Wednesday, December 27, 2006  
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE rates Revolution on the Planet of the Apes #7 for 2006

:: Posted by max @ 12/27/2006 02:02:00 PM
7. Revolution on the Planet of the Apes (Mr. Comics)

A comic-book sequel to the original "Planet of the Apes" movie franchise, this story bridges the fourth and fifth films. The social message remains strong as it did in the film _ a brilliantly constructed story of human rights in the face of social change.


The rest of the list is mostly Marvel, with one title for Image and DC respectively. The theme of social consciousness seems to be the deciding factor, which is great - but regardless of the details, its a great coo for Toronto's little ol' Mr Comics.

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   Wednesday, December 20, 2006  
Downtime

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/20/2006 01:36:00 AM
I'm sure there will be lots of down time over the next few weeks at Sequential but here are a few midweek links concerning comics in Canada:

-The Globe and Mail catches up with Whistler cartoonist Ian Verchere. Vachere drew a strip called "Localman" in the 1970s.

-another local hero, Acadieman, gets his own dvd, according to this CBC profile.

-The Tyee recommends Joe Ollman's "This Will All End in Tears" as its Christmas graphic novel buy.

-The Star's Michael Hanlon calls Guy Delisle's Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China, "a delight" in a similar wrap-up of holiday travel books.

-Francisco M. Rosa has announced that the Shuster Awards is again considering non-English-lannguage comics and that books seeking nominations should be forwarded to him as he is the nomination judge responsible for what he calls quebecois comics (but I'm sure he will also consider French-language comics that are not quebecois :) ). Call for submissions posted at the BDQuebec forums
(Google trans)

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   Friday, December 15, 2006  
MTLCCEXP

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/15/2006 04:23:00 AM
Montreal Card and Comic Expo

"Since 1999 our show has attracted collectors and dealers. Situated in a 4000 sq.ft. ,street level hall in the middle of the Rosemont-Petite Patrie district of Montreal our show offers collectors a chance to meet dealers from Quebec and Ontario."

Ukrainian Youth Center
3270 Beaubien East
Montreal,QC.
H1X 3C9
(corner St.Michel)

NEXT SHOW

SATURDAY DECEMBER 16,2006

MONTREAL CARD AND COMIC EXPO
EXPOSITION CARTES ET COMICS DE MONTREAL
mtlccexp@yahoo.ca
(514)723-6610

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Vancouver Comic Jam This Weekend

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/15/2006 04:04:00 AM
from Ed Brisson:

Hey guys,

This next jam marks the 2 year anniversary of The Vancouver Comic Jam.


What: Vancouver Comic Jam.
When: Saturday, December 16th, 2006. 8pm until closing.
Where: The Jolly Alderman Pub (12th and Cambie).
Who: Anyone who is of legal drinking age is invited.
How Much: Free. Bring your own pencils/pens. Paper is provided.

Also, be advised that RAV line construction is taking place on Cambie, in front of the Alderman, so there will be no parking available right on Cambie st. There should be plenty of parking available on the side streets though.

Crosspost as you see fit.

Upcoming Comic Jam dates have been posted here.

To be added to the Vancouver Comic Jam mailing list, comment or email me at edbrisson[at]gmail[dot]com.

See you there!

Ed

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   Thursday, December 14, 2006  
Behind the Scenes at Dramacon

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/14/2006 01:32:00 AM
Publisher's Weekly interviews Kitchener's Svetlana Chmakova, who Johana Draper Carlson calls "among the best known non-Japanese manga-ka." The short talk covers the artist's love of romantic comedies and range of experiences with manga.

PWCW: You seem more professionally experienced than many of those creators, having Web comics, how-to-draw books, animation, toy design and RPG manuals on your resume. Has that affected your experience with Tokyopop?

SC: My credentials actually sound much more impressive than they really are; they were just random freelance jobs here and there. I was still very much a newbie when Tokyopop found me. The fact that I was slightly more experienced than some of my fellow new creators probably made it easier for me to learn on the job, but it was still quite challenging to learn how to write and draw a full-length graphic novel in several months.

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   Wednesday, December 13, 2006  
FBOFW Poll

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/13/2006 03:13:00 AM
According to Editor and Publisher, Lynn Johnston conducted a poll on her website and over 20 000 people responded. We'd do the same thing here, but we'd hate to crash our servers.

The "For Better or For Worse" Web site today announced the results of an online poll asking readers how long they've been reading Lynn Johnston's comic.

More than 22,400 people responded -- with 5,049 reading the strip since its 1979 launch, 8,823 since the 1980s, 5,961 since the 1990s, 2,251 since the early 2000s, and 354 just discovering it.

"For Better or For Worse" appears in more than 2,000 newspapers via Universal Press Syndicate.

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   Tuesday, December 12, 2006  
Winnipeg Cartoonist Sets Comic in Home Town

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/12/2006 03:24:00 AM
The Winnipeg Sun profiles Greg Waller whose new comic book series Magnitude is being published by San Diego, California's Ape Entertainment. The comic has lots of local colour:

His all-ages series is filled with references to or cameos of the city's recognizable personalities, landmarks, and businesses.

"I'm proud of being from Winnipeg," said Waller, 31, who lives in North Kildonan. "It's my way of giving something back to the city, I guess."

Friend Adrienne Batra, provincial director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is given a starring role as the inspiration and likeness for the character Gen. Batra.

"I'm very excited and honoured Greg chose my name to represent one of his characters," Batra said. "She is so integral in helping Magnitude."

Mayor Sam Katz, Sun city editor Kathleen Martens, and Coun. Russ Wyatt also make cameos.

Transcona City's landscape is dotted with images of Esplanade Riel, Fort Garry Hotel, and Canad Inns Stadium.


Waller's website: www.voltagecomics.com

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   Monday, December 11, 2006  
Bus Griffiths 1913-2006

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/11/2006 01:36:00 AM

Bus Griffiths (1913-2006)




Logger Cartoonist Created one of Canada's First Graphic Novels

Gilbert Joseph (Bus) Griffiths, a cartoonist, logger and fisherman, died of prostate cancer in Comox, B.C., on Sept. 25, 2006. Griffiths was best known as the creator of Now You're Logging, a 119-page graphic novel about the 1930s logging industry in BC.

Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Griffiths was raised in British Columbia, first in Penicton and then in Burnaby. As a teenager he was interested in cartooning but was unsuccessful in finding work in the newspaper field. As a young adult he illustrated catalogues for Massey-Harris but left that job to work as a logger during the 1930s Depression.

Giffiths specialized as a faller, a logger tasked with dropping trees so that they do not cause damage to or become entangled with neigbouring trees. By his own account, Griffiths was very good at his job and loved every aspect of the industry, even though it was seasonal and prone to lay-offs, especially during the 1930s. His logging career began in the Fraser Valley and the Mainland coast of BC, but he eventually migrated to Vancouver Island.

After a decade in the bush, Griffiths married his wife Maragaret in 1940. He also managed to find jobs as a cartoonist, creating work in the 1940s for Vancouver's Maple Leaf publishing, one of the short lived Canadian comics publishers that sprang up during World War II. At the same time, he produced an 8-page children's comic book about logging for the BC government. An editor for BC Lumberman magazine encouraged Griffiths to submit strips about logging to the magazine --a project that would eventually lead to the creation of a much longer work.

Giffiths retired from logging in 1961 and began working as a fisherman out of Fanny Bay, where he had moved in 1944.

In 1972, at the urging of his wife, and using her as a model, Griffiths began working on a longer comic book about logging in his spare time. This was published in 1978 by Harbour Press as Now You're Logging.

The book concerns the adventures of two young loggers in the 1930s who learn the ropes from an older camp-boss. Full of period detail, Now You're Logging is almost a primer on the basics of the business from the days before the advent of the chainsaw, and contains many lengthy explanations of the techniques and tools of the trade. Graphically, the book looks something like a cross between a textbook and a love story illustrated by a heterosexual Tom of Finland. Griffiths cartooning combines muscular figures with tightly rendered machines and landscapes to charming effect.

Shawn Conner, writing in the Comics Journal in 1996, characterized the book as "a true anomaly: written and drawn by a man with decades of experience in the woods, it's a book with no clear antecedent, more intent on documenting a way of life than telling a story (though it does that, too)," noting that, "it might just change your perception of what comics are, what they can do, and why we need them."

Indeed, although published during the same period that U.S. based cartoonists were beginning to refer to their long-form comics as graphic novels, Griffith's book seems totally divorced from the world of North American comics of the time. In this sense it has more in common with other sui generis graphic novels of the past, such as The Four Immigants Manga or Frans Masereel's woodcut novels.

Now You're Logging went through 3 printings but is now out of print. In later years Griffiths continued to pursue artistic endeavours: he illustrated a few other books about BC subjects and several of his oil painting hang in local museums. At the end of his life he was preparing a series of short prose stories about his logging career.

According to Grant Shilling's Globe and Mail obituary, Griffiths "was a small man with a big chest, a lovely lilt in his voice and a twinkle in his eye. He was built more like Popeye, with well-developed forearms grown strong from working a saw and an axe for a living."

Griffiths experienced a stroke in 2003 and had been living under extended care since then. He is survived by his wife Margaret, two sons, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. A memorial service was held October 21.

Further reading:

online:

Globe and Mail obituary (08/12/06)

Georgia Straight Profile by Grant Shilling

illustrated article by Gordon Hak

Publisher's Website


in print:

Shawn Connor, "Beyond the Grid, Later, up in the woods...," The Comics Journal, 187 (May 1996), 111-2. (the same issue also includes an interview with Giffiths and samples of his work)

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Joe Ollman Interview

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/11/2006 01:35:00 AM
Tom Spurgeon interviews Montreal's Joe Ollman about This Will All End in Tears, possibly the best English-language comic published in Canada in 2006.


"Thematically. it seems I like sad stories. I guess, but I always hope that they are tinged with a sense of humor so they are not mere poe-faced saddy-sad goth-kid bullshit. I hope. Life's never that simple; you can be on top of the world and win the Pulitzer Prize and find the perfect mate or lose one and at the same time cancer could be quietly eating away your colon like a carnivorous little caterpillar. At the same time, even in the most depressed, drunken, suicidal moments of your life, there are those funny moments that intrude and almost make you pissed for disrupting the flow of your beautiful sad-on."

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Shenzhen best of 2006

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/11/2006 01:32:00 AM

Quill and Quire have named Guy Delisle's Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China one of the 10 Best Books of 2006. The Drawn and Quarterly book is the only graphic novel on the list, published in the current December issue.

Sequential's own Dave Howard reviewed Shenzhen for the October issue of Quill and Quire.


"And yet, it is hard not to be charmed by this travelogue; the art communicates a real feeling of place, and each detail kept me reading. Delisle attempts something bolder here than the clean pencil work of the companion volume, Pyongyang, using charcoal and grease pencil to give us heavy blacks with less actual line work. Geometric shapes in the design bring to mind China's oppressive industrialization, the pushing of form over life. Shenzhen is an odd combination of intimacy and alienation."

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   Friday, December 08, 2006  
Listening Pleasure

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/08/2006 01:09:00 PM
And for you listening pleasure this weekend, you could do worse than catching up with the Inkstuds radio show, hosted by Robin McConnell and Colin Upton. The most recent shows to be archived include interviews with Ivan Brunetti and Joe Ollman and a show devoted to music by cartoonists. You can listen to radio with your computer! It's like the future or something!

Inkstuds

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This Weekend

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/08/2006 12:45:00 PM
1. Event
For Better or For Worse creator Lynn Johnston will be meeting fans and signing books in North Bay

As well, Tom Spurgeon rounds up recent commentary on the some of the plotlines of the strip as it enters its final year. Readers are concerned about the love life of Liz, the daughter character, apparently.

Saturday, Dec. 9th, 1-3 pm
Coles North Bay at Northgate Square
1500 Fisher Street
North Bay, ON

phone: 705-476-1550


2. Shopping
Chris Butcher raves about the giant collected New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke, claiming that it's "inspiring, not only in being really good but also in seeing how uncompromising and... right... Darwyn Cooke's view of these characters is" and that it's "A damn-near perfect book, and a must-own for anyone who's ever loved superheroes, or still does (bless their hearts)." If you are interested in this book and can't justify paying over $75 for it at the Beguiling or somewhere else, over at The Comics Reporter, letter-writer Stephen Leach spills the beans on how to pay only $30 by buying online. As someone who once loved superheroes and still loves some old superhero comic books, I can testify that the book is not a "must-own" by any means but I'm sure it makes a nice gift for older fans. I recently resisted paying $6 to sit down and read Cooke's new Batman-Spirit team-up comic book myself so I don't know from compulsion. I imagine I will eventually read it though since Cooke is the only superhero artist who has been seriously and consistently considered by the Wright Awards (his Solo book was very very pretty).

Other comics for sale?
2006 books by Jillian Tamaki, Salgood Sam, Svetlana Chmakova, Scott Chantler, Joe Ollman, Colin Upton, and many others (including tons of new books in French from Mecanique General and other publishers). And not a U.S. superhero in the bunch.

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vidTO: Nick the Cartoonist

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/08/2006 01:21:00 AM
BlogTO's vidTO has a profile of the mysterious Toronto cartoonist Nick Maandag.

Videoblog's are so 2006.

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   Thursday, December 07, 2006  
USINE 106U Exposition de NOEL // X-MAS Exhibition

:: Posted by max @ 12/07/2006 11:36:00 AM

December 1st to 31st 2006
Vernissage thursday/Jeudi December 14th 5pm to 11pm
@ USINE 106U 112 Mont-Royal E.(2nd floor) 514-284-7773

The collective X-MAS Exhibition presents the fine works of 13 unique artists: Eric Braün, La puce à l'agonie, Yves Milet-Desfougères, Mimi Traillette, Rupert Bottenberg, Iris, Arthur Desmarteaux, Allison Moore, Hollie Dzama, Serene Daoud, Guy Boutin, Richard Suicide and Jessica Alfonso. A profusion of small and medium size artwork exploring different mediums (painting, drawing, etching, sculpture, cut-out, …). The exhibition takes place at l' USINE 106U, 112 Mont-Royal E.(2 nd floor) from December 1st to December 31st 2006, and the vernissage will be held on thursday December 14th, from 5pm to 11pm. Opening hours are Saturday to Wednesday noon to 6hPM , Thursday & Friday from noon to 9hPM.

---

L'exposition de NOEL collective d'arts visuels presente le travail de 13 artistes singuliers: Eric Braun, La puce a l'agonie, Yves Milet-Desfougeres, Mimi Traillette, Rupert Bottenberg, Iris, Arthur Desmarteaux, Allison Moore, Hollie Dzama, Serene Daoud, Guy Boutin, Richard Suicide et Jessica Alfonso. Une multitude d'oeuvres de petit et moyen format explorant différents médiums ( Peinture, dessin, gravure, sculpture, decoupage, …). L'exposition de tiendra a l' USINE 106U, au 112 Mont-Royal E.(2e etage) du 1er decembre au 31 decembre 2006, et le vernissage aura lieu le jeudi 14 decembre de17h a 23h. Les heures d'ouverture sont du samedi au mercredi de 12h à 18h et les jeudis et vendredis, de 12h a 21h.


Contact: Eric Braun (514)728-9349

eric_braun_106u@hotmail.com

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Chester Brown vs Wonder Woman, part 2

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/07/2006 11:02:00 AM

One of Canada's most iconoclastic cartoonists takes on one of the U.S.A.'s most iconic comic book characters in the 3rd Doug Wright Awards Fundraising Auction currently running on eBay.

For the last auction, Chester re-created a classic Harry Peter Wonder Woman page from the 1940s. This page was a fully inked masterpiece. Now the Wright Awards are presenting Chester's original pencils that were used in the creation of the previous page. Many, many tiny Chester Brown drawings of gangsters, guns, superheroines, ropes, and word balloons.

All proceeds from the sale of this art go to the Doug Wright Awards and in turn go to promoting the work of other Canadian cartoonists, both beginning mini-comics artists and well-established graphic novelists, through the annual Wright Awards which will be presented at the Toronto Comic Art Festival next summer.

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   Wednesday, December 06, 2006  
Xmas with Sandra Bell-Lundy

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/06/2006 10:02:00 AM
Does anyone have any book reviews, events, or press releases about Canadian comics today? No? Okay then, you asked for it:

What does everyone's second-favourite syndicated Canadian strip cartoonist have on the table for the holidays?


"Between Friends" comics creator and cartoonist Sandra Bell-Lundy mails out greeting cards, has dinner with her girlfriends, even organizes a tobogganing party at her home in Welland, Ontario.

Every year she helps plan the annual Christmas party for the Canada Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, which she chairs.

It's important, she said, for cartoonists to connect face to face, rather than through phone calls and e-mail.

"The nature of this business is that we are far-flung and don't get to see each other often," said Bell-Lundy, 48 and married with two kids.

"Keeping in touch is an obligation ... but it's a good obligation because it forces you to connect with people," she added. "Time has a way of passing so quickly when you are busy. I enjoy the effort after I have made it."


Full Article

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   Tuesday, December 05, 2006  
PhD in BD?

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/05/2006 04:12:00 AM
Over at the BDQ Forums, a little discussion about comics scholarship in Quebec. The intrepid board members have dug up an impressive, if incomplete, list of master's and PhD thesis on the subject of Quebec comics: everything from a 175 page monograph on Albert Chartier to a 337 page study of the semiology of Quebec comics from 1979-1984. A great resource for the budding academic.

Forum BD Quebec

(Google trans)

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   Monday, December 04, 2006  
Ragmop/Makeshift Miracle Launch

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/04/2006 06:29:00 AM
Dave Sim covers the Ragmop Party in Toronto last week. The event was a booklaucnh for Rob Walton's Ragmop and Udon comics' Jim Zubkavich's Makeshift Miracle --both self-published collections. Jim's friend Matt also reports on the event, as does Rob Walton himself --who also mentions the appearance of Sim's "cartoon sidekick, Chester Brown".

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Science of Self-Promotion

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/04/2006 06:15:00 AM
I've avoided linking to articles about the Science of Superheroes-style exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre because of the total lack of Canadian Content outside of the geographic location of the thing but this Globe and Mail article is slightly different in that it is also an article about the changing nature of museum exhibits that manages to mention how a) the exhibit is basically a shill for U.S. publishing juggernaut Marvel Comics and how b) Marvel co-owns the trademark on the word superhero as this Wikipedia article explains and how c) the exhibit naturally totally ignores Canadian superheroes, although I'm not sure if you could do an exhibit about the science of Johnny Canuck, The Penguin, et al.

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Hairy Tarantula

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/04/2006 06:01:00 AM
Jamie Coville interviews Leon from Toronto's Hairy Tarantula comic book store for the Coville's Clubhouse feature at Collector Times:

Jamie:

You've accumulated a *lot* of books, mainly manga. Is there a method to your madness of having that much manga in stock?

Leon:

The method entails madness - it just happens when you're dedicated to keeping everything in stock for as long as possible. People bringing books in are tripping over people taking books out, and we duck and weave the restocks onto the shelves as soon as we can.

The madness is my simple retail philosophy, which I will share free of charge (because knowing is only half the battle): A customer cannot buy that which is not available for sale.

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   Friday, December 01, 2006  
Bloor Line, on the way to school for you

:: Posted by Bryan @ 12/01/2006 07:15:00 PM
This link is kind of old, but I heard the Seen Reading blogger Julie Wilson on CBC last week and she read this excerpt from her blog about people she sees reading in Toronto. A poetic bit of comics culture for the weekend:

Seen Reading: Bloor Line, on the way to school for you

For those less lyrically inclined, the only thing I could dig up is a tiny little collectibles show in Vancouver. If you are the type who buys gifts for people in December, don't forget Tom Spurgeon's Holiday Comic Buying Guide.

Pop Culture Collectibles Fair

featuring Comic Books, Records Toys & much more!

Sat Dec 2nd , 11am-4pm

Croatian Cultural Centre

3250 Commercial Drive, Vancouver,BC

Admisson : FREE

Email: funpromo@shaw.ca

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