Little Love Monster

I decided on a whim to go to TCAF.
Why?
Well I guess I’m just whimsical.

OR because I so desperately want to become part of comics culture and my attempts at that have been tallied up to going to ONE convention thus far in my life, and that just wasn‘t going to cut it. That and my good friend Ty Dunitz let me invade his homespace in Toronto for the weekend.

The day I arrived it was cold, grey and wet. Perfect. Also, the border control sneered at me when I replied that ‘comics’ was the reason why I was entering their fair country. Maybe I have crazy ‘I’m going to invade you!’ American eyes, I just can’t be trusted.

I woke up at 5:30 a.m , ready to start the day. TCAF wasn’t starting until 9 a.m, and I had all my energy built up for it so it was impossible for me to go back to sleep and get some well needed rest until it was actually time to make merry. I ate Sandwiches and Chocolate waiting for a respectable hour to arrive.

When the time finally came it was raining and miserable outside.

And glory behold! The Toronto Reference Library!

Magnificent. Friendly volunteers greeted us with festival programs, people bustling in and out of the show , new purchases in hand or already being read in a huddled corner.

Frankly, lil’ ol’ me was overwhelmed. The comic scene isn’t too big where I’m from, my city is governed by tourists and a magical mouse.

Since I had made the decision to attend  literally 26 hours beforehand, I wasn’t too well prepared or informed as to what books would be making debuts, who all would be there and what they would have. I am awful.

But this led me to make fun discoveries on my own, without any influence of outside media.

TCAF was on two floors, the first being the ‘main floor’, which also had a Publisher’s Pavilion in one of the smaller side rooms.

I love it when artists have their original pages out on display. It feels like I’m doing covert studies and spying on them, gathering information about their process and then borrowing bits to later apply to my own work.

One thing that I like to do when I can’t decide on what book to buy, I just flat out ask the creator

“ Which one of your books is your favorite?”

Sometimes I’ll get an immediate answer and a proud point to their little paper offspring, other times it can take a few seconds and they’ll deliberate out loud the pros and cons of the different books they have.

My favorite purchases this weekend were a result of that question, from Vicki Nerino and Britt Wilson , who together make up The Uterus Parade Press. Miss Wilson couldn’t come up with a direct answer, but had one of the best ones anyways. “Well, I had the most fun making this one”

Quick Note- The 5 Dollar bills in Canada look like Spock.

The second floor was the Webcomics pavillion , which housed an independent gaming section, a zine room and hey! Webcomic artists.

Here-in lies my one critique for the convention layout plan.

To get to the web comics pavilion room you had to pass through the book signing area, populated by comic legends and fans alike. I felt awkward having to walk just in front of someone who was waiting in line to get their book signed by their favorite author. I mean, they were just a few steps away from their idol, getting mentally prepared to say the speech that they’ve been practicing in front of the mirror in order to not come off like a complete crazy person and then WOOSH- here comes this little girl waltzing right in front of them to get to the comic room and their concentration is completely broken and now their favorite creator hates them because the first thing they said was an insult directed at said girl (me)  but it was within clear ear shot to the comic legend sitting behind the table and they got the wrong impression and called security to kick them out for being hostile.

I mean that’s just poor planning. But hey, I to a comic convention without business cards or mini comics to hand out. So we’ll leave it at that.

The web comics room was where most of my money stayed- yes, a lot of things found there could be read for  free online, but there were also oh so many things that the creators are putting out as extras or con specials that one can’t help but just feel like a kid in a candy store.

I was most excited to purchase Lucy Kinsley’s ‘Make Yourself Happy’ she claims that it is “ A little self-pub book fulla 220 pages of my comics! My annual “let’s find a print home for all these stray comics” project” I have been a fan of hers for many years but never had the chance to meet her in person. It’s so nice when someone you admire turns out to be extremely nice and friendly!

She was offering watercolour comissions so I had to splurge. I need things to decorate my non-existent new apartment with. Moving is going to be so much fun.

To exit the second floor area, the foot traffic was directed through the Zine room. I know nothing about Zines or Zine Culture. And I didn’t really expand my horizons in that front this weekend either. But it was a very clean room and very colorful.

I didn’t attend any of the panels at TCAF  because,
1) As previously mentioned, I was up before dawn and by 4 p.m I was ready to crash.
2) This was my first time in Canada and wanted to spend some time with friends and see a little bit of the city besides the Library. So I went to an art store.

My evening was spent slurping ramen noodles, while pouring over the pages from the new books I had purchased. I don’t read them first, I just enjoy looking at the lines.

Because this trip was a whim, I have to stick to certain rules. Those rules are set by my wallet, and my wallet needed me to leave Canada early the second day of TCAF. I went to do a quick sweep through of things that I had missed the first time around, and introduced myself and my highly forgettable name.

My last purchase was Phil McAndrew’s ‘Are you Man enough?’ I’m sure he has sold it at previous conventions that he’s attended, but again, this is new and exciting ground for me.

So, Thank You Comics, Thank You Canada.

I forgive your awful weather.