Hello!
So I am a little sleepy still but feel good, TCAF went well. I want to blog though, but starting a post at 1:00am is probably a bad idea, I do actually have to go back to work tomorrow for reelz. Next weekend is Anime North, which, believe it or not, actually takes more out of me than TCAF does… I think it’s because TCAF is ultimately an energizing thing for me, whereas AN is a purely retail experience. Which is fine, but it doesn’t have that community/rally/prostelityzing component that makes me come off of TCAF feeling good.
Speaking of, I think I sort of half mentioned it, but Open Book Toronto (an advocacy group for Canadian/Ontarian/Torontonian Publishing) has declared it “Graphic Novel Month” here in Ontario, and is doing all kinds of coverage of Canadian graphic novelists, publishers, and festivals (heh), through a specially-set-up website called Whazamo! You can find them at http://www.openbooktoronto.com/whazamo.
Today, their TCAF wrap-up video got linked on Boing Boing courtesy of Cory Doctorow (who was at the show this year). So yeah, we got BoingBoing’d, which is lovely and I’m very appreciative to Mr. Doctrow for the coverage and attention. And thanks to Ian Daffern for putting the piece together in the first place–I owe you a beer.
I’m sure I’ll end up doing a more thorough TCAF wrap-up piece, probably this weekend. I also really want to review a bunch of the books I was able to pick up this year. I actually got two pages of art, 3 posters/prints, and like 30-40 books this year, which is amazing considering that in 2007 I walked away with like… nothing. So yeah, tons and tons of great-looking work to talk about too.
Weirdest thing post-TCAF is being back at The Beguiling Wednesday and having a customer ask me for “Blackest Night #0”, which feels like it came out forever ago, now, and it’s a reminder that for two weeks I participated in both a comics medium AND a comics industry that had almost nothing to do with the superhero mainstream. I know that it’ll seem weird to a bunch of my readers, but there are artistically and economically thriving areas of comics that don’t have anything to do with Diamond, Marvel, or DC. It’s weird to be dropped back into that, but it’s good to know, to keep some perspective on the whole thing.
Anyway, barring incident, back up to speed shortly! But until then, everyone go read some good comic books.
– Christopher
Thanks for helping make TCAF so memorable. I had a great time out in Toronto– and it was nice to meet you and Peter finally. Looking forward to chatting more at the next one.
My mega-Tatsumi recap post is up on on Same Hat:
http://samehat.blogspot.com/2009/05/tcaf-meeting-yoshihiro-tatsumi_15.html
With more about TCAF earlier this week (and coming this weekend!)
Thanks again!
You might still have time to change it to “Doctorow” before he sees it 😉 I tried to spot him but the library was so (awesomely) crowded. Great event this year!!!
Thank you.
Show was awesome as usual, Chris. You and your team are easily the best in the biz for making such a massive undertaking seem so effortless. Wrote about it on my LJ a fair bit, and I’m still carrying around the good vibe I got from it all…
Thanks again for a great weekend!!
No rest. Make with the blogging!
Seriously though you’ve probably earned a good holiday.
Chris thank you so much for that, again! I’m sorry we didn’t get to complete being Blackberry friends. Next time.
Seriously, man. Dang.
I had a lot of fun…
I got a chance to chat with Svetlana Chmakova O///O
Definitely memorable!!
This year was the best comics festival experience I’ve had by far! Congrats on a great yeah, Chris!
Thanks so much for all your hard work, Chris. I had a great time and was amazed at all the really excellent comics that I hadn’t known about before!
I don’t have a table this time, but I’ll probably be dropping by Anime North on Saturday. I’ll come say hello.
I read a lot of the coverage and checked out various photo blogs and Flickr sites and I’m so sad I couldn’t be there! It looked like an amazing show. That it was held in the Toronto Public Library makes me want to visit! Chris, you and Peter and all your volunteers put on a truly great show from what I can tell.
Thank you very, very, very much. You rock!
You might still have time to change it to “Doctorow” before he sees it 😉 I tried to spot him but the library was so (awesomely) crowded. Great event this year!!!