Friday, December 30, 2005  
2005 in Review

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/30/2005 04:53:00 AM
The Year in Canadian Comics News
Part 1: Overview
by Bryan Munn
Dec 30, 2005


2005 saw another very interesting year in Canadian comics. New publishers, new comics, new awards, the continued growth of the graphic novel and manga markets, international success for Canadian cartoonists, and a number of sad passings all combined to make the year memorable.

Some quick notes:

Publishing

Montreal's Drawn and Quarterly continued as the English-language publisher with the largest graphic novel line and backlist in 2005 but it was joined by even more publishers in the field in 2005. Candy Coated Press of Toronto debuted with a small group of art comics in June. As well, Toronto's Speakeasy line of genre comics rose from the ashes of Dreamwave, and Mr.Comics, a company that has hung its star on licensing the Planet of the Apes franchise, both entered the highly competitive North American comic book marketplace.

The Comics

Several well-reviewed graphic novels were published in 2005, including books published by AdHouse Books (USA), Conundrum Press (Canada), Drawn and Quarterly (Canada), Fantagraphics (USA), Penguin Canada, Oni (USA), and many others. Several have already found their way onto major "Best of 2005" lists like those at Time.com and Publishers Weekly.

Awards

Besides the long-established awards given to newspaper cartoonists and the several awards handed out to Quebec creators for French-language works, 2005 saw the premier of two new awards for comic creators. Debuting within months of each other, The Wright Awards and the Shusters each targetted different aspects of the cartooning world in Canada. The Shusters focussed more on writers and illustrators creating work for the traditional pamphlet-format comic book with several awards voted on by the public, while the Doug Wright Awards handed out two juried trophies to cartoonists creating book-length works.

Retail

During 2005, Sequential linked to several stories analyzing sales of graphic novels in both the traditional Direct Market comic book shop and the (seemingly) continually expanding bookstore markets. In addition, reports of the wholesale adoption of manga by younger Canadian readers and the relative novelty of manga in general seemed to be endlessly popular with reporters.

Passages

Unfortunately, several cartoonists left us in 2005. Among the younger generation of cartoonists who passed away were Ryan Carriere (b.1974), a mini-comics artist who was killed while bicycling home on Halloween, and Bryan "Rodney" Dunn(b.1968), a cartoonist and animator who died of an illness June 6th.
Older cartoonist deaths included Owen McCarron (b.1929), a cartoonist and publisher best known for his educational comics and work for Charlton and Marvel in the 1960s and 70s, and Ed Furness (b.1911), best known for his creation of several comic book characters for Canadian publishers in the 1940s. These artists who helped to shape the culture of Canadian comics will be missed.

To be continued...

Following this brief overview, Sequential hopes to bring you several more reports on the year that was and prospects for the year(s) ahead. Please check back with us over the following weeks for more news and views about Quebec comics and the "Best of 2005."
    
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