Arts
The Beguiling celebrates 25 years with panel of greats
The Beguiling comic book store hosted a talk between graphic novelists Charles Burns, Adrian Tomine and Chris Ware last night at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema as part of the store's 25th anniversary celebrations. The almost-full house was treated to a thoughtful discussion, moderated by local cartoonist Seth, between the artists, about their motivations and inspirations in their careers, and how they see their occupation now as compared to how they thought it would be when they started their careers.
One interesting point was how all three have made frequent contributions to the New Yorker magazine, in large part due to a shared connection to (and respect for) the magazine's cover editor, Francoise Mouly, who worked previously for the influential comic magazine RAW - giving her a unique viewpoint and enthusiasm for cartoon covers.
The talk was followed by Burns, Tomine and Ware presenting slideshows of their work and discussing the process involved in creating it, sharing anecdotes along the way. The evening ended with an autograph session, the line for which snaked out into the lobby, leaving no doubt the event was a resounding success.
Writing and photos by Hamish Grant
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Any chance of mentioning those things?
2) I don't work for The Beguiling or the Bloor Cinema so I can't speak for them, only for my reaction to the event. The sound was fine on the Mezzanine, I had no idea there were sound issues on the balcony level, as no one mentioned it to me. It was pretty cool of them to rejig the event so the talk happened first and the slideshows when they got the AV working. By all accounts we got more talk than was originally planned, so that was a bonus if you ask me.
3) I knew the signing would be on the stage because I asked one of the Beguiling's staff on the way in.
4) one signed book per author is reasonable given the hundreds who wanted autographs.
5) Chris Ware, while he has a rather unassuming and you might even say antisocial demeanor, is actually a very friendly and approachable guy. It is to his credit that he took the time to actually speak with his fans one by one, and stuck around to get the line done. Some authors set time limits or charge for autographs (ever been to FanExpo?) so the fact he was doing this essentially for free (as the $10 entry could be discounted from the purchase of any of their books) is pretty fucking cool if you ask me.
6) and yeah, what Pierre said.