Comic Book Special: Toronto graphic novelists sketch themselves
Comic Book Special: Toronto graphic novelists sketch themselves
By Emily Landau | May 5, 2015
By Emily Landau | 05/05/2015
By Emily Landau
Hundreds of graphic novelists will squeeze into the Reference Library on May 9 and 10 for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. We picked the seven local stars to catch—and asked each for a self-portrait.
314458 <strong>The Teen Whisperer</strong><br /><br />
<strong>Jillian Tamaki’</strong>s new YA comic, <em>SuperMutant Magic Academy, </em>is a brassy hybrid of <em>Mean Girls </em>and X-Men: it follows a group of teen mutants and witches balancing magic powers, popularity and turbulent adolescent angst. (Illustration: Jillian Tamaki) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-01-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-01.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-01.jpg 800 800 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/comic-book-special-toronto-graphic-novelists-sketch/slide/sketch-comics-01/ sketch-comics-01 0 0
(Illustration: Jillian Tamaki)
314459 <strong>The Quick Wit</strong><br /><br />
<em>Hark! A Vagrant, </em><strong>Kate Beaton’</strong>s wildly popular web comic, is a droll parade of squirrelly squiggles and inside jokes about Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde. Her new anthology, <em>Step Aside, Pops,</em> is out this fall. (Illustration: Kate Beaton) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-02-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-02.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-02.jpg 800 809 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/comic-book-special-toronto-graphic-novelists-sketch/slide/sketch-comics-02/ sketch-comics-02 0 0
(Illustration: Kate Beaton)
314460 <strong>The Deep Thinker</strong><br /><br />
<strong>Michael DeForge’</strong>s comics look lightweight, with Lorax monsters, dreamy snowscapes and sherbet colours. But his books are deep and chewy: his latest, <em>First Year Healthy, </em>follows a woman’s return to the real world after a stint in a psych ward. (Illustration: Michael DeForge) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-03-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-03.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-03.jpg 800 1200 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/comic-book-special-toronto-graphic-novelists-sketch/slide/sketch-comics-03/ sketch-comics-03 0 0
(Illustration: Michael DeForge)
314461 <strong>The Mythmaker</strong><br /><br />
In <em>Hyena in Petticoats, </em><strong>Willow Dawson</strong> transformed Nellie McClung into a badass suffragette superheroine. A new kids’ book she illustrated, <em>Avis Dolphin, </em>is just as fanciful, about a young girl shipwrecked on a magical island. (Illustration: Willow Dawson) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-04-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-04.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-04.jpg 800 963 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/comic-book-special-toronto-graphic-novelists-sketch/slide/sketch-comics-04/ sketch-comics-04 0 0
(Illustration: Willow Dawson)
314462 <strong>The Class Clown</strong><br /><br />
After building his reputation on the graphic novel <em>Sex Criminals,</em> <strong>Chip Zdarsky</strong> (real name Steve Murray) signed on to write Marvel’s new Howard the Duck series. His version is surreal, slapsticky and uproarious. (Illustration: Chip Zdarsky) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-05-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-05.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-05.jpg 800 1094 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/comic-book-special-toronto-graphic-novelists-sketch/slide/sketch-comics-05/ sketch-comics-05 0 0
(Illustration: Chip Zdarsky)
314463 <strong>The Power Couple</strong><br /><br />
<strong>Kathryn and Stuart Immonen</strong> moonlight as graphic novelists when they’re not working on X-Men comics. Their latest collaboration is <em>Russian Olive to Red King,</em> a dark, dreamlike romance. (Illustration: Immonens by Stuart Immonen) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-06-150x150.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-06.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/sketch-comics-06.jpg 800 825 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/comic-book-special-toronto-graphic-novelists-sketch/slide/sketch-comics-06/ sketch-comics-06 0 0
(Illustration: Immonens by Stuart Immonen)
One of this post’s image captions originally misstated the title of Avis Dolphin, a book illustrated by Willow Dawson. Also, the caption implied that Dawson had written the book herself. In fact, that job was done by Frieda Wishinsky.