This year’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival took up three floors of the Toronto Public Library, with almost 30,000 attendees. Needless to say, the entire weekend was absolute chaos! Thankfully I had my friend Lisa Wilson backing me up the entire weekend.
It was a pleasure to watch the King Warrior family grow, as fans young and old alike picked up their copies of the book.
Because The Constant Star is a webcomic, it was a bit of a challenge to promote it in a book festival full of tangible printed works. But I had come prepared with an entire suitcase full of schwagg, including stickers, business cards, and these Constant Star mini posters. I gave away almost 300 of these over the course of the weekend!
The biggest surprise of the weekend was a visit from my friend and colleague, producer Ingo Lou, who was in Toronto to pitch a new project.
The weekend was also elevated by some excellent neighbours. I got to share my table with Kelvin Nyeusi-Mawazo, creator of the Black Sun comic series. He’s been self-publishing his books and doing the convention circuit for a while now, and it was nothing short of inspirational to watch him interact with fans and passersby alike… he made it seem so easy!
Ultimately, the best part of attending comic cons and festivals like TCAF has been the opportunity they present to tap into the wisdom and collective experience of my fellow comic creators.
