The Beguiling is a

comic shop The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of: * four major comic distributors: ** Lunar D ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

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Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It specializes in

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

and

alternative comics Alternative comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which ...

, classic comic strip reprints, and foreign comics. It has built an international reputation for focusing on and promoting non- superhero comics in the superhero-dominated North American comic book market. The store has made effort to promote comics culture in Toronto by organizing the annual

Toronto Comic Arts Festival The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) is a comic book festival held annually in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 2003, TCAF has grown to become one of the world’s largest festivals dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of comic arts. Prog ...

(TCAF) in coöperation with the

Toronto Public Library Toronto Public Library (TPL) (french: Bibliothèque publique de Toronto) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2008 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other pub ...

, which also hosts Page & Panel, a nonprofit shop to support TCAF. The Beguiling also runs a sister store, Little Island Comics, the first North American comic shop aimed exclusively at children.

History

Founded in 1987 by Steve Solomos and Sean Scoffield on

Harbord Street Harbord may refer to: People * Harbord Harbord (1675?–1742), English landowner and Member of Parliament born Harbord Cropley * Harbord Harbord, 1st Baron Suffield (1734–1810), British landowner and Member of Parliament * Arthur Harbord (1865� ...

near the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

, Canada, The Beguiling quickly built a reputation for the diversity of its stock, focused on art-oriented,

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

and

—"anything that is even peripherally comic book-oriented", according to current owner Peter Birkemoe. In the earliest days, much of the store's income was made through

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

, as the material it dealt in was not mainstream. It also built a reputation for stocking the works of cartoonists such as

Chester Brown Chester William David Brown (born 16 May 1960) is a Canadian cartoonist. Brown has gone through several stylistic and thematic periods. He gained notice in alternative comics circles in the 1980s for the surreal, scatological '' Ed the Happy Cl ...

and

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

, whose comics most stores would not handle due to the controversial nature of their contents. Well-known Toronto-based cartoonists such as the trio of Brown, Seth and

Joe Matt Joe Matt (born September 3, 1963) is an American cartoonist, best known for his autobiographical work, '' Peepshow''. Early life Matt was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He started drawing comics in 1987. Career In his autobiographical c ...

became associated with the store, and sometimes depicted it in their comics. Others such as

Jay Stephens Jay Stephens (born March 22, 1971) is a Canadian cartoonist and animator currently living in Guelph, Ontario. He is best known as the creator of Discovery Kids's animated television series ''Tutenstein'' , Cartoon Network's ''The Secret Saturda ...

made it their shop of choice. In 1998, Solomos and Scoffield decided to devote their time to creating art (and later film production), and ownership was passed to Peter Birkemoe and Shane Chung, who expanded operations. In 1992 it relocated to a two-floor Victorian building in Mirvish Village in Toronto, and has since branched out into selling to

libraries A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...

, organizing the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, and running two more locations: Little Island Comics, which caters to children; and the nonprofit Page & Panel in the

. By 2017, 50% of its sales were to libraries across Canada. Plans to redevelop Mirvish Village as condominiums pushed The Beguiling to find a new location. It moved 3 January 2017 to a location at 319 College Street, near the

. The new location has since grown to about double the floor space of the previous one.

Description and reputation

The Beguiling is "a store with an agenda", according to Birkemoe, and has been derided for some for its perceived elitism, which stems in part from its sponsoring of ''Crash'', a journal of comics criticism that mainly condemned bad comics. Others, such as comics historian Charles Hatfield, have praised the store for its sense of history, saying, "You always leave the shop with a larger sense of what comics are about." The Beguiling is patronized by an international audience. The store has made the top five retailer list in ''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

'', and among the awards it has received, it shared the inaugural Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award in 1993, and it won the

Joe Shuster Award The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards (or Joe Shuster Awards) are given out annually for outstanding achievements in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, and comics retailers and publishers by Canadians. The awards, ...

s' Harry Kremer Retailer Award in 2010.

Toronto Comic Arts Festival

In 2003, Peter Birkemoe and Chris Butcher of The Beguiling first organized the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF). Unusual in the world of comics conventions, TCAF is a free-admission event. It focuses on alternative and independent comics, but includes other creative arts besides comics. Rather than being like a traditional comics convention, it is patterned after European festivals such as Angoulême, and the American

Small Press Expo The Small Press Expo (SPX) is an American alternative comics convention. A registered 501(c)(3) that was created in 1994, every year since its inception, SPX has put on a festival, known as The Expo, that provides a forum for artists, writers an ...

Little Island Comics

As most North American comic shops focus on teenage and adult customers, and The Beguiling itself mainly on adults, the owners wanted to fill a void by opening the first children's comic shop in North America, and possibly the world. Little Island Comics opened 6 September 2011 at 742 Bathurst Street in the Annex, close to The Beguiling. The shop was designed with children in mind, with bright colours and shelves at child-height. When Mirvish Village closed in 2017, so did Little Island; several of the staff moved to Page & Panel. Little Island Comics re-opened at 323 College Street in February 2018, next to The Beguiling's new location there.

References

External links