Event – Toronto Comic Arts Festival Impressions

by J-M Douville

TCAF

Last weekend the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) opened its doors at the Toronto Reference Library on Young and Bloor. Tons of local talent was present including Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim) and Faith Erin Hicks (Zombies Calling).

The library was extraordinarily hot because of the amazing attendance at this year’s event. The event boasted many terrific panels. Some panels had a strong Manga and a very educational message while others helped creators and artist break into the field. From the Manga panels the message was clear. Manga is not just a cookie cutter genre, and it’s about time people started recognizing the influence it’s having on modern North American artists. “Manga around the World” was a particularly interesting panel. Cartoonist and About.com guide Deb Aoki hosted the panel of International Manga creators and publishers.

From Left to right sat Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim), Becky Cloonan (Demo), Eric Ko (UDON Entertainment), Antoine Dode (Armelle et Mon Oncle) and Jason Thompson (Manga: The Complete Guide). When asked what their pet peeves were in the industry they all had opinion and advice for the audience. Jason Thompson went straight to the heart of that matter and told the audience that the biggest problem in Manga is that they lack originality.” Young boy vows to become stronger or another Manga where guys are hitting on nerdy guys for no apparent reason.” Eric Ko mentions that a huge pet peeve of his is a general lack of knowledge of the variety of creators. He mentioned that at every convention

“Is this Naruto? No, but this is kinda like a Naruto version of wizard of oz. But do you have Naruto? No biz has a booth over there. Ya but why don’t you have Naruto”

“It’s like having a box of tissue paper and calling it Kleenex.” Becky Cloonan agreed and mentioned that when she was working with Tokyo Pop. She was asked to make her work look less indie and make it look much more cookie cutter and fit the mold of what was considered Manga at the time. This was instrumental in creating the term Global Manga.

When asked how they felt about the term Global Manga. Eric Ko answered and said that Manga in Japan was just another word, much like the word comics here. So thus Manga is comics. Manga is a medium for the creators to tell new stories. Becky Cloonan agreed and said that when she hears the word Manga describes the format it’s printed and not necessarily the style in which it’s drawn.

The influence that Manga has had on the modern comic industry in North America, Bryan Lee O’Malley states that “I have a respect for Japanese creators” and says that he could never work that industry because of the long hours and “I have a cat to feed”. Becky Cloonan agrees and adds creators have something to learn from everywhere in the world not just Japan but Europe and other places as well and in some ways people looking at comics in order to make comics can be almost incestuous and that instead of looking within the comic and Manga community they should be looking outside and finding other influences and new ways to do things.

TCAF

Changing gears Deb Aoki asked the panel what their first exposure to Manga was. Bryan Lee O’Malley whispered Ranma ½ with a smile on his face. The crowd burst in laughter and as they quieted he tells the crowd “It’s so weird.” Becky Cloonan told the crowd that her first exposure to Manga came in a different form. She was playing games like Star Ocean, Final Fantasy and Shining Force. She was being exposed to the culture of the medium and never even realized what it was. Later when she went and bought a Manga book for the first time she thought “Is everyone in Japan left handed?” Antoine Dode told the crowd that his first exposure came in high school math class when he was handed a book called Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo, Jason Thompson agreed and said that his first had been the anime of the same name. Eric Ko, being the eldest of the panel recalls his youth watching old shows with robots destroying buildings and battling in the city. That is until his mother decided those were much too violent.

The panel offered a candid look at Manga and the term we use to describe a medium that has become increasingly influential in art and creation of comics in North America. TCAF definitely brought together some of the best in international comics and some great local talent as well. If you weren’t able to attend this year, mark it on your calendar and keeps your eyes open for the announcements for 2010.

List of Recommendations
(Mentioned by the panel which may or may not appear in the article)