Tag Archives: toronto comic arts festival

Toronto Comic Arts Festival Returns June 7-8, 2025!

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TCAF

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) will return June 7–8, 2025 at its new home at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. 

Free and open to the public, TCAF 2025 will continue its two-decade legacy as one of the world’s premier comic arts festivals—championing independent Canadian comics, showcasing global talent, and engaging the public in the power of visual storytelling and graphic novels.

TCAF 2025 will host over 315 international and Canadian independent comic creators, with 28,000+ visitors expected across the weekend. The festival’s diverse programming offers something for everyone, from first-time readers to lifelong fans, educators to artists, students to scholars. This year, festival events have a particular focus on the political significance of comics as commentary.

In addition to the main festival weekend at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, TCAF 2025 offers an expanded slate of satellite events across the city:

  • Tuesday, June 3 – In partnership with TIFF, TCAF co-hosts a screening of Paying for It, followed by a Q&A with director Sook-Yin Lee, cartoonist Chester Brown, and TCAF’s own Ho Che Anderson. Chester Brown will be available for a signing following the event.
  • Thursday, June 5 – In collaboration with Drawn & Quarterly and Toronto Metropolitan University, TCAF hosts a special evening marking the paperback launch of Kate Beaton’s award-winning graphic memoir Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands. Featuring a musical performance by Peter MacInnis and an on-stage interview conducted by Mark Medley of The Globe & Mail.
  • Friday, June 6 – TCAF presents its annual kick-off panel. 2025’s theme is “Canadian Comics Now: Cartooning In a Dangerous Time.” Join acclaimed Canadian cartoonists Sanya Anwar, Guy Delisle, Faith Erin Hicks, and Cole Pauls in conversation with TCAF Festival Director Amie Wright.

Toronto Comic Arts Festival has announced Jun Mayuzuki as a Featured Guest

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Jun Mayuzuki

In their latest announcement of featured guests at this year’s event, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival has announced the attendance of Jun Mayuzuki, the acclaimed creator of Kowloon Generic Romance and After the Rain.

A year after Jun Mayuzuki was a featured artist at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, she now receives even more international recognition as a featured guest at one of the most respected comics organizations in the world.

As a TCAF guest, Jun Mayuzuki joins an elite and exclusive club of manga-ka that includes the likes of Taiyo Matsumoto, Junji Ito, and Inio Asano.

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival takes place in Toronto, Ontario, from April 29 to 30.

TCAF Returns in 2022 in June to Celebrate 20 Years

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TCAF 2022

TCAF has announced that its festival is back from June 17-19, 2022 — and will feature a unique combination of both real-life and virtual events.

Welcome to the biggest, most comprehensive, and inclusive TCAF to date! Following on the success of last year’s extensive range of virtual programming, TCAF will bring together the best of both worlds for 2022, offering one-of-a-kind virtual events alongside a new and improved online marketplace for global visitors, as well as the triumphant return of in-person programming, events and creator exhibition for local attendees.

Based in the Toronto Public Library’s Reference Library at 789 Yonge Street, as well as neighbouring venues, TCAF 2022 will spotlight hundreds of creators, publishers, and comics organizations from around the world. Featured programming will include talks, panels, classic Q&As, workshops, kids-specific events, and so much more!

TCAF Goes Virtual in May with the Addition of Canzine and Comics X Games

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After a challenging year, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival has announced that TCAF is back from May 8-15, 2021 — with a virtual twist!

Free of the shackles of corporeal existence, TCAF’s marketplace will have more days than ever before, and include a week of on-demand programming. Comic and art lovers will be able to visit TCAF 2021 online to peruse and shop hundreds of exhibitors’ amazing works, sit in on classic Q&As, workshops, talks, and so much more!

TCAF’s new exhibition website is being made in partnership with Canzine (the festival of zines) and the Toronto Hand Eye Society. Zinesters and indie video game creators will be among the 600 virtual exhibitors in May!

Applicants will have the choice to apply for TCAF, Canzine OR Comics x Games. Accepted exhibitors will have a customizable online shop page where they can upload up to 5 items for sale. After TCAF, exhibitors will send all sold items to a warehouse, where orders will be bundled and shipped off to shoppers. This process is to help save exhibitors and visitors excess transaction and shipping fees. Options will be available to see additional products.

Applications to exhibit at TCAF 2021 are open until March 3rd, 2021. International exhibitors are welcome! CLICK HERE TO APPLY.

Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2021

Chris Butcher Resigns from His Roles at TCAF as Calls for Diversity are Made

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Chris Butcher has announced that he has stepped down as the Artistic Director for TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Butcher cites his need to address his “persistent health and wellness issues” that he has neglected.

Butcher has also addressed criticism towards the festival and organization. They have been criticized for a lack of diversity in input and staff from BIPOC, disabled individuals, and trans people. They organization has admitted it can “do better.” There are also charges that those who have spoken up and attempted to volunteer to help the organization have had their input dismissed. And, when they were engaged not given the support needed and then blamed when those tasks aren’t completed.

Simply put, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)—whose leadership currently lacks Black or Indigenous representation —can do better. 

Butcher acknowledges the criticism and in his announcement takes responsibility in the role he “played in devaluing the contributions of members of staff and volunteers.” Part of his stepping away is for himself to “be better.”

TCAF late in June put out a statement in late June concerning conduct and harassment in the comics industry as well as a commitment to ending anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. The organization acknowledges it has a role in supporting diversity in the field and has made a commitment to do so.

We’ll see what steps the festival and organization takes in the coming months and years as they’ve committed this is an ongoing project that they are dedicating themselves to.

TCAF is a comics festival that’s free to attend. It’s a week of comics-related events that includes readings, presentations, panels, gallery shows, and an exhibition area featuring publishers, authors, and artists. It was co-founded by Chris Butcher and Peter Mirkemoe with the first held on March 29, 2003. The show has grown from the original 600 attendees with 25 staff, and 780 creators to over 25,000 individuals in 2016.

(via The Beat)

Page & Panel, The TCAF Shop Needs Our Help

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Page & Panel opened its doors in 2014 but had to close on March 17 due to the State of Emergency in Ontario. The retail destination is more than just a destination for comics, art, and book culture but has been a supporter of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival.

With the cancellation of TCAF, the shop needs our help as it has lost it’s best weekend for sales which supports the store and the festival.

A GoFundMe has launched to help pay for overhead, make up lost revenue, and retaining and re-hiring staff.

The fundraiser has a goal of $20,000 and so far has raised about a third of its goal as of this post.

French Minister of Culture Franck Riester, honors TCAF Founder Christopher Butcher with the insignia as a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

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French Minister of Culture Franck Riester, on his first official visit to Toronto, presented the insignia of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres to Christopher Butcher, Artistic Director of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF), in the presence of the Ambassador of France to Canada, Kareen Rispal and the Consul General of France in Toronto, Tudor Alexis. The award ceremony took place at the Toronto Reference Library on Thursday, October 10, 2019.

This ceremony is an important symbolic act for France and Canada and at the same time pays tribute to the work accomplished by Mr. Christopher Butcher who has worked for more than twenty years to promote the comic book industry. Mr. Butcher has made a significant contribution to the arts and creativity in Toronto, creating the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF) in 2013, an event that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Christopher Butcher’s achievements are recognized not only by his peers in Canada but also by the French public.

The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres was created in 1957 to reward artists, writers and others who have distinguished themselves for their contributions to the promotion of the arts and literature in France and around the world. This order aims to establish relationships and develop cultural and linguistic exchanges. To be eligible for the award, candidates must have made “significant contributions to the enrichment of French cultural heritage”.

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) is a comic book festival held annually in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 2003, subsequent events took place in 2005 in Mirvish Village and 2007 at Victoria College store. Since 2009, the event has been held annually in partnership with the Toronto Public Library at their flagship branch, the Toronto Reference Library. The Toronto Comic Arts Festival exists to promote the breadth and diversity of comics, and what is considered comics, as legitimate medium of literary and artistic worth. TCAF promote the creators of these works in their broad and diverse voices, for the betterment of the medium of comics and to reach as wide an audience as possible for them.

Kid Koala and JonJon Rock TCAF 2019 with Floor Kids Jam!

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The Toronto Comic Arts Festival has announced that it will welcome the incredible creative team of Kid Koala and JonJon to the 2019 Festival as they present Floor Kids Jam, an Art X Music X Games interactive event featuring their new game Floor Kids! The event takes place as part of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, during its programming at The Marriott Bloor Yorkville, Conference Level (one block from Toronto Reference Library), on Saturday May 11 and Sunday May 12, from 11am-5pm each day. Admission to the event is free, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Kid Koala is the ground breaking Canadian Scratch DJ, music producer, composer, and award winning graphic novelist(!) who has contributed to Gorillaz and Deltron3030, toured with Arcade Fire and A Tribe Called Quest, contributed to the scores of ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ and ‘Baby Driver’, and created the graphic novels Space Cadet and Nufonia Must Fall. JonJon (aka Jonathan Ng) is the award-winning, multi-disciplinary animation filmmaker who created the award-winning film Requiem for Romance, and is best known for his NFB film Asthma Tech. Together this incredible duo has teamed to create the original, hand-drawn animated B-boy/B-Girl Freestyle Battle Video Game FLOOR KIDS! Now they’re taking the show on the road for a two-day exhibition of the game featuring Floor Kids Arcade consoles, behind the scenes looks at the creation of Floor Kids, and even Mini Scratch DJ and Animation workshops with Kid Koala and JonJon!

This event is part of Comics X Games, TCAF’s ongoing collaboration with the Hand Eye Society to explore the crossovers between comics, video games, and new narrative experiments. Look for more Comics X Games announcements soon.

In addition to the Floor Kids Jam: Art X Music X Games, Kid Koala is also bringing his Music to Draw To live event to TCAF! On Sunday, May 12th, from 2pm-5pm, join Kid Koala and friends for a a chill afternoon of quiet-time records and creativity! Kid Koala will play a 3 hour all vinyl set of his favourite ‘drawing tracks’ in a very special environment–the 5th Floor ‘Red Room’ of The Masonic Temple Concert Hall, 888 Yonge Street. Bring something quiet to do… Draw, Write, Finish that Screenplay, Knit that Scarf, Cofe that video game. Join Kid Koala and a room full of creative quiet types and get some work done!

Junji Ito Heads to TCAF 2019

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Smashed

Japanese manga creator and horror sensation Junji Ito will participate in TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) as a featured guest and is also the poster artist of the 2019 festival. TCAF is being held May 11-12, 2019 in Toronto, Canada.

Junji’s works include Uzumaki, Gyo, Tomie, and “The Enigma of Amigara Fault,” and he’s heading to the show to support his new short story collection Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection, to be published this April by VIZ Media.

Junji Ito will participate in an on-stage interview, live drawing, and special ticketed autograph sessions whose details will be announced later.

Featuring more than 350 exhibiting creators, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2019 runs Saturday May 11th, 9am-5pm, and Sunday May 12th, 10am-5pm, at the Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, Canada. Attendence is free to all events. Some events with Junji Ito will require ticket, info TBA.

Check out this year’s poster below.

TCAF 2019

Around the Tubes

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It was new comic book day yesterday. What’d you all get? What’d you enjoy? What’d you dislike? Sound off in the comments below! While you decide on that, here’s some comic news and reviews from around the web.

IGN – Stan Lee Sues POW! Entertainment for $1 Billion – Things are getting weird.

Newsarama – Bullseye Cast for Daredevil Season 3 – Report – Makes sense as far as villain.

Newsarama – Elisabeth Shue Joins Amazon’s The Boys – Report – Interesting.

Publisher’s Weekly – TCAF 2018 Marks Festival’s 15 Years – Never been but we hear it’s a fantastic show.

Comichron – Super-teams dominate: Early demand high for June’s Justice League, while Avengers reorders keep rolling – Interesting.

The Beat – Camilla Zhang joins Kickstarter as Comics Outreach Lead – Congrats on the position!

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