Toronto Comics: Osgoode As Gold

Toronto Comics #5

by Stephanie Cooke (Lead Editor), Megan Purdy (Editor), Miike (Editor)

In a city of competitive wizard barristas, nervous werewolves and scoundrel Trash Pandas, you'll find some of the best upcoming comic creators! We're back again with twenty-four fresh comics from local indie veterans and first-time creators.

From the strange giants that prowl Kensington at midnight, the vengeful Pacific Mall dance mafia, or the dragon-hunting wannabes working Queen Street, we've got stories inspired by every part of the city we love.

Featuring a cover by Irma Kniivila (Ms. Marvel, Deadpool) and a foreword from Chip Zdarsky (Jughead, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man), this book is a celebration of the talent and diversity of Toronto’s comics community.

Genres: Anthologies, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Canada

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2018

About the author

Stephanie is a writer based out of Toronto, Canada. Some of her graphic novels include ParaNorthern, Oh My Gods, and The Racc Pack. She's additionally worked on titles such as My Little Pony, Cat Ninja, Archie Comics, and more. She’s an avid reader, gamer, movie watcher, and pun connoisseur. She can often be found curled up with her snuggly cat…that she happens to be very allergic to.

Her debut young adult graphic novel, Pillow Talk, is out now. Find out more about her at stephaniecooke.ca.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. For me the art was too similar. When I read an anthology I’m looking for Mome, Zero Zero, Kramer’s Ergot, Now, Raw, Best American Comics style anthologies with a wide spectrum of styles. I need more diversity to the art and this volume came off as very mainstream.

I will continue to support the series and I may order some of the earlier volumes because I love the city and I have hope that stronger, unique voices will emerge.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't been living in Toronto for too long, so I was really interested in seeing the city through the eyes of established Torontonians. For the most part I think these comics would have benefitted from more space to develop their stories/characters -- or maybe I'm just not much of a short-comics reader? -- but even when a comic didn't really grab my attention it was fun to recognize the setting. All of the comics were charming in their own way, and some were fantastic -- Cenotaph was definitely my favourite, and I also really enjoyed Bandit Bargain Basement Bonanaza and Jane Street; all three were really enhanced by their "Toronto-iness." I'll probably check out another volume of these!

[tlev 4242 · Rating 5 out of 5]

What another great collection of stories, covering everything from cats, magical powers, other dimensions, Toronto's history of anti-semitism and our love of lining up.

I love seeing the variety of artistic styles in use, and appreciate all the fantastic elements in many of the stories.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Part 1 of my yearly challenge for reading either a book with a specific coloured cover OR from/of a specific culture.

January was Green & though I own (I think), every book that TOComix has ever printed, some are still shamefully on my To Be Read list (which I am aiming to rectify by the end of the year). I have always fully supported this company with their vision, their stories, their community. Osgoode As Gold was no exception to this. The variety of the stories, the messages, the storytelling, & the art amazes me in each volume I read. When I was asked a few days after finishing to talk about a few stories in it, I think I gushed & told them about all the stories in this volume.

Again, as always, books from Toronto Comics are always worth the read. You can read them in any order, so if you get the opportunity to pick up or read one of their books, please do so.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mix of stories. Love letters to many things Toronto. Some stories and art styles were more my thing than others, some stories were a tad too short for me to really get into, but I like the breadth of styles included, and all the little shoutouts to Toronto stuff.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid collection of stories! The one that stood out the most to me was the one about the Blue Jays, it reminds me a lot of my grandmother- who is still alive, and only recently started following baseball a lot, but it still struck a chord with me.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of delightful stories in this anthology, but not enough to go higher than 3 stars.

[A Canadian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice touch of TO.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this collection of toronto comics - a great mix of stories and styles. Also love toronto based stories

[ember · Rating 4 out of 5]

reread as placeholder for 2025 anthology, The City We Chose