Canzine Awesomeness

I attended my first Canzine this past weekend. Needless to say, I was very impressed. To an outsider, Zine-dom seems like a great place. The big, timbered a-frame of the 918 Bathurst Center was crammed with open-minded, open-hearted people eager to meet new people and talk openly about the wonderful things they've made. And most of the stuff on display was incredible. Almost every table enticed me with things both interesting and beautifully made.  I walked out with a great mix of zines, chapbooks, magazines, and graphic novels from Toronto and elsewhere. Here are some of the highlights in no particular order:

Zanta: The Living Legend by Jason Kiefer

A graphic biography of a local legend: Zanta, a santa-hat-wearing street performer whose topless, bare-knuckle pushups have gotten him banned from the entire downtown core of Toronto.

The City the Night Before by Coco Riot Guzman

A short, house-shaped zine with beautiful illustration about the citizens of a city on the night before a revolution erupts.









































The Life and Times of Butch Dykes: Judith Butler by B&D Press

Anyone who has been to grad school and/or done any gender studies will appreciate this one; a cheeky little biography of an inspiring thinker.








































Evil by James Edward Clark

This wacky comic has some incredible artwork and a plot line which features, among other things, demon motorcycle gangs, fire pistols, and a storyline where Rasputin and Charles Manson meet in jail and become lovers.

Little Brother Magazine 

A relative newcomer to the Toronto magazine community, great art direction and an eclectic mix of photo essays, prose, and poetry set Little Brother apart. 

Post by Justin