Friday, July 30, 2004  
Dstrbo.com Update

:: Posted by max @ 7/30/2004 02:52:00 AM
Co:Dan



The Klondike is on fire! 7/29/04

...and the Yukon is flaming.
    
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Poor in PEI

:: Posted by max @ 7/30/2004 02:43:00 AM
co: montrealmirror.com



Great Depression graphic memoir Bannock, Beans and Black Tea is simple, subtle and resonant



by JULIET WATERS



PEI has always conjured up, for me, visions of blossoming trees, red earth, the "Lake of Shining Waters" and a life filled with difficult but loving and imaginative frugality. While my real childhood was the chaos of living with stressed-out yuppie parents, in my imagination I was a disciplined, healthy farm child, doing chores, frolicking in nature and getting shit-faced drunk on raspberry cordial.



Apparently I'd forgotten the first chapters of Anne of Green Gables, where Anne recounts her bitter childhood memories. This harsher PEI is the one you'll find in Bannock, Beans and Black Tea, graphic novelist Seth's loving transcription of his father John Gallant's memories of a brutal childhood during the Great Depression.



For the son of a man who had to abandon his education in Grade 2 (he didn't have the clothes to go to school) Seth is doing pretty well. A couple of weeks ago he was a large part of a cover story on graphic novels in The New York Times Magazine. His books, and the genre, will benefit immeasurably from a distribution deal his Montreal publisher, Drawn and Quarterly, just struck a couple of weeks ago with Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. This deal with the most respected and highbrow American publisher is tantamount to an official ordination of comix as a high art form. The literary quality of Seth's work undoubtedly has a lot to do with moving the genre into that pinnacle niche.



The attention is good because a book like Bannock, Beans and Black Tea is exactly the kind of book that too many people might make the mistake of reading quickly and only once. There's a resonance and subtlety to these stories that's going to be very difficult to hear for ears more usually attuned to our high-decibel culture. Also, it's not a graphic novel in the traditional sense, since there are actually only about two dozen pages in all of illustrated panels. Stylistically it brings to mind Lynda Barry's Cruddy, an almost unbearably bleak novel scripted in comic book lettering. Cruddy and Bannock together will one day make an interesting academic paper on the role of extreme childhood deprivation in nurturing comic book genius.



These simple, sad little stories about going to school wearing a flour sack as a shirt with kids so desperately hungry they eat up all the crayons, illustrate exactly where the graphic novel aesthetic is fitting into today's literary culture. Seth's work is the craft of a maximum minimalist that works exquisitely against the grain of our punishingly complicated, cluttered culture. The landscape of Gallant's childhood is so absurdly barren he can actually remember, at the age of six, the first person outside his family he ever saw.



The title refers to his usual breakfast, and the peak experience of this entire book is a brief period when young Johnny works on a farm and gets to eat "porridge with cream and sugar, bacon and eggs, lots of toast and cold milk." The death of one of his infant siblings, from freezing in the middle of the night, is mentioned almost as an atmospheric detail. He grows up near Souris, a town which "got its name from a plague of mice during the early 1700s. They destroyed the crops and then went down to the sea and drowned (or so the story goes.)" About the closest we get to any "lake of shining waters" is the afternoon Johnny goes fishing for eels with his grandfather. If there's irony in the sentence, "That evening we had a fine meal: eels, potatoes, turnip and bread" it's very, very quiet.



There's a lot more in this book for anyone who's willing to really listen. But if nothing else, no reader will ever close this book without a deeper appreciation for the value of a healthy breakfast.



Bannock, Beans and Black Tea by John Gallant and Seth, Drawn and Quarterly
    
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Shakey Days

:: Posted by max @ 7/30/2004 02:41:00 AM
Co:Dan

7/29/04 : Montreal artist Luc Paradis is having a show.



Here's his artist's statement:



Luc is a Montreal drawer and painter, inside and outside.

Luc is self-taught, and has been working and showing for the past 5 years, mostly in Montreal, but has participated in group shows in Burlington Vermont, Vancouver, and Toronto.



Luc's latest series has taken him three months to complete, and claims that the pieces represent the truth in his life. He describes the work as plain and simple, incorporating image and text, short messages accompanying iconographic objects and places.



Luc describes his process this way: "I alienate myself from the world sometimes, so this is a means for me to open myself up to you (world) and explain myself, it's easier to explain myself in my work than in words. This is how I feel connected."



Exposition: "Shakey Days" August 12, 8 pm, Café Esperanza / La Salle D'Attente, 5490 St. Laurent, corner of St. Viateur.



Come for the art, stay for the party.
    
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   Tuesday, July 27, 2004  
The Monthly Montreal & Toronto Comix Jam

:: Posted by max @ 7/27/2004 05:55:00 AM
Toronto : Tuesday July 27th at 7:30 pm.



The Monthly Toronto Comic Jam is hosting a book launch this month, episodes 1-3 of OUTWORLD, a graphic novel by rutz (aka Ruth Tait), in the front room of the Cameron at 7:30pm! Plus: If you’d like to join us to workshop your comics, you can join in on an informal writer’s group. Also starts at 7:30



The toronto jams are heald at The Cameron House on Queen St. W., just west of Spadina.



Montreal : Wednesday July 28th at 8pm.



This months Jam may be at Casa del Popolo or at Sala rosa across the street [I checked and the Casa is available if we want it this month]. If we make the move it will be to take advantage of the patio in back and for the general refreshing change of scene. The final choice will be up to the host. Look for a sign in the door of either location indicating whish one it is.



Present will be the usual unveiling of the latest Mensuhell, stacks of jam zines, my own RevolveR and any other comix or zines folks feel like bringing for the merch table.



Your host this month will be Bernie Mireault who’s sitting in for a.j.duric for at least the first half of the night [family obligations will be keeping her and I from arriving till later]



And as usual, you'll find a few dozens doodlers and friends hanging out at Sala Rosa or Casa all night drawing comix, shooting the poop, and hocking their zines to one another and you.



If you publish a zine yourself and plan to attend we encourage to you bring some copies to set out on your own table or the merch table if there's room [space is first come first serve. If you notify us in advance with details of you zine we will post the info on the Sequential news blog and the comix group here for you.



As always the jam is free to all, participation is encouraged. Bring your pens, friends and imaginations.



Salgood Sam



The MMCJ



Toronto Comic Jam



Casa Del Popolo - Sala Rosa



The Cameron House



    
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   Monday, July 26, 2004  
Comix Jam Action comes to New Brunswick with the Monkeytown Comix Jam in Moncton August 11th

:: Posted by max @ 7/26/2004 03:32:00 AM
Montreal transplant Tim Moerman joins forces with local toonsmith DanO Leblanc and the Imago print lab to host a Jam [the 1st Monkeytown Comix Jam] at the Player's Lounge, 837 Main Street, on Wednesday August 11th at 7pm."
    
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   Saturday, July 24, 2004  
Strip-o-matic #2

:: Posted by max @ 7/24/2004 05:56:00 PM
Co:Cedric P.



Hello, a small note to tell you that now all the

strips from Thalidomide, Strip-o-matic #1 and

Strip-o-matic #2 are now available to be read online!

...

Salut Juste un petit mot pour vous dire que les strips

de Thalidomide, stripomatic#1 et stripomatic#2 sont

maintenant accessibles en ligne.

...

thank you, enjoy

Merci :)
    
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Beans and bros: Seath at Casa del Popolo July 26

:: Posted by max @ 7/24/2004 02:01:00 AM
Co:Matthew Woodley@the montreal Mirror



With two new books in tow and a world of praise for both, cartoonist Seth presents his slide show Short Stories About Cartooning at the Casa del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent), July 26 at 7 p.m. Bannock, Beans and Black Tea, illustrated by Seth and written by his 87-year-old pop John Gallant, is a father's memoir of growing up in P.E.I. in the thick of the depression, while Seth's graphic novel, Clyde Fans, is a collection of six issues of his Palookaville series, based on two brothers growing up on Toronto's King E. Both books, beautifully bound and published by Drawn and Quarterly, will be available at the show. »



   
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   Wednesday, July 21, 2004  
Gallery captures the camera in comics

:: Posted by max @ 7/21/2004 11:19:00 AM
Co: Bryan Munn/Canadian Comic Art Foundation



Comic books, or more specifically the characters that inhabit them, are more popular than ever.



Even unflinchingly realistic comic book heroes, like Harvey Pekar from American Splendor, have managed to carve out a place in the echelons of popular cinema somewhere close -- but not quite beside -- bigwigs like Spiderman and Superman. Nonetheless, it seems there is a comic book hero or antihero for everyone.



North Vancouver's Presentation House Gallery's (PHG) latest exhibit, Just Press Their Button: A History of Photography in the Comics, is currently showing another sort of character that reappears in comic books throughout the ages: the camera. The idea for the show came from a 1989 Photo Life magazine article by photographer Denes Devenyi, PHG curator Bill Jeffries says. In the article, Devenyi explored not only the wide range of photo-related material in comics history, but introduced a key notion explored in this exhibition -- that photography's popularity might partially come from its depiction in comics, Jeffries explains.



The material is a mix of graphic artifacts and prints. Each one tells a unique tale about photography, photographers and their instruments and the evolution of each. The exhibition is comprised on three separate but related parts. The east room contains drawings mainly from the 1900s, a time when cameras were much harder to use. One had to actually know something about the chemistry, which made capturing photographic moments challenging, Jeffries explains. This portion of the show takes a playful look at how people historically perceived the rather new and challenging act of "taking a picture." -->>



    
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   Tuesday, July 20, 2004  
Seth's Clyde Fans reviewed bt Time & the NYTimes

:: Posted by max @ 7/20/2004 10:35:00 PM
Time.com Reviews CLYDE FANS

Clyde Fans" tells the wistful history of two brothers and their family electrical fan business. The inspiration came from an actual "Clyde Fans" office in Toronto. "It was a very old storefront," Seth said. "I used to look into window when I walked by because I'm very attracted to this sort of thing. In the dim light of the office you could see on the back wall two photographs of two men, which were probably the owners. I just assumed they were brothers. Over the next couple of years while working on projects I put together a story of what these guy's lives were about although it probably had nothing to do with the reality of their real lives."





And



NY Times Book Review reviews Seth's Clyde Fans

"Part 1 is narrated by Abe, who hid himself in professional salesman's patter that he never quite bought (''You've got to get the buyer's attention,'' ''You must display a true belief in your wares''). Now he wanders the empty Clyde Fans headquarters in an endless round of lonely busywork, explaining to the reader and the air how to sell fans. You wouldn't think this would be very interesting, but you quickly realize you are being sold: Abe opens with a joke and slowly reels you in to the story of his life and that of his dead brother, Simon. The second half flashes back 40 years to Simon's one disastrous sales trip, his sole attempt to connect with the world outside Clyde Fans. Since Simon can hardly bring himself to order a grilled cheese sandwich, it is not surprising he can't sell a single fan and indeed ends up giving away his sample case." -->>
    
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Revolver reviewed by John Martz/RobotJohnny.com

:: Posted by max @ 7/20/2004 09:58:00 PM






   
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   Monday, July 19, 2004  
DRAWN & QUARTERLY SIGNS WITH FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX

:: Posted by max @ 7/19/2004 10:49:00 PM
Co:Peggy Burns [D+Q Marketing & Publicity Director]

Leading North American literary graphic novel publisher Drawn & Quarterly announced today that the company has entered into a distribution deal to be a client publisher of the renowned publishing house, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, in the U.S. book store market, effective January 1, 2005.



"We are extremely pleased that a company as venerable as FSG recognizes the literary merit of our titles and the potential in representing our graphic novels to the US book trade," said Chris Oliveros, President and Publisher of Drawn & Quarterly. "As we publish the best in literary graphic novels and FSG publishes the best of literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children¹s books, retailers as well readers will benefit from the alliance."



"I have tremendous admiration for the Drawn & Quarterly publishing program. The two houses share many similar values and philosophies," said Spenser Lee, Senior Vice President and Director of Sales, Farrar, Straus & Giroux. "I look forward to working with the D+Q team in the expanding graphic novel market."



FSG will begin taking orders in December 2004 and will ship in February 2005.



Raincoast Books and Turnaround Publishing will continue to distribute Drawn & Quarterly to the book markets in Canada and the UK, respectively. Chronicle Books will distribute Drawn & Quarterly to the US book market through the end of the 2004.
    
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Cool Beans kids! BIG feature in The July 11th issue of the New York Times Magazine

:: Posted by max @ 7/19/2004 04:28:00 PM
As earlier reported The July 11th 2004 issue of the New York Times Magazine featured an in-depth cover story on the graphic novel medium by former New York Times Book Review Editor Charles McGrath. Titled How Cool Is Comics Lit?, McGrath notes that the movement of "literary graphic novels" has much better distribution "thanks in part to two enterprising publishers, Drawn & Quarterly in Montreal and Fantagraphics in Seattle."



At New York Times online, audio interviews with Joe Sacco, Chester Brown, Seth and Chris Ware are available accompanied by a slide show of samples of some of their work a photos.





Chester Brown provided a great cover for the issue that continues inside [it’s a comic strip of course]. It’s also garnished with a full-page photo of Seth, Tomine, Brown and Sacco, along with Art Spiegelman taken on his roof top patio. And a page from Seth's new graphic novel Clyde Fans is also reprinted. D+Q publisher Chris Oliveros as well as D+Q cartoonists Seth, Adrian Tomine, Chester Brown, Joe Sacco, Chris Ware, Julie Doucet, Debbie Drechsler, and Joe Matt are all included in the long and extensive piece.



"…perhaps the most seminal piece of journalism ever devoted to graphic novels." - Peggy Burns, D&Q publicity.



Overstating? I’m still reading it right now but so far maybe not. Judge for yourself, the entire article with artwork and audio interviews can all be found online right now on the Nytimes site here...

Main feature

Audio



Update: Ok, having read this now My two cents on it: Good spotlight on the medium, though skewed to a perception of the field that only really looks at work of a drafted liner nature, mostly using rigged page designs and older established conventions of comics syntax. It favours work that falls under some vaguely suggested parameters of 'literary' and suggests to exclude the work of artist who tell more fantasy/adventure driven plots, do not use line and caricature exclusively or otherwise more strictly constrained work and whom think outside of the box in regards to layout and page design. Hence, in part i think, this at the end…



"...Sacco's example notwithstanding, this is a medium probably not well suited to lyricism or strong emotion..."



I could not disagree more. But I understand why he might think this, given the previously mentioned skew. Many many people will probably and already have disagreed with this quite strongly. Proof of a statement of taste rather than of form.



And The group style represented for the most part by this article is hardly the only group worthy of note as liturature. Not that the work talked about is unworthy of any of the praise given.



There are other skews to this article, such as the downplaying/deminishing of the roll of women in the field, though this is at least acknowledged in part, self excused by sighting the lack of acclaim for them as a group. But This is used to highlight a personality profile for “the typical graphic novelist” which great hay is made of. Male, troubled child hood, sexual issues and frustration, parental problems, antisocial, obsessive & etc. Good Grief!



My final reservation is that ultimately, it’s unspoken summery is still “comics? They’re not just for kids you know”



Unavoidable for now I suppose in the mainstream media. It’ll be sometime before they are just talked about as something that IS, rather than insisted upon as something other than what you may think they are.



But even with all that, on the whole a good article if for no other reason than that it is what it is where it is when it is. Regardless of it's flaws it can only help for the most part bring more attention to the medium. This is a good thing.



Update:



Not unexpectedly, the article has resulted in a quite a lot of thinking about comics outside the comix community, and inside it a lot of general debate about it’s merits and broader benefit or detriment to the medium.



To begin, one of the bigger the coffee klatch’s of the literary/indy/alt/art comics world, TCJ message boards has sprouted a lengthy thread on the topic. From wringing hands to manifestos many different points of view have been posted there. The Beat has an editorial on the subject – one with which I musty agree. The fields own self effacing tendencies is often it’s biggest enemy. Publisher Jamie S. Rich [oni] posts his very well put two cents on his blog here, fellow publisher Jennifer de Guzman contemplates the flaws in McGrath's logic here and the evolution of the medium here. Writer Roscarik Rikki Simons takes em' out back for his dismissal of Manga, and there’s more considered discussion can be found here at barbelith.com, and extensively at Slash dot here



And finally, if you really want to get into it, go to ATFAQ where Sean has been tracking the thing in more depth than anyone I think, as part of a project tilted Toward a philosophy of the funnybook.



And etc: Spending entirely to much time with other cartoonists i think it's safe to say that to some degree or another a lot of the traits of the profile suggested do show up....but then, they show up in all the people I meet regardless if their field.



It’s annoying and belittling I find. In order to legitimize the "literary" comics world he felt the need to make such an issue of their personality. Obviously the literary world is as distracted by the cult of the persona as the rest of the world, no great surprise. But still we await the day when an article talks JUST about the work. And with the choice conditionals added to this article, I’m not so sure he's really acclaiming the medium, so much as a 'few flowers he's found in a patch of weeds.'



Max

A happy reasonably well adjusted graphic novelist.

   
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   Friday, July 16, 2004  
Help save the Coach House!

:: Posted by max @ 7/16/2004 07:40:00 PM
For almost 40 years, the Coach House at 401 Huron Street (rear) has been producing a steady stream of beautifully designed and printed books, containing work by many of Canada's finest authors. Coach House Press alumni have received nearly every literary laurel on offer, including the Booker Prize, the Governor General's award, the Griffin Prize, the Trillium award, and the first Poet Laureateship of Canada. Young and old, famous and obscure, the hundreds of authors who began and are continuing their literary careers at Coach House constitute an important ongoing chapter in Canadian history and culture.



But, as Coach House prepares to celebrate its fortieth year of publishing, its home is under threat. The building is owned by Campus Co-op Residences, a co-operative of 300 students. Under the direction of a new general manager, the Co-op has undertaken a revitalization plan that would see in its first phase the demolition of Coach House to make way for more student rooms. This would leave the printing part of the business without adequate space to house its operations.



Coach House is a living museum of the literary and printing history in Canada. It is one of only three Canadian publishers to print its books in-house. Acclaimed Canadian authors like Michael Ondaatje, Ann-Marie MacDonald and Anne Michaels all published their first books with Coach House; in fact, many of those first books were typeset on the Linotype machine in the front doorway. History continues to be made there; Coach House publishes 16 new works of fiction and poetry every year, and more than 200 books are printed annually for other Canadian publishers.



Coach House is looking for assistance in saving its home. If you are interested in helping in any way, or if you’d like more information, please contact Stan Bevington or Alana Wilcox at 416 979 2217.  You can sign a web base petition here online, it'll only take a minut.



My two cents on the subject

An argument for inclusive planning for the future.



I grew up in downtown Toronto. My father, Lionel Douglas, who was an alumni of Rochdale, had some of his poetry and photography published by Coach House Press. My mother, Arna Selznick, also a Rochdalite and student at OCA, contributed art to the pages of their books from time to time. I was raised in part in Kensington market and then later in the Queen Est and Beaches areas. My Toronto was a city with a living history, of which I was part. It integrated me, and I integrated it in our respective communities. And the Coach House was a significant part of that shared landscape.



All the time I grew up in Kensington market and the beaches I heard city officials and community leaders talk about Toronto’s aspirations for the city to be a “cosmopolitan” place. Bigger better and faster was the mantra. The force of this dream steamrolled over all others.



But at what price?



In 1997 thanks to that mantra I was forced to find more affordable living arrangements in the then still cheep ghettos of Montréal. The city core of Toronto is NO longer a place friendly to creative people. This is already a fact. They survive their still but only by living a life on the fringes of the city, taking on a ‘day job’, or worse, selling their raw skills, or their personal work short, for capital gain.



I have always since been aware of the uprooting of my own sense of personal continuity after moving. Each time I go back to Toronto I find that more of the city’s physical history is being erased in favour of bigger ‘better’ developments. History is being wiped out in favour of flash and commodity.



How many people on the streets of Toronto still feel tied to their landscape by heritage and history? How many will in 50 years?



How often have we visited a landmark in local history somewhere and heard people talk about how wonderful it is that this was saved for the benefit of future generations?



Whom ever is responsible for making these decisions, have some vision and find a way to include history, intact, whole, alive and thriving, in your plans for the student residents.



Use the presence of a historical continuity to make the gradates of tomorrow feel tied to the those of the past, and to a cultural legacy that has done more than it’s share for the community.



How hard can it be to include an old coach house in you plans after all?

    
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   Thursday, July 15, 2004  
Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium awarded advanced costs in continuing fight against Canada Customs

:: Posted by max @ 7/15/2004 09:12:00 PM
A B.C. judge has ruled a Vancouver gay and lesbian bookstore can have advanced costs for its continuing fight against book seizures by Canada Customs.



"Our trial is the actually the only venue for review for Canada Customs," said Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium spokesman Mark Macdonald. "Thousands of books have been stopped going to Canadian importers. It affects Charter rights of every citizen in the country," he said. "It affects the rights of artists to spread their word and works of the imagination to their intended audience."



The book battle has gone on for almost 20 years and cost the store more than $750,000, Macdonald said. The store is now fighting seizures of a series of adult comics entitled The Meatmen and two books edited by Larry Townsend: Of Slaves & Ropes & Lovers and Of Men, Ropes and Remembrance.



In her funding decision, Justice Elizabeth Bennett said advanced costs are ordered in "rare and exceptional circumstances." She said Customs may not be applying the artistic merit test as decided in the obscenity writings case of B.C.'s John Robin Sharpe when detaining books.  more--->>>
    
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SSS Comics takes on Zen: Bounty Hunter

:: Posted by max @ 7/15/2004 08:15:00 PM
Co: silverbulletcomicbooks.com



Toronto based SSSCOMICS [home of the really kind of annoying VR host] has acquired the rights to publish an all-new Zen comics series, ZEN: Bounty Hunter. Written by co-creator Steve Stern and illustrated by long time Zen artist Bill Maus. Full story here--->>>









    
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THE PANELIST : Zines on the sceneGUY gives two mixed reviews

:: Posted by max @ 7/15/2004 01:38:00 AM
François [Frank-O] Lamy's NAPALM and my own Revolver get mixed but generally positive reviews in the Toronto Eye this month.



NAPALM: BOOK 1

by Frank-O 24 pages, $2.

The pieces are simple and less than half-formed, yet the strongest among them have genuine, iconic power. The book's cover, for instance -- a skull and crossbones made of a hammer, a wrench and a gas mask, from an earlier Frank-O illustration called Work -- captures the essence of punk, with its distaste for the toxic daily grind.



Lamy has a fertile imagination, but needs to decide where his loyalties lie: the clean line mastery of the French school or the unfettered wildness of American punk artists like Gary Panter.Napalm: Book 1 clumsily straddles both, but as a first step, it's a good one.



REVOLVER ONE

by Salgood Sam 52 pages, $6.95.

Where Napalm is tripped by its artist's inexperience, Revolverhas the opposite failings: overemphasized panels that twist the eye with chaotic angles and shadows, and prose that reaches for profundity but fumbles with its sloppy diction. Douglas assaults the reader with technique -- mixing conte and ink and Photoshop in a spastic jam...



...the layouts in Revolver are consistently thrilling, playing with the frames, the gutter, the entire page. They pull the reader on swoops that S down a page, or simulate the vertigo of a big city by distending the horizon or dangling skyscrapers from above. Here is a pro exalting in his craft. That he sometimes seems drunk on his own inventiveness is the danger all artists face, once they find their voice.



I have bad diction it seems. ':-\
    
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D+Q News

:: Posted by max @ 7/15/2004 01:24:00 AM
Co:Peggy Burns@D+Q

· The Onion Reviews CLYDE FANS & SCRAPBOOK! (July 14, 2004)

THE ONION has started a new comics columnon their books page, and we love it! In this week's issue, they review Seth's CLYDE FANS, calling it a "masterpiece-in-the-making" and Adrian's SCRAPBOOK commenting "... Scrapbook: Uncollected Work: 1990-2004 provides a stellar starting point for new readers, as well as a big bonus for existing fans of the Optic Nerve artist...but the single-page stories and mini-comics pack tons of pathos, cleverness, and observational whimsy into a single essential volume."



· Harrisburg Patriot News features SCRAPBOOK! (July 13, 2004)



· Calgary Sun Features Seth, Clyde Fans & Bannock, Beans & Black Tea (July 13, 2004)



· Vancouver Sun Features Seth, Clyde Fans and Bannock, Beans & Black Tea (July 13, 2004)
    
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KOMIKSTOK: FANTASIA'S COMIC BOOK AND MANGA SPECIAL WEEKEND EVENT

:: Posted by max @ 7/15/2004 01:12:00 AM




The complete Guest list and schedule have all been posted now on FANTASIA'S site.



Here's the roll call

Schedule of guest appearances



Saturday, July 17

1:30 pm Salgood Sam & Alex Fellows at MILLENNIUM booth

2:00 pm Kim Deitch at CAPITAINE QUÉBEC booth

2:30 pm d.bilos & R. Suicide at FICHTRE! booth

3:00 pm Michel Rabagliati at La Pastèque (from 3 to 5 pm)

3:00 pm Cameron Stewart, Kagan McLeod, Chip Zdarsky, Ben Shannon at CAPITAINE QUÉBEC booth

3:30 pm Michel Lacombe & Eric Thériault at MILLENNIUM booth

4:00 pm Brian Ralph at FICHTRE! Booth

4:30 pm Rick Trembles at FAB PRESS table

5:00 pm Caro Caron & Josh Simmons at FICHTRE! booth



Sunday, July 18

1:30 pm Thierry Labrosse at BOÎTE À BD Booth

2:00 pm Steve Bissette at MILLENIUM Booth

2:30 pm Marc Ngui at FICHTRE! booth

3:00 pm John Holmstrom at MILLENNIUM booth

3:30 pm Danny Hellman & Mike Kupperman at KOMIKO booth

4:00 pm H. Valium at FICHTRE! booth

4:30 pm Bernie Mireault & Sherwin Tjia at BOÎTE À BD Booth

    
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An informal jam will be held on JULY 17 & 18 at KOMIKSTOK

:: Posted by max @ 7/15/2004 12:48:00 AM


Hey all.



Yes, an informal jam will be held at KOMIKSTOK on JULY 17 & 18, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. The affair is being put on by Rupert Bottenberg.



Rupert tells me the materials will be out at the bar Reggies in the Hall Theatre Building at Concordia [upstairs and in back of the theatre and mezzanine].



I'll be there all Saturday for sure myself, possibly Sunday If I can spare the time [inking gig].

max
    
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   Wednesday, July 14, 2004  
RevolveR at Komikstok

:: Posted by max @ 7/14/2004 04:57:00 AM


Salgood Sam will be attending the Komikstok events during FANTASIA'S Comic Book & Manga special weekend. He'll have copies of his new book RevolveR on had to sell and sign at 1:30 pm JULY 17 at MILLENNIUM's booth. The full schedule of events and signings for the weekend are on the FANTASIA web site.



Order your own copy of RevolveR from this site or come down to Komikstok JULY 17-18 and get your copy in person and personalized.



Sequential tectonic shift:

First impressions by Sherwin Tjia



Revolver contains a series of stories primarily focused on ordinary people moving almost imperceptibly into extraordinary surroundings.



Salgood's drifting vision has an incredible sense of space and freedom. Your eye moves across the page like a constantly moving consciousness, an angel floating through worlds. Usually the dynamic movement of the images themselves direct your vision, like little signposts that bounce you around the worlds Sam has created.



The narratives sometimes unmoor themselves from everyday reality, moving into poetic or existentialist territory, but never loses its grounding in very concrete images.



Revolver plays with how we perceive things, and where we anchor ourselves. This is reflected in the way panels bleed into other panels, if there are panels at all. It suggests that sometimes the dream world or the worlds we create in our narratives appear realer than our actual lives, that the membrane between the world we live and the worlds we see ourselves living in is very thin.







RevolveR is published by SpiltInk
    
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This week at www.snubdom.com

:: Posted by max @ 7/14/2004 02:44:00 AM


Hey kids. Rick Trembles here. I have a book coming out this week, a compilation of my best Motion Picture Purgatories, and also the world premiere of an animated film I've been working on for quite a while based on other comix of mine. Both these things will occur as part of the FanTasia Festival presently on in Montreal. Here's the official info:



Hype: “Overinteractive imagination!” [mature content]



Rick Trembles' MOTION PICTURE PURGATORY special early comic-strip preview for the Montreal FanTasia Film Festival world premiere of RICK TREMBLES’ GOOPY SPASMS LIVE CARTOON SHOW: “Overinteractive imagination!”



Premieres on the big screen with Journey Into Bliss Thursday July 15 at 9:40 PM, & Friday night! Additional screenings this Sat. & Sun. with the fest’s “Komikstok” underground comix animation show (legends Kim Dietch & John Holmstrom in attendance)!



Also don’t miss the book-signing/launch/exhibit of Rick Trembles’ 192-p. embossed Motion Picture Purgatory anthology from FAB Press & an ultra-rare screening of the only pristine print left in existence of Thundercrack (1975) the same weekend (penned & costarring underground cartoonist/filmmaker George Kuchar)! Fantasiafestival.com for more info!



Live/action animation GOOPY soundtrack by Montreal bands 123GO! & AMERICAN DEVICES!

chris burns –guitar; sam shalabi –guitar; marc montanchez –guitar; richard bird –guitar; rob labelle –guitar; paul lacerte –drums; corpusse (john ashton) –keyboards; joellen housego –viola; andré asselin –bass; jackie gallant –percussion; rick trembles –vocals



Hope you can all make it.

Rick Trembles here
    
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   Monday, July 12, 2004  
Grendel: The Devil Inside the TPB

:: Posted by max @ 7/12/2004 03:17:00 AM




Didn’t know this was out till I visited Bernie last night, in stores now, the trade paperback edition of Bernie Mireault's excellent stint as artist on Matt Wagner's Grendel.





The spirit of Grendel seethes in the mind of everyone it encounters. A touch of death, of fear, of anger infects all, gripping at the soul, and wreaking havoc on the lives of those in its path. In this now-classic chapter of the Grendel saga, we return to Brian Li Sung, a once-successful Broadway stage manager who became Grendel after losing the love of his life--the granddaughter of the original Grendel, Hunter Rose. Now down and out, living in the slums of Brooklyn, Li Sung struggles as an off-off-off-Broadway stage manager by day; by night, he stews in the hatred and violence that is Grendel, and becomes a cold-blooded killer. When old friends can't help him, and the city can no longer cope with this scourge of destruction, it's up to one desperate cop to stop the murderous rampage, or die trying. Collecting the three-issue miniseries.



It's so nice! I’ve got one here and Bernie’s work looks really good on the glossy stock! Perfect timing two, my copies of the original editions are getting kinda rough around the edges. This is, the second or third[?] printing of the TPB, a favourite of many Grendel fans. If you haven’t been by his site you might not know that he’s been posting some of his beautiful consignment sketches, and has some big news to announce [hint hint], he’ll be at the KOMIKSTOK event at FANTASIA this weekend, JULY 16 to the 18th!



No ones told us when anything is happening as of yet though, so no info for now on when signings will happen. The guests as I understand it are going to be stationed at the booths of various stores & publishers exhibiting at the event. A strategy I’d guess caculated to save on space, as the whole thing is to be held on the mezzanine level of the Hall Theatre Building, adjacent to the principal cinema for FANTASIA. A nice space with a lot of windows near by as i recal, but not so big really.



A review of the book

icomics.com



Bernie Mireault's site



    
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   Saturday, July 10, 2004  
Naughty naughty, !!CONTEST!! & Rocking Raven in KOREA!

:: Posted by max @ 7/10/2004 07:05:00 PM
From some posts off of Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas's blog at RockingRaven.com



Naughty naughty

Saturday- June 26 2004



Canada's flagship national newspaper says that Rocking Raven in fishnet stockings is"actually quite naughty"



CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT

WHAT YOU WIN

AN ORIGINAL HAND PAINTED BLACK INK SKETCH OF YOUR REQUESTED IMAGE!

VALUE: 500$



HOW YOU WIN

DESCRIBE THE IMAGE AND SEND IT TO ME AT THIS ADDRESS

INCLUDE YOUR OWN RETURN EMAIL ADDRESS!



ONE ENTRY WILL BE SELECTED ON AUGUST 21 2004!



ENTER OFTEN !!



Rocking Raven in KOREA

The 7th Annual International Comic Book Festival takes place in Bucheon, South Korea in October 2004 [LINK?]. Haida Manga has received an invitation to attend!







    
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Comics in the press

:: Posted by max @ 7/10/2004 03:53:00 AM
This Sunday's NYT Magazine [July 11] feature on graphic novels to sport a cover illustration by Chester Brown

Co: Peggy Burns @ D&Q

"Just wanted to give you all the heads-up that Chip McGrath's cover feature on graphic novels for the NY Times Magazine will be this Sunday, July 11. Artwork is by Chester"



FANTASIA 2004 & KOMIKSTOK [JULY 16-18] in the Toronto Star

Fantasy flicks extraordinaire: Montreal fest has best, latest, oddest Cult star Godzilla stomps again



"With the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal in full swing, and the world-renowned Just For Laughs comedy event warming up in the wings, the FanTasia fantasy film festival kicked off here last night with the Korean animated epic, Wonderful Days, the first of more than 100 screenings of the latest, best and most bizarre genre offerings sought out and submitted from all over the globe."



"As another added attraction, Canadian-born artist and action-figure mogul Todd McFarlane is sponsoring "Komikstok," a special event next weekend celebrating the growing synergy between comics and cinema."



"It includes a full-length live-action film (Blueberry) and three animated short adaptations (Arzak Rhapsody) of the work of renowned French artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud; a series of films based on Japanese manga; a shorts showcase for fan-created superhero flicks; and another exploring graffiti as an urban art form."-->>



St. Louis Post interviews Lynn Johnston

Readers are clear: It's "For Better," not worse



"Creator Lynn Johnston's "For Better or For Worse" comic strip is just as likely to leave you with tears in your eyes as it is to give you a daily chortle. Since 1979, Johnston has chronicled the life of the Pattersons, a family not unlike her own growing up in Canada."



    
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   Sunday, July 04, 2004  
Halting Hitler - Thursday's Insomniac Press night at Zeke's Gallery

:: Posted by max @ 7/04/2004 10:59:00 PM
Co: the Montreal Mirror Arts week



Unproductive is one word that doesn't apply to Sherwin Tjia.



"I've been making comics and writing lo-fi sci-fi," says Tjia.



"Lately, I illustrated a kids' book of poetry by JonArno Lawson called The Man In The Moon-Fixer's Mask that's coming out in September, and the second volume of Pedigree Girls comics is coming out in February next year."



You can catch Tjia at Thursday's Insomniac Press night at Zeke's Gallery (3955 St-Laurent), where he performs with Toronto scribe Noah Leznoff.



There'll be pages from Tjia's graphic novel in progress, some poems and a time-travel story about going back to intercept Hitler's mom before she can conceive [read this here]. July 8, 7:30 p.m., free. » Vincent Tinguely

    
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A Cool Breeze - TIME.comix on Seth's 'Clyde Fans Book One' + D+Q Wins 5 Harvey Awards

:: Posted by max @ 7/04/2004 04:41:00 AM
In a quixotic act of counter programming, Canadian comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly released Seth's defiantly low-key "Clyde Fans Book One," ($19.95; 156 pp.) Wednesday against the roaring hype of Sony Pictures' movie adaptation "Spider-Man 2." It was a marketing non-starter of epic proportions with "Spider-Man 2" setting an opening day record of over $40M, according to hollywoodreporter.com. Opening day sales figures for "Clyde Fans" were unavailable at press time, but it's safe to say it made less than $1M. Of course if success is measured in terms of humbleness, dignity and art, "Clyde Fans" trounces the competition.-->>



Drawn & Quarterly

Clyde Fans



D+Q Wins 5 Harvey Awards

Peggy Burns, Marketing & Publicity



Drawn & Quarterly's whirlwind visit to the Big Apple last week was capped with five Harvey wins at the MoCCA Arts Festival at the Puck Building Saturday evening, the most of any nominated publisher and the most wins the company has ever received at one time. Chester Brown, who was in attendance to accept his awards, won for "Best Writer" and "Best Graphic Album-Previously Published Work" for his critically acclaimed, bestselling graphic novel of the Canadian Folk Hero LOUIS RIEL; A COMIC STRIP BIOGRAPHY. Chris Ware also received "Special Award for Excellence in Presentation" and "Best Colorist" for his sketchbook THE ACME NOVELTY DATEBOOK. Publisher & Editor Chris Oliveros took home "Best Anthology" for the latest edition of the company's flagship series, DRAWN & QUARTERLY 5. The Harveys are named for Harvey Kurtzman, the co-founder of the seminal humor and pop culture magazine MAD Magazine, and they recognize excellence in the comic book industry. All nominations and winners are voted by the creative members of the comic book medium. -->>



    
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More headlines in the press

:: Posted by max @ 7/04/2004 04:19:00 AM
Co:Thought Balloons



The Toronto Star

Comics meet their nemesis

Technology has enabled artists to become independent, but online comics struggle to make money Big publishers increasingly rely



In the world of comic books, superheroes get remade all the time. There was the campy Batman of the 1950s who turned grim and gritty in the '80s. Green Arrow gave up his gimmicky toys. Superman's appearance and backstory have been tweaked many times over the years. This malleability of characters has served comics companies well, as it keeps them relevant for a new generation of fans.



Now, comics are facing their fiercest foe yet: technology. The two-dimensional, paper-based medium — essentially unchanged for decades — is slowly, reluctantly adapting to a digital world. Illustrators have put away their pencils, online artists are proliferating, comic heroes are crossing over into an increasing number of effects-laden movies and comic fans are downloading pages illegally. Needless to say, not everyone is happy with the transition.-->>



the Globe and Mail

Holy catfight, Spidey!

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and DC's Catwoman will be duking it out at the box office this summer, as the comic-book companies' long-time arch-rivalry leaps from page to screen, CHRIS LACKNER writes

The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote; capitalism and communism; Pepsi and Coke -- for the most part, old rivalries die hard. When Halle Berry's leather-clad Catwoman graces the silver screen on July 23, the spotlight will return to another epic rivalry. For the better part of the last century, DC Comics and Marvel Comics battled for the ink-stained hearts of comic-book fans, but they have never clashed head-to-head in Hollywood.



Ottawa told to foot store's legal bills

Vancouver gay bookstore challenged customs' power to seize, censor material

A B.C. judge has ordered the federal government to pay a small Vancouver gay bookstore hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund a constitutional challenge to the power of Canadian customs to seize and censor imported material. The advance order for the payment to Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium is the first application of a recent landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling, known as Okanagan Indian Band, beyond the context of aboriginal rights. It paves the way for a new era of litigation by individuals and groups that could not otherwise shoulder the massive costs of constitutional litigation. "The test is not dire financial straits," Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett of B.C. Supreme Court said in her recent decision. "Having reviewed the evidence, it is clear the Little Sisters cannot genuinely afford to pay for this litigation, or any reasonable aspect of it."-->>



Eye Weekly Toronto

THE PANELIST: The object is

BY GUY LESHINSKI

From the earliest issues of his oversized comic book, Acme Novelty Library, Chris Ware's work has smouldered with a love for the object. Each new volume betrays his fetish further, is printed on thicker stock in more opulent colours and is bound by hard covers impossibly dense with eye-quaking detail. His books are tactile articles to be coddled and venerated. With the current issue of McSweeney's, which Ware edits, his obsession reaches another apex. McSweeney's is the New York imprint, founded by one-time cartoonist Dave Eggers, that has become the knowing voice of young, urban sophisticates. In the publisher's tradition of exposing nascent literary movements, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13 (US$23) is an all-comix issue, though in place of McS's standard irreverence is an awe of the comics form that borders on the unseemly. The full-colour, hardcover book has a cloth spine laced in goldleaf gearwork. It comes wrapped in a foldout poster teeming with Ware's mechanistic strips, and bios of the book's contributors in typically microscopic type. Two stapled minis, one by haiku cartoonist John Porcellino and another by Fort Thunder's Ron Regé Jr., are tucked into the folds.



London Free Press

Comics taken seriously

A spotlight of Comic shop owner Brahm Wiseman

A London reflection of the billion-dollar film industry, which has churned out such hits as the X-men, Spiderman, Batman, and Superman movies, is in a 1,288-square-foot shop with the iconic name Heroes. Heroes, at 179 Dundas St., stocks trading cards, action figures, T-shirts, lunchboxes, books, toys, collectibles and novelties, but everything revolves around its core -- the business of comic books. "Hollywood has jumped onto comic books as a cheap source of screenplays," says owner Brahm Wiseman. "Not many people realize that American Splendor, Ghost World, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Road to Perdition, Men in Black, Mask and many others were all comic books first before they were movies. "And there's definitely been a big effect on sales. More 20-year-olds are getting into comics through the movies. I do promotional tie-ins to movies to sell stock." Heroes and similar stores in London are participating in an annual international free comic book day Saturday. During the event, aimed at generating interest and, naturally, business, visitors get free comics -- up to four in Heroes' case, and more depending on how many they buy.-->>



Heroes not a sure thing

A look at the box-office track record of movies adaptations of comic-books

Even if everyone needs a hero now and then, not every superhero is needed or embraced. When producers create films based on comic books, they spin a roulette wheel. You can strike it rich with a Spider-Man, Batman or Superman, but fall flatter than flat with a Blankman, Meteor Man or Supergirl. With a $404-million US box-office take in North America alone, Spider-Man is the box-office champ among comic book heroes. Columbia Pictures hopes to break its own record with Spider-Man 2 and analysts, including Brandon Gray at Boxofficemojo, are confident the filmmaker will succeed.



Georgia Straight [BC]

Summer Books Summer Books Archives

Free Comics Boost the Luck of O'Reilly

Last summer, Sean O'Reilly took what he calls "the biggest gamble of my life". The Coquitlam schoolteacher had just paid to print up 1,000 copies of Kade, his first comic book, and had driven to San Diego for what has become one of the largest comics conventions in the world. He had rented a booth for the gathering's five-day duration at a cost of US$2,000. There was just one problem: he had nothing to sell. "So there I was, at this convention to sell comic books, at this empty booth, with nothing but a banner saying Kade," recalls O'Reilly over a juice at a Commercial Drive establishment. "I was terrified and feeling like an idiot, wondering 'What did I just do?'" Fortunately, an hour before the end of the con's kickoff event, the boxes of Kade #1 arrived. And a year later, O'Reilly is an industry success story. His company, Arcana Studio (www.arcanastudio.com/), currently publishes three bimonthly titles, with each averaging print runs of five to six thousand copies. (In comparison, a popular title from second-tier publisher Image might sell about 9,000.) More importantly, Arcana has been asked to participate in the third annual Free Comic Book Day this Saturday (July 3).
   
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   Friday, July 02, 2004  
X-STATIX: One Last thing...

:: Posted by max @ 7/02/2004 09:28:00 PM






Nick Craine's satirical take on the final days on the X-STATIX set

X-STATIX: One Last thing...

    
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Perpetual Motion Roadshow #14

:: Posted by max @ 7/02/2004 07:43:00 PM
Taking place between July 8-15 the Perpetual Motion Roadshow begins it's 14th sycle.



This month features off-kilter ranter Geoffrey H. Goodwin from Boston, sign language poet Liisa Ladouceur from Toronto, and fantastical beer brewer Gavin J. Grant from Northampton. A movie shot on location in Antarctica by Nicholas Johnson will be shown between the acts.



chek out the nomediakings.net site for more deatails!









Perpetual Motion Roadshow Dates

Brooklyn: Thurs. July 8, 8pm. The Lucky Cat (245 Grand St., Williamsburg) Free.

Cleveland: Sat. July 10, 7pm. Mac's Backs (1820 Coventry Rd.) Free.

Newport: Sun. July 11, 8:30pm. Southgate House (24 East. 3rd St.) Free.

Chicago: Mon. July 12, 8pm. Quimby's (1854 W. North Ave.) Free.

Toronto: Tues. July 13, 8pm. Holy Joe's (651 Queen St. W.) $PWYC. With sassy saucy songstress Snoovy.

Ottawa: Wed. July 14, 7pm. The Study Lounge, Embassy Hotel (25 Cartier St.) Free.

Montreal: Thurs. July 15, 7:30pm. Zeke's Gallery (3955 St. Laurent) $4.

    
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Photos from the MMCJ of June 30 2004

:: Posted by max @ 7/02/2004 04:34:00 AM


   
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