2007 – The Year Ahead!

A handy guide to stalking me…
http://www.torontocomics.com/tcaf

So my first piece of advice for 2007? Don’t get sick, ever. I’m currently behind on every single project I’m involved in. Some only minimally, some massively, and one in particular I may have completely blown. If you’re reading this Anne, I’m sorry…

Things are shaping up for the year though, with lots of freelance in the offing (writing, lettering, whatever) and lots of other big plans. I figured it’s been long enough without a post that I better do something, and writing up my schedule for the year will be nice for both of us, dear reader. Maybe you’ll learn something about me!

January 29th: New Blog – Keep your eyes peeled Monday, and make sure to update your RSS feeds.

February 20th: Bryan Lee O’Malley at TPL – As part of Toronto’s Keep Toronto Reading month, The Toronto Public Library is bringing in library-friendly graphic novelist Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim) to do an on-stage interview/presentation that I might be co-hosting? It’s at 6:30pm at North York Central Library, but I’ll be inundating you with reminders about that soon enough… I’m going to see if I can talk him into previewing the first chapter of Scott Pilgrim 4 there, which will make it a can’t-miss event. View the schedule of events at http://www.keeptorontoreading.ca/

February 22nd-26th: New York Comic Con – I’ll be participating at a couple of panels at this year’s NYCC and blogging from the floor again. It should be a lot of fun, I think. The only announced panel appearance so far is “The Buyers Panel” retailers-only programming on the 22nd. I think I’ll be on a few though, and wandering around for the rest of the time. Oh, and speaking of wandering around, I’ve got the better-part of a day to kill on Monday, so if anyone wants to hang out lemmie know. http://www.nycomiccon.com

February 27th: COMICS FESTIVAL 2007! Orders due – The last Tuesday in February is the last day that retailers can place their orders for COMICS FESTIVAL 2007, the Free Comic Book Day Offering that I’m co-editing with Chip Zdarsky. Darwyn Cooke, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Hope Larson, and many, many more contributors. Plus the book will be half-colour, and feature one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in a FCBD comic, a secret I don’t wanna give away just yet. Comics Festival 2007 is going to be the book to get on FCBD, believe-you-me. Please make sure to tell your retailer that you wanna see copies of this one in… Going up against 45 other comics is kind of… completely insane, and not every retailer is going to splurge on every book. Thanks!

May 5th: Free Comic Book Day – We’ll be doing another big event at The Beguiling! Plus, hopefully Comics Festival 2007 will be available nationwide!

May 25th-27th: Anime North Toronto – The biggest show that we at The Beguiling do all year. It really is something to see, and I think we’re gonna try and do something a little different and a little stupid at AN this year (good-stupid) to up the ante. Last year we brought Ryan North, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and Kean Soo to the event and had a book-launch for Ryan and Mal that weekend. This time out, I’m sure we can come up with something better/crazier and really promote the hell out of TCAF too. http://animenorth.com/

June 8th-10th: Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon – This is the not-evil mainstream comics show in Toronto. Guests include Terry Moore, Matt Wagner, Kaare Andrews, and many more. The Beguiling will be set up as per usual with a good mix of stuff, and a great time is generally had by all attendees at this event. http://www.torontocomicon.com/

June 22nd-24th: MoCCA Art Festival in New York – I never miss a chance to attend MoCCA, as it combines a ton of great comics creators with NEW YORK CITY, and who would want to miss-out on that? Plus, I’ve got my own Fest to promote two months later. I will say that MoCCA is just an amazing show to attend, busy and fun but also surrounded on all sides by business and fun too (not to mention the food). If you’ve never been, it’s worth going. If you can only go to one east-coast show though, uh, scroll down two-entries. http://www.mocca-ny.org

July 5th: I’m turning 30. I’m hoping to throw a bigger party than we did for the wedding. You? Invited!

July 26th-29th: San Diego Comic Con – It’s pretty-much guaranteed that I’ll be at San Diego this year, although I felt a bit aimless at last year’s without being tethered to a booth. Maybe I just need to psych myself up a little more for this one? 4 days though and I still don’t feel like I saw it all… http://www.comic-con.org

August 18th & 19th: The Toronto Comic Arts Festival – Oh, you so totally have to come, it’s going to be amazing. We’re holding it this time out in a 100 year old University building! Three floors! Hundreds of guests! An amazing kick-off party on Friday night! It’s kind of like a non-stop, 3 day party I guess, though I don’t unclench until Sunday night at about 9pm. Details at http://www.torontocomics.com/tcaf. Expect the 2007 website to go live soon, with our preliminary guestlist (note: it’s pretty darned great if you’re a fan of this blog…)

After: It looks like I’m going to Japan in the fall with my hubby for a delayed honeymoon, which will be great. JAPAN. Yay! Also, Christmas, but that one might be just a little too-far-away to think about.

Anyway, thanks for reading this little trip through the future. Here’s hoping you’ll catch me at one of these events and we can raise a glass or two…!

– Christopher