The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is a gem of North American comics arts festivals and this year’s edition rolls out from May 11-13, with workshops, panels signings, art, and, for the very first time – a HOCKEY OPERA.
Hockey Noir was written by TCAF featured guest Cecil Castellucci and features art by Kymberlyn Porter. It’s a chamber opera set in the 1950s, and centers on the classic hockey rivalry between Toronto and Montreal takes centre stage with a side of organized crime. We’re told it features “Love, lust, scandal, blood, betrayal – in sudden death, who wins and who loses is determined not by fate but by the final shot.”
The performance of Hockey Noir is sponsored by TCAF along with Ensemble contemporain de Montreal (ECM+) and Continuum Contemporary Music. And it sounds wild!
TCAF also revealed the festival posters by Ho Che Anderson (Left) and Fiona Smyth (Right)
AND the first round of Featured Guests from around the world.
Ho Che Anderson (Canada) is the author of numerous graphic novels, including the Martin Luther King biography, King, the horror thriller Sand & Fury, and the forthcoming science-fiction action-adventure, Godhead. When he’s not drawing comics, Anderson is a crew member on film and TV sets, and a director of short films. Upcoming projects include Redcoat: Year One for Chapterhouse Comics, the King sequel, Caroline, and the feature film, Warhead. Ho Che Anderson is an official poster artist for TCAF 2018.
Eddie Campbell (Scotland/USA) is an award-winning comics writer and artist. His work includes From Hell (with Alan Moore), Bacchus, and the autobiographical Alec: The Years Have Pants. He is attending TCAF to premier Bizarre Romancewith his partner Audrey Niffenegger.
Cecil Castellucci (Canada) is the author of books and graphic novels for young adults including Boy Proof, The Plain Janes, Soupy Leaves Home, the Eisner nominated Odd Duck, and more. She is currently writing Shade, The Changing Girl, an ongoing comic in the Young Animal imprint at DC Comics. Cecil is attending the festival as part of TCAF special presentation of Hockey Noir, a bilingual Chamber Opera in 3 Periods (more info below).
Michael Comeau (Canada) works on the wall, the print sheet and the page. Creating window displays and paste-up murals utilizing generations of street posters he created for parties, gigs, etc. His comic trilogy Hellberta won the Doug Wright award for experimental comics in 2012. Michael is debuting Winter’s Cosmos with Koyama Press, and will have an art show at The Beguiling alongside fellow Torontonian Fiona Smyth.
Michael DeForge (Canada) currently lives and works in Toronto as a cartoonist, commercial illustrator and designer for the hit Cartoon Network program Adventure Time. His one-person anthology series Lose has received great critical and commercial success, having been nominated for every major comics award including the Ignatz and Eisner Awards. He is debuting his latest short story collection, A Western World, with Koyama Press.
Hartley Lin (Canada) is a cartoonist and illustrator from Toronto. His comic book series Pope Hats has received a 2013 Ignatz Award, 2012 Doug Wright Award and 2010 Joe Shuster Award. He has illustrated for Slate, HarperCollins, Chronicle Books, COMPLEX, Wired, The Walrus and The Believer. He now lives in Montreal. Hartley is debuting Young Frances, his first major graphic novel with AdHouse Books.
Audrey Niffenegger (USA) is the author of the international bestsellers The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, as well as a fine artist who has published four illustrated books with Abrams: The Three Incestuous Sisters, The Adventuress, Raven Girl, and The Night Bookmobile. She is attending TCAF to premier Bizarre Romance with her partner Eddie Campbell.Fiona Smyth (Canada) is a Toronto based painter, educator, illustrator, and cartoonist. Her feminist artwork has exhibited internationally. Fiona collaborated with writer and sex educator Cory Silverberg on the kids’ series What Makes A Baby in 2013, and Sex Is A Funny Word in 2015, published by Seven Stories Press. Fiona is debuting Somnambulance with Koyama Press, will have an art show at The Beguiling with Michael Comeau, and is a official poster artist for 2018.
Ronald Wimberly (USA) is an artist who works primarily in design and narrative. He is also an accomplished cartoonist, having designed several graphic novels as well as shorter works for DC/Vertigo, Nike, Marvel, Hill and Wang, The New Yorker, and Dark Horse. His most recent works of note were the critically-acclaimed Prince of Cats, Black History in Its Own Words, and the cartoon essay “Lighten Up” for The Nib. He is premiering the first issue of the magazine LAAB.
More guests and programming will be announced as we get closer to the date.
Here’s the baisc info:
TCAF 2018 –
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival
@ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street
and the surrounding Bloor/Yonge neighbourhood
Professional Development: Friday, May 11, 8:30am-5pm
Saturday, May 12, 9am-5pm
Sunday, May 13, 10am-5pm
Free to attend
