The Beguiling

Founded in 1987 by Steve Solomos and Sean Scoffield on Harbord Street near the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, The Beguiling quickly built a reputation for the diversity of its stock, focused on art-oriented, avant-garde, underground and alternative comics—"anything that is even peripherally comic book-oriented", according to current owner Peter Birkemoe.

It also built a reputation for stocking the works of cartoonists such as Chester Brown and Julie Doucet, whose comics most stores would not handle due to the controversial nature of their contents.

[1] Well-known Toronto-based cartoonists such as the trio of Brown, Seth and Joe Matt became associated with the store,[2] and sometimes depicted it in their comics.

[1] 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,[1] who expanded operations.

[11] In 2003, Peter Birkemoe and Chris Butcher of The Beguiling first organized the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF).

[5] Rather than being like a traditional comics convention, it is patterned after European festivals such as Angoulême, and the American Small Press Expo.

Joe Matt visits The Beguiling with Seth and Chester Brown (from Matt's Peepshow # 3, Drawn & Quarterly , 1992).
Little Island Comics is a spin-off of the Beguiling aimed at children.