From Clark Burscough of @ThoughtBubbleUK, Leeds’ annual comic art festival.
Not so long ago, in the mysterious land of Toronto, Canada… the annual Toronto Comics Art Festival (TCAF) took place, and I travelled over on a fact finding mission on behalf of Thought Bubble – Leeds’ own comics art festival.
Toronto holds an almost mythical status in the eyes of most comic readers, thanks in large part to it being the setting for the seminal Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, and also because of its yearly sequential arts festival. Arriving in the city on the Wednesday before the festival proper began, it was a case of wandering around in a jetlagged fugue state, seeing iconic buildings like Honest Ed’s or Lee’s Palace in the stony flesh, and wondering whether I was in fact just experiencing a Scott Pilgrim themed fever dream. However, by the time the festival began, this feeling of being star struck by architecture had dissipated as one of the friendliest cities I’ve ever been to opened its arms wide and warmly welcomed a first time visitor.
Much like Thought Bubble, TCA, takes over large sections of the city for its duration, meaning that comics-friendly pockets of nerdvana can be stumbled upon almost by accident. There’s no superhero or costume presence here (come down to TB’s convention and you’ll quickly see a cavalcade of people dressed as their favourite characters), instead TCAF focuses on showcasing the best that indie comics has to offer, and does so in a professional yet friendly manner. Over the course of its four days I got to see one of my favourite musicians give a live performance cum art presentation; listen to a fascinating talk with one of the greatest living indie comic creators; play video games made in collaboration with comics creators, and generally spend far too much money on books and artwork while chatting to some lovely makers of illustrated stories.
While there ostensibly as a fan of the medium, one of my main aims was to promote TB to the North American/Canadian indie comics community, and, somewhat overwhelmingly, I quickly learned that a) our name has spread further than I’d expected, and b) that we’ve quickly gained a great reputation thanks to word of mouth from our exhibitors and guests. Thought Bubble aims to showcase the best of everything that comics has to offer, so I hope we’ll be seeing some of these wonderful creators overseas coming through our doors in the near future.
It would be impossible to summarise the wealth of talent, and the great spread of events showcasing it, that comprises TCAF, so I’d recommend instead checking out their website, and if you yourself are a comics fan, or even if you’ve never picked one up before, I’d recommend taking a chance and heading over to check it out. If you’re unable to make it over to mysterious Canada, then instead come along to Thought Bubble this November, and see some of the best that international comics has to offer in lovely Yorkshire surroundings!
Clark Burscough (Thought Bubble Development manager), May 2012
