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, Ontario, Toronto

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

Labels: Alberta, blogosphere, Calgary, Edmonton, events

Labels: Alberta, Calgary, Edmonton, events, links

Labels: book launches, events, Ontario, Toronto

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: Edmonton, events

Labels: awards, bd, events, photos, Quebec

Labels: events, exhibits, international, Quebec

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, Quebec

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, Ontario, Toronto

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, Newfoundland, 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, Quebec

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, Quebec

Labels: graphic novels, publishing

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

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, Ontario, Toronto

Labels: awards, international

Labels: manga, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan, 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, Quebec

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, British Columbia, events, political cartooning, Vancouver

Labels: British Columbia, comic jams, events, Vancouver

Labels: bd, events, photos

Labels: events, Ontario, Toronto

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, Moncton, New Brunswick, publishing, Quebec

Labels: events, graphic novels, international, Ontario, Toronto

Labels: bd, events, links, Quebec

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, Ontario, Toronto

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, Ottawa, 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: Alberta, blogosphere, Calgary, events, Quebec

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

Labels: awards, bd, events, Quebec

Labels: bd, events, interviews, Quebec

"Campus cleaning staff discovered the racist and profane graffiti on Walker's door early Tuesday morning. They also found copies of controversial Danish editorial cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed glued to her door."

Labels: international, Ontario, political cartooning, real world, Toronto

Labels: analysis, bestsellers, comics retailers

Labels: awards, bd, events, Quebec

Labels: bd, graphic novels, obituaries, Quebec

Labels: bd, events, exhibits, links, Quebec

Du 9 au 15 avril
Expositions: Les Invincibles en dessin *FBDFQ
Capitaine Liberte, Psyro, Phantoman, Magellan et Dark Evil-Hin vous attendent au Musee de la Civilisation a l'occasion d'une exposition des supers-heros de la populaire serie Les Invincibles. Venez decouvrir les planches originales et dessins crees par le dessinateur de Quebec Jean-Sebastien Duberger pour illustrer l'univers developpe par les auteurs Francois Letourneau et Jean-Francois Rivard. Une chance a saisir!

Ou : Musee de la civilisation
85, rue Dalhousie, Quebec

Labels: comics on tv, events, exhibits, Quebec

Labels: graphic novels, publishing

"Growing up in Canada, I started reading French comics at a very young age alongside the Archies and Harvey comics that I loved as a kid, and I kept reading them as a teenager. When I was in graduate school in Montreal I really got much more immersed because of the used bookstores, that made a lot of material available to me for the first time. Around that time I was asked by Tom Spurgeon to write on Euro-comics for the Journal and that sort of led me deeper to the point that I realized that there were things that I wanted to say that would be beyond the scope of those reviews. I first started thinking about the book in 2000, so it's been an awful long process! "

Labels: bd, international, interviews, links, Quebec

As part of the "Fete de la Francophonie a l'Institut franco-japonais" in Yokohama, Japan, beginning March 17:

Mondo Loco!, an exposition of Quebecois BD. Quebec cartoonists Eric Theriault, Simon Banville, Rick Tremble, Gregoire Bouchard, Richard Suicide, Eric Braun, Howard Chachowicz, Karine Baker, Rupert Bottenberg,and Caro Charon are featured in the exhibit. Exhibit ends April 28, but may set up again in Taipei, China, in September.

Mondo Loco! was conceived by Peter Mantello with the support of the Canadian Embassy in Japan. Mr. Mantello organized, with Jack Ruttan, an expo of Quebec BD in Thailand in 2004.

Meiji-ya Onoe-Cho bldg. 7F, 5-76,
Onoe-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama 231-0015

Labels: bd, exhibits, international, Quebec

Haida artist hits it big in Asia
Large retailer Seiju buys design to grace shopping bags
Ashley Ford, The Province
Published: Friday, April 06, 2007

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a bird of many feathers.

Formally trained in classical Haida design, the Vancouver resident has taken his considerable artistic talents along new paths with his unique form of "graphic narrative" called Haida Manga, essentially part-Haida and part-Asian.

He takes Haida design and narratives and transforms them into socially relevant art. The object is to advance the Haida design traditions "to combat the simplistic narratives perpetrated about indigenous people of the Pacific Coast."

He is already a big hit in Japan and Korea where manga -- Japanese for comic -- is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year business.

And greater commercial success may just be around the corner.

Seiju, a large Japanese retailer with a major shareholding from U.S. retailing icon WalMart, wants to mount Yahgulanaas's Hachiridori, hummingbird design from one of his books with the English words "I do what I can" on its non-plastic, reusable bags.

Yahgulanaas says he doesn't know how enriching it will eventually be but is hopeful it will be enough for him to carry on his personal campaign of taking the Haida art tradition out to the rest of the world and not just in the traditional style.

Labels: British Columbia, can-con, cartoonists, international, manga, Vancouver

Labels: bd, Gatineau, Ontario, publishing, Quebec, Toronto

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

Labels: awards, events, Ontario, political cartooning

Diversite et creativite sont au coeur de cette exposition unique qui presente les auteurs et les illustrateurs du Fanzine Bidon, en parallele avec une selection des meilleurs auteurs de bande dessinee finlandais. Une rencontre originale et inedite qui saura surprendre !

Jeudi 5 avril
Galerie Rouje
228, Saint-Joseph Est, Quebec
Quand : des 17h.

Labels: events, exhibits, Quebec

The SpeakEasy Comics Show features an eclectic mix of Toronto's talented comic book artists -- from those who do newspaper strips and political cartoons, to underground comix and mainstream superhero comic books! The event promises to display an exciting cross-section of the comics community here in Toronto, as well as a glimpse into how good comics are made. As the old cliche goes, there really will be something for everyone.

Show Date: Thursday April 5th
8pm-Midnight
Cover: Pay What You Can, $4.00 suggested

Labels: events, exhibits, Ontario, Toronto

Labels: awards, bd, events, photos, Quebec

Labels: awards, Halifax, Nova Scotia, political cartooning

New Reliable Press is proud to announce that our sophomore title, True Loves by Manien Bothma and Jason Turner, has been nominated for the Vancouver Public Library - One Book, One Vancouver award.

About the Book:

In this modern romance, we follow a young vintage clothing store owner who is falling into a new relationship while she struggles to break off her current one. The story is set in Vancouver and is full of the look and feel of the city.

Other books nominated include: My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki and Home Schooling: Stories by Carol Windley.

The official 2007 title will be announced on Canada Book Day on Monday, April 23!

Following the announcement, 450 copies of the winning title book will be available at library branches across Vancouver. From May to June, VPL will be hosting an array of events to explore the book's many themes and bring the book alive. Events will also be held at Word on the Street in September.

For further details about the One Book, One Vancouver award, check out http://www.vpl.ca/MDC/onebookonevancouver.html

For more information about True Loves, check out http://newreliable.com

--
--
http://www.newreliable.com
New Reliable Press presents "You Ain't No Dancer Vol. 2". In stores now!

Labels: awards, British Columbia, graphic novels, Vancouver

Labels: awards, events, Quebec

Labels: bestsellers, c, comics retailers, international

Labels: graphic novels, reviews

Labels: awards, events, Quebec

Labels: British Columbia, comics retailers, comicshoptalk, interviews, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Vancouver

Labels: conventions, events, graphic novels, interviews, links, Ontario, Toronto

Captain Canuck Is Dead; National Hero Since 1975
By BRAD McCOY
National Post
Published: March 31, 2007

Captain Canuck, Canada's superhero, is fatally shot by a sniper in the latest issue of his eponymous comic, which arrived in stores yesterday. The assassination ends the guardian of the north's fight for right, which began in 1975.

Captain Canuck, while heading to the Parliament Buildings, is shot and killed.

The last episode in Captain Canuck's life comes after a turbulent publishing career. Created by writer Don Fleishman and artist/co-writer Richard Comedy, the original Captain Canuck first appeared in Captain Canuck #1 (July 1975). The story followed Tom Evans, a Canadian secret agent who gained superhuman strength from contact with extraterrestrials. This first version of the Canadian superhero ran 14 issues, ending in 1981, and was drawn mostly by George Freeman taking over from Richard Comedy. The series was revived in 1993 and again in 2004. In 2006 a fourth incarnation of the character was featured in a new series.

The decision to make the new Captain a woman polarized the superhero fan community. Captain Canuck (whose true identity is Sally Maple) is a staunch feminist and fights for women's rights and multiculturalism. Her adventures often lead her to interact with government officials and to petition the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa.

But in the current issue of her title, Captain Canuck takes bullets in the shoulder and stomach while on the steps of Parliament. The assassin is alleged to be Redcoat, an intelligence agent romantically involved with Captain Canuck. He was apparently under the control of Mr. Gold, a supervillain. "It seemed a little radical when it was first brought up," said Richard Comedy, the president and publisher of Canuck Comics, about the hero's death. "But sometimes stories just take you places."

"We as publishers and as creative people knew where the ending was going to go for a long time," he said. "We knew people might not like it, but I think we delivered a compelling story that made everyone think."

He added: "The stories we have planned dealing with Cap's death are really compelling too."

This is not Captain Canuck's first brush with death. In the 1970s he battled alien invaders and was presumed dead but was actually transported back in time to the period when Vikings first discovered Canada. Years later the character was thawed out to continue his career.

More recently, Kebec, the Captain's francophone partner --who was thought killed by an explosion as he tried to defuse a bomb-- was revealed to be alive. Kebec was saved by sovereignist forces, who put him on ice and thawed him for their own missions. Captain Canuck broke the separatist hold on Kebec, and the two had a brief reunion. Kebec, who has taken on the name Kapitain Kebec, is now on a quest to redeem his actions.

Cultural commentators from the world of comic books have begun to weigh in on the event, expressing opinions on the philosphical and economic underpinnings of the red-and-white clad hero and the implications of her death. Jeet Heer, a Regina-based writer and academic, puzzles over the very existence of a Canadian superhero, implying that the death of Captian Canuck was a forgone conclusion. "Ingrained in the superhero genre is a sense of America's invincibility, its inherent goodness, and its world historical destiny," he says. "National heroes from other country (be they Captain Canuck, England's Union Jack, Frances's Superdupont, or Israel's Shaloman) always seem parodic and desultory. Despite its faltering in Iraq, the United States is the world's only superpower and for that reason it's the only country that creates confident and commercially successful superheroes."

The commercial viability of Captain Canuck may be the main reason for the Captain's death, at least in the minds of some comic book retailers. According to Harold Pottermole, owner of the Sirens' Song bookstore in Toronto, superhero comics and their publishers may be a dying breed. "Everything that these companies do is in complete isolation from true market forces. They are not now, nor have they been for thirty years part of the mass-media. Companies run by fans with comics drawn by fans rarely think of catering to anyone but themselves, which unfortunately means comics aimed primarily at adult men who still want to read comics featuring characters suited to children's entertainment."

Trying to incorporate aspects of the real world --like death and the struggle for women's rights-- into superhero comics is like someone "writing a Berenstain Bears novel for adults," Pottermole adds.

So is this the end of Captain Canuck? "He's very dead right now," Mr. Comedy said.

Still, these are comic books, where characters have a history of dying and returning. Most famously, DC published "The Death of Superman" in November 1992. That comic was a best seller, but the Man of Steel eventually returned to the land of the living in August 1993.

Fans on newsarama.com, a Web site devoted to comic book news, quickly posted their reactions to Captain Canuck's death. They ranged from a cynical "Yeah, right!" and "I know it's temporary" to the more media-savvy: "I'm fairly sure killing Cap with a movie in development would not be very sensible. So, I shall wait and see." Others were even less forgiving: "This is just a blatant attempt to cash in on recent trends in U.S. comics."

Labels: news, Ontario, Ottawa, publishing, Toronto