Re-post from Instagram 🙂 Big news! We will now be open and lending our collection out on Fridays, 12noon-6evening!!! Planning for more lending hours in near future, soo consider this a ◔◡◔ ♥ soft openning ♥ inside of our new home at Story Planet’s Alien Art Market: 986 Bathurst St. (2 stop lights north of Bloor) Expect more photos of the space and posts from us over the coming days on Instagram! Our library calendar can be found on our…
Hey hey, Victor Martins here! I’m CCOL’s Comics-Creator-In-Residence for the month of August. It is the last day of August*, so here is some “me talking about some of the books I picked to display on CCOL’s shelf!” *Actually technically the first day of September, oops. Carpe Fin – Michael Yahgulanaas The thing I love the most about Michael Yahgulanaas’ work is how huge and rich and exciting the world feels in his stories. I have no idea how he…
We are so happy to announce the 5th Comics Out Loud!: On Friday April 23rd at 7pm EST, join Hello Boyfriend members Jade Armstrong, Keelin Gorlewski, Victor Martins, and Christine Wong for an evening of comics being read out loud and discussion about their work! Where?: Zoom— with info on how to join below! This event is free, with no need to register. The event will have live automatic captions. We will be recording the event to publish it on…
Hello everyone my name is Jey Pawlik, a Toronto nonbinary comic artist. On February 23rd I had the pleasure of giving a talk here at the Comics Open Library about creating webcomics and I’d like to share that information with anyone who wasn’t able to come. I’m the artist for Topaz Comics which hosts the webcomics “Dead City” and “Gender Slices”, both of which are available at the library. Topaz Comics is the comic making duo I’m apart of with…
Hi everyone, my name is Jey Pawlik ( https://jpawlik.com ) and I’m the creator in residence for February! I’m a nonbinary comic artist (they/them) and one half of the comics duo “Topaz Comics” ( https://topazcomics.com ) that I run with my partner Michelle Parker. Together we create exclusively queer comics with a focus on wholesome and soft stories. For my first blog post here at the Canada Comics Open Library I want to talk about my history in comics and…
Hi, folks — this is Eric Kostiuk Williams, Creator in Residence for January! I’ve had a great couple weeks becoming more familiar with the library, and getting a chance to curate one of its shelves with some of my favourite comics, pictured below. I’d like to zero in on a couple of these, and get more into what they mean to me! Gaylord Phoenix by Edie Fake: For many queers in my age bracket, the collected Gaylord Phoenix book was something really…
We now have over 700 comics in our library, with dozens more that we still need to catalogue! Here are new donations and purchases from the past month or so. You can read these amazing comics and hang out in our library space on the third floor of CSI Regent Park @ 585 Dundas Street East! Check our calendar for updated hours. We are generally open Wednesdays to Sundays, from 11am to 6pm. Click on each cover image for a…
We’ve had plenty of amazing donations in the past couple of weeks, and are working on finding a permanent home for these comics! If you know of an accessible space (ideally 900 square feet or larger), or existing space open to partnering with us, please get in touch with us. Visit our online catalogue for more information on comics and co-creators! Click on the cover photos for individual summaries.
Have a look at this great discussion that covers a lot— from why comics are an accessible and unique medium for storytelling to how to make comics more diverse through representation both on and behind the page. Also, some great anecdotes and conversation on the creative process, formal features like gutters and time in comics, retelling histories, and the challenges of creating comics! Panel moderated by Dr. Brooke Winterstein. Panelists include: Ryan North, Jason Loo, Georgia Webber, Stephanie Cooke, Ardo…
Hello comics community! Although it is no longer Pride month, any time is a good time to celebrate the accomplishments of the LGBTQ+ community to Canadian society, while acknowledging the challenges and strides they have gone through as a community. The arts and creative industry serve as a good example of the LGBTQ+ contribution to Canada. A medium like webcomics, where there are no networks or corporate editors limiting creative content, allows for more queer content than what may be…