TCAF 2023

I can't tell for certain, but I'm pretty sure I skipped TCAF last year when it was largely back to an in-person event though with some virtual components.  But I went this year on Sat. April 29.

I didn't have a lot of time to spend, as I had this sandwiched between My Neighbor Toroto (up at Yonge & Eglinton) and then the TSYO concert at Roy Thompson Hall.  Still, I had time to go around the lower level a couple of times and the upper level once.  I took one look at the line to get into the special room on the 2nd floor and decided to bail on that.  There wasn't anything particularly new or gripping at the NYRB Comics or Fantagraphics booths.

In the end, I only picked up a couple of short comics by OCAD students.  I didn't think the deals were all that great compared to previous years.  In most cases, the comics were selling at face value, and only in rare occasions was the artist around for signings.  In one case, that probably worked to my advantage.  Nick Maandag was supposed to be at his booth but was out wandering the floor when I dropped in.  I likely would have purchased The Follies of Richard Wadsworth or Harvey Knight's Odyssey and gotten them signed.  In the end, both were available from the library, and I borrowed them. As it turns out, neither is really my cup of tea.

I was also able to borrow Sean Ford's Only Skin: New Tales of the Slow Apocalypse.

In the end, I did order The Marchenoir Library by Alex Degen, which is a high-concept thing where the book consists of all the book covers of the adventures of Marchenoir, but then the actual plot of these books, i.e. the filling, is missing.  Some people like this sort of thing.  I may just find it exasperating.

I was able to borrow Degen's previous work: Soft X-Ray Mindhunters, which is similar in not really explaining what is going on and relying fairly heavily on the visual element.

It was a reasonably successful visit to TCAF, and I'll likely go next year to see what else is new in the world of comics.