TCAF: Pencil It In

Toronto Comic Arts Festival: Pencil it In from Toronto Comic Arts Festival on Vimeo.


Our sincere thanks to our good friend Chris Hutsul and the entire crew for putting this together, it's phenomenal.

- Chris @ The Beguiling

Chester Brown Runs Again

Chester Brown, friend of The Beguiling and author of award winning Louis Riel and highly anticipated Paying For It, is again running as MP for the Libertarian Party in the Trinity-Spadina riding here in Toronto. In the 2008 federal election Chester received .8% of the vote, the second highest vote percentage of any Libertarian Party candidate in the country!

Coincidentally The Beguiling is throwing a release party for Chester's new book Paying For It the night before the election. So, whether you've enjoyed his work for years or you've just discovered his comics through his political career, come on out May 1st for a good time.

PAYING FOR IT - Book Launch & Party
Hosted by NOW Magazine's Sasha Von Bon Bon
7:30, Sunday, May 1st at Goodhandy's

See the Event Announcement for details.

Free Comic Book Day & TCAF & The Mini-Maker Faire & More...

Hey everyone,

Christopher Butcher of The Beguiling and TCAF here. Hope you enjoyed (are enjoying?) your holiday weekend!

TCAF: So, I have a couple of things to let you know about. First and foremost, TCAF: The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, is coming up in just under two weeks--May 7th and 8th to be precise. This is the third year in a row that we've decided to hold TCAF on Mother's Day weekend because, frankly, no other North American comic book event has ever counter-programmed Mother's Day weekend. We're cool because, hey, cool Moms like comics! And most brunch/dinner events don't tend to overlap with TCAF's programming hours. So, as in years past, come out for TCAF and/or one of the many awesome events we're holding, and check out the full (and still-being-updated) schedule at http://torontocomics.com/events/.

Free Comic Book Day: But because of this, unfortunately, The Beguiling will not be participating in Free Comic Book Day this year. Let me explain:

So remember how I mentioned that, previously, no North American comic book event had counter-programmed Mother's Day Weekend? Well there's a first time for everything! This year, the annual Free Comic Book Day comic specialty store marketing event is actually the same weekend as Mother's Day, and TCAF. FCBD is held on "The First Saturday in May" every year and this ended up being May 7th, the first time ever it was held on Mother's Day weekend, and so... well, frankly it takes all of our resources at the store to make TCAF a success. The show is run by all of us at the store and a team of great volunteers on top of that, and we just didn't have the time or staff to run both events.

We're sorry about this, I for one actually love Free Comic Book Day as an event, and we try to go all-out every year doing outreach into the wider community on behalf of comics. Luckily, there are still a bunch of great Toronto retailers doing Free Comic Book Day events this year, including Paradise Comics at: http://tinyurl.com/68zhmbo. You can also check the official Free Comic Book Day website at http://freecomicbookday.com/ to see which stores in your area are participating.

Mini Maker Faire + More: And that's the great thing about living in Toronto--every weekend there are dozens of amazing events happening. Festivals and fairs, gallery openings and closings, movies, concerts, readings, sales, and so much more. Another amazing event happening the May 7-8 weekend is the Toronto Mini Maker-Faire, a celebration of making, crafting, DIY-ing, tinkering, hacking and sharing. It’s a weekend where makers of all kinds will show off their projects and hold how-to workshops, with hands-on activities for all ages. It's going to be great fun, and it's the kind of thing that--if I weren't running TCAF--I'd be at all weekend to check out. For more info go ahead and check out http://makerfairetoronto.ca.

Toronto's Pretty Cool: While we are going to have a jam-packed, comic-book filled weekend at TCAF, there should still be time for you to slip away and check out the Maker Faire, Free Comic Book Day, or any of the other great comics/crafting/diy/arts events going on May 7th and May 8th. We at TCAF and The Beguiling wish nothing but the best of luck and support to all of our friends in the arts community, and we hope everyone has bustling, busy, and successful events!

Sincerely,

Christopher Butcher, The Beguiling & The Toronto Comic Arts Festival

Shipping April 27th, 2011

The following comics and graphic novels are scheduled to ship The Beguiling Books and Art on Wednesday April 27th, 2011. All Prices listed in U.S. Funds. Variant prices are wrong. See in-store for prices.

Click here for the complete list: http://www.beguiling.com/110427shipping.txt

The Beguiling Recommends


Scott Pilgrim w/Sword 6" Action Figure - $13.99
Scott Pilgrim w/ Guitar 6" Action Figure - $13.99
We know, we know, we're not really an action figure store. A "Toy" Store. But we've been known to make exceptions, and did anyone think that we weren't going to get in these absolutely incredible-looking Scott Pilgrim figures from Mezco? $13.99 each, or buy the set for $24.99!

You're probably going to need to marker in the band logos onto those two shirts on your own though.

- Chris @ The Beguiling

New DVDs & Blu-Ray now in stock

We just got a bunch of new DVD and Blu-Ray, at some pretty solid prices. Here's the list:

Blu-Ray
Burst Angel: Complete Collection
Casshern Sins: Part One
Casshern Sins: Part Two
Evangelion 1.11
Evangelion 2.22
FLCL Complete Series
Full Metal Panic FUMOFFU Complete Series
Full Metal panic! Complete Series
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Summer Wars
Walking Dead Season One

Standard DVD
Castle In The Sky Special Edition
Fullmetal Alchemist - The Movie
Howl's Moving Castle
Ponyo
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Tales from Earthsea
Walking Dead Season One

- Chris @ The Beguiling

Shipping April 20th, 2011

Hey folks, here's what shipped yesterday. All prices in U.S. Dollars, variant prices totally inaccurate. Sorry about missing it.

Click here for the list: http://www.beguiling.com/110420shipping.txt

- Chris @ The Beguiling

Review: Solanin

Title: Solanin
Writer: Inio Asano
Artist: Inio Asano
Publisher: VIZ Media
Published: 2008

Review by Derek Halliday

What is it about?

A close knit group of friends deal with the awkward transition from their carefree highschool life into responsible adulthood in Tokyo, experiencing the triumph, tragedy, and compromise of growing up.

Why is it good?

The one aspect of manga that I've always struggled with is its accessiblity. A lot of manga requires a bit of cultural shorthand or being 'in the know' as it were, and this is fine; in fact it's part of the mystique and allure of manga, but to the uninitiated it can be daunting, and as a retailer trying to sell a potential new reader on an unfamiliar medium, it's sometimes a tough sell.

The strength of Solanin is that it's a recognizable and univeral story that deals with that awkward transition twenty somethings go through as the world pressures them to grow up; even moreso in Japan, were the expectations are even greater, and the pressure to get a job and start contributing to society immense. There is precious little time to pursue a dream before coming to the sad conclusion that you may have missed your chance.

Solanin, coming in at a hefty 425 pages (which is big even for manga), follows a close knit group of friends as they make a last ditch effort to 'make it' before finally giving up on their dreams of Rock and Roll stardom. The pressure mounts as a self-imposed deadline looms; the point at which their money runs out and adulthood becomes a necessity that can no longer be put off.

Gorgeously illustrated, loose, lively, characters dance through uncommonly lush, detailed, backgrounds and widescreen, cinematic, storytelling that inspires awe and tugs at the heartstrings, it is not an exaggeration to call Solanin an impressive first work from Asano-Sensei, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite mangaka. His humor ranges from wry to absurd, and he knows how to provoke an emotional response, making you swell with his characters triumphes, and weep at their tragedies.

An impressive and accessible standalone work, I'd recommend Solanin to anyone that hasn't read manga before as a good introduction.

--

You can find Solanin in store at The Beguiling, or you can buy it online at beguiling.com.

EASTER HOLIDAY HOURS

It kinda snuck up on us that it was Easter this weekend. Whoops! We'll be on Holiday hours for Friday, Sunday, and Monday.

Fri April 22 - 12pm - 6pm
Sat April 23 - 11am - 7pm
Sun April 24 - 12pm - 6pm
Mon April 25 - 12pm-6pm

Have a good holiday!

- Chris

First Second Spring Giveaway! Contest Details!

Be the first to read new works by Dave Roman, Vera Brosgol and Jim Ottaviani! First Second Books and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival have announced a special, advance copy giveaway. Check out www.torontocomics.com for more details.

ANNOUNCE: An Evening at the IIC with Lorenzo Mattotti

An Evening at the IIC with Lorenzo Mattotti!
Monday, May 9, 2011 - 6:30pm
Istituto Italiano di Cultura - 496 Huron St., Toronto
Free admission
www.iictoronto.esteri.it

The Istituto Italiano di Cultura is honored to host a talk by mesmerizing maestro Lorenzo Mattotti. The Italian artist will discuss his career in comics and beyond, including his latest graphic novel Stigmata, and his collaborations, from his animated terrors in the movie Fear(s) of the Dark to illustrating Lou Reed’s concept album The Raven.

Lorenzo Mattotti is a world-renowned cartoonist and multi-disciplinary artist working in painting, illustration, animation, and design. After studying architecture, he decided to devote himself to comics. His works have been published in the most important magazines and his books are translated all over the world. From "Il signor Spartaco", "L'uomo alla finestra", "Stigmate""Ligne fragile", and many other works, up to "Fires" and "Murmur" published by Penguin Books in 1993, Mattotti's work has evolved with a continuing coherence, though always within the eclectic tradition of those who have the courage to be innovative. For children he has illustrated "Pinocchio" by Collodi, "The Pavilion on the Links" by Stevenson and has published "Eugenio" that had the Grand Prix of Bratislava in 93. Mattotti has also worked in the fashion world, reinterpreting the models of the most famous fashion designers for "Vanity" magazine. He has carried out advertising campaigns and has illustrated the cover of such magazines as The New Yorker, Le Monde and Suddeutsche Zeitung. In 1995, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome and The Frans Hals Museum in Harlem dedicated an anthology to him. He realized many important posters: Cannes 2000 - "Lire en Fête" "La Marie de Paris". Recently he worked in the Film "Eros" of Wong Kar Way - Soderbergh et Antonioni, he creates the segments within the three episodes. In May 2011, Fantagraphics will publish Mattotti’s newest work The Raven, a collaborative effort with musician Lou Reed adapting and transforming the works of Edgar Alan Poe.

As a reminder, Lorenzo Mattotti is a featured guest of TCAF, May 7-8, 2011. For more info, check out www.torontocomics.com.

ANNOUNCE: “ZOO” J-Film Screening & Discussion with Usamaru Furuya

ZOO Film Screening & Discussion
With Usamaru Furuya
Monday, May 9th, 2011 @ 7:00pm
Toronto Underground Cinema, 186 Spadina
$10.
www.torontocomics.com

Internationally acclaimed manga creator Usamaru Furuya will be in Toronto as a Guest of Honour of the 2011 Toronto Comic Arts Festival, May 7th and 8th. But in addition to his comics work, Furuya is also a fine artist, writer, and designer, and has contributed to several popular Japanese films. One of these is ZOO, an unique collection of 5 thematically linked short films, all based upon the writing of popular Japanese horror writer “Otsuichi.” Furuya was tapped to write the screenplay adaptation, provide character designs, and storyboard one of the short films, an anime based on the poem “Sunny.”

To celebrate this facet of Furuya’s work, TCAF and the Shinsedai Film Festival will be co-presenting a screening of ZOO on Monday, May 9th at 7PM at The Toronto Underground Cinema. Usamaru Furuya will be on hand to introduce the film and, following the screening, will engage in a moderated Q&A with J-Film Pow-Wow Blog Editor and Shinsedai Film Festival coordinator Chris MaGee. A short book sale and signing will follow. RSVP on Facebook.

TCAF 2011 Presents: The Second Annual Official TCAFête!

TCAFête!
Saturday May 7th, 2011
@ Pauper's Pup, 539 Bloor St West
$5 Cover/Free for TCAF Exhibitors & Volunteers
19+
www.torontocomics.com

Checkit! The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is proud to present the 2nd Annual Official TCAFête!

Do you need somewhere to celebrate after the first day of TCAF? Do you like meeting babes — and I don’t just mean lady babes, but babes of all genders? Comics babes of all genders?

Who doesn’t?! That’s why you’re going to attend the 2nd Annual Official TCAFête! Kick it with us on the 2nd floor of Paupers Pub at 539 Bloor Street West (South side of Bloor just East of Bathurst) to celebrate the first successful day of TCAF 2011! Everyone is welcome because this year’s party is going to be even more off the hook than the last. “How is that even possible?” you ask. That’s because we’ve got DJ NV on the 1s and 2s and there’ll be in-your-face Live Drawing Demos by Michael Deforge, Ray Fawkes, James Stokoe and Kagan McLeod.


DJ NV is known for Soul Sonic Events and his weekly residences at various Queen West venues.
You may have seen Kagan McLeod’s work…everywhere, like the cover of Kill Shakespeare, in the National Post, and in your DREAMS because you’ve been reeling since last year’s demo!
Michael Deforge is The Doug Wright award winning creator of Lose. Lose # 3 will be debuting at TCAF 2011!
Ray Fawkes‘s new book Possessions is currently available with One Soul to be released by ONI Press this summer!
James Stokoe, a Vancouver native, is the creator of the wildly psychedelic Orc Stain!

If you are a Guest, Vendor, Volunteer or Staff at TCAF, there’s no cover. The email address to get your name on guest list is TBA so keep checking back to make sure you get on it. For everyone else, cover is $5. A mere $5 for one of the awesomest events of the season? What a steal! So come to see and be seen amongst your fave comics peeps, your friends from previous TCAF’s, new friends, and maybe even some Toronto b-list celebrities! Sorry young’uns it’s 19+


Invite illustration by Kagan McLeod.

ANNOUCE: TCAFabulous: Queer Comix Mixer!

TCAFabulous! Party and Mixer
Saturday, May 7
6:30pm - 9:00pm
Crews & Tangos, 508 Church Street
Admission is FREE
www.torontocomics.com

Queer comic book fans unite! Let’s celebrate spandex, gravity defying breasts, inappropriate relationships between men and boys, fishnets, token femme lesbians, ‘it’s not really bondage’ bondage and the muthafuckin’ Dark Phoenix in this evening of queering up some of your favourite comic book pages and images.

Panelists Jose Villarubia (Colorist extraordinaire, The Book of Copulations, Mirror of Love), Maurice Vellekoop (Pin-Ups... & A Nut at the Opera), Zan Christensen (Publisher, Northwest Press) and Erika Moen (DAR! & Bucko) will target mainstream comics with their pink optic blasts and expose the hidden (really?) queer in all your favourite comic book characters.

After the show, stay for the mixer! Grab a cocktail, get a book signed and meet other queer comics fans and creators.

Also, TCAF is happy to welcome Northwest Press in their first Canadian comic book festival appearance. Northwest Press is dedicated to publishing the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender comics and graphic novels including titles like Rainy Day Recess, Glamazonia, Teleny and Camille and more.

ANNOUNCE: “The Next Day” Book Launch & Exhibition

THE NEXT DAY
Book Launch & Exhibition
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The National Film Board of Canada Mediatheque
150 John St. (at Richmond St. W), Toronto
Doors open at 7:00; Event starts at 7:30
Admission is FREE

This Is Not A Reading Series hosts a free intimate discussion with the entire creative team behind The Next Day, including indie-comics star John Porcellino (“Porcellino creates some of the most thoughtful, intelligent and beautiful comix in America” – TIME). The hour long discussion will be followed by a reception, and will also mark the opening of an ongoing immersive exhibition of original artwork from the graphic novella as well as animations, soundscapes, projections and more from the upcoming interactive experience at the NFB Mediatheque in Toronto through late May.

The Next Day is a groundbreaking graphic novella constructed from intimate interviews with survivors of near-fatal suicide attempts. In this poetic and profound philosophical exploration, four seemingly ordinary people each offer haunting personal insight into life, the decision to end it, and what comes after… It is produced and published by Pop Sandbox, the award-winning company behind KENK: A Graphic Portrait.

The Next Day was developed simultaneously as a separate interactive animated documentary online, in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada and in association with TVO as part of the NFB-TVO Calling Card Program.

The Next Day graphic novella will be available in Canadian bookstores and comic shops across North America in early May. It is distributed by Raincoast Books. The interactive experience will launch in late May at nfb.ca/thenextday and tvo.org/thenextday.

The entire creative team will also be guests of the Toronto Comics Art Festival May 7th and 8th, and appearing at the Drawn & Quarterly store in Montreal May 10th. Further details will be announced shortly and more information is available at thenextday.ca.

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Co-Presented by: The National Film Board, TVO, This Is Not A Reading Series, Hot Docs Documentary Festival, The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, The Canadian Mental Health Association, Raincoast Books and The Toronto Animated Image Society

Review: Thor: Son of Asgard

Title: Thor: Son of Asgard Ultimate Collection
Writer: Akira Yoshida
Artist: Greg Tocchini
Publisher: Marvel
Published: 2010

Review by Derek Halliday

What is it About?

In the distant past, a young Thor struggles with being an Asgardian teenager, living in the shadow of his powerful Father, Odin, and his legacy. Along with his friends, the tomboyish Sif, and the cunning and brave Balder, Thor sets out on a journey to learn how to what it means to be 'worthy.'

Why is it Good?

Son of Asgard was done during Marvel's first big push to create a line of Young Adult books back around 2006 or so, and was probably one of the more successful... in concept and execution, if not in sales. With solid art and solid writing, Son of Asgard is, in execution, pretty close to the Shonen Manga paradigm (probably due to the influence of its Japanese writer). It features a young, unsure, protagonist who sets on the Hero's Journey. Each issues features the small cast of characters working together to overcome a trial, and learning a lesson in the doing, while progressing the overall arc, which sees them apply what they've learned to a larger crisis, growing as characters and heroes as they do. The two story arcs contained in this collection encompass the entirety of the run, and ties the narrative up neatly with Thor growing to become the hero we know from Marvel proper. Greg Tocchini's art is lively, loose, and expressive, with lush, detailed, backgrounds that help set the grand, epic, scale of the mythological world in which the story takes place. Unlike a some artists, he's quite skilled at drawing believable teenagers, who are fit, young, and attractive looking, rather than muscular midgets, something that's always bothered me a lot in comics featuring teenage protagonists. Akira Yoshida's writing is tightly scripted, clever, and engaging, and more character than plot driven. Young Thor goes through growing pains, struggling with the expectations placed upon him; young and cocky, with a youthful swagger, he rushes recklessly into action, while Balder and Sif preach restraint and thinking before he acts. Young Thor and Sif slowly develop an awkward relationship as they move from being friends and sparring partners to potential love interests... a particularly favorite issue of mine involves Thor falling under the spell of a young Enchantress, which forces Sif to confront her own feelings towards Thor, and how he might feel towards her.

Thor: Son of Asgard was a sadly overlooked, and in my mind, successful, attempt at doing a Young Adult book using a mainstream Marvel character, that has broad appeal to both new readers and older fans of the character. I'm glad that it was put back in print in this full sized format (it was originally collected in two digest sized trades), and in its entirety.

--


You can find Thor: Son of Asgard in store at The Beguiling, or you can buy it online at beguiling.com.

THIS SUNDAY: ARTISTS HELP JAPAN: TORONTO!

NEW:ARTIST SIGNING TIMES ANNOUNCED!

12noon-3pm: Bobby Chiu, Jeff Lemire, Jim Zubkavich, Joe Ng, Kei Acedera, Ken Lashley, Marcio Takara, Michael Cho, Svetlana Chmakova

3pm-6pm: Alex Milne, Alvin Lee, Brian McLachlan, Eric Kim, Eric Vedder, Joe Ng, Julie Faulkner, Ken Lashley, Michael Cho, Ray Fawkes, Svetlana Chmakova

6pm-9pm: Agnes Garbowska, Alvin Lee, Bobby Chiu, Brian McLachlan, Chip Zdarsky/Steve Murray, Dale Keown, Eric Vedder, Francis Manapul, Jason Bradshaw, Jim Zubkavich, Julie Faulkner, Kagan McLeod, Kalman Andrasofszky, Kei Acedera, Marcus To, Ramon Perez, Stuart Immonen

9pm-12midnight: Chip Zdarsky/Steve Murray, Dale Keown, Kagan McLeod, Kalman Andrasofszky

Silent Auction Ends at 8PM

Artists Help Japan: Toronto

Toronto’s Illustration Community Fundraiser for Quake and Tsunami Relief

At REVIVAL, 783 College Street, Toronto

...Sunday April 17th, 12 Noon to 12 Midnight

Free To Attend – All Ages

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=208247572520178

http://artistshelpjapan.blogspot.com/

FEATURING LIVE ART BY:

Kei Acedera [Alice In Wonderland] - 12-3pm, 6-9pm
Kalman Andrasofszky [X-23] - 6-9pm, 9-12 midnight
Jason Bradshaw[Boredom Pays] - 6-9pm
Bobby Chiu [Alice In Wonderland] - 12-3pm, 6-9pm
Svetlana Chmakova[Nightschool, Dramacon] - 12pm-3pm, 3pm-6pm
Michael Cho [Various] - 12-3pm, 3-6pm
Julie Faulkner [Promises Press] - 3-6pm, 6-9pm
Ray Fawkes [Possessions] – 3-6pm
Agnes Garbowska [Girl Comics, Marvel Comics] - 6-9pm
Scott Hepburn [Star Wars] - TBD
Stuart Immonen [Fear Itself] - 6-9pm
Dale Keown [Pitt] - 6-9pm, 9-12midnight
Eric Kim [Oni Press] - 3-6pm
Ken Lashley [Black Panther] - 12-3pm, 3-6pm
Alvin Lee [Street Fighter, Marvel Vs. Capcom] - 3-6pm, 9-12midnight
Jeff Lemire [Sweet Tooth] – 12-3pm
Francis Manapul [The Flash] - 6-9pm
Brian McLachlan [Princess Planet] - 3pm-6pm, 6pm-9pm
Kagan Mcleod [Infinite Kung-Fu] - 6-9pm, 9-12 midnight
Alex Milne[Transformers] - 3pm-6pm
Joe Ng [Street Fighter] – 12-3pm, 3-6pm
Ramon Perez [Captain America] - 6-9pm
Marcio Takara [The Incredibles] - 12pm-3pm
Marcus To [Red Robin] - 6-9pm
Eric Vedder [Darkstalkers] - 3-6pm, 6-9pm
Chip Zdarsky [Prison Funnies] - 6-9pm, 9-12midnight
Jim Zub [Skullkickers] - 12-3pm, 6-9pm

DJ SETS + MUSIC PROVIDED BY:

RIVIERA [PERFECTO,MYTH, KINETIKA NYC], LAZY RAY [NIGHTTRACKIN'], GERRENCE [NIGHTTRAKKIN'], ALVARO G [KINGS OF LATE NIGHT], ROLAND GONZALES [STUDIO+], CARLOVEGA [STUDIO+], JASON ULRICH [LAB.OUR UNION],SHINGO [HOT SAUCE], UNCLE MATTY & DUTTY MAUS [THE BEACS]

TORONTO—Toronto’s Illustration and Artistic Community comes together on April 17th in a 12 hour art-event at Revival. The unique event will raise money to aid relief efforts in Japan following the devastating recent earthquake and tsunami there. Spearheaded by a consortium of Toronto illustration studios, the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event is the local iteration of a charity movement begun by Pixar Art Director Dice Tsutsumi. The Toronto edition will feature live art shows, a silent auction, and dozens of artists and illustrators selling commissioned drawings, with all proceeds benefiting the Canadian Red Cross.

“As artists we are tremendously inspired by Japan and Japanese culture,” says Bobby Chiu, the illustrator, teacher and founder of Toronto’s Imaginism studios behind the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event. “We were all personally affected by the quake, tsunami, and resulting damage. It is important to give back for all that Japan has given us, and we can think of no better way to do so than with our art.”

Artists Help Japan: Toronto will feature more than 24 artists and illustrators from the Greater Toronto Area creating original drawings for 12 hours! This is an unprecedented opportunity for the general public to commission an original drawing from a professional artist and watch its creation in process; the artist’s fee will be donated entirely to the Canadian Red Cross.

In addition:
- Dozens more cartoonists will donate original art, books, and other rare items to be featured in a silent-auction on-site at Revival Bar.
- Live art demonstrations from Toronto Illustrators on stage, with the final pieces to be auctioned off live at the event
- $1 from the sale of every drink at Revival Bar will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross.

Admission to the ARTISTS HELP JAPAN: TORONTO event is free, and all ages are welcome. The event will run from 12 Noon to 12 Midnight.

ABOUT:
Artists Help Japan is a charity movement initiated by Dice Tsutsumi, an art director at Pixar Animation Studios, who was also behind 2008 Totoro Forest Project to help preserve Sayama Forest in Japan and Sketchtravel Project, to gather the force of communities of artists and creative minds around the world. We believe artists have special roles to contribute to the society. http://artistshelpjapan.blogspot.com/

Artists Help Japan: Toronto is spearheaded by Imaginism Studios President and illustrator Bobby Chiu, who was contacted by Dice Tsutsumi to run the Toronto event. Working with Illustrator Alvin Lee, Udon Entertainment CEO Erik Ko, writer/artist Jim Zubkavich, and Christopher Butcher of Toronto comic book store The Beguiling and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, the team hopes to bring together Toronto’s diverse and exciting artistic community to engage the public in an unprecedented fundraising endeavour.

All proceeds from Artists Help Japan: Toronto will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, specifically earmarked to aid in Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief. http://www.redcross.ca/

SPONSORS:
Revival Bar has been entertaining guests, visitors and fans as a premium event space since 2002. Revival has generously donated the use of their main space for the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event, and will be donating $1 from the cost of every drink to the fundraising efforts.http://www.revivalbar.com/

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- Chris @ The Beguiling

This Weekend! The Beguiling at Keep Toronto Reading!

The Beguiling is proud to be teaming once again with Toronto Public Library on their KEEP TORONTO READING campaign throughout the month of April. We've developed 2 programs this year, one for kids and one for adults, and our friends at Anime North have also developed a neat program! It's all happening on Saturday, April 16th at North York Central Library. Here are the details:

KTR: Graphically Speaking: Biographical and Historical Comics
North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge Street
Saturday, April 16, 2011, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Scott Chantler (Two Generals), Zach Worton (The Klondike) and Chip Zdarsky (The National Post) on documenting history and autobiography through graphic novels. Each creator will present from their new work, and then join The Beguiling's Christopher Butcher in a lively discussion about history, biography, and autobiography in comics. Presented in association with The Beguiling and The Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

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KTR: Graphically Speaking for Kids
North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge Street
Saturday, April 16, 2011, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Make manga with the pros, Eric Kim and Tory Woollcott. This art workshop is for kids ages 9 to 12. Call 416-395-5630 to register. Space is limited. Presented with Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

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Anime North @ The Library!
North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge Street
Saturday, April 16, 2011, 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Anime cosplay... at the library! Hear an award-winning cosplayer give tips on how-to-do awesome makeup. Then enjoy a screening of the sci-fi romance anime Summer Wars. Come in costume and be eligible to win passes to Anime North. Presented with Anime North.

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It's going to be a fun day at TPL...!

- Chris @ The Beguiling

Review: Atomic Robo Volume 4

Title: Atomic Robo Volume 4: Atomic Robo and Other Strangeness
Writer:  Brian Clevinger
Artist:  Scott Wegener
Publisher: Red 5 Comics
Published: 2010

Review by John Anderson

What is it About?

Atomic Robo and the Action Scientists meet vampires from another dimension, the crazy Dr. Dinosaur, a Japanese biotech monster, and the ghost of Thomas Edison, all in one week.

Why is it Good?

"I trust you're familiar with the many worlds theory of quantum mechanics. Well, Tesla and I found one back in the '30s, and it's filled with vampires. Here, take a gun."

If you're tired of story arcs that lead into more story arcs until you have to read a year's worth of books just to understand the book you're reading now, then Atomic Robo is for you. Even if you haven't read the previous 3 volumes, it doesn't matter. All you need to know about this series can be summed up by "atomic powered robot scientist fights monsters." Each story stands by itself with no explanation needed or given. And it's wonderful. After all, do we really need to see every detail of how characters get from one set piece to another? Do the heroes really need long backstories and lengthy internal monologues? Do we really need a long history of the latest crazy villain when all we need to know can be told in a few panels? All that matters is the crazy fun adventure that's happening right now.

And volume 4 is just as crazy and fun as the previous 3 volumes. It tells one week in the life of Atomic Robo and the Action Scientists, from the day Dr. Bernard Fischer is unexpectedly hired to combat an outbreak of vampires, to the day when Edison returns from the dead as a flaming skeleton in a suit. In between, Atomic Robo goes to Japan and meets Science Team Super Five, and goes to French Polynesia and meets Dr. Dinosaur, a dinosaur who claims to have traveled in time using crystals. This story, definitely the high point of the book, includes the story that was first published for Free Comic Book Day 2009 - and incorporates it into an adventure that had me laughing out loud at Dr. Dinosaur's absurd pronouncements and Atomic Robo's dry comebacks.

That's my favourite thing about the book (besides the lack of exposition): the dry dialogue. Atomic Robo is just a regular guy trying to do a job - aside from being atomically powered and indestructible, anyway - and he always has a comeback to point out just how silly his villains are.

The art is simple and to the point, just like the story. I love how Robo's emotions are conveyed solely though the metal lids of his headlight eyes - and how Dr. Dinosaur's bulging eyes get crazier with every hilarious thing he says.

Atomic Robo is one of the funniest, craziest books I've ever read. Check out volume 4, and you'll want to read the other three volumes too.

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You can find Atomic Robo Volume 4 in store at The Beguiling, or you can buy it online at beguiling.com.

Review: The Playwright

Title: The Playwright
Writer: Daren White
Artist: Eddie Campbell
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Published: 2010

Review by Jason Azzopardi

I have a real soft spot for the oddballs in this world, and the beautiful way social cues just pass them by, or how they struggle to fit their ever-so-rounded thoughts into the harsh angular lines of modern society.  This suits me fine because the world is too angular as it is.

But what if you’re an oddball from the most rigid of societies, where, at every turn, there is royalty, tea and crumpets and fencing?  How do you account for being lonely in all that staunch propriety, or having dirty thoughts, or needing to defecate, or even just being filled with self-loathing?

Daren White and Eddie Campbell’s deliciously uncomfortable (and very British) graphic novel, The Playwright, chronicles the physical and emotional minutia of a Dennis Potterish author’s middle age.  Finding financial and artistic success early in his career, the title character has also wedged himself into a sadly hermitic life by poaching emotional conflict from those closest to him, all for the sake of his art.  The Playwright, we discover, may be a keen observer of the human condition (and all its foibles), but he’s not a particularly astute practitioner of it.  He has a concrete set of ideas of what his identity and gender role are supposed be as an upper-middle class heterosexual male, but after a series of tragedies forces him to actually interact with the people passing through his existence, he finds that the foundation he has built this identity on is not as solid as he once thought.  Life simply happens whether you partake in it or not.

The Playwright’s authors delight in poking fun at the British stiff-upper-lip and class hierarchies, and they relish in showing the consequences of a frightened, closed mind.  Daren White writes from a delicate, intimate distance.  He lulls us into laughing at our unnamed protagonist’s quirks and neurotic obsessions in the opening chapters, but it’s an uncomfortable, fidgety laughter escaping from our lips.  By the book’s genuinely touching end, we begin to root for The Playwright’s happiness because we recognize ourselves in his behavior.  He begins as an aging caricature and evolves into living tissue.

Eddie Campbell paints with nervous, evocative gesture lines and a gasping, slightly garish polyester palette, suggesting, as he does in From Hell, that all the British cherrios and tally-hos are merely set dressing; that the prim and proper traditions are really just ridiculous façades for the elite to cushion themselves against the harsh blows of a confusing world.  But buried beneath their privileged layers are the same receding hairlines, wrinkles, social anxieties, terminal illnesses and sagging flesh that make us all human.

The Playwright is a story for grown-ups.  It worms his way into your own notions of aging and loneliness until you realize that this oddball of a book is not just a graphic novel, but also a mirror - a mirror that laughs and cries and needs to feel loved, and also one that shits and fucks, just like the rest of us.

Optic Nerve #12 - Coming in August

Optic Nerve #12
By Adrian Tomine
Saddlestitch comic pamphlet, 40 pages / 6.625 x 10.125 inches / full-color.
$ 5.95
Published by Drawn & Quarterly, http://drawnandquarterly.com/
Coming August 17th

In the new, long-awaited Optic Nerve #12, award-winning Shortcomings cartoonist Adrian Tomine returns to the multiple short story format familiar from early issues of the iconic series. These new full-color stories showcase Tomine’s trademark humor and observational skill, making Optic Nerve #12 a great entry point for new readers. “A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture” deftly manipulates traditional comics idioms to tell a story of horticulture, patents, and misunderstood art forms, while "Amber Sweet" is a disconcertingly modern tale about a case of mistaken identity.

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The Beguiling notes: I think we all knew that Adrian Tomine was working on something new, but today's announcement of a 12th issue of the series coming this Summer caught us by surprise this afternoon! Excellent news for readers of great comics.

As a reminder, Adrian Tomine will be in Toronto for TCAF May 6-8, 2011. For more info check out http://torontocomics.com/adrian-tomine/.

- Chris

UPDATE: Pascal Girard, Joe Ollman, and Zach Worton Triple Book Launch! April 14th

It's a D+Q Triple Threat!
Zach Worton, Pascal Girard, and Joe Ollman launch their new D+Q books!

Thursday, April 14th, 2011
@ CLINTON'S TAVERN (VENUE CHANGE)
693 Bloor Street West, at Clinton (Christie TTC Station)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Free To Attend

The Beguiling is proud to welcome a rare Triple Threat! D&Q Cartoonists Zach Worton, Pascal Girard, and Joe Ollman will launch their new graphic novels in Toronto on the evening of April 14th! UPDATE: This event will now be held at Clinton's Tavern, same date, same time. Clinton's is a large pub 3 blocks west of The Beguiling, and we've reserved the whole front room. All three cartoonists will be doing short presentations from their work, and a Q&A and signing session with the creators will follow. 


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Pascal Girard's REUNION: Reunion is a semi-autobiographical book that recounts the events of the summer of 2009, when Pascal Girard received an invitation to attend his ten-year high school reunion. Initially dismissing the idea of attending, he quickly changes his mind when he receives an email from Lucie Coté, the girl he had a huge crush on in high school. She tells Pascal that she will be at the reunion and wonders if he would like to accompany her. Pascal becomes flustered with joy, except two problems remain: he must keep his almost uncontrollable infatuation a secret from his girlfriend, Julie, and he must do something about his weight. At 252 pounds, he frets that his weight will put him in the “loser” category among his former classmates, but most of all, he must do something to impress Lucie. He decides on a drastic plan of action: he takes up jogging every day until he reaches his goal of shedding fifty pounds. Three months pass as Pascal dutifully jogs and fantasizes about meeting Lucie, until finally he reaches his weight goal on the eve of the reunion. The now-slender Pascal arrives at the big event, full of fervent anticipation. However, one by one, his fantasies of moving into the “winner” category become cruelly deflated with each conversation he has with his former classmates.

Girard has quickly emerged as one of the best under-thirty cartoonists in North America. Having only started drawing comics 5 years ago (he worked in construction until recently), Girard’s talent as both a writer and an artist has taken enormous strides with each new book he has created. Reunion is laugh-out-loud funny with wry self-deprecating humor, and Girard’s cartooning is effortless in its fluidity.

Joe Ollman's MID-LIFE: Mid-Life is the story of a 40-year-old man, John, who becomes a father again with his much-younger second wife which results in a slow, painful attack by flowered baby bags and front facing baby carriers on his former virility and self identity. John always believed that age is a state of mind, however, his adult daughters, baby son, energetic wife, stressful job, house full of cats, and flabby body complete with bloated stomach and sagging bosom all lead John reluctantly to admit that he is having a midlife crisis. The crisis drives John to yell at his wife, pick fights with his daughters and miss deadlines at work that put his job on the line. John takes solace from the stress of everyday life with a seemingly harmless infatuation with the pretty children’s performer Sherry Smalls who sings adoringly to him directly from his son’s DVD.

Zach Worton's THE KLONDIKE: The Klondike gold rush shook the Yukon on the eve of the twentieth century and stands today as the defining era in the taming of North America and especially Canada’s Great North. The history of how a handful of colorful characters sparked the largest mobilization of gold seekers in history is brought vividly to life in this debut graphic novel by cartoonist Zach Worton. His stunning depictions of the Canadian wilderness are as much a part of the action as the key players: the prospector George Carmack; racist prospector Robert Henderson; “Skookum Jim Mason,” a Native American posthumously credited with discovering gold; “Soapy Smith,” a noted con artist; and Belinda Mulrooney, perhaps the first female involved in the gold rush to become rich; and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Worton draws the reader into an absorbing historical tale of political intrigue and personal adventure, played out amid the free-for-all atmosphere of the Wild West.

Drawn in an inviting, engagingly detailed style, The Klondike also features notes and introductory texts accompanying each chapter, and a thorough, illustrated index of all the key players in the gold rush, as well as a glossary featuring notes about “How to Pan for Gold” and tips on how to spot the differences between “fool’s gold” and the real thing.

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- Chris @ The Beguiling

Review: Casanova Volume 1

Title: Casanova Volume 1: Luxuria
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Gabriel Bá
Published: 2011
Publisher: Marvel

Review by John Anderson

What is it about?

Super-cool super-thief Casanova Quinn fights and steals his way across multiple universes in "globetrotting espionage sex adventures of violent intrigue."

Why is it good?

What, the proceeding paragraph wasn't enough for you? Alright: Casanova works for E.M.P.I.R.E., a task force maintaining order across the globe, headed by his father, Cornelius. Like any rebellious child, Casanova is having fun messing up his father's plans - but when the criminal mastermind Newman Xeno kidnaps the Casanova from another timeline to replace the Casanova that died in this timeline, then recruits this Casanova as a double agent, things start to get weird.

How weird? For example, Casanova defeats the three-faced monster monk Fabula Berzerko and steals his body. E.M.P.I.R.E. installs the brain of sexbot Ruby Seychelle into the body, and now Ruby Berzerko, sporting a wig and lipstick, works for E.M.P.I.R.E. as a strategist.

Other missions include liberating sexbots in a town powered by orgone, kidnapping God, and stopping a Japanese nuclear-powered robot. The plots are complicated, with the competing organizations having their own agendas and Casanova trying to subvert them all. For every mission E.M.P.I.R.E. gives Casanova, Newman Xeno gives him a counter-mission. Plus, Casanova's amoral sister Zephyr also works for Xeno, and the two often go on missions together, but with different aims.

In case it wasn't obvious, the name of Casanova's father gives the game away: Casanova owes a huge debt to Jerry Cornelius, the dimension-hopping agent of chaos created by Michael Moorcock in the late sixties for novels such as The Final Programme and The Condition of Muzak. If you enjoy the Jerry Cornelius books you will love Casanova: it has the same rapidly moving narrative, and a sense that the characters, and the narrative itself, are in flux. Casanova's antagonistic relationship with his father and sister, and his need to protect his mother from his father, can also be seen as nods to Jerry Cornelius's messed up family.

This new edition of Casanova: Luxuria has been completely recoloured and relettered. The first edition was printed in only two colours - black and green - to make it look like "a comic from another time," as Bá says in the afterword. This new version uses a limited palette of just 45 colours in order to preserve that feeling. The recolouring is very well done. Green is still the prominent colour, with yellow and red used to good effect. On the other hand, the new lettering is smaller and some speech bubbles have been moved around. I'm not sure why it needed to be relettered at all. But it doesn't detract from the story.

The action is fast-paced, the characters are sexy, the dialogue is witty, the stakes are high: Casanova is for YOU.

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You can find Casanova in store at The Beguiling, or you can buy it online at beguiling.com.

Review: Ball Peen Hammer and House

Comics of Dread: 

House by Josh Simmons

Published: 2007

Publisher: Fantagraphics

and

Ball Peen Hammer by George O'Connor and Adam Rapp

Published: 2009

Publisher: First Second

Review by Jason Azzopardi

We all have a genre that we know isn’t good for us. One that our friends keep telling us to leave, but one we continually make excuses for. One that takes our trust and our love, and then stays out all night without even so much as a courtesy call. Romance. Science fiction. Superheroes. All occasionally wonderful, but mostly fucking appalling. For me, that genre is horror. It is woven into my DNA, and it forces me to sit through reeking dung heaps of film, television, books and comics just to find one diamond in the rough(age) that still manages to elicit a sense of dread from my jaded bones.

Defined as “having a great fear or apprehension of something in the future”, I would argue that works of true dread, at least in terms of popular entertainment, are able to strike that dissonant chord despite their audience’s anticipation of the inevitable outcome. And even though modern audiences are so familiar with genre convention that they could probably draw a roadmap to that ending, blindfolded, every so often a work pops out of nowhere that connects on a personal or an archetypal level. Two recent graphic novels achieve the rare feat of doing both for me.

These are haunted house stories.

Ball Peen Hammer, by novelist/playwright/filmmaker/Renaissance man Adam Rapp and artist George O’Connor is, at once, a complex character study, a dystopian/end-of-the-world horror show, a wrenching loss of innocence fable and a tragic love story. It all takes place within two locations, and it is absolutely riveting. An ominous sense of doom builds to excruciating levels as four characters struggle with choices that will either allow them to survive or perish holding on to their humanity. It is only one or the other. O’Connor’s jagged art is filled with nervous energy, perfectly complementing the foreboding atmosphere. Rapp never explores or explains the world outside the claustrophobic safe houses that the characters inhabit – we know only that things are very, very bad and they are only getting worse - but it is in this ambiguity that much of the book’s dread stems. We are attached to these people because we get to know them as people. We don’t want bad things to happen to them, and yet we know deep down that it can’t possibly end well.

And while House, by cartoonist Josh Simmons, is an even simpler story, it somehow manages to be even more oppressive. Three young people explore an abandoned mansion. Things go badly. The entire comic is done in pantomime; not a word of dialogue; not a single sound effect. And yet the deafening silences are claustrophobic and the encroaching shadows, suffocating. Reading Simmons’ story is a palpable assault on the senses because of its hushed thick hush. We smell the rot, taste the mildew, feel the flesh scraping on stone and hear the bones cracking. We suffer through every ounce of pain and every second of anguish until, like the characters, we welcome madness and death.

Ball Peen Hammer and House are works that refuse to be tied up into digestible little packages. They challenge and they haunt. They are messy and uncomfortable. And like the best works of dread, it is not so much their endings that matter, but the journey getting there. That, and the vain hope that maybe things won’t end like we know they will.

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You can find Ball Peen Hammer and House in store at The Beguiling, or you can buy them online at beguiling.com.

UPDATE: Artists Help Japan: Toronto Fundraiser: Artists & DJs

Artists Help Japan: Toronto

Toronto’s Illustration Community Fundraiser for Quake and Tsunami Relief

At REVIVAL, 783 College Street, Toronto

...Sunday April 17th, 12 Noon to 12 Midnight

Free To Attend – All Ages

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=208247572520178

http://artistshelpjapan.blogspot.com/

FEATURING LIVE ART BY:

Kei Acedera [Alice In Wonderland] - Kalman Andrasofszky [X-23] - Jason Bradshaw [Boredom Pays] - Bobby Chiu [Alice In Wonderland] - Svetlana Chmakova [Nightschool, Dramacon] - Julie Faulkner [Promises Press] - Ray Fawkes [Possessions] - Agnes Garbowska [Girl Comics, Marvel Comics] - Scott Hepburn [Star Wars] - Stuart Immonen [Fear Itself] - Dale Keown [Pitt] - Eric Kim [Oni Press] - Ken Lashley [Black Panther] - Alvin Lee [Street Fighter, Marvel Vs. Capcom] - Jeff Lemire [Sweet Tooth] - Francis Manapul [The Flash] - Kagan Mcleod [Infinite Kung-Fu] - Alex Milne [Transformers] - Joe Ng [Street Fighter] - Ramon Perez [Captain America] - Marcio Takara [The Incredibles] - Marcus To [Red Robin] - Eric Vedder [Darkstalkers] - Chip Zdarsky [Prison Funnies] - Jim Zub [Skullkickers] + More To Be Announced!

DJ SETS + MUSIC PROVIDED BY:

RIVIERA [PERFECTO,MYTH, KINETIKA NYC], LAZY RAY [NIGHTTRACKIN'], GERRENCE [NIGHTTRAKKIN'], ALVARO G [KINGS OF LATE NIGHT], ROLAND GONZALES [STUDIO+], CARLOVEGA [STUDIO+], JASON ULRICH [LAB.OUR UNION],SHINGO [HOT SAUCE], UNCLE MATTY & DUTTY MAUS [THE BEACS]

TORONTO—Toronto’s Illustration and Artistic Community comes together on April 17th in a 12 hour art-event at Revival. The unique event will raise money to aid relief efforts in Japan following the devastating recent earthquake and tsunami there. Spearheaded by a consortium of Toronto illustration studios, the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event is the local iteration of a charity movement begun by Pixar Art Director Dice Tsutsumi. The Toronto edition will feature live art shows, a silent auction, and dozens of artists and illustrators selling commissioned drawings, with all proceeds benefiting the Canadian Red Cross.

“As artists we are tremendously inspired by Japan and Japanese culture,” says Bobby Chiu, the illustrator, teacher and founder of Toronto’s Imaginism studios behind the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event. “We were all personally affected by the quake, tsunami, and resulting damage. It is important to give back for all that Japan has given us, and we can think of no better way to do so than with our art.”

Artists Help Japan: Toronto will feature more than 24 artists and illustrators from the Greater Toronto Area creating original drawings for 12 hours! This is an unprecedented opportunity for the general public to commission an original drawing from a professional artist and watch its creation in process; the artist’s fee will be donated entirely to the Canadian Red Cross.

In addition:
- Dozens more cartoonists will donate original art, books, and other rare items to be featured in a silent-auction on-site at Revival Bar.
- Live art demonstrations from Toronto Illustrators on stage, with the final pieces to be auctioned off live at the event
- $1 from the sale of every drink at Revival Bar will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross.

Admission to the ARTISTS HELP JAPAN: TORONTO event is free, and all ages are welcome. The event will run from 12 Noon to 12 Midnight.

ABOUT:
Artists Help Japan is a charity movement initiated by Dice Tsutsumi, an art director at Pixar Animation Studios, who was also behind 2008 Totoro Forest Project to help preserve Sayama Forest in Japan and Sketchtravel Project, to gather the force of communities of artists and creative minds around the world. We believe artists have special roles to contribute to the society. http://artistshelpjapan.blogspot.com/

Artists Help Japan: Toronto is spearheaded by Imaginism Studios President and illustrator Bobby Chiu, who was contacted by Dice Tsutsumi to run the Toronto event. Working with Illustrator Alvin Lee, Udon Entertainment CEO Erik Ko, writer/artist Jim Zubkavich, and Christopher Butcher of Toronto comic book store The Beguiling and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, the team hopes to bring together Toronto’s diverse and exciting artistic community to engage the public in an unprecedented fundraising endeavour.

All proceeds from Artists Help Japan: Toronto will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, specifically earmarked to aid in Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief. http://www.redcross.ca/

SPONSORS:
Revival Bar has been entertaining guests, visitors and fans as a premium event space since 2002. Revival has generously donated the use of their main space for the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event, and will be donating $1 from the cost of every drink to the fundraising efforts.http://www.revivalbar.com/

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- Chris @ The Beguiling

Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec Volume 1

Title: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec Part 1: Pterror Over Paris and Part 2: The Eiffel Tower Demon
Writer and artist: Jacques Tardi
Published: 2010
Publisher: Fantagraphics

Review by John Anderson


What is it about?
In turn-of-the-century Paris, Adèle Blanc-Sec finds herself caught up in bizarre adventures featuring a murderous pterodactyl and a Babylonian death cult.

Why is it good?
Tardi is one of France's most famous creators, and Adele Blanc-Sec, the cynical author turned adventurer, is his most famous creation. I first read her adventures when they were serialized in Cheval Noir, then again when the first story (called Adèle and the Beast) was published by NBM. I am very happy to see that Fantagraphics has decided to republish the first two stories in a beautiful hardcover book, with another book to follow next year.

When a pterodactyl egg in Paris's Museum of Natural History inexplicably hatches, Paris is subjected to a reign of pterror! Adèle, who is in the city on mysterious business of her own, quickly becomes entangled in a web of shady characters and double-crossings, all centring on the one or more pterodactyls that are terrorizing Paris. In the second story, Adèle investigates the theft of a Babylonian idol and mysterious disappearances on the Pont-Neuf, leading to her confronting a weird cult and uncovering a conspiracy.

The adventures are by turns funny, weird, and surprising. They are reminiscent of Tintin, if Tintin was a cynical Frenchwoman instead of an idealistic boy. What I like about Adèle is her practicality. Initially she is trying to accomplish her own goal, but she gets drawn into the adventure when she realizes that people have been using her - so she decides to get even.

The art is also reminiscent of Hergé. It perfectly captures the idea of turn-of-the-century Paris (to me, anyway), with its detailed architecture and muted colours. A prehistoric monster flying over this skyline is not at all out of place.

Originally it was the idea of monsters in turn-of-the-century Paris that attracted me to these stories, but reading them again, I find the story to be focused rather on the web of intrigue and double-crossings. Tardi seems to love introducing one mysterious character after another, characters who turn on each other, characters in silly disguises, characters who die just when you think they're going to be important. There is a humorous scene towards the end of the book that suggests that all these minor characters are involved in their own adventures and conspiracies, and we only encounter them when their story intersects with the main plot. The plot itself is very complicated, and in fact at one point a character says, "Not even fodder for a penny dreadful… Too complicated! No one would understand a word." However, by the end of this volume most loose ends are neatly tied up. The plot gets even more complicated in later stories, so it will help to read these stories in order from the beginning.

This new publication uses a new translation, which is better than the old translation some ways and worse in others. There are times when I find this new translation not as idiomatic and a bit more stilted than the old version. There is one scene in particular where some of the humour is lost. But the old version sometimes left speech bubbles empty, a mistake this new translation doesn't make.

Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, adapted Adèle's adventures into a movie, which was released in the spring of 2010. Here's hoping it will see a North American release soon. And here's hoping for many more volumes of Adèle's adventures from Fantagraphics.

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You can find The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec in store at The Beguiling, or you can buy it online at beguiling.com.

Shipping April 6th, 2011

The following comics and graphic novels are scheduled to ship The Beguiling Books and Art on Wednesday April 6th, 2011. All Prices listed in U.S. Funds. Variant prices are generally accurate to what we will be charging in store, but all disputes between prices will defer to the stickered, in-store price.

Click here for the complete list: http://www.beguiling.com/110406shipping.txt


- Chris @ The Beguiling

Review: Mary Perkins, On Stage

Title: Mary Perkins, On Stage
Writer and artist: Leonard Starr
Published: 2006
Publisher: Classic Comics Press

Review by Jason Azzopardi

Over the years, my good “pals” at The Beguiling have bestowed upon me the distinct and, in my humble opinion, the rather passive-aggressive nickname, “The Hater”. This reputation, at least as far as I can tell, seems to stem from my choosing not to feel threatened by things that are different, by wholly embracing variety in my lifestyle, and by holding mediocre comics in contempt. But, I graciously accept this misnomer because I have a kind and forgiving nature. What the Beguilingers can’t seem to comprehend, however, is that for one to have such a capacity for “hating”, as it were, one must also have an equal capacity for loving.

As a comic book reader, you either love the daily “story” strip, admiring how its rhythms constantly reframes the story while advancing the narrative, or you find it dated and impenetrable. I am a lover of this particular form, and perhaps most of all, I love my Mary Perkins. She is the Bailey Quarters of comic books, and for those who know who Bailey Quarters is, you surely have some understanding of the depth of my feelings.

On Stage began its daily newspaper life in 1957, chronicling the trials and tribulations of a plucky young mid-western actress as she attempts to break into the New York stage scene and, eventually, motion pictures and television. Originally intended by writer/artist Leonard Starr as a soap opera for the newspaper’s female readership, the strip begins earnestly and competently enough with auditions and rejections aplenty for Mary Perkins, along with the accompanying backstage melodrama and relationship hardship. But all this conflict must have sparked true artistic inspiration in Mr. Starr, because On Stage almost immediately evolves from a well-crafted singular genre piece into something much richer.

As Mary’s career rises, and her relationship with her photojournalist boyfriend (and eventual husband), Pete Fletcher, deepens, so, too, does the jeopardy in the strip. Gangsters, wolves on the prowl and flimflam artists begin to appear alongside the unethical producers, agents and co-stars as antagonists. They are quickly followed by mysterious hermits, disfigured phantoms and international spies. Just go with it. It’s all a beautiful blast, simultaneously embracing and poking fun at romance and adventure genre hallmarks, but always with a wink and a smile from Starr’s lush line work and composition, pitch-perfect sense of story structure and pacing, and self-deprecating sense of humour.

Where Leonard Starr truly shines, however, is as a writer. At times, his insights into media and celebrity obsession are frighteningly prophetic, especially when taking into consideration that most of these insights occurred right around the beginnings of electronic and mass media, without the benefit of a half-century of hindsight to view the cultural impact.

But the true heart of On Stage lies in watching Mary develop as an individual. She does not structure her life around trapping a man for marriage, as most fictional female soap opera characters of the time do. With her intelligence and wit she is reliant upon and beholden to no one. It is only after she develops self-awareness and a sense of professional and personal confidence that Starr allows her to find someone to share her life with.

Mary and Pete may actually be the first “adult” couple to appear in comics. Their relationship is exciting, honest and flawed, and like the best literature, shockingly familiar at times. There, of course, is bliss and humour in their attempts to balance co-dependence with individuality, but also the daily irritations and pettiness that occasionally surface in any relationship. It is so lovely to watch them evolve from rich character archetypes into real people with distinct personalities and genuine emotional problems.

Mary Perkins, On Stage is entrancing. The indomitable Classic Comics Press is now roughly halfway through its complete run of the strip. If you are at all interested an extinct era of comics history, value diversity and intelligence in your reading material, or, unlike my pals at The Beguiling, have an open mind and, more importantly, an attention span, it is well worth taking a chance on the first volume of this charming series. You may just discover a forgotten masterpiece.

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You can find Mary Perkins, On Stage in store at The Beguiling, or you can buy it online at beguiling.com.

Zach Worton's THE KLONDIKE: It's our new store window!

We're all excited about the impending release of Beguiling'er Zach Worton's first graphic novel, The Klondike (available very soon from Drawn & Quarterly!). He graciously agreed to put together this beautiful new window display for us featuring a scene from the book, painted on a huge canvas!

Congratulations Zach from all of us here at the store!

And as a reminder, you can come congratulate Zach in person at our book launch featuring Zach, Pascal Girard, and Joe Ollman, coming up on April 14th! Click here for details.

- Chris @ The Beguiling

Lorenzo Mattotti at TCAF! Review of CHIMERA

Lorenzo Mattotti is coming to TCAF! He will not be back in Toronto any time soon, so this is a rare opportunity to meet this famous and enormously talented European creator. Mattotti will be participating in interviews, panels, discussions and signings at TCAF and this is your chance to really get to know this work.

To celebrate Mattotti's appearance at TCAF, we are running reviews of his English language books all week. Next up, Chimera!

Title: Chimera
Artist and writer: Lorenzo Mattotti
Published: 2008
Publisher: Fantagraphics

Review by John Anderson

A chimera is a flight of fancy, an incongruous union of ideas. This definition suits Mattotti's Chimera, which is a wordless dream told in expressionistic black and white. It begins with someone falling asleep under a tree, and follows the dream as it moves from one character to another, encompassing themes of sex, childhood, violence, and spooky rabbits. It begins as predominantly thin black lines on white, and gradually gets darker until it culminates in a walk through a creepy forest in a chaos of thick black lines. This book beautifully captures the phantasmagoric flow of images that occurs in dreams.

Mattotti's art is incredible. There are panels that are so intricate that I wonder how he had the time to draw so many of them. At 32 mostly wordless pages it's a very short book, but the imagery, like the panels of a child throwing a toy at a giant, or the panels showing a huge black bird carrying off a rabbit in a rainstorm, will stay with you long after you finish reading. If you like the intense, emotional, sometimes dreamlike artwork Mattotti did for Stigmata, you will love Chimera.

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You can find Chimera in store at The Beguiling, or you can buy it online at beguiling.com.