All posts by Chris @ The Beguiling

Hi, I'm Christopher Butcher. I'm the co-founder and Festival Director of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, an annual event promoting Canadian graphic novels and their authors!

SEP28: Uptown Kidlit! Kids Book & Comic Festival!

Uptown Kidlit! Kids Book & Comic Festival
Presented by iSurround, North York Arts, and TCAF: The Toronto Comic Arts Festival
Saturday, September 28, 9:30am-4:00pm
@ North York Central Library, Auditorium, 2nd Floor
5120 Yonge Street (at North York Centre TTC)
Free

Uptown Kidlit – Poster by Anoosha Syed

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival and North York Arts are thrilled to announce a brand-new, one-day kids focused literary event to be held at North York Central Public Library. We call it UPTOWN KIDLIT! 

Uptown Kidlit is a free event that will feature a day of feature programs, drop-in workshops, and a small vendor fair with local authors selling comics, books, and more.

Participants include: George O’Connor (The Olympians graphic novel series), Anoosha Syed (author and Poster Artist!), Deborah Kerbel, Richard Scrimger, Britt Wilson, Ted Staunton, Lesley Livingston, Kean Soo, Lis Xu, John Martz, Tory Woollcott, Chad Solomon, Anoosha Syed, Brian McLaughlan, Hilary Leung, Rabeea Syed, and many more!

Click under the cut for full schedule and author bios!

Continue reading SEP28: Uptown Kidlit! Kids Book & Comic Festival!

SEP22: Comics & Graphic Novels at Word on the Street

Comics & Graphic Novels @ Word on the Street
Sunday, September 22, 10am-5:00pm
@ Harbourfront Centre, Queen’s Quay
Free for the public to attend

Sunday September 22nd it’s marks the annual Word on the Street Literary Festival in Toronto! TCAF has entered a relationship with WOTS to help develop their comics and graphic novels programming and exhibitors for 2019 and 2020! We think this relationship will help promote some of Canada’s greatest comic creators and graphic novelists to the amazing crowd of book lovers that WOTS attracts each year.

Comics Programming

Comic book and graphic novel creators will feature on almost every stage of Word on the Street this year! Here are the comic related programs:

10:00-10:45am: #WOTS30 ANNIVERSARY READING SERIES FUTURE OF READING, feat. Cory Doctorow, Gwen Benaway, Ben Dugas, Andreya Klobucar. Great Books Marquee

12:00-12:30: THIS PLACE: 150 YEARS RETOLD, feat Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (This Place, Portage & Main). Explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in this groundbreaking graphic novel anthology. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through magic realism, serial killings, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact. • Portage & Main. Indigenous Voices Stage

12:00-12:30pm: RADICALIZED, feat. Cory Doctorow (IRL, First Second Books). Told through one of the most on-pulse genre voices of our generation, Radicalized is a timely collection consisting of four SF novellas connected by social, technological, and economic visions of today and what America could be in the near, near future. Bestseller Stage

12:45-1:15pm: FROGCATCHERS, feat. Jeff Lemire (Essex County, Top Shelf. Gideon Falls, Image). A man wakes up alone in a strange room with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. This is—as he reads from an old-fashioned keychain beside his bed—the Edgewater Hotel. Even worse, something ominous seems to be lurking in one of the rooms. A haunted hotel on the edge of reality, an endless bridge spanning an infinite ocean, and a man and a boy looking for a way out. This is the setting for a boundary-pushing, genredefying new work of fiction by one of comics’ master storytellers. • Simon & Schuster. Across the Universe Stage

1:00-1:30pm: GRAPHIC MAESTROS: ART & STORYTELLING, feat. Chris Kuzma (Lunch Quest, Koyama) and Ness Lee (Death Threat, Arsenal Pulp Press). Chris Kuzma and Ness Lee take us through the creative process of telling stories through art. Moderated by Andrew Townsend.   Great Books Marquee.

2:45-3:15pm: Digital Dystpia, feat. Cory Doctorow (Radicalized, TOR) and Karl Schroeder (Stealing Worlds, TOR). Across the Universe Stage

4:15-5:00pm: Toronto 2033, moderated by Jim Munroe (Sword of My Mouth, IDW) and featuring authors Zainab Amadahy, Madeline Ashby, and Mathew Borrett. Across the Universe Stage

Comics Related Exhibitors

TCAF, Page & Panel, and The Beguiling will anchor a great space featuring comics and graphic novels in the exhibitor area of Word on the Street, located near the Across The Universe Stage.

  • 310: TCAF, Page & Panel, The Beguiling
  • 318: Bedside Press
  • 319a: Tyler Mann Art
  • 319B: Friendship Edition
  • 319C: Kristen Kiomall-Evans
  • 320a: TO Comix Press
  • 320b: Read More Comix!
  • 320c: Spencer Afonso
  • 321a: CGhirardo
  • 321b: Te’Shawn Dyer
  • 321c: Group of 7 Comics
  • 323A: Ralph Del Mundo

Plus there’s tons of great comics to be found all across the Festival, with multiple publishers and more exhibitors in the kids area!

And much more!

We hope to see you out to The Word on the Street Festival, Sunday September 22nd! It’s a fun day of readings, presentations, musical performances (Sharon, Lois, and Bram!) and of course, comic books and graphic novels! See you there. 🙂

 

AUG 18: SCOTT PILGRIM 15TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY @ REVIVAL!

SCOTT PILGRIM 15th Anniversary Party
Feat. Author Bryan Lee O’Malley & Friends
Sunday, August 18th, 8pm-1am
@ Revival, 783 College Street, Toronto
Free to attend, No tickets required, first-come first-served

15 Years Ago, on August 18th, 2004, The Beguiling and Bryan Lee O’Malley threw a small shindig to celebrate the release of Bryan’s new graphic novel series, “Scott Pilgrim”. Now, after 6 volumes, a movie, a video game, SO MUCH fan art, 6 volumes in colour in hardcover, and now a complete box set of 3 softcover colour volumes, we wanna celebrate the series one more time.

We’re celebrating the 15th Anniversary of Scott Pilgrim Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, and you’re invited! Check out the 6pm Screening at The Royal Cinema (ticket link) and then come to the Free official party afterwards! Doors at 8pm! Bryan and pals will be at the afterparty, and the event will also feature a Cosplay contest (at 9:30pm), DJ, an on-stage presentation, and more surprises too! 🙂

Scott Pilgrim Graphic Novels available for sale in multiple formats at The Beguiling and Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop.

See ya August 18th!

Unfortunately this venue is not accessible, with 6 stairs at the door and washrooms in the basement.

SEP 21: RYAN NORTH: HOW TO INVENT EVERYTHING LAUNCH

RYAN NORTH: HOW TO INVENT EVERYTHING LAUNCH
Hosted by Daily Planet’s Anthony Morgan
Friday, Sep 21, 7pm-8pm
@ Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St.
Free, tickets required, click here

Ryan North is the New York Times-bestselling author of two chooseable-path Shakespeare books, “Romeo and/or Juliet” and “To Be or Not to Be”. He’s the creator of Dinosaur Comics and the Eisner Award-winning writer of “Adventure Time”, “Jughead”, and “The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” for Marvel Comics.

Ryan will discuss his latest graphic novel on the key technologies that made each stage of human civilization possible, “How to Invent Everything”, with Daily Planet’s Anthony Morgan.

Presented in partnership with TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival).

This event is part of the Appel Salon series at the TPL, where we present discussions and talks with the most exciting writers from around the world in our premier literary venue, the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon.

Go to tpl.ca/appelsalon to see upcoming events in this series.

This event is FREE, but you must register to attend. Get tickets at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ryan-north-how-to-invent-everything-tickets-48043573622?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Saturday November 18: Local Comic Shop Day @ The Beguiling and Page & Panel

It’s that time once again, as Local Comic Shop Day returns to brighten our store shelves with variants comics and special edition graphic novels.  The fun happens on Saturday, November 17th, from open to close at Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop, and The Beguiling.

What’s involved? Well, like we said, mostly just limited edition versions of existing work, and for the most part we won’t know until next week sometime how many of each item we’ll be getting. Here’s the full list of items:

LCSD 2017 4 KIDS WALK INTO A BANK HARD COVER
LCSD 2017 ANIMOSITY THE RISE HARD COVER
LCSD 2017 BATMAN HUSH 15TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION HARD COVER
LCSD 2017 BLACK HARD COVER
LCSD 2017 CALEXIT BANDANA
LCSD 2017 CAPTAIN AMERICA #695 SAMNEE VARIANT
LCSD 2017 COMIXTRIBE “THE BLACK BAG” w. SINK #1
LCSD 2017 JUSTICE LEAGUE VS SUICIDE SQUAD #1 (OF 6)
LCSD 2017 MAESTROS #1
LCSD 2017 OPTIMUS PRIME FIRST STRIKE #1
LCSD 2017 PLANET HULK HARD COVER
LCSD 2017 RICK & MORTY TREASURY EDITION
LCSD 2017 ROBOTECH KERSCHL SUPER PACK
LCSD 2017 SABAN POWER RANGERS BLIND BOX
LCSD 2017 SECRET WEAPONS DELUXE EDITION
LCSD 2017 SHERLOCK FRANKENSTEIN & LEGION OF EVIL #1
LCSD 2017 STAR WARS ADVENTURES #1
LCSD 2017 TALES FROM JOHNNY WANDER
LCSD 2017 WWE ROYAL RUMBLE PRINT
LCSD 2017 YOUNG TERRORISTS HC
You can see more info and images about each book at the Local Comic Shop Day website.
Otherwise, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for shopping with and otherwise supporting us and other comic shops year-round…!
– The Beguiling Staff

OCT 11: Queen Street Book Launch w/ Emmanuelle Chateauneuf

Queen Street Book Launch
With author Emmanuelle Chateuneuf
Wednesday, October 11th, 2017, 6pm-8pm
@ Page & Panel, 789 Yonge Street
Free to Attend!

Page & Panel is proud to host the launch of the new book QUEEN STREET from Emmanuelle Chateauneuf and Chapterhouse Press. Emmanuelle will be in store on the book’s release day, signing and sketching for fans! Hope to see you there!

ABOUT QUEEN STREET VOLUME ONE: 

Meet Aimee– an overworked junior partner at a prestigious law firm in Manila, Philippines. One storybook romance, four back-to-back flights, and nine years later, in the small of mind but big in spirit town, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, she now lives; still overworked. But as a lower class serial-full-timer and mother to her only child, Melodie– an intelligent and eccentric seven-year-old, whose big personality is only rivaled by her even bigger imagination. Join them and a cast of unlikely characters just as confused and lost, as they stumble blindly for twelve consecutive hours through the beautifully disastrous comedy of Life. Don’t miss this breakout semi-autobiographical slice of life tale from Emmanuelle Chateauneuf, depicting the modern world as seen through the eyes of a woman and a girl, navigating the meanings of family and purpose in the complexities of simply being alive.

Written and Illustrated by Emmanuelle Chateauneuf
96 pages, 6/8 | Black & White

EVENT: Chihiro Takeuchi Book Signing & Art Demonstration

Chihiro Takeuchi Book Signing & Art Demonstration
For her first English-Language Picture Book “Can You Find My Robot’s Arm” from 
Monday, October 2nd, 2017, 6pm-8pm
@ Page & Panel, 789 Yonge Street
Free to attend
Chihiro Takeuchi is a renowned paper cut artist living in Osaka, Japan. In 2015 and 2016, Chihiro was part of a select group of artists to exhibit at the prestigious Bologna Book Fair. She has created several books in Japanese, “Can You Find My Robot’s Arm?” is her first children’s picture book in English.
 
In addition to the private workshop that Chihiro is producing for Toronto Public Library, Chihiro will be doing a signing and in-store demonstration of her artistic paper-cut process at Page & Panel on Monday, October 2nd, from 6pm-8pm. All-ages are welcome to attend. Copies of her book “Can You Find My Robot’s Arm?” will be available for sale. 🙂
 
See you there!

SEP10: I KILL GIANTS SIGNING W/ JOE KELLY & KEN NIIMURA #TIFF17

JOE KELLY & KEN NIIMURA SIGNING!
The ‘I Kill Giants’ Team in Toronto for #TIFF17
Sunday, September 10th, 5pm-6:30pm
@ Page & Panel, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto
Free to attend

I KILL GIANTS is the brand new #TIFF17 debuting film based on the graphic novel from the Man Of Action Entertainment imprint of Image Comics, and by the creative team of Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura. Tickets are still available for several screenings at the TIFF website.

Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop and The Beguiling are proud to welcome Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura to a special signing event at Page & Panel on Sunday, September 10th, from 5pm-6:30pm. Copies of the I Kill Giants Graphic Novel, and other work by the creators, will be available for sale! As well, a special limited edition I Kill Giants print by Niimura has been produced!

In addition to their collaboration on I Kill Giants, both Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura are known for a number of other huge comics properties, including Joe Kelly’s beloved runs on Deadpool, JLA, and Uncanny X-Men, and Ken Niimura’s graphic novel Henshin and his work on Gotham Academy.

Both creators will be signing copies of all of their work. We are enforcing a limit of five signed items per person.

Tell your friends!

About Man of Action Entertainment/Joe Kelly

Man of Action Entertainment is the bi-coastal writers’ collective behind comic’s largest franchise characters as well as original characters published by their Man of Action imprint at Image Comics. The four met while working on Marvel and DC most prized franchises from Superman to X-Men and realized that they were stronger together. Their original creations include Ben 10, the $4.5 billion boys’ action franchise for which they’re also executive producing the new iteration, and Generator Rex, both for Cartoon Network. Dentsu handpicked them to create/write/executive produce the all new Mega Man  series that debuts on Cartoon Network next year. Man of Action launched Disney XD’s Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel’s Avengers Assemble as EXP/writers. Man of Action also created the characters and team Big Hero 6, featured in Disney/Marvel’s Academy Award®-winning feature and the only comic book IP to win that award.

In comics, Kelly’s Eisner-nominated I Kill Giants (illustrated by Ken Niimura) received numerous awards and accolades domestically and internationally including the “International Manga Award” in 2012 and was named the one of the “Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens” by the Young Adult Library Services Association upon its release. Now I Kill Giants is in post-production as a feature film with a script by Kelly and produced by Kelly, Man of Action Entertainment, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures, XYZ Films and UMedia. Kelly’s legendary Superman story, Action Comics #775: “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?” was turned into a hit DC Universe 2012 animated film, Superman vs. The Elite, scripted by Kelly. He’s long been credited with revising and revitalizing Deadpool and his creative thumbprint informed the characters, villains and origin story featured in the mega-hit film franchise.

Kelly’s  recent comic book projects  include the dark irreverent comedy, Bad DogFour Eyes, the genre-splicing revenge tale about dragon-fighting in depression-era Manhattan, and BANG!TANGO, a crime noir thriller that is violent, sexy, and perverse while simultaneously an examination of violence, sex, and perversion. Kelly also launched the New York Times Bestseller Spider-Man/Deadpool for Marvel. His MOA/Image series, Kid Savage, debuted in May and was Image’s FCBD selection in 2017.and his Kickstarter-funded short film, Poughkeepsie, debuts this year. Man of Action are the creator/producer/writers of current and upcoming live-action feature films and TV series based on their original comic books and graphic novels including I Kill Giants, Officer Downe, Kafka, The Crusades and The Great Unknown.

If you want to know more about Man of Action, you can follow them at their not-so-secret headquarters Online:  www.ManOfAction.TV Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/ManOfActionEnt

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/ManOfActionEnt and @JoeKellyMOA

ABOUT KEN NIIMURA

At the crossroads of Japanese, European and American comics, Ken Niimura has developed a dynamic, vibrant and humorous style of his own.

His breakthrough in the industry came with the publication of the acclaimed graphic novel, “I Kill Giants,” earning co-creators illustrator Niimura and writer Joe Kelly nominations for the prestigious Eisner Award and won the International Manga Award in 2012. “I Kill Giants” is now a soon-to-be released feature film.

Niimura is also the author of the short story collection “Henshin,” published originally in Japan by Shogakukan. His new series, “Umami,” is scheduled to launch this fall.

OCT 3: Patrick Kyle and GG – Signing and Book Launch @ The Beguiling

Koyama Press’ Patrick Kyle & GG – Signing & Book Launch
For the new books Everywhere Disappeared and I’m Not Here
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017, @ 7:30pm
@ The Beguiling, 319 College Street. Free to attend.

In conjunction with Koyama Press we’re pleased to announce the Toronto launch event for not one but TWO of CBC’s Fall 2017 “Canadian comics and graphic novels we can’t wait for,” Patrick Kyle’s Everywhere Disappeared and GG’s I’m Not Here!

Join us in-store at The Beguiling (319 College St) Tuesday, October 3rd at 7:30PM for a Q&A session followed by a signing with both artists. We’ll have tons of copies of both titles for your purchasing and receiving-signatures-in-said-purchased-copies pleasure (in fact copies are now available in-store!)

More details TBA!

About Patrick Kyle:
Patrick Kyle lives and works in Toronto, ON. He is the author of the graphic novels Black Mass (2012), Distance Mover (2014) and Don’t Come In Here (2016). At the 2016 Doug Wright Awards, he won the Pigskin Peters Award for New Comics #6 and 7.

About “Everywhere Disappeared”:
A keen observer of the absurd, Patrick Kyle’s stories defamiliarize the machinations of life, work and art with droll dialogue and his angular, humanely geometric drawing and sci-fi settings that recall set design more than satellite images. Kyle’s figures may be foreign, his settings strange, but his stories resonate deeply.

About GG:
GG lives and works in the small Canadian prairie city where she grew up during the 1980s. In this pre-Internet era, isolated geographically and culturally, drawing and making up stories was the means to connect to something more. It was romantic and lonely. In 2016 she was included in The Best American Comics edited by Roz Chast.

About “I’m Not Here”:
A young, second-generation woman wanders through her city and memories encountering the world through a camera’s lens; her independence pulled by the gravity of familial responsibility. She drifts until she encounters what could possibly be her potential self.

OCT 7: Chihiro Takeuchi Paper Cut Workshop

Chihiro Takeuchi in Toronto

Paper Cut Workshop Saturday, October 7, 2pm-4pm
@ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge
RSVP Required, details below

Gallery Display October 2nd-8th @ Page & Panel
In-store Appearance on October 2nd @ Page & Panel (Time TBD)

Chihiro Takeuchi is a renowned paper cut artist living in Osaka, Japan. In 2015 and 2016, Chihiro was part of a select group of artists to exhibit at the prestigious Bologna Book Fair. She has created several books in Japanese, “Can You wFind My Robot’s Arm?” is her first children’s picture book in English, out now from Penguin Random House Canada.

Join Chihiro for a paper cut workshop to create your own robot pop-up cards (first half) and mobile (second half). Recommended for ages 10 to adults. Younger siblings are welcome to attend with a parent helper!

Space in this program is limited. Register in advance to guarantee a spot by e-mailing takeuchipapercraft@outlook.com. Drop in spaces may be available if the program is not full.