I'm not sure if this is the kinda thing you guys like to cover, but I've
been doing a summation of my thoughts and experiences of the Alternative
Press Expo. It's not really a review of the show itself; rather, it's a
look at what I expected to get out of it. Even if it's not something
you want to cover on Sequential, I'd certainly love it if you took a
peek (when you get a chance) and let me know what you think.

The first one is here: http://vonandmoggy.livejournal.com/267882.html
and gets into numbers (some hypothetical) behind a show like APE.

The other one (http://vonandmoggy.livejournal.com/268203.html) goes more into what I wanted from the show. What my wife and I did leading up to it, APE itself, and the aftermath...

Labels: blogosphere, events, international

Thus was born Pud, a comic strip about the hilarious on goings of Nease's real life family-- with a little artist liscense employed too of course. The recurring characters are sons Max, Ben (PUD), Sam, and Robert. The family dog is another, as well as himself and his wife.

Labels: comic strips, comics history

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Labels: book launches, events

What can you tell us about Chiggers?

LARSON: Chiggers is about 12- and 14-year-old girls at camp. I never know how much to say because I don’t want to spoil it, and it's not coming out for so long. It's a lot more straightforward than the stuff I've done before. It has little panels and three tiers of two or three panels. It looks a lot more like a comic book than the other stuff I've done.

Labels: canadians abroad, events, interviews, links

Labels: events

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Labels: events, exhibits, international

Hello To All!
I made a small mistake in my last announcement, The
Jam will held tomorrow, April 26 (not the 27) at Café
L'Utopik, 552 Ste-Catherine-east, Berri UQAM metro at
8 PM.

Sorry for the confusion,

Jane

Bonjour à tous!

J'ai fait une petite erreur lors de mon dernier
message. Le Jam aura lieu demain le 26 avril (et non
pas le 27) au café l'Utopik, 552 Ste-Catherine-Est,
Métro Berri-UQAM à 20 heures.

Désolée pour le cafouillage,
Jane

Labels: comic jams, corrections, events

Labels: comics history

There are a few basic ground rules when it comes to chatting with any comics-based toy enthusiast.

Firstly, the miniaturized effigies of various comic heroes are called "super hero collectable action figures." Never "dollies."

Secondly, one does not ask to "play" with a super hero collectable action figure; one respectfully inquires how often the collector "manipulates" the figure in real-time, authentic battle recreations.

Thirdly (and this is most important), never, ever, ask if the collector has any Barbies.

Labels: events, links

About 50 people turned out at St. John's Arts and Culture Centre to view about 80 cartoons created by Tobin, who is considered one of the best political cartoonists in the country and whose work has appeared in The Telegram for the past 20 years.

Labels: events, exhibits, political cartooning

Pierre-Andre Dery is still a member of the board of Grafiksismik, but not of Dreamwave II. However, Dreamwave II is owned by Dery Capital Inc, controlled by Pierre's brother Christian Dery. And Capitain Blitzkrieg is owned by Valerie Martineau, Pierre's long term partner.

[...]

I spoke with Pierre over the weekend and he told me "Grafiksismik went bankrupt in the fall of 2005 after being unable to collect tens of thousands of dollars owed by Speakeasy... At the time every Grafik staffer were up to date with their payments with some freelancer debts remaining. The former stockholders have been slowly (Meaning too slowly, but still as fast as they can) paying those freelancers from their own pockets with a couple left unpaid to this day. When we'll be done paying freelancer debts this fall, it'll will have taken two years to pay up everyone the money we expected at the time from Speakeasy.

"While I have freelanced for Capitaine Blitzkrieg in different capacities in the past, I am not currently affiliated with this studio, I've been working full-time for a video game developer for over a year."

Labels: news, publishing

Marvel is pleased to announce that Omega Flight #1, featuring the debut of Canada's new super team, has sold out at Diamond. Featuring the talents of writer Mike Oeming (Thor) and Scott Kolins (Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes), the inaugural issue of this limited series has struck a chord with both retailers and fans.

To meet demand for this issue, Marvel Comics is going back to print on Omega Flight #1 with a variant cover featuring interior art by Scott Kolins.

In the wake of Civil War, Canada has put together its own super-team called Omega Flight, the last line of defense for the Great White North against super villain insurgents from abroad. Unfortunately for the Canadians, before Omega Flight can band together, a powerful team of villains have decided to turn their northern neighbor in a playground for plundering.

Note, Omega Flight #1 may still be available at the retailer level. Marvel advises that retailers check their orders for upcoming issues as Omega Flight continues to benefit from strong reviews and word of mouth. Also, don't miss your chance to find how it all began—check out Alpha Flight Classic Vol.1, in stores now, presenting the first 8 issues of the Canadian superteam's adventures.

Labels: floppies, international, publishing, U.S. superhero franchises

Labels: comic jams, events, links, Montreal, news

Labels: graphic novels, publishing

Labels: blogosphere, comics in libraries, comics on tv, events, graphic novels, international

Who's your favourite Torontonian?
Since I draw and write comics stuff, I really appreciate the fact that Toronto has such an incredible and diverse pool of comics-creators. Honestly, Toronto has one of the best concentration of comics people in North America. So many good artists have either lived at one point in Toronto or are still here now -- creators like Jay Stephens, Seth, Paul Pope, Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone, Ramon Perez, Steve Manale and Diana Tamblyn. Does Chester Brown still live in town? If so, I guess he'd be my favourite.

Labels: blogosphere, interviews

Labels: awards, international

Labels: manga, webcomics

Graphic novels, or graphics, mine a rich heritage, from Francisco Goya's Disasters of War, his series of etchings recounting the atrocities perpetrated by Napoleon's army during its occupation of Madrid, to the political cartoons of Otto Dix and George Grosz, each of whom documented World War I and the rise of the Nazis, to the underground comics movement of the 1960s and 1970s. A startling proportion of the current offerings are non-fiction, rendering history, journalism, and memoir into a frame-by-frame marriage of words and pictures. Art Spiegelman set the stage for all this activity in 1986 with his Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus, a depiction of his parents' experiences during the Holocaust, in which he cast cats as the Nazis and mice as the Jews. The inheritors of Maus's legacy include journalistic works by Sacco from his trips to Palestine and Bosnia, Marjane Satrapi's two-volume memoir of growing up in revolutionary Iran, and Rosalind Penfold's account of abuse.


Why use comics, an idiom perhaps best suited to humour and satire, to depict events as tragic as the Holocaust or the war in Bosnia or spousal abuse Non-fiction graphics may be symptomatic of a greater malaise --a creeping weariness with our hyper-digitized, over-photographed reality. Photojournalism has left us inured to the gory traumas it portrays. Graphics, on the other hand, are visceral and intimate, their scribbled outlines contrasting with the sharp edges and sharper colours of photography.

Labels: graphic novels, reviews

A grant of $35,000 to Drawn & Quarterly, a Montreal-based publisher of graphic novels, which will enhance its presence in the local community by operating a "public space" for activities related to the publication of its books.

Labels: events, grants, publishing

After decades of newspaper cartooning, Nelson Dewey has finally received Ma Murray’s recognition.

Dewey won the best cartoonist award Saturday at the annual Ma Murray Awards, presented by the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspapers Association in Vancouver.

Dewey told the crowd he began hawking his cartoons in 1968 by sending them out to newspapers across the province.

"I'm probably the only one here who has a handwritten rejection letter from Ma Murray," he said, referring to the legendary B.C. newspaper publisher after whom the awards are named.

Freelance cartoonist Wendy Brown was recognized for her efforts with a silver award. Her cartoon tied together the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon with the stranding of BC Ferries passengers when a ferry left the terminal half-full. The judge, who loved the tying of two news stories together said, "The drawing is great, perfect lettering space, very loose. A great cartoon."

Labels: awards, events, political cartooning

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Acadieman a connu un succes enorme lorsque la chaine de television Rogers a decide de produire une série au sujet de cette icone de la culture acadienne. Avec cette nouvelle BD, le createur d'Acadieman, Dano LeBlanc, fait un retour au medium qui l'interesse depuis toujours.

"Acadieman a commence comme une BD. Je n'avais jamais l'intention de faire une serie animée avec le personnage. Mon reve, depuis un tres jeune age, etait de creer ma propre BD", atteste l'auteur et illustrateur du livre.


Le lancement de cette BD signale l'arrivee d'une nouvelle forme d'art en Acadie. "Je pense que c'est une des premieres BD acadiennes. J'espere que ca va changer la perception de la bande dessinee. Ce neest pas seulement pour les jeunes. Il faut que les gens commencent a comprendre que c'est le 9e art et que la BD est aussi legitime que la peinture ou la sculpture. Maintenant, au Quebec et en Europe, tu peux faire un bac en BD. Il faut aussi noter qu'Art Speigelman a gagne le prix Pulitzter en 1992 pour son roman graphique MAUS", souligne Dano LeBlanc.

Ce premier numero d'une serie de quatre livres explore les origines d'Acadieman. Lehistoire debute a l'East End de Moncton ou le premier superhero acadien est ne. Ensuite, on le retrouve dans la foret alors qu'il grandit. A la fin, Acadieman revient en ville apres avoir subi un entraînement physique et spirituel guide par son maitre, Farty.

Cette BD se veut parallele a la teleserie. Au cours des divers volumes, nous apprendrons comment Acadieman se lie aux personnages tels Coquille, sa mere et Johnny Dieppe. Le premier numero a ete colore par le graphiste Sean Dowd, lequel affirme posséder une passion pour les BD.

Labels: comics on tv, floppies, publishing

Labels: events, graphic novels, international

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Growing interest in animation, particularly comic books and Japanese cartooning, has prompted the Sarnia Library to launch a new graphic novel and anime club for adults.

"Toronto has a number of anime clubs and some of them have conventions that attract thousands," says Jeff Beeler, a reference librarian interested in the genre.

Graphic novels are collections of comic books that are bound together in book form.
The Sarnia Library owns a number already, including the works of Frank Miller such as "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns."

Anime is primarily animation from Japan. Popular examples feature Astroboy from the 1960s and Ghost in the Shell animated movies from the 1980s.

The anime work of Studio Ghibli is available through the local library, including the feature film "Porco Rosso."

A club dedicated to similar interests is already up and running for ages 18 and under. Beeler said about 10 manga club members meet monthly to talk about Japanese graphic novels.

"We started that in February and have had a number of adults ask if they can join," he said.

Beeler hopes to get the adult club started Monday at 7 p.m. in the Sarnia Library's west room.

If enough join, it will be possible to meet with other anime and graphic novel fans in Sarnia-Lambton, and possibly order some movies.

For more information on either club, call 519-337-3291.

Labels: book clubs, comics in libraries

That a 37-year-old guy would own some 7,000 comic books and wait 20 long years for Hollywood's version of Spiderman to appear is not especially noteworthy. But that a poet (think, economy of expression; expanses of white paper) would dig comics (as in, outsized characters and dialogue; a surfeit of colour and exclamation marks) does give pause.

"It's just a different way to tell a story," shrugs Ottawa poet, essayist, publisher and all-round literary action figure rob mclennan when queried about his comic book mania.

Labels: ephemera, poetry

DECENSORTIZED NEWZ!

Wanna see my animated film Decensortized this weekend? Well then head on over to Calgary, Alberta cuz it's playing at The Fourth Calgary Underground Film Festival as part of the Mixed Shorts segment Saturday April 15th! Their program notes describe it as "deranged underground cartoonist (Rick) Trembles' uber-perverse anti-music video for his post-punk band The American Devices"! Yay! I'm a freaken cross-country pree-vert!

Labels: blogosphere, events

Labels: bd, comics on film, comics with music, events

Labels: awards, bd, events