The Doug Wright Awards & TCAF

On Friday last I attended the Doug Wright Awards ceremony, which was accompanied by a talk/reunion of the "Toronto Three" - Seth, Chester Brown and Joe Matt. Matt moved back to the USA a few years ago, and has been living in LA,.

The talk was quite a lot of fun, and I hope they continue to do these types of talks each year. The conversation is fun and honest, and it's always fun to see the dynamic between friends as they discuss their work, and in this case the focus was clearly on Matt's recent work SPENT. 

Perhaps next year they could have a talk on stage between Chester, Seth and someone like Dave Sim. 

The Hall of Fame recipient was Rand Holmes, who we inducted into the JSA Hall of Fame back in 2005. I was really happy/surprised to see the presence of Holmes' son Ron, who is a talented artist himself. James Waley and I had a nice talk with him after the ceremony's conclusion. The pictures of the Rand Holmes exhibit looked fantastic and I hope that some day it will make it's way through TO.

I must confess that I wasn't particularly familiar with the nominees for Emerging Talent or Best Book, aside from Guy Deslisle, Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley. I will certainly be attempting to catch up on the works of all of the nominees and winners over the next few weeks. 

Overall, I think I preferred last year's ceremony at the Gladstone Hotel, but I think it was held at Innis College to be close to where TCAF was being held. I thought the show went very well. The room was full.

After the ceremony there was a signing, and I purchased a copy of Joe Matt's SPENT, which the artist signed and sketched in for me. SPENT has quite possibly the most amusing and painful back cover cartoons I've read in a long time and I urge you to check out the book for that alone, but the interior is also quite excellent. Most of the book (which I read on the weekend) is conversation between Matt and Chester and Seth when they all lived in Toronto a few years ago. The remainder is solo introspection (as dialogue with the reader) as Matt questions his lifestyle choices and indulges in his, um, hobbies. Insightful and amusing.

At the after party, I had a chance to talk to Dave Sim for a while, as well as James Waley, Diana Tamblyn, Bryan Munn, Brad Mackay and Mark Askwith. My back was still quite sore, and I was using a cane for extra support. I was doing my best Warren Ellis but eventually the pain did get the best of me and I had to leave the after party.

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On Saturday morning, Yoram picked me up and we went down to the TORONTO COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL being held at Victoria College at University of Toronto. I still needed the cane, as my back was still sore. Yay for painkillers.

We got there early, so Yoram, Peter Fisico, Dave Sim and I had a really nice time chatting outside until the doors officially opened at 10AM. They couldn't have had a more beautiful day weather-wise.

Once inside I was quite impressed by the setup, and the atmosphere was great. It was nice to catch up with so many people I only get a chance to converse with via e-mail, it's always nice to get a chance to talk to them in person and thanks to everyone that wished me a speedy recovery. The attendees kind of trickled in over the morning, but by the time we got back from lunch at 1:30, the Victoria college building was packed and moving around was somewhat difficult, especially on the 2nd floor.

My funds were limited this past weekend, so I regret missing out on some purchases that I would have otherwise made. I was surprised to see Tom Scioli there, and if I had had money I would have purchased the Godland hardcover and perhaps a page from him. Karl Kerschl had some amazing artwork there for sale, and if I had the funds I would probably have bought a cover from him or an interior page from All Flash 1. James Jean had some beautiful prints, which sold like hotcakes. I would have gotten one of those too... and there was a very limited print of Dave Sim's Nip'Orr piece donated to raise funds for the Wright Awards. I really wanted to get one, but alas... 

What I did get was Diana Tamblyn's new book on her daughter Rosie, and two pieces from Ramon Perez (a Wildcat and a Spider-Man) that he had in his sketchbook available for sale (these are up in my Comic Art Fans gallery as of Sunday).  I could have spent thousands. I did get my books signed by Darwyn Cooke and Stuart Immonen, but alas, missed my chance to get Louis Riel signed by Chester Brown and Wimbledon Green signed by Seth.

I was not able to return on Sunday because I was getting a couch delivered in the morning and had to attend some meetings concerning the upcoming Fan Expo. Congratulations to Doug from Paradise for winning the RAID TCAF jam piece.