosted by The Beguiling Books & Art, as part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations in 2012. All press inquiries should be directed to Christopher Butcher, Manager, chris@beguiling.com.


ABOUT “THE UNDERWATER WELDER”

As an underwater welder on an oilrig off the coast of Nova Scotia, Jack Joseph is used to the immense pressures of deep-sea work. Nothing, however, could prepare him for the pressures of impending fatherhood. As Jack dives deeper and deeper, he seems to pull further and further away from his young wife and their unborn son. Then one night, deep in the icy solitude of the ocean floor, something unexplainable happens. Jack has a mysterious and supernatural encounter that will change the course of his life forever.
Equal parts blue-collar character study and mind-bending mystery, The Underwater Welder is a graphic novel about fathers and sons, birth and death, memory and reality, and the treasures we all bury deep below the surface.

The Underwater Welder, by Jeff Lemire. 224 pages, softcover, $19.95. Published by Top Shelf Productions

ABOUT JEFF LEMIRE

JEFF LEMIRE is one of the most acclaimed North American graphic novelists of recent years. He first entered the comics field with the self-published anthology series Ashtray (2003), followed by the Xeric-Award-winning graphic novel Lost Dogs (2005).

His Essex County trilogy of graphic novels (2007-2008, complete edition 2009) have received tremendous acclaim, including nominations for the Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz Awards. In 2008 Jeff won both the Joe Shuster Award and the Doug Wright Award, recognizing the best in Canadian cartooning, as well as the American Library Association’s prestigious Alex Award, which recognizes books for adults that appeal to teenage readers. Essex County was named one of five official 2011 selection of the CBC’s Canada Reads program, recognizing the “Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade,” and landed first place in the “People’s Choice” poll with more votes than the other four books combined.

Jeff’s other works include the graphic novel The Nobody and the acclaimed ongoing series Sweet Tooth for Vertigo, as well as writing DC superhero series such as Superboy, Frankenstein, Animal Man, and Justice League Dark. He returns to Top Shelf this summer for The Underwater Welder.

—

Adventure Time Signing Spectacular! 
w/ Meredith Gran, Ryan North, and Michael DeForge 
Wednesday July 25th, 2012 
@ Little Island Comics, 1pm-3pm 
@ The Beguiling, 6pm-9pm 
RSVP AT FACEBOOK  


Hey everyone! The Beguiling and Little Island Comics are teaming up to throw a kick-butt ADVENTURE TIME event on Wednesday, July 25th, and you’re all invited! There will be signings by the creators of the ADVENTURE TIME comics, kids costume contests, and more! It’s gonna be mathematical… TO THE MATH! 

SPECIAL GUESTS!

From New York City, it’s MEREDITH GRAN, writer and artist of the brand new mini-series ADVENTURE TIME: MARCELINE AND THE SCREAM QUEENS, as well as her own awesome series Octopus Pie! MARCELINE #1 ships to comic stores on Wednesday July 11th, and we’ll have copies of the issue available for sale that day and every day up to the event itself!

From here in Toronto, it’s RYAN NORTH, writer of the ongoing ADVENTURE TIME WITH FINN AND JAKE comic book series, as well as one of our favourite web comics, Dinosaur Comics! ADVENTURE TIME #6 comes out on Wednesday July 25th, and we’ll have that and the first 5 issues of Adventure Time available for sale at the event!

Just Added: Everyone say hello to MICHAEL DEFORGE, who’ll be joining us at 6pm! Michael is a talented comic making dude, and also works as a storyboarder on the Adventure Time animated series! He did the kick-butt BREAKFAST PRINCESS story in Adventure Time #3! He will signin your comics!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

1PM-3PM: LITTLE ISLAND COMICS! 
Just for kids (and their parents), Meredith and Ryan will be signing copies of Adventure Time for younger fans, at Little Island Comics, 742 Bathurst Street, just south of Bloor. The staff of Little Island will have Adventure Time-themed crafts and activities! Ryan and Meredith might even lead some of the activities! It’s going to be super fun!

There will be an Adventure Time Costume Contest for Kids, too, at 1PM sharp! Kids are encouraged to show up dressed in costume from Adventure Time, and prizes will be awarded to all participants! Yay!

6PM-6:45PM: The Central
How To Make Adventure Time Comics is the name of a short presentation that Meredith and Ryan will give on stage at The Central, 603 Markham Street, just next to The Beguiling. They’ll take questions from the audience! It’ll be fun!

7PM: Costume Contest for Grown-ups in front of The Beguiling!
Do you have a burning passion to be dressed up as FINN or JAKE or LUMPY SPACE PRINCESS almost solely for the bragging rights of winning a contest? Then show up dressed as one of the characters from Adventure Time at 7PM, and Celebrity Guest Judges Meredith, Ryan, and Michael will pick the winner! (IF IT IS RAINING THE COSTUME CONTEST FOR GROWN-UPS IS CANCELLED. No space to do it inside the store, sorry!).

7:15PM-9PM: THE BEGUILING!!!
Meredith Gran and Ryan North will be signing copies of ADVENTURE TIME comics from 7PM to 9PM at The Beguiling, 601 Markham Street! It’s gonna be sweet! If the weather is nice they will be signing under a tent in front of the store! If the weather is rainy they will be signing inside the store, but part of the line-up might STILL be outside depending on how many people show up, so bring an umbrella!

SEE YOU WEDNESDAY JULY 25TH!

– Chris @ The Beguiling

The following comics and graphic novels are scheduled to ship The Beguiling Books and Art on Wednesday July 25th, 2012. All Prices listed in U.S. Funds. Variant prices are generally accurate, but in any dispute between web price and in-store price we will defer to in-store price.

Click here for the complete list: http://beguiling.com/120725shipping.txt

CORRECTION: Aragones Groo The Wanderer Artist Edition Hard Cover will retail for $125.