Peter Bagge - for the person who has everything

We've been obsessing over Peter Bagge's Hate comics all summer. So when our good friends Robin Nishio and Olivia Go came back from Japan with presents, and they were Peter Bagge toys I pretty much awarded them the friendship championship belt. Are these toys cooler than the time Robin bought like 5 pizza from Gi Gi and had them delivered in time for post party hangouts? Or are they more sweet then when Olivia made Diego delicious granola bars wrapped and tied with a ribbon for his birthday? Maybe not, but the point is: our friends are solid.

Thanks Robin and Olivia!

TCAF 2009

Here's one for your ical. 

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is coming up and is gonna be grand. Hosted by the greatest institution in the city, the Toronto Reference Library and presented by The Beguiling, it should be the biggest one yet. TCAF's guest list this year is formidable and still growing. Honoured guests include: Seth, Adrian Tomine, Ivan Brunetti, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Anke Feuchtenberger, Emmanuel Guibert, Paul Pope, and Yoshihiro Tatsumi to name a few. Also, Magic Pony is hosting a show for Tara McPherson. May 9 & 10, 2009.
More details are here, but we'll keep you reminded!

alien invasion pt 2

Miss Elizabeth's favorite wheat-pasted extraterrestrial is on the move, again.
Where is Lepos now?
In EA's Skate 2 for PS3 and Xbox 360 and a dilapidated store front near you.

alien invasion

Where is Lepos?

The elusive alien's most recent sighting was in Tony Hawk's Project 8 and his paper likeness has been pasted all over the downtown cores of major cities but Lepos is still on the move. His next destination: under your cardigan or flannel.

Our other-worldly friend has been caught in the crosshairs by creator Diego Bergia, in a new series of T-shirts.

They're $25 - email help@whereislepos.com to pick one up!

Crime Classics

We haven't been to see Notorious yet but in the meantime, I've been enjoying City of God's Son: a beat opera story of 3 friends in the hood. Nas, Jay Z and Ghostface lead the tale, which also boasts some of our favourite people: Ghostface, Biggie, Raekwon, Samuel L. Jackson, Delroy Lindo, Laurence Fishburne and Joe Bataan. This isn't one of your mum's books on tape.

The website is phenomenal, the story infectious, and the outcome is so intriguing, I plan to make a trip down to the Rotten Apple to see the installation. Kenzo Digital will be marrying several mediums: 

"creating a new form of Cinema, Theater, and Opera in an outside gallery space in NY's Chelsea art district. There, the listener will be able to experience COGS in the form it was initially intended, as a psychedelic abstract combination of visual and audio sensory over stimulation and deprivation in a unique outdoor setting."

Peep the trailer, over and over again and download the project!

(love what they did to that Kool G track)

Who's down for a roadtrip this summer?

Cartoon Calcium

Hyungkoo Lee is a Korean artist who makes skeletons of cartoon icons that look anatomically correct. His mediums are resin, wire and oil paints. Google his name and you can find pics of his process and installation views of the work.

Donald Duck

Bugs

Willie Coyote

Get stuffed.

My old friend, Toronto girl turned Montréalaise Olivia Mew is making ripples in the e-plush scene (yes, there is one!) with her "Felt Like Crying" brand of handmade alt dolls. They're available at her Etsy but she also takes commissions. (more pics)

Outta yr leaguers series


My deerest


One of the ever-popular Bad News Bears


some more cool kids

Killer comics.

Our endeared local alternative comic book store, The Beguiling is having a sale.
This could be your chance to fill in those missing back issues and stock up on blow-out priced graphic novels to ride-out the winter days ahead.


Newly arrived and accordingly not on sale is a bit of weirdness from Derf. Best know for his comic strip The City which has appeared in over 50 alternative newspapers since 1990, John Blackderf a.k.a. Derf is the actual teenage friend of notorious serial killer Jeffery Dahmer. Origially published in 2002, My Friend Dahmer is the most fascinatingly disturbing thing I've read this year, and highly recommeneded.

Electric Orphans pt. 2

Here are some photos from Ben Tour's show last night at Meta Gallery. (as usual, you can click for full-size)



Great turnout.



Ben Tour

Electric Orphans.

Ben Tour's art show "Electric Orphans" opens this evening at Meta Gallery from 7-10.

Ben does illustrations for Color Magazine, he's been featured in Juxtapoz, he's done solo exhibitions in San Fransisco and L.A.; but I've heard about him most through his old high school clique at Wexford Collegiate in Scarborough.

We're very glad to welcome Ben Tour back to Toronto, I wonder if he'll remember all the secret handshakes he'll get tonight?