The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Taking
its name from the small ‘toktok’ car that people take on the side streets of
Cairo, TokTok: the Station of Comics will launch its second issue today,
April 10th at the Institut Français d’Egypte (French Culture
Centre) in Mounira at 7PM.

Three
months ago, on January 9th, TokTok launched its first issue at the
Townhouse Factory Space in Downtown Cairo. Issues were swept off the tables as crowds
gathered to buy copies of the purple comic book, whose cover carried a
caricature of a traffic police man taking down a car license number. Made up of
44 pages of comic strips and cartoons, the first issue of TokTok featured
ten artists, their humour, daily experiences and their own vision of Egyptian society.
The issue was dedicated to the brilliant artist Mohie Eddin El Labad, who
passed away in September 2010.

TokTok distinguishes
itself from other famous comic books that target children, such as the Mickey
Comics; TokTok is a space for artists to ‘crowd’ together and display their
art in. On the cover of its first issue, the team behind the comic book described TokTok
as a ‘traffic jam of comics drawn and sketched by free and contemporary souls,
and edited by the artists themselves.’

Published
every quarterly, Toktok’s artists have asked for contributions ‘[To] move faster
to reach its readers and communicate with all the artists of the ninth
art (comics) in Egypt and outside it; and to join new waves and festivals of
this art around the world. So depending on your mental, artistic and financial
fuel, TokTok will go faster and faster!’

Open
to any artists that would like to participate with their own comics, TokTok
welcomes contributions on their website or on their Facebook page. You can also read and browse through the
first issue on their website.

TokTok ‘s first issue
featured Hisham Rahma, Shinawy, Tawfeeq and Mona Sonbol among others. The first
story was a rendition of a short story in Ibrahim Aslaan’s latest book, and the
second was a remake of ‘Tambul, Shambul and Bahloul’, who were characters
created by Hegazy, the cartoonist in Sameer Comics in 1964. Katharina
Kriel also contributed to the first issue with some of the sketches that she
took of people in coffee shops in Downtown Cairo during her visit to the city.

As
the second issue will launch today, the event is expected to be very crowded
with people cramming to read the new issue, which will definitely feature the
January 25th revolution and the awakening of the Egyptian society.