Wow! What a night. What a day. It began with meeting Dave Sim for lunch along with his cartoon sidekick, Chester Brown. Dave wanted to video an artist on the day of his launch, so Trevor was along with camera and mike in hand to record the events of the afternoon. The resulting film will appear on Dave's blog and YouTube sometime next week.
After lunch Trevor and I went off to pick up my daughter Grace --the inspiration for Ragmop's “Little Miss Universe”. We headed downtown to World Salon where Grace had her hair cut and styled by the beautiful and delightful Aki. While in between shampoo and cut I interviewed Grace on camera about being a character in the book and what it was like watching me put the book together over the past two years. She handled the interview like a seasoned professional.
Once coiffed, Grace, I, and Trevor headed to the Victory Cafe for dinner and the launch. Grace changed into a floor length gold gown and I slipped into my tux. As I met and greeted people as they arrived Grace got up on stage for an interview with Dave. When he asked her if she thought the Three Stooges were funny, Grace replied, "What? You think this is funny?" and grabbed Dave's nose with a pair of pliers. You could hear Dave shouting "Moe! Moe!" for blocks.
Presentations got underway around eight with my reading two sections from Ragmop. Then Grace and I read a portion of the book with her character, Little Miss Universe. Also present was Duck-Duck although she shied away from the microphone and preferred I speak in her stead.
All in all it was a great time. I was so proud of Grace who captured everyone's hearts and co-signed the books with me --often putting her name ahead of mine since the crowd generally asked for her signature first. Everyone was very generous and accepting of her contribution to the book and the evening. It made me feel very good to be part of this community. You all gave comics a good name.
Other news is that independent bookstores around Toronto have been enthusiastically welcoming Ragmop on their shelves. If you're around Toronto and can't find Ragmop through the comics outlets, try Pages, Book City, This Ain't the Rosedale Library, and Another Story.
I'd like to thank Chris Butcher, Dave, Chester, Trevor, and everyone who came out to the event for making the return of Ragmop such a special day and night for me and Grace.
Thank you all for welcoming Ragmop back with open arms. Think I better dance now.
