General

Chester Brown Runs Again

Chester Brown, friend of The Beguiling and author of award winning Louis Riel and highly anticipated Paying For It, is again running as MP for the Libertarian Party in the Trinity-Spadina riding here in Toronto. In the 2008 federal election Chester received .8% of the vote, the second highest vote percentage of any Libertarian Party candidate in the country!

Coincidentally The Beguiling is throwing a release party for Chester’s new book Paying For It the night before the election. So, whether you’ve enjoyed his work for years or you’ve just discovered his comics through his political career, come on out May 1st for a good time.

PAYING FOR IT – Book Launch & Party
Hosted by NOW Magazine’s Sasha Von Bon Bon
7:30, Sunday, May 1st at Goodhandy’s

See the Event Announcement for details.

General

Free Comic Book Day & TCAF & The Mini-Maker Faire & More…

Hey everyone,

Christopher Butcher of The Beguiling and TCAF here. Hope you enjoyed (are enjoying?) your holiday weekend!

TCAF: So, I have a couple of things to let you know about. First and foremost, TCAF: The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, is coming up in just under two weeks–May 7th and 8th to be precise. This is the third year in a row that we’ve decided to hold TCAF on Mother’s Day weekend because, frankly, no other North American comic book event has ever counter-programmed Mother’s Day weekend. We’re cool because, hey, cool Moms like comics! And most brunch/dinner events don’t tend to overlap with TCAF’s programming hours. So, as in years past, come out for TCAF and/or one of the many awesome events we’re holding, and check out the full (and still-being-updated) schedule at http://torontocomics.com/events/.

Free Comic Book Day: But because of this, unfortunately, The Beguiling will not be participating in Free Comic Book Day this year. Let me explain:

So remember how I mentioned that, previously, no North American comic book event had counter-programmed Mother’s Day Weekend? Well there’s a first time for everything! This year, the annual Free Comic Book Day comic specialty store marketing event is actually the same weekend as Mother’s Day, and TCAF. FCBD is held on “The First Saturday in May” every year and this ended up being May 7th, the first time ever it was held on Mother’s Day weekend, and so… well, frankly it takes all of our resources at the store to make TCAF a success. The show is run by all of us at the store and a team of great volunteers on top of that, and we just didn’t have the time or staff to run both events.

We’re sorry about this, I for one actually love Free Comic Book Day as an event, and we try to go all-out every year doing outreach into the wider community on behalf of comics. Luckily, there are still a bunch of great Toronto retailers doing Free Comic Book Day events this year, including Paradise Comics at: http://tinyurl.com/68zhmbo. You can also check the official Free Comic Book Day website at http://freecomicbookday.com/ to see which stores in your area are participating.

Mini Maker Faire + More: And that’s the great thing about living in Toronto–every weekend there are dozens of amazing events happening. Festivals and fairs, gallery openings and closings, movies, concerts, readings, sales, and so much more. Another amazing event happening the May 7-8 weekend is the Toronto Mini Maker-Faire, a celebration of making, crafting, DIY-ing, tinkering, hacking and sharing. It’s a weekend where makers of all kinds will show off their projects and hold how-to workshops, with hands-on activities for all ages. It’s going to be great fun, and it’s the kind of thing that–if I weren’t running TCAF–I’d be at all weekend to check out. For more info go ahead and check out http://makerfairetoronto.ca.

Toronto’s Pretty Cool: While we are going to have a jam-packed, comic-book filled weekend at TCAF, there should still be time for you to slip away and check out the Maker Faire, Free Comic Book Day, or any of the other great comics/crafting/diy/arts events going on May 7th and May 8th. We at TCAF and The Beguiling wish nothing but the best of luck and support to all of our friends in the arts community, and we hope everyone has bustling, busy, and successful events!

Sincerely,

Christopher Butcher, The Beguiling & The Toronto Comic Arts Festival

General

Shipping April 27th, 2011

The following comics and graphic novels are scheduled to ship The Beguiling Books and Art on Wednesday April 27th, 2011. All Prices listed in U.S. Funds. Variant prices are wrong. See in-store for prices.

Click here for the complete list: http://www.beguiling.com/110427shipping.txt

The Beguiling Recommends


Scott Pilgrim w/Sword 6″ Action Figure – $13.99
Scott Pilgrim w/ Guitar 6″ Action Figure – $13.99
We know, we know, we’re not really an action figure store. A “Toy” Store. But we’ve been known to make exceptions, and did anyone think that we weren’t going to get in these absolutely incredible-looking Scott Pilgrim figures from Mezco? $13.99 each, or buy the set for $24.99!

You’re probably going to need to marker in the band logos onto those two shirts on your own though.

– Chris @ The Beguiling

General

New DVDs & Blu-Ray now in stock

We just got a bunch of new DVD and Blu-Ray, at some pretty solid prices. Here’s the list:

Blu-Ray
Burst Angel: Complete Collection
Casshern Sins: Part One
Casshern Sins: Part Two
Evangelion 1.11
Evangelion 2.22
FLCL Complete Series
Full Metal Panic FUMOFFU Complete Series
Full Metal panic! Complete Series
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Summer Wars
Walking Dead Season One

Standard DVD
Castle In The Sky Special Edition
Fullmetal Alchemist – The Movie
Howl’s Moving Castle
Ponyo
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Tales from Earthsea
Walking Dead Season One

– Chris @ The Beguiling

Reviews

Review: Solanin

Title: Solanin
Writer: Inio Asano
Artist: Inio Asano
Publisher: VIZ Media
Published: 2008

Review by Derek Halliday

What is it about?

A close knit group of friends deal with the awkward transition from their carefree highschool life into responsible adulthood in Tokyo, experiencing the triumph, tragedy, and compromise of growing up.

Why is it good?

The one aspect of manga that I’ve always struggled with is its accessiblity. A lot of manga requires a bit of cultural shorthand or being ‘in the know’ as it were, and this is fine; in fact it’s part of the mystique and allure of manga, but to the uninitiated it can be daunting, and as a retailer trying to sell a potential new reader on an unfamiliar medium, it’s sometimes a tough sell.

The strength of Solanin is that it’s a recognizable and univeral story that deals with that awkward transition twenty somethings go through as the world pressures them to grow up; even moreso in Japan, were the expectations are even greater, and the pressure to get a job and start contributing to society immense. There is precious little time to pursue a dream before coming to the sad conclusion that you may have missed your chance.

Solanin, coming in at a hefty 425 pages (which is big even for manga), follows a close knit group of friends as they make a last ditch effort to ‘make it’ before finally giving up on their dreams of Rock and Roll stardom. The pressure mounts as a self-imposed deadline looms; the point at which their money runs out and adulthood becomes a necessity that can no longer be put off.

Gorgeously illustrated, loose, lively, characters dance through uncommonly lush, detailed, backgrounds and widescreen, cinematic, storytelling that inspires awe and tugs at the heartstrings, it is not an exaggeration to call Solanin an impressive first work from Asano-Sensei, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite mangaka. His humor ranges from wry to absurd, and he knows how to provoke an emotional response, making you swell with his characters triumphes, and weep at their tragedies.

An impressive and accessible standalone work, I’d recommend Solanin to anyone that hasn’t read manga before as a good introduction.

—

You can find Solanin in store at The Beguiling, or you can buy it online at beguiling.com.

General

EASTER HOLIDAY HOURS

It kinda snuck up on us that it was Easter this weekend. Whoops! We’ll be on Holiday hours for Friday, Sunday, and Monday.

Fri April 22 – 12pm – 6pm
Sat April 23 – 11am – 7pm
Sun April 24 – 12pm – 6pm
Mon April 25 – 12pm-6pm

Have a good holiday!

– Chris