Comic Books, Jeet Heer and the New Canada

:: Posted by max @ 1/30/2006 02:09:00 AM

News Link Source: Imperial Oil Review

Journalist Robert Fulford profiles Toronto comics scholar Jeet Heer for the house organ of Imperial Oil.

Fulford, while generally clueless about comics and academia, does a succinct job of covering the biographical details and critical insights of Heer's life and work, making an attempt to place these in the context of a wider Canadian multiculturalism.

"His life and career embody two big changes on the Canadian landscape in recent times. The first is the appearance of intellectuals from non-European countries as cultural leaders, people like Neil Bissoondath, a Trinidadian Canadian who has published muchadmired books and now teaches creative writing at Laval University in Quebec City, and Irshad Manji, who grew up in Richmond, B.C. (because Idi Amin expelled her family from Uganda), and has now become famous around the world as an analyst of her religion, Islam. The second change is the emergence of popular culture, including comics, as a subject studied by intellectuals."

Comic Books, Jeet Heer and the New Canada

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she's from away

:: Posted by max @ 1/27/2006 12:52:00 PM

Hope Larson begins a new webcomic that is also being serialized in Halifax's The Coast.

"...in April 2005 my husband and I moved to Nova Scotia, a fairly isolated province east of Maine. It's so far east that it's in the Atlantic time zone, which we didn't know existed! The locals call people like us "come from aways." It's not exactly a term of endearment.

In October Mal and I moved into our first house, in a rural area north of Halifax. SFA is a chronicle of our lives as we continue to adjust to life in the Maritimes. Look for a new strip every Thursday..."


she's from away

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Drawn and Quarterly Announces New Foreign Deals

:: Posted by max @ 1/25/2006 04:29:00 AM

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Why Martin Lost

:: Posted by max @ 1/25/2006 03:50:00 AM

News Link Source: Edmonton Sun

Does reading comic books make you a loser?

Historically, comic books have been blamed for many things, ranging from juvenile delinquency to illiteracy. Less frequently, they have played important roles in election campaigns.

For those looking for a simple explanation of the recent change of government federally, and the failure of Paul Martin to maintain his hold on power, Sequential presents the following quote from the campaign trail, published last week:

There were ghosts of campaigns past as Paul Martin wooed voters at the Gardenia Restaurant, a Strathroy, Ont. diner that was also used as a whistle-stop by PMs Trudeau, Pearson and Diefenbaker during elections.

Martin poured cups of coffee, joked that he wanted tips, and playfully picked up a kid's comic book and said, "This looks like some of the books I get to read in Ottawa."

edmontonsun.com - Election - Martin's Magical Misery Tour

above: Prime Minister Louis St Laurent reads to his grandchildren

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Big Night in Montreal

:: Posted by max @ 1/23/2006 01:55:00 PM

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Cartoonists not drawn to Tory leader

:: Posted by max @ 1/20/2006 12:47:00 PM

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Comic Sales in France

:: Posted by max @ 1/20/2006 12:30:00 PM

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Edmonton Comic Jam

:: Posted by max @ 1/20/2006 12:01:00 PM

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Mystery Man!

:: Posted by max @ 1/20/2006 01:15:00 AM

Comics scholar John Adcock presents a thorough article on the early career and comics of New Yorker magazine cartoonist Richard Taylor. Taylor's Mystery Men were a screw-ball sensation in the 1920s Toronto Telegram. Although Taylor later became associated with the world of U.S. magazine cartooning and eventually published a popular "How-to" guide on the craft, he was born in Canada and did work for Toronto publications including the communist press, a college humour magazine, and newspapers before emigrating.

Queen City Ink: The Story of the Toronto Mystery Men

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Superhero Stripper

:: Posted by max @ 1/19/2006 08:08:00 PM

News Link Source: hour.ca

Leo Bachle's classic superhero Johnny Canuck gets the stage treatment in a new Montreal production, "Johnny Canuck and the Last Burlesque." According to Jodi Essery at the hour.ca, the Mainline Theatre is the site of this "what if..." story concerning Johnny's post World War II career as a burlesque star. The show is the creation of Jeremy Hechtman and Patrick Goddard and runs January 25-February 12.

"I'm a big comics fan," admits Goddard, who recently returned from studying with renowned physical theatre teacher Philippe Gaulier to work on Last Burlesque. "I had this idea that we would take this character Johnny Canuck, and where did he go after his comic book was cancelled in 1947? I thought it would be really funny to end up in Montreal. And then as Jeremy and I started talking about him, and what would he do, who would he talk to, and who were these other characters, the show just kept expanding and expanding and expanding, until now, we've got nine actors and a four-piece band, and this huge set, and..."

"We didn't get our whole wish list," interrupts Hechtman. "We still didn't get our girl in a big champagne glass. We couldn't find one."

Hour.ca - Stage - Johnny Canuck and the Last Burlesque

above: Johnny Canuck, the stamp

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More on Seth's New Book

:: Posted by max @ 1/18/2006 11:28:00 PM

Sequential Exclusive: Seth Interview



When Seth spilled the beans about his latest comics-related project in an interview last week, we just had to hear more. The book, an insert into the next issue of Todd Hignite's Comic Art, is called 40 Cartoon Books of Interest. According to the interview, the book is to include a 10-page comic strip introduction by Seth, followed by an 80-page peek into his eclectic comics library.

Recently, Sequential buttonholed the cartoonist and coaxed some additional details out of him.

Sequential: What is the plan for the format of the book (Hardbound, saddle-stiched, colour, metallic inks)?

Seth: It is a tiny little book (just 4" X 5") squarebound and shrinkwrapped into the next issue of COMIC ART. Yes--there are potentially some metallic inks on the cover (is it that sadly obvious that I must use metallic inks on everything I do to try and drum up some notice??). I hope it will feel a little bit like a guide book.



Sequential: Any other cartoonists you'd like to mention that are included? You mentioned Punch's Edward Reed and his Prehistoric cartoons. Weren't you also thinking of the Berenstains?

Seth: Yes--I was referring to the Berenstains (who I like a great deal--dumb though they may be). I don't want to mention too many cartoonists. Suffice to say that it is an eccentric mix of artists spanning a Hundred and fifty-year range. My tastes are very "catholic" and so it is a real mix.

Sequential: Is the cartoon intro "sketchbook style" (the style you used in Wimbledon Green)?

Seth: The reproduction of the strips is small so it is deliberately a bit simple in approach--but pretty tight. Probably closer to my usual stuff than my sketchbook work.

It certainly was a project that I enjoyed working on. I almost
wish I could do another one about the exact same topic. I really like talking about other cartoonist's work. Less so my own.

Seth is appearing with Jaime Hernandez at the Pratt Gallery, New York, January 21 in support of the exhibit "Speak: Nine Cartoonists".

(Above: Edward Reed photo and detail from his "Prehistoric Peeps")

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Mécanique Générale to Republish "The Cage"

:: Posted by max @ 1/17/2006 08:45:00 PM

Mécanique Générale to Republish "The Cage":
An Interview with Jimmy Beaulieu
by Bryan Munn

2006 is the 5th anniversary of Mécanique Générale, the tiny perfect French-language comics publisher run by Montreal cartoonist Jimmy Beaulieu. Over the last few years, MG has built up a substantial catalogue of critically praised albums and anthologies. In honour of this landmark anniversary, Beaulieu's celebration is to be a year-long affair: "This is our fifth year of activity and we plan to celebrate it by releasing 12 books in 2006 (one per month)," says Beaulieu.

According to Beaulieu, who is scheduled to be at the Angouleme festival in France for a panel discussion with Jeffrey Brown, his biggest satisfaction in reaching the 5-year point is
"Having published very important books like Luc Giard's Le pont du havre
and Benoît Joly's Pour une personne and Démons d'après-midi. Having
built a coherent collection."

And what does he hope to accomplish as a publisher in the next five years?

"Release the best books ever. Well hey, you said 'hope' !"

It shouldn't be a problem, as Beaulieu is very enthusiastic about the state of cartooning in Quebec:

"Well, you'd have to be blind not to see a boom going on.
There's never been that kind of critical mass of good books available. You can spend a week just reading good comics from Quebec and Canada. Five years ago, you could
spend two days at the most, and people would tell you about all these hidden treasures that ran out of print. Hopefully, we'll be able to reprint more
and more of these."

Below are the forthcoming releases from MG, with the publisher's (translated) descriptions. Notable books include a new issue of the Cyclopes anthology and a re-issue of the seminal graphic novel The Cage by Martin Vaughn-James, the cartoonist and painter who published several books while living in Canada in the 1970s. The Cage was originally published in English by Coach House Press.

January:

Béatrice, by PhlppGrrd

"Beatrice is a collection of short stories whose heroine is the daughter of the author. The principal character, surrounded by her parents, her grandfather and her friends, evokes his perception of the world with words of children. Its universe, very feminine, is naive, amusing and spontaneous. Beatrice is up to now the most "POP" book published in the Mécanique Générale catalog."
_____________________

February :

Ma voisine en maillot, by Jimmy Beaulieu

"If the subject of -22 degrees Celsius was winter loneliness, Ma voisine en maillot is its perfect opposite. [...] During a big power failure, in the heat of the summer, two young Montréalers finally take the time to speak and spend a moment together [...] But the true vocation of the book is probably as an allegory of the vampirism of work and entertainment on our contemporary lives and the state of bliss in which we find ourselves in when we succeed in escaping from it."

_______________

March :


La cage, by Martin Vaughn-James (co-edition with "Les impression nouvelles")

"Reissue of one of the most important works in the history of comics. Closer to the nouveau roman (the author is regarded as one of the significant actors of this literary movement)."

(See article here)




_______________

April:

Cyclope, opus 3 : Plan cartésien

"Collection on the theme of The City, presenting our vision of the
new generation of quebecois comics creators. With more than 40
participants and 360 pages (!), it will be released at the Festival de bande dessinée de Québec."

_______________
and the rest:

June-July-August-September (no order yet)

-Dans un cruchon, de Pascal Girard
"Un jeune homme doit conjuguer désir, sentimentalité et respect de soi,
mais sa sensibilité à fleur de peau complique les choses. Ce sera le premier
livre de Pascal Girard, jeune auteur saguenayen demeurant à Ste-Foy."

Convers(at)ion, de Leif Tande

"Un avocat véreux vient de mourir, il rencontre Dieu et discute avec lui
sur quelque 80 pages. Un livre minimaliste et conceptuel."

Nénette cherche un sens à la vie, de Catherine Genest

Dans mes rellignes, de Iris Boudreau

Simone numéro 1, de Ray Pierrewitt, Evlyn M. et Hugues Tremblay
-"Revue-laboratoire où ces trois auteurs nous feront découvrir leur univers
unique."


Mécanique Générale

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Speakeasy Loses Another Title

:: Posted by max @ 1/17/2006 08:44:00 AM

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A Comics Journalist Association?

:: Posted by max @ 1/16/2006 09:44:00 AM

Comment



Reading this year end article about the "mangalisation" of comics in France written by Gilles Ratier, secretary general of the ACBD, I began to wonder about the author's organization. I've seen it mentioned a few times in reference to prizes at Angouleme but never read anything concrete about it. I wondered, Is it like the Foreign Press Association that gives out the Golden Globes?

It turns out the ACBD, or Association des Critiques et journalistes de Bande Dessinée, has been around for a long time. In 2004 it celebrated its 20th anniversary and it has an on-again, off-again relationship with the organizations behind Angouleme, most recently (2005) separating itself from the festival by choosing to give out its award outside of the festival's aegis, on a separate date.

Founded as a legal entity in 1984 and based in Paris, the Association is made up of over 60 members of the press in France who dedicate at least part of their time to reporting on comics for various radio, television, print and web sources. In one sense it seems like the ACBD is a trade organization, making it possible for editors and publishers to avail themselves of specific journalists. As well, the ACBD issues regular papers, including the annual report on comics in France (Michel Viau has written a similar report on comics in Quebec) that got me interested in the first place. But the main task of the organization is the annual award of the Critics Prize, or Grand Prix de la Critique Bandes Dessinées, which this past year went to Etiennne Davodeau. Based on a year-long proccess involving several comics festivals, the prize is a good predictor of other major French prizes for best album.

The big news a few years ago was the exclusion of the ACBD from the prize-giving at Angouleme, as explained by Bill Kartoupolis and Bart Beaty, an action that it some ways seems to have put the organization on a stronger, more independant footing.

Is such an organisation possible in Canada or the U.S.? On the outside, things don't look promising. By my estimate, there seem to be only about a dozen or two full-time staff writers and editors covering comics exclusively for any sort of media in North America (including the trade or fan press). Add to this journalists, critics, and cartoonists who write the occasional or semi-regular article or revue for a newspaper or paying magazine gig, and the growing number of academics writing on the subject, and you might have about 100 professionals writing on comics. More than the 68 listed by the ACBD in France, but not exactly a cohesive, fraternal group.

Granted, when you factor in the hordes of serious amateurs, part-time bloggers, and other fan pundits, the numbers grow considerably. But the depth and quality of most comics journalism, especially the online variety, is easily called into question, most recently by the Comics Journal's Michael Dean in an informative survey. As well, and until comparatively recently (as these articles by Denis Lord and Jimmy Beaulieu attest), most mainstream comics journalism and criticism has been slapdash and run haphazardly, without a regular forum or editorial mandate (or even editorial understanding).

The idea of a critic's prize is contrary to most North American awards as well, which tend to be either based on large popular votes that for the most part focus on the various production-line divisions and categories associated with the traditional comic book market, or small, specific-focus and elitist juried prizes. The ACBD prize and annual reports demand more of a commitment (in terms of time, quality and finances) and a desire for professionalism from a large body of writers than anything currently possible on this continent.

ToutenBD.com - 2005?: l’annee de la "mangalisation"

2005, l’annee de la "Mangalisation" - Actua BD: l'actualite de la bande dessinee

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Michel Rabagliati Library Talk

:: Posted by max @ 1/14/2006 01:43:00 AM

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London Cartoonist to Publish Graphic Novel

:: Posted by max @ 1/13/2006 05:16:00 AM

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Big Thing on the Radio

:: Posted by max @ 1/13/2006 05:03:00 AM

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By the Numbers

:: Posted by max @ 1/11/2006 07:38:00 AM

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What, No Spike or Joey?

:: Posted by max @ 1/11/2006 06:37:00 AM

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2 New Quebec Strips in La Presse

:: Posted by max @ 1/10/2006 09:19:00 AM

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MensuHell 74

:: Posted by max @ 1/10/2006 08:38:00 AM

News Link Source: Francis Hervieux

From a write-up at the Comics Journal board:

Under this freat color cover by Jocelyn Houde, you can find a great overview of contemporary Quebec comic artists, such as [b]Mathieu Quesnel, Michèle Laframboise, Jacques Boivin, Nicolas Plamondon, Louis Rémillard, Jocelyn Houde, Marc Richard, Richard Gagnon, Kurt Beaulieu, Jane Tremblay, Rachel Arseneau & Guert. Also, there's the still ongoing Histoire de la bande dessinée au Québec from Michel Viau (who worked on the official website Beyond the Funnies: The History of Comics in English Canada and Quebec with John Bell), and a special 4 pages article by Mario Rendace on Les deux petits nains, the first sci-fi comic strip in Quebec (dated from 1947 to 1949).

As a special occasion, the first 50 copies of this issue have 2 ex-libris joined to them, from a gallery of characters from the story Morgenrot, by Houde & Richard. Such ex-libris will also be inserted in the issues #76, 78, 80 & 82, to complet the collection.
MensuHell is available at those Montreal comic & bookstores:
-[u]Le Chercheur de Trésors[/u] 1339 Ontario Est, (514) 597-2529
-Fichtre 436 rue de Bienville, (514) 844-9550
-Marché du Livre 801 De Maisonneuve Est, (514) 288-4350
-Millenium 451 Marie-Anne, (514) 284-0358
-Monet 2752 de Salaberry, (514) 337-4083
-Studio 9 5835 St-Hubert, (514) 272-6043
Another news:
This year again, I will personally pick up randomly in public the winners of 2005's participating artists, like I did since 2003. Same categories/prizes as last year:
-$75 for one cover participation
-$75 for a 3 or more issues participation (half-page minimum per issue)
-$150 for a 7 or more issues participation (half-page minimum per issue)

The draw will take place at the next Monthly Montreal Comic Jam at 9pm on Januray 25th, at Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent).


MensuHell - Bienvenue / Welcome !

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Convention Wars

:: Posted by max @ 1/10/2006 07:49:00 AM

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Speakeasy Reorganization Profile

:: Posted by max @ 1/10/2006 07:36:00 AM

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Quebec Cartoonist Honoured bySchool

:: Posted by max @ 1/09/2006 04:23:00 AM

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Lynn Johnston Investment Advice

:: Posted by max @ 1/09/2006 04:05:00 AM

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COMICS IN THE CLASSROOM Pt 2006

:: Posted by max @ 1/09/2006 03:49:00 AM

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Leif Tande's Morlac

:: Posted by max @ 1/07/2006 04:01:00 AM

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Seth Round-up

:: Posted by max @ 1/07/2006 01:23:00 AM

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Best Political Cartoons of 2005?

:: Posted by max @ 1/06/2006 06:49:00 PM

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About Sequential

:: Posted by max @ 1/01/2006 02:59:00 PM

Originally launched in august of 2002 as the news page of the MMCJ's web site, revamped and beginning to resemble something like it's current self by December 2002, Sequential is a blog dedicated to spotlighting Canadian comic art, business and culture from clear across this vast and diverse country, and more notable international tectonic movements of the Sequential arts.

To get the latest posts in your inbox join our news group/mailing list here/ici. Point your Blog tracking client to our XML feed here.

Stories can be submitted by members of the newsgroup, and to salgood AT gmail DOT com .

We will accept text in both French and English. Also to reach French language readers contact our FR cousin sites, bedeka & bdquebec

Authors
Bryan Munn
Dave Howard

Publisher/Founder
Max Douglas

Subscribe to Sequential / Canadian Comix News & Culture

Email:

Visit this group

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Canadian Comics Links

:: Posted by max @ 1/01/2006 02:54:00 PM

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Global Links

:: Posted by max @ 1/01/2006 02:51:00 PM