2am Eternal

Williams (Condo Heartbreak Disco) documents and celebrates Toronto’s queer nightlife from 2012 through 2022 in this fabulous mélange of his eye-popping commissioned event posters, heartfelt autobio comics, and insightful guest essays from more than 30 event planners, artists, and activists. Among the spectacles chronicled are Judy Virago and Igby Lizard’s Summer Camp parties, which included homages to 1980s horror movies and a gorgeous mural painted on the walls of the Beaver bar featuring queer icons such as Klaus Nomi, Liza Minelli, and Divine. Other highlights include Williams’s promotional posters for the activist group Village Ops, which dedicated itself to overdose prevention advocacy, and a queer art film series. Williams’s artwork features spectacularly detailed figures that swirl, bend, and morph across the page in delirious, almost psychedelic fashion, while his comics reveal vulnerability and frank sexual desire (“It’s no dancefloor without a bit of yearning and heartbreak in the air”). Particularly affecting are the stories Williams drew for Now magazine, capturing the fear and isolation of the 2020 pandemic lockdown. By linking his lived experience to the ebbs and flows of his clubbing community, Williams creates a unique blend of autobiography and ethnography. A rare feat, this collection informs, entertains, and seduces. (May)