The intrepid Jamie Coville has become the main archivist of comics events in Canada, and even the US sometimes.
He’s got an impressive back catalog of panels and photos for those of you interested in doing a deep dive into this stuff. Take note of these panels featuring the recently departed Darwyn Cooke-2008 Darwyn Cooke’s Next Frontier: 2009 Spotlight on Darwyn Cooke! There’s more of course, and lots of photos as well here! For Toronto Comics Arts Festival 2016 you’ll find 81 new photos shared here!
Now, on with the audio! I love this, lets me attend some of the panels from the comfort of my studio. Thanks Jamie!
Keynote Speech by Ryan North (1:02:06, 56.8mb)
Introduction by Kalervo Sinervo. Ryan talked about the desire to go back in time and make changes. Technology and how things are often discovered, but not utilized for many years. This ends up with discussing the evolving mechanics of comics art. There is also a Q&A section.
Touchy Subjects (1:03:17, 57.9mb)
Moderated by Scott Robins, panelists include Cory Silverberg, Matt Holm and Fatma Faraj talked about Cory’s book with Fiona Smyth .Sex is a Funny Word. and the touchy subjects of showing naked bodies, masturbation and sexual abuse. Matt discussed ‘Sunny Side Up’ which deals with Sunny’s older brother having drug and behavioral problems, her grandfather who is still smoking despite having “quit” and how these things affect the family. Fatma about her experience as a Librarian stocking these titles and the discussion they bring about.
Comics and Mental Health (51:00, 46.6mb)
Cory Silverberg moderated, panelists were Jes Sachse, Tory Woollcott, Jason Bradshaw and Jenn Woodall. The discussed terminology, what people find offensive and what terms they prefer. They discussed what annoys them about depictions of mental health in pop culture and why possibly they are presented that way.
Reformation (58:33, 53.6mb)
Moderated by Naomi Bain, the panel was Krystal Tabujara, Amelia Ruthven Nelson, Fadia Jerome-Smith and David Brothers. The group first defined what diversity was and showed the new Ontario Guidelines for making schools more diverse. They gave some stats showing how teaching staff and published authors do not match the diversity of the general population. David talked about the black superhero characters he was exposed to growing up and also Milestone Media and why that was important to him. The panel then broke the audience into groups based on what age group they dealt with (or wanted to focus on) and the panelists spoke to those groups about which books would be good for those groups. They engages in a discussion with the audience in this manner. At the end they all came back for a quick Q&A. During the breakout session Jamie traveled from group to group and while there is some background chatter you can usually hear the main speaker(s) okay.
Manga for Adults (1:09:46, 63.8mb)
On this panel was Brigid Alverson, David Brothers, Peggy Burns and Christopher Butcher and showing up late was Calvin Reed. The group talked about good manga books for adult readers. Starting with The Pushman & Other Stories and a Drifting Life. Other books discussed were Onward To Our Noble Deaths, Showa: A History of Japan – 1926-1989, Vagabond, Real, Emma, A Bride’s Story, Vinland Saga, Planets, OPUS, Ghost in the Shell, Pluto, Children of the Sea, Solannin, Nijigahara Holograph, Goodnight Punpun, Gensiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, Tekkonkinkreet: Black and White, Sunny, Not Simple, Nana, Helter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly, Pink, Ooku: the Inner Chambers, Sakuran, In Clothes Called Fat, Oishinbo ala Carte, What Did You Eat Yesterday and Massive.
The Graphic Novel Revolution and How it Changed Comics (1:24:58, 77.7mb)
With an introduction by Christopher Butcher, the panel was moderated by Heidi MacDonald and featured Brian K. Vaughan, Annie Koyama, Andy Brown and Mark Siegel. The group started off telling their origin of becoming publishers and what made them want to do it. They explained what books were their storytelling idol and how submissions have changed. Brian spoke about how creators can do more with comics now, particularly with Image. Mark said when he started First Second he published books for all age groups and tries to sell them in all markets, which is very unusual for New York Publishing imprints. Andy Brown talks about Michel Rabagliati and Annie spoke about Michael DeForge and Jesse Jacobs. Brian said he worked on TV shows for about a year and his wife ordered him to start writing comic books again so he’d have an outlet for his not acceptable to TV ideas. The group also spoke of the next big challenge in comics. Within the Q&A Mark said which markets are harder to crack, which lead to Annie and Andy talking about the Direct Market and how the Diamond Comics minimums forced indy publishers to do Graphic Novels. Brian revealed that Digital distribution helped Saga. They group also discussed taking the increased awareness about comics and converting it into sales.
Spotlight: Brian K. Vaughan and Steve Skroce: We Stand On Guard (51:08, 46.8mb)
Moderated by Barry Hertz the topics discussed were how Brian and Steve met, the Canadian angle to the story, depictions of why the war happened, doing a torture scene with virtual reality, Steve designing robots, doing additional stories, killing characters, Brian’s writing and his politics, Ottawa being destroyed, working with Image, adaptation of the book into other media, Brian and Steve discuss working in comics vs working in TV/Film, Brian’s lack of knowledge of French, how Brian works with artists, Brian’s advice on breaking into comics, avoiding stereotypes, comics being an artists medium, the reaction from people in the letter pages.
Black Comics: Comics and Race (1:00:15, 55.1mb)
The panel included Marguerite Abouet (and her translator), Bill Rosarium, Taneka Stotts, Spike C. Trotman, Richie Pope and was moderated by David Brothers. The group spoke about why they got into comics, Bill’s recent super successful Indiegogo campaign to raise money to publish comics, Spike’s seeing the evolution of opinions on Kickstarter, Marguerite’s unexpected success of the Aya series, collaboration and working with other people, they talked about how cartoons that apply race to things that do not need it (My Little Pony among them), growing up as a minority among white people and then being called “not black enough.”
Spotlight: Jennifer Hayden (54:08, 49.5mb)
Brigid Alverson moderated. They first talked about the title to Jennifer’s book, The Story of My Tits. They discussed the humor in the book, the positives of her experience, the goddess image and how she used it, her mother’s breast cancer, the deer motif in the book, how her “cartoony” style works for the serious chapters, the big balancing act between seriousness and lightheartedness parts of the story, her family’s reaction to the book, Jennifer’s love of Charles Dickens and how his work influenced the book, how she learned to write and draw, her other books, both out now and coming soon, her method of working and there was a back and forth with her editor Leigh Walton regarding working with Top Shelf.
Spotlight: Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (53:32, 49mb)
Moderated by Mark Medley, the panel featured the original Y: The Last Man editor Heidi MacDonald, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. Heidi talked about Brian pitching the series and how Pia joined as the artist.
Small Press (57:19, 52.4mb)
On the panel was Tucker Stone (NoBrow), Box Brown (retrofit), Patrick Crotty (Peow) and Raighne (2dcloud). Heidi MacDonald was the moderator. The group started with the how and why they started doing small press books. There was lots of talk about the difficulty of getting distribution and Diamond, the group also talked about the amount of sacrifice they’ve gone through and the lack of money. They also spoke about what makes all the struggle worthwhile. The various formats they published and why, how they find artists and what pitfalls to avoid were the other topics discussed.
Spotlight: Marguerite Abouet (55:05, 50.4mb)
Brigid Alverson interviewed Marguerite through translator Nathalie Atkinson. They discussed what other books beside Aya she’s done, how close Aya was to her life, how she created the characters, why it was set in the 1970s, the multiculturalism in the area, why the women appear to be smarter than the men, the African proverbs within the story, how homosexuality was treated in Africa back then, Women getting respect and awards in the French comics community, her journey to become a writer and getting Aya published which 
includes a funny story involving Joann Sfar, the voices in the Aya animated film and what medium she prefers to work in and why.
Spotlight: Chester Brown (47:34, 43.5mb)
Moderated by sex worker and activist Alex Tigchelarr, Chester started with a reading of the Hymn of the Pearl which was in the Drawn and Quarterly 25 Anniversary book that was published a year ago, he then read from his new book Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus. He spoke about what started his interest in the stories, sex work and Mary Magdalene, Chester’s process of creating this book, STDs, the criminalization of sex work & the catholic church and Chester’s research into the alternative interpretations for these biblical stories.
The Doug Wright Awards 2016 (May 14) – 22 Photos are here!
Full 12th Annual Doug Wright Awards (1:07:45, 62mb)
The Awards were presented by Dustin Harbin, Seth, Jeet Heer, Joe Ollmann, Chester Brown, Heidi MacDonald, Chris Kuzma, Maurice Vellekoop, Nathalie Atkinson and Betty Liang!
Again for more notes from Jamie Coville
or to browse his full archive, visit his site here!