Notorious bicycle thief inspires graphic novel.
Jason Gilmore, left, Alex Jansen, Richard Poplak, Nick Marinkovich are the creative team behind KENK, a graphic novel about Toronto bike thief, Igor Kenk.
Photo/NICK MARINKOVICH
Toronto had not known a more eccentric or notorious thief until Igor Kenk came along.
The notorious Toronto bicycle thief is the subject of a graphic novel, which has its official launch party today (Thursday, May 6), 7 p.m. at Cadillac Lounge on Queen Street West.
"He's got such a huge personality when you encounter the guy. He's a very contested character in this town," said journalist Richard Poplak, who penned the 304-page graphic novel, KENK, about the charismatic Slovenian native dubbed the world's most prolific bicycle thief.
The Leslieville resident had previously written about Kenk for Toronto Life Magazine. Fond of his work, publisher/producer Alex Jansen and filmmaker/designer Jason Gilmore invited Poplak to serve as the author of the illustrated book.
"It's just an amazing story, a crazy story," said the former downtown west end resident, who travelled to Slovenia in February 2009 to learn more about Kenk, who immigrated to Canada just over 20 years ago.
"It's a rollercoaster ride, a story that keeps on growing."
Jansen and Gilmore had documented Kenk's unusual lifestyle, interviewing him several times since the spring of 2007, almost a full year before his July 2008 arrest in connection with what investigators believed to be the theft of up to 3,000 bicycles. Further investigation led Kenk to be charged with a slew of drug offences.
Kenk was released from the Don Jail earlier this year after serving a two-and-a-half year sentence for being in possession of 10 stolen bicycles worth less than $5,000 and six drug-related convictions.
Like many, Jansen, a six-year Queen West resident, always wondered what was the story behind the colourful personality who fixed bikes outside the junky shop he ran across from Trinity-Bellwoods Park.
"I certainly knew of Igor and who he was but had never stepped foot into his shop. By the time I met him he stood out like a sore thumb," Jansen said of Kenk, who owned and operated The Bicycle Clinic at 927 Queen St. W. since 1995.
"Kenk was a remnant of an earlier era. The neighbourhood completely changed around him."
Jansen said the reason he had avoided the bike shop and its owner for more than three years was because he was known in the area as the "stolen bike guy."
That all changed in May 2007 when he was out for a walk along Queen Street West late one night and stopped by the ramshackle establishment looking to buy a bell or a light for his bicycle. Jansen ended up chatting with Kenk for more than an hour learning the former Slovenian police officer-turned-obsessive-hoarder believed in a zero-consumption lifestyle and was in a common-law relationship with Julliard School of Music graduate, Jeanie Chung.
"I found him as a personality completely compelling and with the backdrop of the changing neighbourhood on a crash course," said Jansen, who runs Pop Sandbox, a downtown Toronto-based publishing and production company.
From that point, the idea grew of doing a graphic novel about the life and times of the unique neighbourhood fixture.
"The graphic novel idea was actually a bit of a secret especially after the arrest and all the sensationalism," Jansen said.
"I actually didn't foresee the massive arrest."
By the time Poplak was invited to come on board, Gilmore and Jansen amassed more than 30 hours of video footage. Poplak, who also has a background in film, would spend the next year and a half writing the text for the graphic novel.
Toronto-based artist Nick Marinkovich was then brought in to do the illustrations.
"It was an incredibly collaborative process," Jensen said, adding the next step is the production of an animated documentary about Kenk.
A few samples of the film will be showcased at the May 6 launch party.
Visit www.kenk.ca for more information.