Once again, this year was the best year ever at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the Toronto Reference Library. Last year, you may remember, I moderated way too many panels and consumed too much food and books. It was great. ^_^ It really ought to be called the Toronto Comics and Food Festival, because I swear all I do is eat when I’m there.

This year’s visit was really a last-second choice, so I had a slightly less hectic time of it. (I really shouldn’t have gone, I don’t have time or money right now but couldn’t pass up the chance.) I ended up only moderating one panel, but what a panel it was! Queer Romance in the 21st Century featured panelists Zora Gilbert of Margins Publishing, Hazel Newlevant, Tommi Parrish and Eleanor Crewes.  We discussed the words we use – and the evolution of the use of “queer” from self-identifying label to slur and spreading out to genre term, which I think I’ll really need to write about some day soon. All of the creators are younger than me, and I don’t particularly have any baggage about the word “queer” but I know that folks older than myself often do. They were sympathetic to that, but felt that it just didn’t apply. Also what did not apply was any stigma about writing about romance – although Tommi pointed out that much of queer narrative is wrapped up in who we love and pair up with, so there’s a kind of assumption of LGBTQ story=romance.  Which is what I was getting at in my review yesterday, in fact. As an audience of “queer” media, we’ve been trained to equate it to romance. Which is does not have to be and in some cases, ought not to be.
It was a great panel and the refreshing lack of angst about being a queer artist (beyond surviving personal drama) felt reassuring. 

For the rest of the event, I simply walked around meeting folks and saying hello to people and buying books! I discovered all sorts of exceptional talent that was new to me, as always. Kelvin Nyeusi Mawazo from Black Sun Comics had some awesome stuff. I spoke with Hope Nicholson about the anthology Love: Beyond Body Space and Time. I had a rare moment of quiet in the morning to meet Legend Of Korra: Turf Wars‘s artist Irene Koh. She is awesomer than you can imagine. I hope to interview her one day.

Margins Publishing is accepting submissions for Dates Anthology 3, their historical queer romance anthology. Do NOT self-censor. Submit your comics!

Band vs Band Comics has a very retro romance comic vibe that appealed to me instantly. That the postcards read “Tales of Gal Romance” didn’t hurt, either. ^_^ I picked up the Band vs Band, Honey & Turpentine minicomic.

skimines has a Webtoon that will appeal to the Okazu crowd, You Were Always By Me, about Lydia and the women she loves. And Nicole Goux and Dave Baker’s Fuck Off Squad, about queer skaters, had the best t-shirt ever.

I finally got to meet H-P Lehkonen who has put out a book with his girlfriend Sara Valta called Outo-Queer Identities, and who has a comic about his transition called Short Gay Stories that’s out right now from Cow Press.

I picked up a copy of Do You Remember? by An Nguyen, who always seems to know exactly what buttons to push for me.

Shihho & Naito put out Our Story Begins With…, a cute little GL comic that was nicely put together.

And my very sincere thanks to Merc for a hardbound copy of Giant Days, by Allison, Treiman, Sarin and Cogar, which I’m looking forward to getting into. 

I picked up a copy of How the Best Hunter in the Village Met her Death by Molly Ostertag. Cannot wait to read that. She says this is the most personal comic she’s ever drawn.

I spoke at length with Lissa Pattillo and Lianne Sentar of Seven Seas, which I will write up separately, and have in my hands a copy of Claudine, My Solo Exchange Diary and The Bride Was a Boy! Whee! 

And then I discovered…..

Corpse Talk: Ground-breaking Women, by Adam & Lisa Murphy in which Adam draws himself interviewing famous dead women. It was a brilliant idea and I was waffling over whether to get it, when I opened up to a page on which he interviews Julie D’Aubigny, and I was hooked. La Maupin is my boom. Always and forever.

We shared outrageous Julie stories and became fast friends. Like the time Julie pretended to be a nun in order to seduce one of the nuns, and that time she dueled with a Duke who thought she was a man, defeated him and, when came to apologize to her, took him as her lover. She’s awesome.

This amazing and delightful discussion with dead women would have been my favorite book of the show, but as I took one last spin around the floor, I discovered the book that  won. Literally.

TCAF hosts the Doug Wright Awards every year, which is an award given to promising Canadian comics talents. TCAF this year made a very conscious effort to highlight Canadian comic artists and even had a special reception for Toronto-area artists. (As well as bringing over Asano Inio-sensei from Japan and having a Danish comic pavilion in conjunction with Art Bubble, which was great. I spoke with Tatiana Goldberg about her story Kijara, which looks great.)

One of the winners of the Wright Award this year was Jenn Woodall for her Magical Beatdown comic. When you take a look at the cover, you will be not at all surprised that I am in complete love with it. It is, quite literally, all my things all at once.

It is exactly what it looks like – a violent magical girl comic, in which the lead character transforms into an eye-patch wearing magical brawler who uses a nail-bat to cave in the heads of assholes. She’s my perfect fantasy woman. ^_^ There is so much blood in the comic that it would be gross, if it weren’t hot pink. 

So Magical Beatdown gets my full recommendation. Multiple thumbs up from me. 

Ohohoh! I forgot…I did say all my things. Magical Beatdown has Yuri. ^_^

Before I wrap up, just want to give my love to Simona Stanzani and Jocelyne Allen, two brilliant translators I was able to once again hang with. Simona had the line of the con this year, saying that she hates cons, because they fill her luggage and take all her money. ^_^

Thanks to Erik Ko of Udon Entertainment and Manga Classics and to Brigid Alverson, Johanna Draper-Carlson, Deb Aoki and Heidi MacDonald for being amazing people and role models for me in so many ways, but especially as comics journalists.

Once again, my sincere thanks to Christopher Butcher and Andrew Woodrow-Butcher, and the entire staff of TCAF, you throw a great party and it is always my very sincere pleasure to attend!