In Pictures: TCAF 2025

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) took place this past weekend. Due to the renovations happening at the Toronto Reference Library, the festival took place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (which at one time, years ago, was the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and called Maple Leaf Gardens), a part of Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). It felt a little strange to see vendors and exhibitors clustered together in a hockey rink and gym, but the ample seating around the rink functioned as a kind of pressure valve, allowing people to wander away and sit down, escape the crowds, talk, or check their messages.

 

 

 

There were events during the week leading up to TCAF, including this talk by Kate Beaton. She reflected on the immense success of her graphic novel, Ducks, by discussing the tradition of musicians and writers from Cape Breton — where she is from — the problem of having to travel elsewhere for work, and the fact that many creatives who lived in Cape Breton did their creative activities on top of fairly rugged physical livelihoods such as farming, fishing, and forestry. Beaton did a talk, was interviewed, and was accompanied by music:

 

 

 

Here are some photos from the Saturday. People getting their caricatures drawn:

 

 

Cartoonist Joe Ollmann:

 

 

Proprietor of The Beguiling and festival organizer Peter Birkemoe with cartoonist Steven Gilbert:

 

 

TMU professor and scholar Chris Zeichmann holding a Captain Canuck comic:

 

 

A person taking photos who is also wearing this distinctive Love and Rockets t-shirt with an image by Gilbert Hernandez:

 

 

Cartoonist Dave Collier showing his new comic to fellow cartoonists Chester Brown and Seth:

 

Here are some photos of some of the vendors and their tables:

 

 

 

 

And finally, here are some of the people signing at the Drawn & Quarterly table, starting with Michael Deforge:

 

 

Guy Delisle:

 

 

and finishing with Jillian Tamaki: