Writer, artist, good chum of the blog and seasoned comic con goer Sean Azzopardi returned to Canada recently to be a part of the parcel of comics delights that is TCAF; he even managed to fit in some more days off in Toronto and took in some related comics culture events taking part in the city in the wake of TCAF, and he’s very kindly sent us in a report, the view of this year’s TCAF from a self published comics creator manning his own table; Sean has also uploaded a bunch of photos to his Flickr so you can have a look around the con. Over to Sean:

TCAF 2012 was my second visit to the city of Toronto and to the festival. As I blogged last year, this is an amazing event and this time round topped that experience. There was an excellent programme of events for the duration of the festival that gave people the opportunity to experience far more than just visiting the main exhibitors spaces, situated in the library. As an exhibitor this is one part of any festival that I generally miss out on.

(pics here borrowed from Sean’s TCAF 2012 set on his Flickr, by and (c) Sean Azzopardi)

Thursday was a gentle start, an exhibition of cartoonists and gamers at Magic Pony. I love the way that beer and pizza was in plentiful supply. Good pizza as well. There were a lot of events that I would have loved to have attended, say How to Pitch, or Jeff Smith’s inking demonstration. It was Jeff Smith along with Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon who opened the festival on Friday night, taking part in a relaxed interview. This is a cool way to start a festival. Chris Butcher starts with a brief outline of the events and introduces the interview. As an exhibitor or attendee it feels as though you are about to take part in something that is welcoming. Gabriel and Fabio have video from the Toronto Libraries up on their blog from the event:

Afterwards there was a meet up at The Cockpit one of the bar/ talk venue, but I hung around to set up my own table. I was interested to see the setting up process and saw Chris organizing the volunteers. Ask anyone who attends this event – they are the real stars, decked out in tangerine and super helpful.

There is not a lot I can say about the Saturday other than it was so busy I never left my table. It was so busy that one ‘comfort’ break was all I could manage away from my table. After a quiet start I sold steadily. But for me it’s less about the sales and more about the opportunity to engage with people about my work. It was nice to have people return after last year to chat and look at my new work. Sunday was a quite start again, but was still busy throughout the day. I did manage to get to go around the downstairs section and buy some stuff. There was so much choice; so many excellent comics on offer.

TCAF is an amazingly-curated and well thought out event. There are sections for children’s comics, Zines, local self publishers and much more. Isn’t it thoughtful to have these spotlight areas within the event, rather than a lumped-together row of tables with no theme or reason? Having a free entry policy to the main event and extensive promotion meant a really large attendance. I think it was up on last year, certainly felt that way. The mix was brilliant all ages, a good male/female ratio of exhibitors and audience.

I found myself smiling a lot at this event. A feeling of genuine joy that I was part of something special. This feeling was extended to the Sunday after-party. Chris gave a closing speech assisted by Peter and Miles. I was looking forward to this, to seeing the reaction of the first timers like Ian Williams and Simon Moreton. They were part of a strong group of UK cartoonists who made the trip to Canada, deep breath: Joe Decie, Lizz Lunney, Darryl Cunningham, Martin Steenton from Blank Slate, Doug and Emma from SelfMadeHero, Joe List, Luke Pearson, Philippa Rice, Clark, Joe (Nobrow), Tom Gauld and Matt Sherret.

The closing speech is a really important moment as it cements the feeling that you have all been involved together, a lovely way to close an event. Post-weekend there were a couple of talks that I attended as well, Gabriella Giandelli at the Italian Institute, and Arne Bellstorf at the Goethe Institut. A very nice coda to the main festival. In summary it was one of the best events I’ve attended. Full of fun and inspiration it’s my idea of a near perfect comic event. I would like to thank everyone who took part for making it a wonderful time.

More please.

Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Franq

Cinebook

Okay… here’s the blurb… The Price Of Money:

“A man shoots himself in front of Largo, live on TV. He was a guest on a financial talk show who had lost his company because of a Group W decision. Shocked by the knowledge that he is indirectly responsible, Winch becomes an object of hatred for the nation, and his two best friends abandon him. When suspicions arise that shady dealings led to unnecessary restructurings, he launches an investigation to identify the real culprits.”

…. and The Law Of The Dollar:

“Accused of murder and hated by an entire nation, Largo is hiding in Canada and feeling very much alone. But his friendships are stronger than his circumstances, and soon he’s able to counterattack against the various factions that are trying to bring him down. Greedy lawyers, crooked CEOs, murderous accountants, all pitted against the orphan turned billionaire… In the end, only the smartest and strongest will prevail—for such is the Law of the Dollar.”

Okay, now I know that two parts is the way it was originally planned and published, and Cinebook are doing it right, but I’m always pleased when I get these in pairs – start and finish all in one glorious read.

It’s wonderful watching Van Hamme and Vance get the pacing just right, building everything up, layering the business intricacies and the action until the cliffhanger, usually involving Largo in trouble up to his neck, all to be resolved in the action-packed, and plot heavy finale.

But having both books at once, it’s ever so satisfying being able to finish part 1, take a breather, and then reach out and plunge straight into part 2. And just to be clear, reading The Law Of The Dollar without first having read The Price Of Money is a really, really, really dumb idea. Don’t be silly, get them both.

Because make no mistake about it, Largo Winch is a magnificent action thriller with a difference. The difference being it’s not really an action thriller at all – in reality it’s a wonderfully thought out, ridiculously over the top, densely plotted action thriller where more often than not, Largo Winch (“anti-establishment, womanizer, wanderer, iconoclast, and fighter“, head of the W Group, worth $10 billion) spends most of his time like this….

… or like this:

And it’s the sitting around talking business, or the standing around talking business, or the walking about talking business that really is the standout here. It’s the thing I really love the series for.

Sure, Van Hamme throws the occasional car chase, scuffle, or other modicum of action in every few pages to fulfill some contractual obligation or keep Francq happy or something, but the real thrill of this brilliant thriller is watching Largo Winch work his way through a business problem, using James Bond like charm and a bit of Jason Bourne style action.

When there is action, it’s just as beautifully done, your pulse already racing thanks to the meticulous manner writer and artist have upped the ante throughout, the ongoing plots and manoeuvrings of the financial world to thoroughly stitch Largo up accelerating until having a bit of a car chase is almost a release to the thrilling tension.

And then Franc really lets loose, delivering some beautiful, beautiful stuff. Here’s page 3 of the climactic car chase in The Price Of Money, with Winch on the run from the police, trying to get to the airport where his new pilot is waiting to fly him to relative safety. It’s so well composed; the long shots to start with, the cars racing through panel, the way ahead blocked, the smashing through the fence, and into the path of his plane… ooooohh….

This one is all about stock options, so much so that there’s half a page of explanatory text on the first page of The Law Of The Dollar along with the publishing details. It’s completely unecessary, as it’s all been beautifully, clearly, and thrillingly explained in the first book with Van Hamme’s text heavy plot carried along beautifully by Franq’s sumptuous artwork. There are books where this much text would merely slow it all down too much, make it practically unreadable, but those are books written by people who dream of being able to do it as well as Van Hamme.

The only issue I had trouble with regarding Largo Winch is whether I like it slightly more or slightly less than Van Hamme’s other magnificent thriller; XIII. I think, now we’re into double figures with each, that I’m coming down (just) on the side of Largo Winch. That wonderful mix of financial machinations, thoughts being just as important as deeds, and the action stuff just wins out over XIII. But luckily, I can have both. And so can we. Life is good.

Somersault is (c) Richard Cowdry; if you want to reproduce any part of it you should ask him first )

12 Drawings a Day – 12 Dessins par Jour from Denis Chapon on Vimeo.

O’Bannon introduces a fun cast, including a pair of hapless heroes who are slowly becoming zombified after inhaling the toxic chemicals from a spilled canister (from the traditional secret military experiment), the doctor unable to find a pulse or respiration and declaring them medically dead even though they are still walking and talking, which, it has to be said, they find a little, er, upsetting. O’Bannon even has his besieged crew attempt to interrogate one captured zombie, trying to find out why the undead want to eat their brains.

It’s colossal fun and rightly become a cult hit with horror fans. Now with the shiny new release on disc coming on June 4th from Second Sight we’ve got three copies of the movie looking for some viewers who delight in their exquisite bad taste for 80s gross out horror-comedy. Just email joe(dot)gordon(at)forbiddenplanet(dot)co(dot)uk with your name and details and the answer to the question what delicacy do our hungry zombies most crave to be in with a chance of winning. Closing date June 4th.

By Robert Wells

Issue 2 of Rob Wells’ Crisp Biscuit Comics – and apart from the upgraded paper stock and the crisper printing, it’s essentially more of the same from issue 1 – reviewed back in 2011.

But don’t misunderstand me – more of the same is not necessarily a bad thing and Rob Wells’ work is light, fun, snappy – a one & two-page sketch show format of a comic to raise a smile and a giggle. It’s another nice little collection of his gag strips, all in colour, all with his rather attractive simple fine line.

Maybe not as funny as issue 1, maybe the novelty’s gone a little, or perhaps simply me in a bad mood? It’s always a risk with a comedy sketch show I suppose.

But there are some nice touches, especially if you’re a fan of The X-Factor – Wells is, me not so much…. but I know enough to find this funny, and thanks to Molly, even recognise the faces and names involved:

Or this one, with me on more familiar satirical ground (although my scanner hates the background – it’s a damn sight cleaner in the comic):

And then there’s the “whatever happened to….” series….

You get the idea, yes? So, looking at those three pages, did they raise a smile? A laugh? Yes? In that case you’ll enjoy Wells’ second issue.

Over at his blog you can get an idea of his strips, including several complete stories and earlier strips in many of the series continued thematically here.

Wells also sent along the latest versions of Crisp Biscuit Comics #1 and Colin Comix #1, crisper, cleaner, posher paper, and professionally printed, but still fun. I especially liked seeing Wells’ rather ridiculous and slightly sad little Hippo with a toilet problem once more, this time in colour:

You can buy Crisp Biscuit Comics #1, #2, and Colin Comix #1 and more from Wells’ website.

The film Wargames and scare stories about 12 year olds hacking into the Pentagon started to make the idea more known to the general public (and even 80s strip Bloom County featured a scene where Steve Dallas has a run in with young hacker kids who tell him to back off or they will rewrite his credit report), but the reality of hacking systems, from using noises to trick phone systems into doing what you wanted free of charge to accessing computer systems, still remained largely in the geek realm, only slowly leaking further into public awareness years later. Some today might be surprised that hacking existed before the world wide web and wifi hotspots ruled the now wired (and wireless) world, but it did – create a new system and some smart so and so won’t be able to resist trying to game that system, test it, break into it, rewrite it, sometimes for gain, often simply for the intellectual pleasure (some even passed on weaknesses in systems they hacked to the system’s owners).

I’ve got a good vibe about Ed’s book on those pioneering hacking days – it has a thumbs up from BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow, which is in itself a recommendation in my book, and even the design of the jacket makes me smile, from the classic old Mac with the small screen and floppy drive (remember those??) built into the case (oh, I remember using one of those and plotting out Hypercard on those machines) and even the clever way the barcode, normally a simple workaday requirement on a book jacket, has been co-opted into the design like a prison number card for our busted hacker to hold up. Ed and the nice guys at Top Shelf have given us a couple of cool pages to share on here today and, fingers crossed, Ed will hopefully be paying us a return visit in a few weeks to tell us more about Wizzywig, which is due out in July, but for the meantime enjoy a wee glimpse (click for the larger images):

Boing Boing points us to Indian webcomic Crocodile in Water, Tiger on Land which passes some pithy observations on India’s pro-censorship web legislation.

Kenny points us to some far too infrequent Enlish language comics outings from the respected Finnish creator Ville Ranta (published in several languages on the Continent, sadly not so much in English though), A Hero Indeed. Is that a little touch of Quixote I am detecting here?? You can download a free PDF of the story from Electrocomics here.