Three book debuts worth a look at TCAF 2013

One of my favourite aspects of Toronto Comic Arts Festival, and all other small press and indie comic expos for that matter, are the book debuts by super talented creators.

Here are the books I plan on seeking out when I drop by the event this weekend.

VERY CASUAL by Michael Deforge
(Koyama Press)

I’ve been following Deforge for only a year now. His work is truly original and interesting (and can also be dirty and disturbing. Check out his Ant Comic strip.)

Culled from mini comics, online comics and anthology contributions, Very Casual collects notable short stories from DeForge’s prolific oeuvre. Included are stories about litter gangs, meat-filled snowmen, righteous cops, beagle/human hybrids, and forest-bound drag queens. Very Casual also collects Spotting Deer, which won the Pigskin Peters Award for best non-traditional, non-narrative or avant-garde work at the 2011 Doug Wright Awards.

Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes by Matt Kindt
(First Second)

While technically this arrived in stores on Wednesday, I held off picking up a copy so I could buy one directly from Kindt at his table this weekend.

Welcome to the city of Red Wheelbarrow, where the world’s greatest detective has yet to meet the crime he can’t solve—every criminal in Red Wheelbarrow is caught and convicted thanks to Detective Gould’s brilliant mind and cutting-edge spy technology. But lately there has been a rash of crimes so eccentric and random that even Detective Gould is stumped. Will he discover the connection between the compulsive chair thief, the novelist who uses purloined street signs to write her magnum opus, and the photographer who secretly documents peoples’ most anguished personal moments? Or will Detective Gould finally meet his match?

Operating with wit and perception in the genre of hard-boiled crime fiction, Red Handed owes as much to Paul Auster as Dashiell Hammett, and raises some genuinely sticky questions about human nature.

Destination X by John Martz
(Nobrow Press)

Sam is the grandson of a world-renowned space adventurer. Marvelled by his ailing grandfather’s stories of interstellar travel and alien romance, he models his life after these tales – even though they may be untrue. So focussed is Sam on fulfilling what he thinks is his natural destiny in life that he becomes blind to his own reality.

More TCAF stories:
My top panel picks for TCAF 2013
Hernandez brothers vs Matt Bors – TCAF 2013
5 tips for Toronto Comics Arts Festival newbies
‘Comics are trash’ and other lessons from TCAF 2012

The ‘All-Star, All-Canadian (plus one American) Super-Villain Art Auction’ (Countdown to TCAF 2013)

So the Doug Wright Awards had a super-cool art auction fundraiser and I nearly missed the entire thing.

This is why I keep telling my wife that I should spend more time with comics: reading them, writing about them and reading about them. Otherwise I miss things like the opportunity to own original art by my favourite Canadian artists like Seth, Michael Deforge, John Martz, Michael Cho, Pascal Girard, Chester Brown and so many more. And it’s for a great cause.

Dr Octopus by John Martz

The Crimes of Two-Face by Chester Brown

Medusa by Michael Cho

Venom by Michael Deforge

Check out the entire collection at Brad MacKay’s Flickr stream. And depending on when you read this, whatever is left for sale is available at this eBay link.

The 2013 Doug Wright Awards will be held on Saturday, May 11. While not an official part of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival programming, it honours and celebrates many of the artists whose work is featured at TCAF.

More TCAF funny stuff

Memories of TCAF - John Martz

Gotta love neurotic comic artists. John Martz has some pretty great work, including “Memories of TCAF” from the 2010 Toronto Comic Arts Festival up on his comic page Machine Gum.

Thanks to The Comics Reporter for the find.