This past Friday, Penguin Random House Canada invited me to their offices for a screening of the first episode of the new CW show, Riverdale. It’s a modern take on the iconic Archie characters set in their small town of Riverdale and attendees were encouraged to dress up in either 1950s garb or as the Archie…
To All the Cons We Loved This Year
I went to a lot of cons this year. So many cons. I attended SDCC for the first time, flew to New York for the second year of FlameCon, did some shopping at TCAF, some press and panels at FanExpo, and covered several of Toronto’s hundred-odd film festivals. I’m not a fan of cons, generally, especially…
Let Me Live Through You: Go To Safari Festival
Safari Festival is August 27th–this upcoming Saturday. And, it being in London, which is far away and tricksy once you get there, I can’t go. Can you go? If you want to, you should. Here’s the sell! Safari is run by Breakdown Press. Like their comic output, it is curated. Breakdown Press are the sort of people…
Line-ups and Lock-ups at the #BelleReveTO Suicide Squad Exhibit
I take my job as the ear-to-the-ground or pulse-checker (whatever floats your boat) of pop culture very seriously and when I heard there was a some kind of Suicide Squad promo exhibit, I jumped at the chance to get locked up at Belle Reve sanatorium. Decided to be @womenoncomics' #BelleReveTO correspondent on this sweaty day. pic.twitter.com/L8mBm59zjC…
White Pine Awards & Toronto’s Reading Festivities
On May 17th, I got up early and made my way down to Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre for the first day of the Festival of Trees. It’s a two day literary festival, with a third day in French, and has expanded to satellite events in Sault Ste. Marie and London, Ontario. It’s put together by the…
TCAF 2016: Festival Diary
I love the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) and I’ve gone every year since 2013. The 2016 festival was fantastic and I’m still recovering from the exciting things that went down. TCAF is a free event that focuses on independent comics and creators with guests from not only Canada but all over the world. Its primary location is in…
Con Diaries: Chicago Zine Fest
It’s been two weeks since I attended the Chicago Zine Festival (CZF), but I still feel the aftershocks of love, community, excitement, and exhaustion. In my experience, zine festivals and alternative comics expos are designed with accessibility in mind. There is no entrance fee or admission cost is very low, events take place during typical…
Dita Von Teese’s Opium Den: Consuming Problematic Media
My partner recently surprised me with tickets to see Dita Von Teese’s Burlesque: Strip, Strip, Hooray!, purported to be a revue of high production-value, best-of-the-best burlesque performed by Dita and a cast of striptease superstars. Though I’d never seen Dita in person before, many of the supporting cast were performers I had seen in the…
Comic Cons, Comic Books, and a Library Magazine: Anne Drozd on the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival, Pulp, and a Mystery Comic
In the past few years, Anne Drozd and her husband Jerzy Drozd have produced a boatload of comic events: Comic books, podcasts, conventions, cartoonist instruction for kids/teens/adults, school workshops, library events, Nerd Nites, tiny expos, big expos; these two do it all. I was thrilled that Anne was able to take the time to answer…
Southern Hip-Hop Meet Gymnastics: On Diversity in Gymnastics
I really can’t stand sports for the most part, but the sports I do like are the so-called “girly” ones: figure skating, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and dancesport. Like my beloved ballet, they display grace and power, usually with sequins and glitter. In my mind, it can’t get better than that. I am all about…
Comics Arts Los Angeles 2015: The Best of Indie Comics in the Worst of Venues
Comic Arts Los Angeles held its second event this past weekend, and the first two-day event. As someone who stays mainly within mainstream comics, I was scared and intimidated about going, but now, having gone, I am very glad I went. I was only able to go out on Saturday due to family commitments, but…
Girls Against: The Teenage Girls Fighting Harassment at Concerts
In case you missed it, here’s some news: women and girls can go out in public now. I wish I could say “women and girls can go out in public without fear of harassment now,” but we’re still waiting on that utopia.