The Jewish Side of TCAF 2018 - this weekend

On Saturday, May 12th & Sunday May 13th,, readers, writers, artists, publishers and fans of comix will converge at the Toronto Reference Library ( and nearby venues)  to take part in the the FREE Toronto Comic Arts Festival (aka TCAF).This year marks the 15th anniversary since the first TCAF was held (at a much smaller venue) in 2003.

Among the talented people who will be at TCAF this year are a small number of comix professionals who have done comic art using Jewish characters or themes.

Abrams ComicArts (tables 111-112) is the publisher of the Hereville books, the English edition of Pascal Croci's Auschwitz, Yiddiskeit, and the English edition of Boxer: The True Story of Holocaust Survivor Harry Haft by Reinhard Kleist

Marguerite Dabaie (tables 103-104) is the author illustrator of the Nib stories "Trump's Jerk Move on Jerusalem: People Already Dying" and "Rasmea Odeh: Woman Without a Country". She was a collaborating illustrator for the World War 3 Illustrated story "The Hummus Wars". 

Europe Comics (tables 131-132) is the publisher of the series The Jewish Brigade, The Red Poster, Mezek, and Second Generation.

Willow Dawson (table 146) is the illustrator of the anthology No Girls Allowed : Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure, written by Susan Hughes and published by Kids Can Press. The anthology includes the story of Esther Brandeau, the first Jewish person to immigrate to Canada.

Fantagraphics Books (tables 148-150) is the publisher of Jewish Images in the Comics, Palestine, and Barracuda in the Attic.

First Second Books (table 200) is the publisher of Klezmer : Tales of the Wild East, the Rabbi's Cat books, and the Resistance series.

IDW (tables 128-129) is the publisher of the series Drafted and the book We Spoke Out : Comic Books and the Holocaust.

Nicholas Gurewitch (table 291) is the "Perry Bible Fellowship" webcomic (formerly a syndicated comic strip), which included one with a Jewish shrimp who has trouble meeting Jewish women.

Yehudi Mercado (table 204) is the author-illustrator of the graphic novel Throne of Secrets,which takes the traditional biblical tale of Queen Esther and "amps up the adventure of this historic epic".

NBM Graphic Novels (table 133) is the publisher of the Jew in Communist Prague books, Brownsville, The Big Khan, and the Isaac the Pirate books.

Hope Nicholson (table 218) is the editor of the Eisner-nominated A Minyan Yidn un Andere Zacken — A Bunch of Jews and Other Stuff.

Hilary Price (tables 273-274) is the "Rhymes with Orange" cartoonist who has used her syndicated comic strip to tell many Jewish jokes (although not exclusively). A collection of her Jewish strips titled Hanukkomics may be purchased at http://www.indyplanet.us/comics/100030/.

Jonathan Rotsztain (Zineland Terrace, 2 Bloor Ave. W.) is the author-illustrator of the self-published works Self-Loving Jew and Journey into Jonathan.

Toronto Comics Anthology (table 210) is the publisher of Osgoode as Gold, which includes the story "Finkel and Sons", about a Jewish shopkeeper's son who must quickly decide how best to protect his family.

Julian Voloj (table 133) is the author of  the graphic memoirs Ghetto Brother: Warrior to Peacemaker and The Joe Shuster Story: The Artist Behind Superman.

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TCAF panels which may be of interest to those who study Jews and Comics.

Sunday May 13

Learning Centre (1st Floor, Toronto Reference Library)

10:30 AM – NCS: Rhymes With Orange – Hilary Price created the newspaper comics strip Rhymes With Orange by herself for 22 years. Then everything changed. Toronto-based cartoonist Rina Piccolo and Hilary Price reflect on their now one-year-old collaboration on Rhymes With Orange. What’s it’s like to bring on a new partner after working on a project by yourself for more than 2 decades? Come find out!

Summerhill Ballroom (Marriott)

2:45 PM – Truth Comes Out: Creating Comic Biographies – The best biographies take you on a wild ride through some of the defining moments of a person’s life. But what happens if that person is, well, boring? Or worse, what if you uncover skeletons in the closet of people you admire? Join biographers Max de Radigues & Wauter Manaert (Weegee), Julian Voloj (The Joe Shuster Story), Ho Che Anderson (King), along with biographical interpreters Jia Sung and Oliver East (Ley Lines) as they address the greatest question of all: Is fact stranger than fiction? Moderated by Brendan Montgomery.