TCAF - Mini-comics

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As I delve into my recent purchases at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, I'm going to put up some short reviews for most of the finds (a few of the longer reads will get more attention).  This is the first such batch of mini-reviews.  In this installment, I'll be reviewing a stack of mini-comics and other self-published material.  Sit tight, we're gonna hit a lot of stuff really quick here.

Dogs I Could Live Without by Hannah Fisher

A collection of 16 illustrations of disfunctional or otherwise undesireable dogs. Very cute and funny. 

A Bestiary of Ordinary Americans by Caitlin Cass

A collection various people living in the post-modern, suburban wasteland. I'm not as fond of Cass's sketchy art style, but the humor is still good. Especially Amy.

Ink for Beginners: A Comic Guide to Getting Tattooed by Kate Leth

A short comic discussing a lot of the common questions for those interested in getting a tattoo.  I will probably never have a tattoo, but I love Leth's art, especially her big-eyed characters and colorful tattoo examples.

Stronghold by B9 Kingdom

A collection of fantasy art (all of the stronghold theme), by a number of artists.  The book itself is a limited edition set that was produced for TCAF.  The illustrations are a lot of fun, with a huge variety of interpretation of the theme.

31 Drawings that Have Something to do with Being in Love and Not Being In Love by Eleanor Davis

A collection of illustrations more than a comic (at least in the sense that Scott McCloud would define it), this book features Davis's flowing forms and wordless sense of humor.

Magical Girl March by Becca Hillburn

Exactly what it sounds like.  A collection of character concepts (31 in total) for Magical Girl March.  Fun ideas and drawings.

Cap'n Cat: Former Shark Hunter by Anne and Jerzy Drozd

A nautical tale.  Captain Cat, a shark hunter turned fisherman, runs into some trouble during a fishing expedition.  A cute comic with a great sense of humor.

That wraps up my zine and self-published coverage.  Stay tuned for more from TCAF in the upcoming weeks, followed by coverage of Denver Comic Con.  Game on!

Toronto Comic Arts Festival - Wrap-up

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Crystal and I had a great time at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, meeting people, talking about art, and buying comics (possibly too much of that last one).  The atmosphere at the festival is great, and comics are really the main player.  Most of the tables are occupied by artists who self-publish or work with a small publisher, and the types of books are myriad.  Here is a list (in no particular order) of all the comics that Crystal and I picked up this weekend.  As I finish reading them, I'll post up reviews in batches.


Denver Comic Con 2015 Artist Alley

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dcc booth1 2015
dcc booth2 2015

Hey everyone! We, the Gameslave crew (Jim, Chris, Crystal, Brandon, Cari and Andrew) will be at Denver Comic Con (May 23-25) again this year!

We’ll be in Artist Alley at booth G21, so stop by and say hi! We'll have a lot of cool prints and our plexiglass displays with some new designs. Our plexiglass pieces are also $20 cheaper than last year's prices, so check them out! We also have some new products like coasters, magnets and dice boxes.

Looks like it’ll be an even bigger event this year! You can check out the other tables in the area with this handy interactive map!

The Professional Gamer - May 8, 2015

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Hi everyone! As I write this post, I'm sitting in a condo in downtown Toronto.  The Toronto Comic Arts festival is due to start tomorrow, and I'm getting really excited about it.  Travel and vacation usually means more time to enjoy life, and that's been true for me as well.  Read on to see what I've been doing.

Watching: This week, Steven Universe (along with a number of other prominent Cartoon Network serials) were release on Hulu in the US.  I have, therefore, spent much of the past week watching through the earlier episodes.  So far, I've watched 19 episodes, of the 35 currently available, and its been a lot of fun.  Steven, the titular character, is a half-gem / half-human.  Gems are a race of sentient crystals that take on human form.  Steven is looked after by a group of three gems named Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.  The overall arch of the show so far is the story of Steven learning to use his gem powers.  Along the way, he spends a lot of time making friends and simply growing up as a human boy.  In short, the show simply makes me feel good.  I really enjoy the use of music as well as some of the characters goofy expressions.  In short, Steven Universe just feels good to watch.

Reading: During my flight to Toronto I picked up Frankenstein again.  I had somewhat forgotten where I was in the story.  Turns out, I was in the section where the Creature monologues for 3 chapters.  The most striking thing to me is how different the portrayal of the Creature is in the book versus almost all of popular culture.  In the book, he is grotesque, but highly intelligent and very much able to discuss his feelings with the Doctor.  Whereas most popular portrayals of the Creature take after the now classic version by Boris Karloff.

In preparation for TCAF, I visited Little Island Comics and The Beguilling, two of Toronto's notable comic stores.  I purchased Giant Days No. 1, Lumberjanes Issue 5, and Batgirl No. 35.  Then we got lost in Honest Ed's, so I haven't had a chance to read my new finds yet, but I plan to do so soon.

Playing: Since my 3DS wouldn't leave me alone about it, I download the Pokémon Rumble game. It seems to be alright so far, although I am not planning to spend any actual money on the game.  

Tonight, I'll be tagging along with my artist friends to the Sparkler Monthly party.  And then tomorrow, I'll be off to TCAF proper.  Depending on WiFi availability, I'll try to get some tweets and pictures up.  Until next time, Game On!

First Round of Guests Announced FOR NDK

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Nan Desu Kan (NDK) has announced their first round of guests for their convention this fall.  You can read all about it here.  I, for one, look forward to talking with Taliesin Jaffe again.  Do you have any favorites that you'd like us to talk to?

StarFest / ComicFest

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We're at ComicFest today selling some sweet art stuff. Come down to the Hilton Garden Inn at DTC today and check it out. Artist alley is open from 10am today and Jim will be running around interviewing people. We hope to see you there!

The Professional Gamer - April 18, 2015

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Hi readers! This week has been another busy one at the office.  With the boss gone, I'm responsible for keeping things moving along on a lot of projects.  In spite of that, I had managed to have some geeky fun this week.  I'm thinking more about the role of media in the world and how comics work.  I also played some video games.  And I, along with Crystal and Chris, will be ComicFest tomorrow.  Come over to the artist alley and say hello, and maybe buy something?  Regardless, read on to see how I spent my geeky week.

Watching: I have again spent most of my week watching episodes of the PBS Idea Channel.  At this point, I've watched 100 of the (currently) 145 episodes.  The most interesting episodes this week have been the discussion about what fiction is and whether it exists.  Crystal and I had some fun discussing the issues brought up in these episodes.  My opinion is that fictional realities are as real as any other cultural constructs that we deal with everyday like the nation-state or money.

Reading: I'm still making my way through Understanding Comics.  I'm now in the last section and should be finished early next week.  I'm really enjoying the book still, and every page provides a new revelation on the craft of comics.

Playing: My gaming has again been limited to Fantasy Life and Hyrule Warriors.  Crystal and I are now concentrating our efforts on the Termina Map in Adventure Mode, which frequently requires you to compete against an AI team to collect more keeps, KO's, or rupees.  This competition adds an interesting twist to keep the game interesting.

That's all I have for this week.  We'll be at the ComicFest portion of Denver StarFest tomorrow, so please come by and say hello.  Have a great week and game on!

Denver Comic Con 2014 - Reading Rainbow Panel with LeVar Burton

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Oh, hey, so I found this old article in my unpublished folder.  Apparently, I am terrible at finishing things.  Anyway, you can still read this if you are interested.  At this point, we here at the Gameslave are gearing up for a new convention season, so look for a news post related to that in the near future.

On Friday, I attended a panel with LeVar Burton discussing the plans for the future Reading Rainbow project. The panel included a number of touching stories about how Reading Rainbow helped people learn to read.  I, personally, did not watch RR that much as a kid.  To a degree I didn't need it, since I was fortunate to have parents that valued reading, and encouraged me to find books that I enjoyed at the library.  But it was really touching to hear all of these stories about lives changed by a television program.  At several points, Burton appeared to be rather misty-eyed hearing these stories.

This panel happened to take place during the final hours of the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter campaign.  Those of you who followed it may recall that it was hugely successful, raising $5.4M to develop an new application and online delivery mechanism for the series (really an entire literacy program).  They have now launched the first new episode of the series on YouTube.

End of story, in person, LeVar Burton is such a genuine and caring individual, and the Reading Rainbow project is looking like an awesome program to promote literacy in a new generation of children.