Did I seriously not write a TCAF post until now? Man it's been a busy week.

So I went to TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) last weekend, and SO MANY people I admire were there. SO MANY.

On Saturday we went upstairs first and talked to the people in the Topatoco area. It got so crowded later, I'm glad we went there right away so we got time to talk to people. Joey Comeau and Emily Horne (A Softer World) were probably the most interesting people to talk to, they have a great sense of humor and the three of us ended up talking for about 20 minutes. Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics) was really great too. I also got to meet the people who do Nedroid/Beartato, Dr McNinja and Octopus Pie. Sadly, I don't remember their names, but it was so nice to meet all of them.

Next we got in line to see Andrew Hussie (Homestuck) over an hour before he would start signing, but it was worth it. We were one of the first 10 people to see him, and from what I've heard from all his later signings, we got much longer to talk to him than everyone else. It was only about 5 minutes, but it was nice. He spelled my name wrong, haha. His girlfriend was really nice too, I probably would have ended up talking to her longer if they weren't trying to hurry us along.

We wandered around for a bit before getting back in line to see Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim). Andrew Hussie had gone overtime, so partway through his line turned into a line for Pendeton Ward (Adventure Time. Seriously, do I even need to link this one?). We got up to see O'Malley, and he said "Man, how did you choose me over Pendleton Ward?"
"To be fair, we didn't know he was signing when we got in line. Hopefully we'll get to see him as well." I said.
"Well, in case you don't get to see him, here's Finn." and then he drew Finn from Adventure Time in my Scott Pilgrim book.

We did eventually get to see Pendleton Ward, but it was relatively uneventful. He was very tired from signing books for two hours, but he still managed to stay perky and friendly.

By the time we were done there, the line for Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant) had grown huge, and it was still a long time before she would start signing. We got in line, waited almost two hours and were so close, but TCAF was over for the day and we were turned away.

The next day I ended up going alone. I arrived 10 minutes after it opened, but I still managed to be near the end of the line to see Kate Beaton. I waited another 2 hours and finally got to the front of the line, and suddenly I understood why the line had been moving so slowly (roughly 25 people per hour); she was taking the time to draw in each of the books. For me she drew John A. MacDonald sneaking up on Louis Riel, it was awesome.

The rest of the second day was very uneventful. I intended to wait in line to see Andrew Hussie again and get books signed for friends, but the line was so incredibly long I just gave up.

Overall it was an amazing, inspiring experience. I met so many people whose comics I have been following for years, and I've been completely numbed to meeting people I admire. I spent almost $400 in books that weekend, and every single one of them was signed. I wish I had brought so much more money, haha, I had to make a lot of tough choices on which books to buy, but it the end I guess I saved a whole bunch of money on shipping?