Toronto Comic Arts Fest Announces 2 Manga Artist Guests for 2013

The organizers of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival made their first announcements of special guests scheduled to appear in their May 2013 event. Besides American and European comics talents like Art Spiegelman (Maus), Raina Telgemeier (Drama and Smile), and Maurice Vellekoop (A Nut at the Opera), TCAF 2013 will also feature two very special guests from Japan: Taiyo Matsumoto (creator of Tekkon Kinkreet, and the upcoming release, Sunny, both from VIZ Media) and Gengoroh Tagame (The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, a collection of this bara manga master's work, from PictureBox).

In addition to spotlight panel appearances and autograph sessions, Taiyo Matsumoto will also be featured in a special gallery exhibit at The Japan Society. Entitled "The World Of Taiyo Matsumoto," the exhibit will feature "original artwork and goods" by Matsumoto. The exhibit will be on display at The Japan Society gallery at 131 Bloor Street West, Second floor from May 10 through May 31, 2013. There will be an opening reception on May 10, and an artist's talk on May 11.

Other TCAF 2013 events that should be of special interest to manga fans include a special screening of the film Tekkon Kinkreet (based on the graphic novel by Matsumoto), with Director Michael Arias and Screenwriter Anthony Weintraub also in attendance.

TCAF 2013 will also mark the first time that bara manga master Gengoroh Tagame will be making an appearance at a North American comics show. Picturebox's collection of his powerful, erotic work, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame will be debuting at the show.

Bara manga, in case you're not familiar with the term, is basically erotic comics about gay men created for gay men. Bara manga is very, very different than yaoi manga, which is erotic/romantic stories about gay men/boys largely created by/for female audiences. Bara manga features muscular, very masculine-looking men and uh... lots of, uhm... "action."

In any case, it should be very exciting to see and hear from this acclaimed creator and to finally see more of his work available in English.

2013 marks the 10th anniversary of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, so look for even more exciting announcements of guest artists and special events that are sure to come.

Planning on attending TCAF? You should! The Toronto Comics Art Festival will be held on Saturday, May 10 - Sunday, May 11 at the Toronto Reference Library at 789 Yonge St. Admission is free, and the event is open to all ages. In addition to interesting panel discussions, events for kids, drawing demos, autograph sessions and exhibits, there will be artists and publishers, and graphic novels by artists from North America, Asia, Europe and South America.

Follow @TorontoComics on Twitter, and check out their Facebook page to stay on top the latest updates for the 2013 show.

Get a taste of what TCAF is like by checking out this photo gallery from TCAF 2009. See you there!