Hey regular readers and FB followers, time to take a look at the many many things going down this month!
By Salgood Sam
Looking back a week ago I held the Second Annual Salon BD MTL, which kind of kicked off May for me. It went well I think! There’s the beginnings of it’s digital record posted here on FB, including some jam pages and photos.
I estimate 130+ attendees, Guests and Feature artists included, passed through the Salon doors! 55 pages of Comics Jams were started and completed, another 11 left half done. And we recorded two hours of round table talks which I’ll edit soon I hope. Hopefully many got to spend some time making new acquaintances in the comics scene.
I was a bit rushed around as host but enjoyed talking with my round table guests quite a bit! Have a few months before I have to make firm plans but we’ll probably do it again next year! :) Contact me if you’re interested in volunteering to help with it, we couldn’t have done it without the help of those who did this year, want to get an early start on organizing that for the next for sure.
Gives me an appreciation for what must go into putting on something like TCAF, VanCaf or FBDM//MCAF! All held this month! It’s a busy one, so crack out your calendars and take notes!
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is taking place May 14th & 15th in Toronto, with over 400 cartoonists scheduled to attend from more than a dozen countries. I can’t make it myself this year sadly, but attend if you can, and the week of readings, launches, and art events that culminate in the massive, FREE, two-day exhibition at Toronto Reference Library! Decidedly one of North America’s most important comics events now. It includes the annual Doug Wright Awards as well! The official 2016 kick-off event sounds like a must attend, “The Graphic Novel Revolution, and how it changed comics.”
VanCAF is a Free to attend celebration of comics, illustration, and art with 250+ artists, writers, and publishers from the comic industry exhibiting their work and sitting on panels, It’s May 21 & 22 at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre in Vancouver! I was a guest last year and it’s a really lovely event, great selection of local talent joined by a lot of International and trans-Canadian names! I highly recommend it!
And Montreal rounds it out with the 5th FBDM held on 27, 28, May 29! The event is held OUTDOORS, at Espace La Fontaine, in the heart of La Fontaine Park. Sunscreen or rain hats, under a big tent and inside a nice events space found there. More than 130 Quebec and international authors join 40 publishers and local retailers to enjoy Exhibitions of original art–a show is already hung and will be up the whole month!–and events and activities for all ages. I’ll be hosting one of the workshops myself. And again, this festival is Free to attend!
Top that off with the HAL-CON Free Comic Book Day event on the east coast this weekend, Conundrum press’s 20th anniversary celebrations in Montreal and Toronto, and the 20×20: Twenty Years of Conundrum Press art show already showing (May 4-29) at Monastiraki! The book launch of Richard Suicide’s launch of ‘MÉCHANT FAR WEST, tome 1 : LE MÉCHANT QUI VOULAIT ÊTRE PIRE‘, published by children’s lit newcomer Monsieur Ed, May 15 11am to 1pm at Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, and that’s something EVERY weekend somewhere In Canada Free to go to!
This past weekend as well, was the Calgary Expo which I hear went swimmingly. And in Ottawa the next ComicCon falls on May 13th & 15th!
Ok, here’s some more comics news, collected from the FB page feed! Follow us there for a more timely stream of Canadian comics culture.
Item! – Check out this classic Dave Cooper painting! On it Dave shared this news: “this was one of my old paintings that the director of my upcoming short really liked. they used it as a colour guide for some of the scenes. and they totally nailed it! THE ABSENCE OF EDDY TABLE, coming soon!” Links: Torden Film page; Dave’s blog posts about the production; 2014 ‘first look’ stills; imdb.com; Kort Film Festival entry:
Item! – Conundrum Press gets some great early reviews and coverage of their anniversary and new anthology. Youth oriented CultMTL says the anthology is “…essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the anglo Montreal arts scene and Canadian underground culture more broadly“. The Montreal Review of Books calls it “…a fascinating archive – and a beautiful object, with cover art by Jillian Tamaki – not only because of the diversity and uniqueness of the work it showcases, but in terms of the perspective it offers…“. And Quill & Quire declares “Conundrum is now one of the most respected and acclaimed graphic novel publishers in the country…“!
Item! – Notable Canadian, Cecil Castellucci was LA Weekly’s Star Wars expert for May the Fourth!
Item! – Éditions Pow Pow shared photos of their trip to the Salon du livre du Grand Sudbury.
Item! – Elaine M. Will is participating in two free events in Prince George, BC, on Thursday May 12th 2016. At the Prince George Native Friendship Centre for an Arts Fair (1PM – 4PM) and a Mental Health in the Arts Panel and Q&A (7PM – 9PM). Both events are free and kindly hosted, organised & facilitated by Canadian Mental Health Association.
Item! – And Cuckoo’s Nest Press‘ Mark Armstrong Allard guest blogs on the topic of writing comics here!
Item! – The Fader profiles Koyama Press, posting “How A Tiny Toronto Press Found Success Through Diversity“, which talks about how the publishing house made its name by breaking all the rules!
Item! – The 3rd annual “Ting Comic and Graphic Arts Festival 2016”, held its opening reception April 30th, and is now open at the Arts Project (203 Dundas St.), until May 21st! Here’s some pics!
Ok, that’s it for now!
See you in the Funny Pages Canada!
