FRIDAY, MAY 19TH

VanCAF 2023 Kickoff: ALL THAT JAJ

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, moderator Dr. Nicola Levell

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 19th 7PM

Free registration HERE

Join us for a celebration of the release of the new Haida manga JAJ, written and illustrated by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. The evening, hosted by the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival, will feature an entertaining and thought-provoking conversation between Michael and Dr. Nicola Levell.

JAJ tells the story of an encounter between the author’s Haida ancestors and Johan Adrian Jacobsen, a Norwegian explorer sent to the West Coast in 1881 to collect artifacts for a museum in Germany. There will be opportunities to meet the author, purchase the new book, and ask your own questions about his work!

FRIDAY, MAY 19TH

Vancouver Comics Jam: VanCAF Edition!

 

12 Kings Pub

395 Kingsway

May 19th 7PM-12PM

 

Come out and hang out and draw collaborative comics with local comic creators at 12 Kings Pub
(395 Kingsway), on Friday, May 19th! The jam gets going at 7 pm and goes until midnight or
later! WHO CAN ATTEND: Anyone who is of legal drinking age is invited! COST: No admission
fee! 12 Kings provides a full food menu to order from and a fine selection of craft beers and
drinks. Paper is provided but bring your pencils/pens! Follow the VCJ on Twitter: @vancomicjam

SATURDAY,

MAY 20TH

Land Acknowledgment Comics Artist Spotlight

bailey macabre, Valen Onstine

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 20th 11:15-12:00

Valen Onstine, the artist of this year’s Land Acknowledgment comic, will join last year’s artist
bailey macabre for a free-wheeling conversation about their work and respective artistic practices!

SATURDAY,

MAY 20TH

IATSE Workshop: Know Your Rights!

 

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 21st – 12:30-1:15

Join representatives from the Canadian Animation Guild, IATSE Local 938, for an informative and interactive Q&A panel on studio worker rights in BC. They will shed light on some of the challenges facing today’s studio artists and discuss what you can do to improve working
conditions and pay at your workplace. Come armed with questions!

SATURDAY,

MAY 20TH

Spotlight on: Jeff Lemire

Jeff Lemire, moderator: Taylor Brown-Evans

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 2oth – 1:30-2:15

VanCAF 2023 special guest Jeff Lemire sits down with Taylor Brown-Evans for a wide-reaching conversation about his career in comics! From his beginning with self-publishing Lost Dogs to his work for Marvel, DC, and Image to his multiple adaptations for television (including Sweet
Tooth and Essex County!), Jeff will provide insight into his wide and varied career!

SATURDAY,

MAY 20TH

Creating Comics for Audiences of Every Age

Dan Santat, Claire Lordon, Kathleen Gros, Mike Holmes, moderator: Doug Savage

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 2oth – 2:45-3:30

How do you make comics for kids and how is it different from making comics for teens or
adults? In this panel discussion, creators will share their secrets and stories for approaching various age groups. Our panel of experts includes Claire Lordon (Lorenzo the Pizza-Loving Lobster, One in a Million), Dan Santat (A First Time for Everything, The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend), Doug Savage (Savage Chickens, Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy), Kathleen Gros (Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort of), Last Night at Wyrmwood High), and Mike Holmes (My Own World, Wings of Fire).

SATURDAY, MAY 20TH

Spotlight on: Meredith Gran

Meredith Gran, moderator Raji Sohal

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 20th – 3:45-4:30

Superstar creator and VanCAF special guest Meredith Gran will join moderator Raji Sohal to
speak in-depth about her career in comics and the surprise return of Octopus Pie!

SATURDAY, MAY 20TH

Spotlight on: Kathleen Gros

Kathleen Gros, moderator Mel Woods

Rooom C

May 20th – 10:30-11:15

VanCAF 2023 poster artist Kathleen Gros has been an integral part of the local community both as artist and organizer! Kathleen sits down with Mel Woods to talk about her most recent book Anne, work in comics, her VanCAF poster, really anything they want!

SATURDAY, MAY 2OTH

Documenting Moments in Time

Ho Che Anderson, Zoe Si, Pia Guerra, Karen Shangguan, moderator: Becca Tobin

Room C

May 20th – 11:30-12:15

Comics and graphic storytelling offer a unique form to capture and expand moments in time,
from the monumental to the sublime. This panel brings together creators whose work
showcases the intricacies of this process to great effect! Join artists Ho Che Anderson, Zoe Si,
Pia Guerra, Karen Shangguan and moderator Becca Tobin as they talk about what it takes to
depict—and commit to print—a moment in life!

SATURDAY, MAY 20TH

Spotlight on: Aisha Franz

Aisha Franz, moderator Raji Sohal

Room C

May 20th – 12:30-1:15

VanCAF special guest Aisha Franz sits down with Raj Sohal to look at her work in comics. From her newest book Work-Life Balance to her role as co-host of Clubhouse, Aisha’s varied and consistently incredible body of work will be on full display!

SATURDAY,

MAY 20TH

“So…What do We do Next?”

Gytha Press, Bulgilhan Press, John James Dudek & Cielle Charron (Secret Room Press), Glacier Bay Press

Room C

May 20th – 1:30-2:15

Comics are amazing! But can we make them in a more ethical, sustainable, and community-minded along the way? Join members of Gytha Press, Bulgilhan Press, Secret Room Press, Glacier Bay Press and more?? for a discussion about where comics publishing is going next.

SATURDAY, MAY 20TH

Spotlight on: Justin Gradin & “Mystic Debris”

Justin Gradin moderator Andrea Lukic

Room C

May 20th – 2 :30-3:15

Vancouver multi-disciplinary artist Justin Gradin’s debut graphic novel, Mystic Debris, arrives this month from Fantagraphics! On the eve of his move to Los Angeles, Justin sits down with long-time friend and collaborator Andrea Lukic to chat about their history in Vancouver’s music and arts scene and the story behind the arrival of Mystic Debris.

SATURDAY, MAY 20TH

A Lo-Fi Cartoon Performance by Marita Kmart

Marita Kmart & associates

ROOM C

May 20th – 3:45-4:30

What is a lo-fi cartoon performance?! What does this mean? Come by and find out for yourself
at Marita Kmart’s performance which is bound to surprise you!

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST

Keeping it Real: Dan Santat in Conversation 

Dan Santat and Sarah Leavitt

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 21st – 10:30-11:15

A graphic memoir is so complicated. You have to revisit your memories, capture them visually and as accurately as you can, and this is on top of writing and illustrating the story. What do you choose to reveal or hide? What is your story and how do you begin the creative
process? Caldecott Medal-winning and New York Times–bestselling author and illustrator Dan Santat will present his new graphic memoir, A First Time for Everything, and cover these
questions and more with acclaimed cartoonist, author and educator Sarah Leavitt.

SUNDAY MAY 21ST

Salmon Run: One Year Later

Maya McKibbin, Atheana Picha, Whess Harman, bailey macabre, Karlene Harvey, moderator: Cole Pauls

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 21st  – 11:30-12:15

Salmon Run debuted to great acclaim at the 2022 Vancouver Comic Arts Festival and to celebrate its anniversary we’ve brought together a special panel to discuss the inspiration and creation of the project with artists Maya McKibbin, Whess Harman, bailey macabre, Karlene Harvey, Atheana Picha (and maybe more?) in conversation with the project’s artistic editor and VanCAF special guest Cole Pauls!

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST

Spotlight on: Ho Che Anderson

Ho Che Anderson, moderator: Andrew Townsend

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 21st – 1:30-2:15

VanCAF turns the spotlight on special guest Ho Che Anderson in a conversation spanning the
incredible breadth of his career in comics! Former TCAF/Beguiling staff member Andrew Townsend will talk with Ho Che about his career, his work, and his new work, GODHEAD, out from Fantagraphics!

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST

Parenting and Creativity

Kyle Vingoe-Cram, Aisha Franz, Meredith Gran, Natalie Pendergast moderator: Tony Cliff

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 21st- 2:30 – 3:15

Ever wonder how comic artists with kids make the time to create and how they sustain the
creative drive while juggling work and home? Want to hear how life with kids inspires creatives to make art they might never have made otherwise? Join Kyle Vingoe-Cram (Kettle Harbour), Aisha Franz (Work-Life Balance), Natalie Pendergast  (Partum Me) and Meredith Gran (Octopus
Pie) and moderator Tony Cliff (Delilah Dirk) for a panel on parenting and comics that may even feature input from some kids themselves!

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST

It’s Alive! Things That Go Bump in the Night

Jeff Lemire, Cleopatria Peterson, Trevor Henderson, moderatoir: Allison O’Toole

Roundhouse Performance Centre

May 21st- 3:30 – 4:15

Moderator Allison O’Toole (Shades of Fear, The All-Nighter, and the Shuster Award-winning Wayward Sisters) talks all things horror with a special focus on monsters with Cleopatria Peterson, Trevor Henderson, and Jeff Lemire. Allison will lead a discussion about how horror
works in comics as compared to other media, what makes a great monster design, and what
monsters and horror may represent in the works of the panellists.

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST

SPACE TRASH

Jenn Woodall, Cleopatria, Vivi Partridge, Tess Reid, moderator: Andrew Townsend

Room C

May 21st – 11:15- 12:00

Jenn Woodall gathers a cast of friends to the stage for a special reading from her graphic novel
Space Trash, out now from Oni Press! Tess Reid, Vivi Partridge, and Cleopatria Peterson will
join Jenn to bring the book to life. A Q&A moderated by Andrew Townsend will follow this exciting performance!

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST

Just Got Here!

@thesneakyartist, @kahoanimation, @yaimel1983, @devlicino (Ireland), moderator @somethingsketchy

Room C

May 22nd – 12:15 – 1:00

A panel of five international artists will share their personal experiences in this free-wheeling conversation about the highs and lows of moving to Vancouver! Rants and raves from:

@thesneakyartist (US), @kahoanimation (Japan), @yaimel1983 (Cuba),

@devlicino (Ireland),
and moderated by @somethingsketchy (who also just got here)

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST

Blind Alley: Year Two

Adam de Souza and Jarrett Evan Samson

Room C

May 21st – 1:15-2:00

Adam de Souza’s daily online strip, Blind Alley, features kids, psychic powers, bindle-carrying
dogs and the happenings of a strange and lonely neighbourhood…there’s a lot going on.

Adam was our VanCAF poster
artist last year and this year he’s on the festival board! Festival director Jarrett Evan Samson
catches up with Adam in this talk about the latest goings-on with the kids in Blind Alley!

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST

Drinkstuds 3: Think About Batman

Robin McConnell, and special guests

Room C

May 21st – 2:15 – 3:00

How often do you think about Batman? If you work in comics, any kind of comics, the answer may surprise you! And, in the course of a single day, how often do you pick up an energy drink? Join former VanCAF executive director Robin McConnell, one of Canada’s top energy drink connoisseurs, to chat about all things Batman and sample from his collection of energy drinks. There will be a LOT of Batman chat but also, why is Joker such a jerk—and who is the most underrated Batman villain?

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST

HOUNDSVILLE: A Stripped-down Performance by Amanda Berlind

Room C

May 21st – 3:15-4:00

Houndsville is a psychedelic fantasy musical experiment detailing the trials and tribulations of a washed-up alcoholic canine detective, Klauss, and his will-they-won’t-they sweetheart, Maus,as the pair traverse the blackened sprawl of the once great city of dogs. Created and performed
by Amanda Berlin, who will be adorned in paper-mâché dog regalia (a “fetching” look if ever
there was one), wielding instruments and loopers. Friends, foes, come one, come all…