Come one come all, to the book launch for the most eagerly-anticipated piece of Canadian literature in 2011–possibly the decade! Chester Brown’s PAYING FOR IT is Brown’s first entirely new graphic novel in nearly 10 years, an autobiographical account of his exploration of and participation in Toronto’s sex-work industry. This candid and intelligent memoir casts an illuminating light on the modern iterations of the world’s oldest profession, and is a perfectly-timed treatise in light of Canada’s own landmark court cases surrounding prostitution.

PAYING FOR IT will make its international debut at a book launch on Sunday, May 1st, the weekend before TCAF! This fun and unique evening will be hosted by NOW Magazine advice columnist and sex-worker advocate Sasha Von Bon Bon, and feature a reading/presentation of PAYING FOR IT by Chester along with an interview between Chester and Sasha, and a moderated Q&A. A signing will follow.

The event will take place at Goodhandy’s nightclub. Billed as “Toronto’s Pansexual Playground,” Goodhandy’s is the culmination of years of collaboration between Mandy Goodhandy (aka Amanda Taylor) and Todd Klinck, two Toronto club promoters and adult video producers.

PAYING FOR IT and a selection of Chester Brown’s previous graphic novels will be available for sale at the event.

“Chester Brown is perhaps the most transparent, honest and relevant voice remaining in contemporary comics, and this is, to my mind, his most powerful and affecting work to date. PAYING FOR IT explores life in the world’s oldest customer-base, and does so with heart, intelligence, and a complete lack of sentiment or self-justification. Rewarding repeated readings, this book will love you long time.” –ALAN MOORE

Joe Sacco’s talk at Innis Town Hall is this evening at 8pm.

There are still some tickets left so if you can make it you should definitely attend.

If my telling you what to do isn’t enough to convince you then check out this informative profile/interview with Mr. Sacco from yesterday’s Toronto Star:

Graphic discontent, from cartoonist Joe Sacco

– Parrish

The following comics and graphic novels are scheduled to ship The Beguiling Books & Art on Wednesday March 16th, 2011. All Prices listed in U.S. Funds. Variant prices are generally accurate to what we will be charging in store, but all disputes between prices will defer to the stickered, in-store price.

Click here for complete list: http://www.beguiling.com/110316shipping.txt

– Chris @ The Beguiling

Try not to be too jealous, but the following folks have each won a ticket to see Joe Sacco in Toronto next Thursday, March 17th:

Henry, Chris, Dave, Brett, Aidan

Congrats to our winners and thanks to everyone who entered!

…and if you didn’t win, here’s how you can get tickets:

Joe Sacco
Part of the UofT Arts Council 2011 Speakers Series
Thursday, March 17th, 2011 @ 8PM
Innis Town Hall, St. George Street at Sussex Ave
Tickets $10 for adults, $5 for students & seniors
On sale at: http://www.uofttix.ca/view.php?id=746 and in-store at The Beguiling

– Chris

“A girl finds a bright spot in a dark world.

A boy leads a strange, lost creature home.

And a group of peaceful creatures loses their home to cruel invaders.”

Lost & Found is beautiful hard cover containing three long unavailable stories (The Red Tree, The Lost Thing, and The Rabbits) by award-winning Australian graphic novelist and illustrator Shaun Tan, now finally back in print.

Tan’s rare skill in crafting tales with interest and appeal for all ages have made his other books, Outer Suburbia and The Arrival, favorites of both staff and customers here at the store.

As you may have heard, the animated adaptation of one of the stories in this book–The Lost Thing–took home the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film a few weeks back, which has made Tan’s work even more in-demand. We’re quite happy to see this book back in print, and it is in stock on both floors of The Beguiling.

– Parrish

Joe Sacco
Part of the UofT Arts Council 2011 Speakers Series
Thursday, March 17th, 2011 @ 8PM
Innis Town Hall, St. George Street at Sussex Ave
Tickets $10 for adults, $5 for students & seniors
On sale at: http://www.uofttix.ca/view.php?id=746 and in-store at The Beguiling

Joe Sacco is one of the world’s premier comic book artists and is widely recognized as a central figure in bringing graphic novels and sequential art into the cultural mainstream. He will be speaking on a variety of subjects including his newest work, Footnotes in Gaza, his return to the Gaza strip and his attempt to get to the heart of a brutal incident from the region’s past!

If you want to win 1 of 5 tickets to see Joe Sacco at U of T on Thursday, March 17th, here’s what you need to do:

For a chance to win, send an e-mail with your name, daytime telephone number, and “SACCO TDOT” in the subject line to beguilingcontests@gmail.com before Wednesday, March 9th at 12pm (noon). Winner will be drawn and contacted on Wednesday the 9th. Their first name will be announced on the website.

RULES & REGULATIONS:
1. Subject line MUST contain entrant’s name, phone number, and “SACCO TDOT”, and must be sent to beguilingcontests@gmail.com.
2. Entries must be made from an e-mail address subscribed to The Beguiling’s mailing list. Signup on the front page of http://beguiling.com.
3. Entries must be received before Wednesday, March 9th at 12pm (noon).
4. Employees and family members of The Beguiling are not eligible to win.
5. One entry per household/phone number.
6. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, etc.

—

Thanks to the U of T Speakers Series for donating the tickets!

– Chris @ The Beguiling

There’s so much cool stuff happening as we get closer to the 2011 Toronto Comic Arts Festival! While news is disseminated almost every day on the TCAF Twitter, @Torontocomics, or on the website at http://torontocomics.com, once a week we’ll post quick updates here with all the TCAF news worth knowing!

– We’re often asked “How can I help out TCAF?” and other than volunteering or just bringing a lot of money to the Festival to spend with our exhibitors, the number one way you can help is to spread the word! We’ve just gotten our first round of 2011 Promotional Postcards printed up, courtesy of the fine folks at K6 Postcards (Check them out oline at http://k6cards.tumblr.com/). If you’re so inclined, please drop by The Beguiling and grab a small handful of cards, and distribute them around the city. Thanks!

– TCAF announced new featured guest John Porcellino! Porcellino will be attending TCAF courtesy of Toronto publisher Pop Sandbox (KENK), and will be involved with an important new graphic novel from the pub entitled The Next Day. A multi-media project produced in association with The National Film Board, The Next Day will be one of the major TCAF-related exhibitions and installations around the city this May!

– TCAF announced new featured guest Darwyn Cooke! Cooke has three times previously been a Featured guest of the show, and has created two of our gorgeous Festival Posters (2005, 2007). Cooke has numerous major works under his belt including DC: The New Frontier and runs on Catwoman, Jonah Hex, and Will Eisner’s The Spirit. Currently he’s working at adapting 4 volumes of RICHARD’S STARK’S PARKER into graphic novel format with publisher IDW, with The Hunter and The Outfit released in 2009 and 2010.

– Top Shelf Announced their plans for TCAF 2011, and they’re awesome! Top Shelf will be represented at the show for the first time this year by Marketing Director Leigh Walton, and he’s bringing along the biggest compliment of artists and authors ever! Get ready to welcome Canada Reads nominee Jeff Lemire (Essex County, Sweet Tooth), Eisner & Harvey Award winners Kathryn and Stuart Immonen (Hellcat and Fear Itself), Matt Kindt (Revolver), Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole), Jess Fink (debuting the graphic novel Chester 5000) and Eric Skillman (debuting the graphic novel Liar’s Kiss).

– We want you to volunteer at TCAF! It’s a super-fun weekend and it couldn’t happen without the dozens of awesome volunteers we get every year who help us put it on! If you’re interested in helping out at TCAF 2011 or just want to know what it’s all about, please head over to http://torontocomics.com/volunteer/ for all the details! You can fill out the volunteer application form, and we’ll contact you closer to the time of the show with more info.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

The following comics and graphic novels are scheduled to ship The Beguiling Books & Art on Wednesday March 9th, 2011. All Prices listed in U.S. Funds. Variant prices are generally accurate to what we will be charging in store, but all disputes between prices will defer to the stickered, in-store price.

Click here for the complete list: http://www.beguiling.com/110309shipping.txt

AND REMEMBER–THIS WEDNESDAY MARCH 9TH FROM 5PM-7PM WE’RE HAVING AN IN-STORE SIGNING FOR SKULLKICKERS VOLUME 1: 1,000 OPAS AND A DEAD BODY! JOIN SERIES WRITER/CREATOR JIM ZUBKAVICH FOR CAKE AND DRINKS! A FUN TIME WILL BE HAD BY ALL!

JAN110576 Skullkickers TP Vol 01 1000 Opas & Dead Body 9.99


– Chris @ The Beguiling

The following comics and graphic novels are scheduled to ship The Beguiling Books & Art on Wednesday March 2nd, 2011. All Prices listed in U.S. Funds. Variant prices are generally accurate to what we will be charging in store, but all disputes between prices will defer to the stickered, in-store price.

Click here for the complete list: http://www.beguiling.com/110302shipping.txt

In addition to our wonderful selection of new comics and graphic novels, we’re very pleased to announce that we’ll be restocking on Natsume Ono’s graphic novel not simple, published by VIZ Media. Natsume Ono is one of our Featured Guests of TCAF 2011, and her announcement led to a near-immediate sellout of what we thought was a healthy stock of her first graphic novel. Well we’ve got it back in stock (and in quantity too!) and available for order as of Wednesday. Our apologies for the delay.

– Chris

SKULLKICKERS: 1000 OPAS AND A DEAD BODY GRAPHIC NOVEL
Book Launch and Signing with Author Jim Zubkavich
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011, 5PM-7PM
@ The Beguiling, 601 Markham Street, Bathurst TTC
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=141394189257097
FREE

Come one, come all, to the launch party for SKULLKICKERS VOLUME 1: 1000 OPAS and a DEAD BODY! Featuring series creator and writer Jim “Zub” Zubkavich!

Sure, you came out for the signing of the first issue, and that whole kick-ass presentation Zub gave, but did you come out for the $9.99 first trade paperback collection that contains issues 1-5 and the two bonus stories? DID YOU? Well now you can!

All the accouterments of a proper launch including delicious cake and more! A fun time will be had! Drinks will follow!

– Chris @ The Beguiling