My great big attention-whoring, histrionic-filled blog post about ello, and you won’t believe what happens next

THIS BETA PIECE OF SOFTWARE DOES NOT LIVE UP TO MY BASELESS EXPECTATIONS.

AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE, I BELIEVE IT IS LIKELY THAT THIS SOFTWARE WILL DISAPPOINT ME, AND SO I AM LEAVING IT NOW.

THE FUNDING MECHANISM OF THIS BETA PIECE OF SOFTWARE IS NON-EXISTENT! BY WHICH I MEAN IT HAS NOT YET BEEN IMPLEMENTED OR TESTED. THEREFORE, IT WILL FAIL AND I AM LEAVING IT.

OH, AND IT’S UGLY, TOO.

ello.com/comics212

 

ShootTokyo

I’m enjoying this photo blog, ShootTokyo. I actually discovered it through Kickstarter, the proprietor was Kickstarting a book of his photos and it looked cool and so I backed it. As I spend more time on his site, I become ever more impressed with his shots and how evocative they are of the city, and its many moods.

Photo from http://shoottokyo.com/.

Nakameguro-14

America X England X Japan X France

Shockingly, I’ll be travelling soon.

I know, I know, I’m always travelling, it seems, but I’m really excited about these next 4-5 months, as there’s gonna be a lot of cool stuff happening. Basically, all of my dreams for TCAF, of repping awesome Canadian comics to the world are coming true, and it’s great and I’m stoked.

Next weekend I’m off to SPX – The Small Press Expo in Maryland for the first time since 2005. I’m running Coach House’s table, and they are the publishers of a very important ‘lost’ classic called THE CAGE by Martin Vaughn James as well as a book of writing by critic Jeet Heer called IN LOVE WITH ART, about Art Spiegelman. We’ll also have some cool TCAF books there, so if you’ll be at the show please stop by and say hi! I’ll be at table J2.

Then in October, I’m headed back for the second year of The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, in Kendal, England, which runs from the 17th through the 19th. I got to attend last year and it was great fun (I still have to write up that trip…) and I’m excited to head back for another go. I’ll be hosting a few panels at the event, shaking hands, kissing babies, and hopefully inviting a few folks over to TCAF.

Moving along to November, and TCAF will once again be exhibiting at Kagai Manga Festa / International Comic Festival, Japan’s only event for international comics. TCAF will have 3-4 tables, repping Canadian cartoonists and books, and it should be great fun. The event is on Sunday, November 23rd, but we’ll be there for a few days before and about a week after. We’re still open to Cartoonists who want to exhibit with us at the show, head over to the TCAF site to read about it.

Then, I’m quite pleased to announce that TCAF will make its first showing at the Angouleme International Comics Festival in Angouleme, France, January 27 to Feb 1. Angouleme is one of the bigger and more important comics events in the world, it’s quite exciting to finally get to attend! I’m honestly not sure of the shape of the trip just yet, we’re still working out the finer points. 😉

Anyway, now you’re up to date! If you want to say hello while I’m in your neck of the woods, drop me a line!

Best,

– Christopher

Image by Gary Sherman

R.I.P.: Awesome Sneakers,
2011-2014

I found you in 2011, in Tokyo.

You were a replacement; I was on the rebound from my last love… You were busier, flashier, but still the same beautiful shade, like a cheap glass of red wine. You were a compromise, I admit.

I didn’t love you at first.

As I sit in this hotel room in Seattle, my flight home inching ever closer and the good night’s sleep I’d promised myself getting ever-more-distant, I feel I owe you more than simply leaving you behind in the morning.

adidas

This isn’t the first time we’ve broken up. Or tried to. 4 or 5 others have come into my life, and each time I thought they were the one, but I always came back to you. You were comfortable, even at the beginning, but now you’re like a second skin. Whenever I was given the choice, I chose you. I hated myself for it, as you fell further and further apart.

This time, we’re done. For real.

You finally gave out on me, and gave up on me. I ended up getting hurt (and wet), so I’m getting over you. Getting rid of you, for good.

Despite it all, what we had is special. I mean, we traveled, we did amazing things, we met wonderful people. We’ve been back to Tokyo 5 times together, and to England, and all over America. It was real. I’ll miss it. But I’d rather fondly remember the good times than sully those memories with what you’ve become.

So thank you, and goodbye.

– Christopher

P.S.: I found someone new—they’re Japanese too, what’re the odds? XOXO

adidas_new

Furuya Usumaru
X Inio Asano

In my absence, a great blog sprung up called Mangabrog, the proprietor of which has been translating Japanese-language interviews with manga into English for us poor non-Japanese-reading fans. Truly, God’s Work.

I’ve now availed myself of all of the site’s treasures, but I gotta say I loved this just-posted interview between Furuya Usamaru (Lychee Light Club, Genkaku Picasso) and Inio Asano (Solanin, Nijigahara Holograph) from Erotics F magazine volume 79.  Here’s a great bit:

Asano: If you were to ask me what my aim has been with the manga I’ve made up until now, I’d say that I’ve inevitably been making stuff that I myself like — but since I imagine there are a lot of people like me, I figured I could count on there being a decent number of people out there who’ll be able to “get” my manga. The problem, though, is if my readers are people are like me, and I don’t really like people who are similar to me, then that means that I dislike my readers.

Furuya: They do say that people tend to dislike people similar to themselves.

Asano: That’s what it is—it’s hard to like someone when you can see through them like that. I understand the reason people read my manga, what they like about it and what they’re going to eventually dislike about it, so I just can’t fully accept my readers. Hence my urge to mess with them.

The whole interview is fantastic–it’s very honest, and goes into great detail on the creative side of things too.

As for the rest of the site, I’m absolutely loving the two Taiyo Matsumoto interviews that are there, two more interviews with Asano, Daisuke Igarashi, Hiroki Samura, the dude who does Gantz… haha. It’s an awesome site that seems to exist solely for me to enjoy, so I hope you’ll make it more-real by sharing it with me.

http://mangabrog.wordpress.com/

– Chris

9784778321864 (1)

 

 

Suddenly, Everything Has Changed

Long story short: My wordpress install for comics212 corrupted in some unknowable way, and could wordpress could no longer be updated except manually, which is a pain in the behind. This necessitated a full reinstall. It meant that everything might break. It means a fresh start.

I’d had my previous site design, my previous, gorgeous site design, for many many years. Nadine Lessio did a lovely job of it, but no web design is meant to last that long and it’s a testament to how solid it was that it lasted as long as it did. I used to redesign my site every week, when I was on blogger. By hand. Nadine’s lasted for 5 or 6 years, I think. Thank you, Nadine.

This blog had very much started to feel like a relic of a previous version of myself. It was written by the guy who was passionate about the worlds of comics and manga, who blogged with that swanky red-white-and-blue design for years. It was nostalgic visiting my blog. That’s awful, in a whole hell of a lot of ways.

So, a fresh start.

I’m hoping it leads somewhere.

– Christopher

2013

It was a very good year and a very tough year, all things considered. I am very fortunate though, that the highs of the year were spectacularly high, that I got to see as much of the world as I did, and that I have a good man to share it with.

Here’s a little of my 2013, and here’s to all of us having a good 2014.

– Chris

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November


December

See ya in 2014!

Apply for Slate’s “The Cartoonist Studio Prize”

Last year, The Slate Book Review and The Center for Cartoon Studies teamed to create The Cartoonist Studio Prize. It’s actually two, $1000 prizes awarded to cartoonists for their graphic novel or their web comic of the year. Eligible works are English language, published between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year.

They’re continuing the award this year! http://www.cartoonstudies.org/index.php/studio-prize/

I’m very happy to announce that I was asked to be the featured guest judge this year, and I’ll work with Dan Kois of Slate, and James Sturm and the faculty of the Center for Cartoon Studies, to determine a winner. I’m also very glad that it’s a largeish group deciding on the best book, as it will minimize the recrimination. 🙂

If you’re interested in submitting your work for consideration, head to http://www.cartoonstudies.org/index.php/studio-prize/ and check out the appropriate forms.

Thanks to Dan, James, and everyone for the opportunity. 🙂

– Christopher

And I’m Off…!

Hey folks,

If you’re reading this I’m travelling right now. If you’d like to say hello while I’m in your neck of the woods, drop me a line at chris at beguiling dot com.

Here’s where I’ll be:

Oct 15-17, 2013: Manchester, England

Oct 18-21, 2013: Kendal, England. Lakes International Comic Arts Festival

October 23-November 10, 2013: Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Sapporo) Various Events

I’ll be a guest of The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, which you can find out more about here: http://www.comicartfestival.com/

TCAF will be exhibiting at Kaigai Manga Festa in Tokyo Japan, and I’ll be there just after for some of the follow-up events. You can find out about that here: http://torontocomics.com/news/tcaf-to-japan-kaigai-manga-festa-october-20th-2013/

All in all, I’ll be travelling for about a month, and completely circumnavigating the globe for the first time! I’m beyond thrilled, and very fortunate to be able to do some cool things and spread the good word of comics all over the globe. I still feel, too, that the best is yet to come. 🙂

Thanks for reading,

– Christopher