MAY 2011 TOUR DIARY, Part Two: TCAF

Click here for Part One

I woke up Friday and Met Canadian stalwart Dave Lapp at The Beguiling, where we happened to run into the great Julia Wertz and Sarah Glidden.  Dave and I went to brunch and I made plans to meet up with Sarah and Julia later.

The Beguiling -- one of the world's great comics shops.

Dave Lapp and John P.

Chili for breakfast.

Toronto street scenes...

Spadina Avenue.

L-R: John P., Sarah Glidden, Lisa Hanawalt (Photo by Julia Wertz).  You don't want to know what we were talking about!

Afterwards I headed over the the TCAF venue for a roundtable discussion with Chester Brown, Adrian Tomine, Seth, and Chris Ware (Moderated by Picturebox's Dan Nadel).  Wow.

Walking home Friday night.

Spit and a Half table, TCAF Day One.

Tom Devlin sells the shit out of some Chris Ware.

La Mano magnate Zak Sally busts ass on his Blackberry.

La Pasteque table.  Beautiful!

Mademoiselles Sarah Glidden and Julia Wertz.

Edie Fake at the Secret Acres table.

Super-Canadian Dave Lapp.

Tugboat Press' Greg Means.

"I love Canada THIS much!"

Saturday crowd, as seen from the staircase.

Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong at the Koyama Press mega-table.

Dinner at Fresh Saturday evening.  Clockwise from top left: Sparkplug's Dylan Williams, Tom Neely, John P., Zak Sally.

Sunday I was tailed for Austrian TV.

Mr. Chester Brown.

Mon ami Pascal Girard with his Doug Wright Award.

The inimitable Annie Koyama.

Out on the street for a living:  Lisa Hanawalt, Tom Neely, Tom Kaczynski, John P., Dylan Williams; Sunday evening.

Big Party at Miller's: JP, Mister Shyler, Tom Neely; AKA "Baguette Basement."

We only ordered soft drinks, and the staff figured out we were Yankees, so they blasted us with a projected Stanley Cup playoff game.

Zak "Mr. Smooth" Sally, and assorted non-alcoholic beverages.

"Doesn't anyone speak American around here?!?"

* * *

NEXT: Kingston and Montreal

Some images courtesy Sarah Glidden, Dave Lapp, Tom Neely, and Julia Wertz.

Thanks guys! 

MAY 2011 TOUR DIARY, Pt. One: Urbana/Toronto Book Launch

A new book project I'd worked on (The Next Day) was coming out, and debuting at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, so the publisher and I made some plans for a short Canadian tour.

Then, a week before leaving, Stephanie and I were in Chicago for the Jim Nutt exhibit at the MCA, and I stopped in to Quimby's to drop off some comix.  Turns out there was a "Midwest Zine Fest" happening the following weekend in Urbana, IL, so I promptly dropped them a line and managed to snag a table.

Spit and a Half table, Midwest Zine Fest.

Zine Fest presentation.

Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center.

Zine Library.

All day long I only managed to eat some chocolate and a Diet Dr Pepper, and driving home I was overcome with the most awful hunger pangs.  I got back and ate some food, only to have the pain grow worse.  Turns out I was developing the stomach flu.  Hooray! (I was supposed to leave for Toronto in 36 hours...)

I spent all day Sunday laying in bed bemoaning my fate.  Monday I was feeling a little better, but not better enough to get in a car and drive 12 hours.  The Next Day book launch was Tuesday night in Toronto though, at 7 PM, so I packed up the car, set the alarm for 5 AM, and went to bed to see what would happen.  I finally fell asleep around 3:00 in the morning.

5 AM rolled around and I felt even better than the day before, with just a little bit of pain left.  So I got in the car and headed out, hitting Chicago at 6:30 for the start of rush hour, then through NW Indiana, and into Michigan.  In no time at all I was at the Canadian border and on my way to Toronto.

Outside the city, the rain and traffic got more intense but I only got lost once.  I found the venue and parked in the garage across the street, ate a can of beans, and headed over.  It was 6 PM.  I had made it by one hour!

First thing I saw upon exiting the garage was this wonderful three-window-wide handpainted image from the book, on the side of the National Film Board of Canada's offices!

Inside, there was a display of original artwork from the book.

Video stills from the animated website.

Trailer.

Launch reception.

After the launch I went over the University of Toronto, where I had a dorm room waiting for me.  I promptly fell asleep for 14 hours.  The next day (*ahem*) I woke up at 5 and went over to do another talk at the Toronto Animated Image Society.  Afterwards I wandered around Bloor Street for a bit and went back to bed.  But I was wired and didn't fall asleep until 7 AM.  So I spent all day Thursday in bed too.

Pretty cool, huh?

NEXT: TCAF!