Toronto Comic Arts Fest: Line ’em up

Justin Hall & Erika Moen join stellar lineup

Erika Moen is a 25-year-old queer cartoonist living in Portland, Oregon. Yes, she’s married to a man but she still identifies as queer. Can’t figure it out? Well, check out her weekly web comic Dar: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary (above) at Darcomic.com. Justin Hall is a gay writer and illustrator from San Francisco. His first book, A Sacred Text, was about the Dead Sea scrolls falling into the hands of a gay black slave. Through All Thumbs Press (Allthumbspress.com) he puts out Glamazonia, his super tranny comic, and Hard to Swallow, his and collaborator Dave Davenport’s hard-core fantasy porn series — all pirates, werewolves, monsters and pornstars getting it on hard and fast.

Both Moen and Hall join the stellar lineup of illustrators, comics artists, graphic novelists and other visually gifted folks for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) running Sat, May 9 (10am to 5pm) and May 10 (noon to 5pm). Growing by leaps and bounds, this year’s free event moves to the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge St).

Celebrated Canadians Seth, Shary Boyle, Chester Brown and Maurice Vellekoop are featured alongside international stars like East Berlin’s Anke Feuchtenberger, Japan’s Yoshihiro Tatsumi and the States’ Adrian Tomine. Hall and Moen also participate in one of the featured panels, Comic Books Are Totally Gay, joining queer comics creators J Bone (Jett Vector), Tim Fish (Young Bottoms in Love), Steve MacIsaac (Shirtlifters), Mariko Tamaki (Skim) and moderator Jose Villarrubia (Promethea, The Mirror of Love). This free evening of readings and conversation runs 7pm to 9pm on the Saturday night at Fire on the East Side (6 Gloucester St). Other events include Kid Koala headlining the TCAF kick-off party at Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor St W; $18.50) on Thu, May 7, and doing a super-chill drawing event on May 11 at the Central (603 Markham St). For info go to Torontocomics.com.

On occasion, the number of editors and other staff who contribute to a story gets a little unwieldy to give a byline to everyone. That’s when we use “Xtra Staff” in place of the usual contributor info. If you would like more information on who contributed to a particular story, please contact us here.

Read More About:
Culture, News, Toronto

Keep Reading

The United States Capitol appears in front of Trans Flag colours; hands holding a smartphone with the TikTok logo on it are shown in front, under a blue filter.

How a U.S. TikTok ban would censor trans people

ANALYSIS: Conservatives are trying to leverage censorship to promote their own anti-trans agenda

In ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt,’ Brontez Purnell balances on a knife edge between hilarity and despair

Purnell's new memoir turns heaviness into humour, and exposes the bleakness under what seems silly and light

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 16, Episode 12 power ranking: Designing women

Who among our top five will fall short of the finale?

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 16, Episode 12 recap: Bathroom babes

The infamous room design challenge returns, this time with … restrooms?