May 9, 2007

This past weekend was kind of crazy! Not only was it Free Comic Book Day, but the McClouds were in town for a lecture and a signing, which made for a very eventful three days. So, without further ado:

Free Comic Book Day

On Saturday, The Beguiling was one of several comic stores in Toronto hosting Free Comic Book Day, and having a Jellaby strip in their FCBD Comics Festival! book, the folk at The Beguiling were kind enough to invite me to hang out at their store for the day. Many sketches were drawn and free comics were handed out!

This was where most of the action went down — the free comics were being handed out under the tent set up just outside The Beguiling.

There was a steady stream of people all day long, but I did manage to find a break in the proceedings to step away for a moment to snap a couple of photos. As you can see, many of the artists were still signing and sketching things for people during the ’slow’ hours. Also, the number of kids at the event was certainly a welcoming and encouraging sight.

But as usual, we still managed to find the time to get a little silly. Here, Roxanne Bielskis recounts one of Ryan North’s many fan encounters that day in stunning detail.

And a drawing of Jellaby by the mysterious Sean Koo! Who could it possibly be?

After the day was over, we popped next door for some celebratory beers.

A toast to the artists…

…and to Chris Butcher, for organizing a successful day.

Yes, Jim. That is beer.

Who are these handsome men?

The light from the setting sun made everything look so pretty…

SO pretty.

Chip enjoys his pink lady. Later on in the evening, we discovered The Face of God in his pants. Or maybe it was a hamburger. Don’t ask.

The festivities went on late into the night…

…and ended with karaoke. Surprise, surprise.

Understanding, Reinventing, and Making Comics

Sunday was Scott (and Sky) McCloud’s lecture that was held at the OISE theatre. The turnout was really great to see — the 500-seat auditorium was well over 3/4 full, and Scott gave an (unsurprisingly) entertaining and informative lecture.

Scott gets ready for the lecture while Sky and Ivy snap photos of the crowd from the stage.

The lecture ran pretty late, and quite a few of us hadn’t hadn’t eaten yet, so we slipped out to grab a quick bite while Scott was signing books after his presentation. The McClouds had heard about Greg’s Ice Cream and wanted to go there after the lecture, so we scouted out Greg’s Ice Cream in advance, where it turned out they were getting ready to close up for the night. We were chatted up by Aiden, one of the employees there, who decided to name some ice cream flavours after us! With a sales pitch like that, we sampled a few of their flavours (no, I did not try John’s Banana), and I do have to say that the meatball crunch was particularly tasty.

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get everyone out to Greg’s Ice Cream in time, so instead we took the McClouds to the equally awesome Dutch Dreams, another ice cream parlour that was open a little later. Here comes their entourage!

Beguiling owner Peter Birkemoe was sporting the classiest shoes of the night by far.

Eating ice cream topped with whipped cream and fruits is serious business.

We all packed into their tiny back room, where it was pretty much standing room only at that point.

It was the end of the night, and time for the big group photo! Our group photographer for the evening: Sky McCloud.

The Scott Pilgrim Tour

Monday rolled around, and the McClouds had time in the afternoon for something that they were all extremely excited about: The Scott Pilgrim tour of Toronto. Forget seeing the CN Tower or other ‘common’ tourist-y locales! This is the real deal!

Joined by Chris Butcher and Jim Zubkavich, we started at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor, where Winter and Sky excitedly had their photos taken from inside the phone booth from Scott Pilgrim 1, much to the confusion of passersby. We made our way to lunch (to the sushi restaurant also featured in SP1, natch), passing by other notable Scott Pilgrim landmarks such as the Pizza Pizza and Lee’s Palace.

Lunch at Japan Sushi (aka Nippon Sushi in Scott Pilgrim 1).

Next stop, Sonic Boom! Sky snaps a photo in the same spot as a key moment from the second book.

Then it was off to the Toronto Reference Library — we weren’t able to leap or run up the walls to the top floors, so we had to settle for taking the elevator up instead.

Going back down again.

Winter in repose at the parapets of Casa Loma. Casa Loma of course was one of the many locations to appear in Scott Pilgrim 2.

Sky and I walked up and down the Baldwin Steps, where the climax of the Scott Pilgrim/Lucas Lee ‘battle’ took place in book 2. That’s Ivy at the top!

Unfortunately, we had to cut the tour a little short, as it was almost time for Scott’s signing at the Beguiling, so we headed back to the store where we met up with Ryan North again, and then it was time: an impromptu Nintendo DS throwdown! Ryan and Winter teamed up against Sky and Jim for several rounds of Elite Beat Agents and who knows what else while Scott was busy signing books…

Ryan! Pay attention!

The signing went well! There was a solid line of people for the entire hour, which was great to see.

Once the signing was over, we took the McClouds to the penultimate stop on the Scott Pilgrim tour: Honest Ed’s. Here, Jim and I are standing in front of the mirror at the entrance of the store.

Winter and the cuckoo clock! Scott looks on in wonder/terror?

Exploring the ‘antiques’ basement.

We had the time of our lives!!!

And finally, dinner at Asian Legend! We were also joined by Chester Brown, which was a treat and a half. From left to right: Naseem, Sky, Jim, John and Chester.

Chester, Scott, Peter and Ivy. We had a private room to ourselves, which made for especially entertaining dinner conversation (Scott and Ivy pulled out the best one-two punch joke of the evening, involving the band Wang Chung)

Ivy, Chris, Winter and Ryan, obviously anticipating dessert.

The night was winding down to a close, so photos were taken and goodbyes were said…

…but not before Jim pulled out one final surprise for the girls:

Copies of Mario Kart DS!

And that was that. We were all sad that the McClouds were leaving so soon, we all had a really great time while they were here! Ivy wrote a far more detailed account of their time in Toronto here, here and here, so go check it out!! As for me, I think I’m going to go catch up on all the sleep I missed out on this weekend now.