Labels: copyright, creator's rights, Halifax, legal news, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Toronto

Labels: British Columbia, events, international, Vancouver

In total, the Council for Canadian Unity and Option Canada received $10.9-million from Heritage Canada between the PQ's arrival in power in 1994 and the referendum. Most was spent in the run-up to the official referendum campaign, which was not illegal.

Among the acceptable federal expenses noted by Mr. Grenier was $160,500 for 30,000 copies of the book Dear Canada/Cher Canada, by the late cartoonist Ben Wicks, presumably intended to win the hearts of wavering Quebecers.

Labels: links, political cartooning, Quebec, real world

In an unfitting ending to a gallery that has been in existence for more than 40 years, the Liane and Danny Taran Gallery of the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts closes with a whimper rather than a bang with its final exhibition Comic Craze, which ends June 3.

Creating an interior maze of basically black and white tubes and inserting them with a mishmash of non-indexed Canadian French and English-language comic books does not make for an art exhibition. This stuff belongs in a library, not an art gallery.

Labels: art show, exhibits, Quebec

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When he wasn't falling trees, Ladysmith logger Gord Barney was chopping down camp bosses with his satirical cartoons.

The caricatures and small cartoon strips found a home on the cookhouse and camp office walls. The veteran logger's drawings earned him a reputation in logging camps along B.C.'s coastline. Quietly, Barney also scribbled down the stories co-workers would tell over a beer after a hard day in the bush.

"I thought these stories were going to get lost," Barney says.

After three years of sweat and labour, Barney finished typing out the old long-hand notes for his sixth book Camp Inspector: Tales of a B.C. Logger.

Labels: publishing

While large comic book publishers such as DC Comics and Marvel Comics have regularly adjusted the pricing on Canadian comic books, the pricing has rarely reflected the current exchange rate between Canada and the United States.

The premium paid by Canadian comic book readers is abusive. For example, a copy of Ultimate Power # 4 costs to an American customer, $2.99. The price for the same comic book for a Canadian customer is $3.75. This means that the same comic book costs about 80% less for an American customer than a Canadian one.

Labels: comics retailers, links, real world

Labels: comics history

"I felt more loser-ish cause I didn't have a costume than the people who had them. Even the ones with bad costumes fit in better than I did."

"nerds are easy"

"Oh but some of ze cosplayers were just wrong.
There were older hairy men dressed up as the Sailor Scouts"

Labels: events, links, manga, photos

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Women of Comics II and Kiss Machine Presents

Women of Comics II (WOC II) is a two-day event, taking place on Saturday, June 9th and Sunday June 10th as part of the 2007 Paradise Toronto Comicon. Sponsored by All New Comics Inc., WOC II is designed to showcase female talent and creativity in what has traditionally been a male-dominated industry, the symposium will feature signings, portfolio reviews, panel discussions, and direct interaction with the artists themselves.

This year will feature a spotlight on local Toronto imprint Kiss Machine Presents, dedicated to publishing "graphic novellas" by top Canadian talent. Founded in 2005 by editor Emily Pohl-Weary, Kiss Machine Presents was launched with "Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate" by Pohl-Weary and Willow Dawson, and also features "Skim" (winner of a special Doug Wright award and soon to be a graphic novel by Groundwood/House of Anansi press) by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki, and "Mendacity" by Tamara Faith Berger and Sophie Cossette.

An offshoot of Kiss Machine, a Toronto-based zine that focuses on art, literary culture, and political views, the purpose for Kiss Machine Presents was different, but no less important to publisher, Emily Pohl-Weary. "In comics it's hard to find good female characters, and they all look like Barbie," she laughs. "I wanted to create a fun, sexy, woman-run comics line that was a meeting place for innovative, unusual talents".

Next up, at the end of June 2007, is Summer Ink: An Illustrated Book of Letters, by Golda Fried (Governor General's Award Finalist for Nellcott is my Darling) and Vesna Mostovac (animator and Foolish Girl creator). Summer Ink represents two months' worth of correspondence between the long-time friends. On the pages, sticky with tears, cigarette ash, beer, coffee, ketchup and bacon grease, they document their trials and tribulations in the world of love and heartbreak, paying close attention to the songs spinning in the background. Each letter comes alive with graphics Vesna has drawn and collaged, based on images present in the writers' minds as they wrote the letter.

Learn more about this dynamic line at the Women of Comics Kiss Machine Presents panel, taking place on Saturday, June 9th at 4:30 PM featuring guests Emily Pohl-Weary, Willow Dawson, Vesna Mostovac and Mariko Tamaki.

The 5th Annual Paradise Toronto Comicon runs from June 8-10th in Hall C at the Direct Energy Centre on the CNE Grounds.

Labels: events, Ontario, publishing, Toronto

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NRAMA: Is it harder or easier creating stories for the limited space of serialized comics?

JT: I'd say it's harder. I like the freedom of the graphic novel format. Serialized comics forces you into an issue-by-issue rhythm. It requires much more rigorous plotting and pacing.

NRAMA: What was the inspiration for Rex Libris?

JT: Rex Libris was inspired by the whole genre of work in which mild mannered occupations are crossed with the world of action and adventure. Often this includes the supernatural and various sorts of monsters, in which case the original occupation no longer has to be mild mannered (such as the X-Files). There's all sorts of stuff out there like this. It was also a response to working on Nil, which was a satire on nihilism and quite dark. Rex is more positive. I also wanted to include a secret order, which are always popular. Sort of a communal secret identity.

Labels: graphic novels, interviews

On a spring morning spilling with sunshine, a group of Muff Mills' friends gather at Danny's barbershop in Cambridge to remember the artist.

Muff was a real character, a guy who was so interested in people he collected friends like a child collects wild flowers: each valued for its beauty and uniqueness.

"He had that ability to make you feel you were the only one, that you were very special . . . (from) babies up to seniors," said friend Shirley Murdoch. "When anyone met him, you'd never forget him."

Labels: political cartooning

This year's convention will feature two rooms dedicated to all things yaoi. Programming will include viewings of yaoi films and TV shows, panel discussions with titles including "World History Of Homosexuality" and "Crossplay 101" (in other words, drag) and Cafe Nocturne -- a Japanese-style drag cafe featuring flirty female waiters dressed as men.

But Kat Williams, a Toronto-based anime artist and author who organized queer panels at the convention for several years beginning in 2000, says she's dismayed by the lack of queer content created specifically for queers at recent Anime North gatherings.

"[Last year's Yaoi North] was pretty much straight girls squealing about their favourite [gay anime] couples," says Williams.

Lai makes no bones about the genre's objectification of queer men. "But yaoi men are as ridiculous as gay porn men," she says.

Nor is she worried about the lack of gay activism at the conference. "We don't discourage people being proud and out or talking about issues like that... [but] this is a hobby, an interest. Our purview is discussing cartoons. We're not saving lives."

Schwartz is all for straight anime lovers' queer obsessions. "These people are our straight allies. They're the ones who are with us at gay pride marches, and if they relate to gay media, then that makes me happy bringing them into the gay community."

He adds that Yaoi North attendees run the gamut of gender and orientation, and notes that he hasn't heard any complaints from gay attendees about feeling objectified.

Gay men may be getting the red carpet treatment, but last year when Williams was promoting lesbian events, her experience was quite the opposite.

"I got spat at. I had things thrown at me," says Williams, adding that she heard similar complaints from other queer attendees.

Williams says she didn't report the incidents to convention security. "There isn't much security can do about people being overly rude unless [the homophobes] stick around and continue to harass someone repeatedly."

Todd Spencley, who handles security for Anime North, says he is unaware of an escalation in homophobic incidents at recent conventions.

"Anything that is reported to me, I make sure I track it down," says Spencely. "If I find somebody behaving in a discriminatory manner I have a nice long talk with them. I do not put up with that at our convention."

Spencley says that offenders may be banned from the conventions, offering as an example the hosts of The Conventioneers, a reality show on Bite TV, who reportedly harassed crossdressing attendees and body checked a child on camera without his guardian's consent at the 2006 convention.

"For those actions we decided The Conventioneers are no longer permitted to attend Anime North," says Spencley.

Williams is also disappointed with the lack of girl-on-girl anime, or Shoujo-ai (pronounced show-joe-eye), compared to yaoi. Although Williams is presenting a two-hour panel on girl-on-girl anime, it's a far cry from a 24-hour dedicated space.

Anime North's director of programming Eileen McEvoy agrees that there's room for more Shoujo-ai at the convention. She says that there had been a room set aside for a three-day track focussing on dykey fun but that panel organizers -- including Williams -- backed out at the last minute.

Labels: events, manga, Ontario, Toronto

Usually, when people say "see you in the funny pages," it's just an expression.

For local artist Jack Reid, however, it rings true.

Reid's name was mentioned as part of an ongoing storyline in the comic strip "Between Friends," which appeared in The Packet & Times May 11-12.

"I was very pleasantly surprised," said Reid on the phone from Quesnel, B.C., where he was holding a painting workshop last week. "That's quite an honour."

The artist, who has lived in Lagoon City for more than a year, wasn't familiar with the syndicated comic strip and didn't learn of his mention until he started receiving calls from people in Victoria and Edmonton - and even Hawaii - asking him if he is the Jack Reid in the strip.


Sandra Bell-Lundy, the creator of "Between Friends," is a big fan of watercolour art, the medium in which Reid paints, and so was familiar with the painter.

"I didn't know him, but I knew his work," she said.

When she started creating the storyline, Bell-Lundy said she thought it would make the content funnier if she inserted an artist's name, and Reid's was the first that popped into her head.

"I just really think he's got a lot of talent," she said.

Reid, who will celebrate his 82nd birthday June 1 in Whistler, B.C., said he's lost count of the number of pieces he's created over the course of his career.

Aside from his artwork, Reid has also written a number of art books and, as a rough estimate, has taught more than 25,000 people through classes and workshops.

Labels: comic strips, Edmonton

The International Manga Award is the brainchild of Japan's Foreign Minister Tara Aso, who is an avid fan of manga, the term used to describe Japanese comics and print cartoons.

"Manga and anime [Japanese animated films and TV series] have been spreading overseas and are selling quite well," Aso said.

"I want to further boost the communicative power of these so-called pieces of pop culture."

Presented to an artist working abroad, the new award will honour the winner's contribution to the spread of manga around the world, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

While the award will carry no cash prize, organizers are in the process of creating a trophy and will host the winner and three runners-up at an awards ceremony in Japan.

Labels: awards, international, manga

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Radical Sheep Productions, leading producer of children's programming, has recently optioned the rights to produce a new animated series for kids aged 6-12, based on Bleeker: The Rechargeable Dog, the hilarious online comic strip by Jonathan Mahood about a hapless and loveable robotic toy dog named Bleeker and his owner, Skip.

Picking up on the nuances of the online strip, Bleeker will explore Skip Smalls' sibling-like relationship with his robotic toy dog Bleeker as they navigate their friendship, co-dependence and the many crises Bleeker inadvertently causes as a result of trying so eagerly to earn the love of a hyperactive 10-year old.

"We're very excited about Bleeker. Bleeker the Rechargeable Dog is such a unique and fresh character - the first of his kind," says John Leitch, President of Radical Sheep Productions. "We feel the series will really speak to today's younger generation and their high comfort level with technology. Technology is a complex, evolving and somewhat confusing entity, and Bleeker is too. Only Bleeker's much funnier than an iPod."

"I'm very excited about seeing this little robotic dog fetch, print, download and malfunction his way across the small screen," says Jonathan Mahood, creator and illustrator of the popular online comic. "Radical Sheep's enthusiasm and strong relationship with its creators made them an excellent choice for Bleeker adaptation to television."

Radical Sheep is looking to produce 26 x 11-minute episodes of Bleeker: the Rechargeable Dog for the 6-12 audience, with broad appeal to both girls and boys.

The property is currently being presented to Canadian broadcasters.

Labels: comic strips, comics on tv, Ontario, Toronto, webcomics

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The result will be a revelation to anyone not familiar with the sorts of movies that get made on borrowed camcorders. The acting is good, the lighting is bad, the story is effective and funny. It's even got one shot, an exterior done at the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus, that's compositionally striking enough to be the centrepiece of an art film. Which this is not. It's far too messy, and too much fun. "It's a little bit like a buffet," Munroe says. Cheap and filling.

Screening tonight at 7 at Innis Town Hall (2 Sussex Ave., Toronto). $5 includes show, "nanite-enhanced treats" and invitation to the after-party.

Labels: events, Ontario, Toronto

Megan Mackey, lawyer for the Wicks family, said yesterday in her closing submissions that the legal definition of abandonment puts the onus on the finder of the property to prove that the property was abandoned.

Judge Thomas Lederer agreed, saying to Richard Harnett's lawyer, Charles Campbell, "the onus is very high here."

"We don't want people to be easily enriched at the cost of others," the judge said.

...the defendant's lawyer, Charles Campbell told the judge, "If it was packed like garbage, looked like garbage and smelled like garbage, then it was garbage."

Labels: legal news, Ontario, Toronto

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After their submission made it to the finals in the contest, Renton received a call that one of the contest judges from the company's publishing division was interested in the book.

The students withdrew their entry from the contest and are now very excited for the day they can hold a published copy of their work in their hands.

Labels: manga, publishing

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Dave acquired Albert's collection of old photographs and other items about seven years ago when his uncle moved into a senior citizens' home. There would have been no room at the home to store the many boxes, so Dave decided to bring them to his house in St. John's for safekeeping until a decision was made about what to do with it.

However, Dave is now in the process of downsizing and will not have room for the collection, so decided the local heritage society was the best place for Albert's visual history of Grand Falls-Windsor.

Labels: comics history, Newfoundland, political cartooning

Before we go any further, I'm gonna talk for a moment about the riddle of comic book and graphic novel marketing. Just to make sure we're all clear on this, ok? The riddle is this: how do you create enough awareness of a new book that folks are talking it up? Especially talking it up to their local retailers (be they Direct Market retailers, Book Trade retailers or both). Retailers need information before they place there orders and, with a new book by an unknown creator, there is very rarely anything for them to hang their hat on. If a book in this situation gets ordered at all, it'll often be because the retailer believes in the publisher of said book and is willing to take a chance. Even that, though, often results in "onesies and twosies" and that’s it. And, in my experience as a bookseller, it doesn't happen that often. For titles to be ordered broadly enough, there really needs to be a tangible sense of interest and excitement; retailers need to able to feel this. While some retailers will hand-sell a book (Moggy and I did this directly with Mary Doria Russell's fantastic debut novel The Sparrow), creators cannot rely on this to happen. If it does at all, it'll only happen a handful of times.

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Johnston lived in the northern Manitoba community of Lynn Lake, 815 kilometres north of Winnipeg, for six years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She now lives in northern Ontario.

When she heard she'd been nominated, Johnston said she tried to turn it down.

"I said, 'I think this is wonderful, and I appreciate it, but I think it should go to somebody who lives in Manitoba and has lived all their life and, you know, people would probably complain,' " Johnston said.

"Then, I have a friend who lives in Winnipeg ... and she phoned me and said, 'You know, it's not really about how long you lived in Manitoba. It's mostly about the story line you did on the native community.' "

The story featured in the comic strip saw one of the family's daughters, Elizabeth, travelling to a northern aboriginal community as a student teacher.

Labels: awards, comic strips, events, Manitoba, Ontario, Winnipeg

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"I've never had a sense that people are clamouring for the return of Peter Puck. I think the fact that no one has picked it up over the past 20 years ... might be slightly telling," said Bob Stellick, a Toronto-based sports-marketing consultant.

Keith McIntyre, the president of Mississauga-based K.Mac & Associates Marketing, said he can see how Peter Puck will appeal to guys in their 40s who grew up with the character. But he said it will be harder to make him appeal to kids, who are more likely to play hockey on Xbox than to watch the game on TV.

Labels: hockey, links, Ontario, Toronto

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Joe Shuster Awards To Induct Four More Canadian Comic Book Creators to the Hall of Fame in 2007

The Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association has announced the four additional inductees to the Hall of Fame, to be presented at the Joe Shuster Awards ceremony on Saturday, June 9th, 2007. These four creators join the already inducted Hal Foster, Leo Bachle, Adrian Dingle, Ed Furness, Rand Holmes, Owen McCarron, Win Mortimer, Dave Sim and Joe Shuster, for whom the awards are named.

The 2007 Inductees are:

Albert Chartier (1912-2004)
Albert Chartier was one of the best Canadian comics artists. He turned to comics after studying fine arts. His first comic was the daily 'Bouboule', which appeared in La Patrie from 1930. Ten years later, he moved to New York, where he worked as a humorous illustrator for Columbia Comics Corporation. During World War II, Chartier was a staff artist at the information office of Ottawa. Albert Chartier created his most popular character in Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs du Quebec: 'Onesime'. For the same magazine, Chartier produced the 'Seraphin' series from 1950 to 1968. From 1968, he drew 'Les Canadiens' for the Toronto Telegram News Service. At the same time, Chartier worked as an illustrator for several magazines and promotional campaigns.

Gerald Lazare (1927-)
Gerald Lazare was born in Toronto in 1927 and left school at age sixteen to draw comic strips for Canada’s Golden Age comic publisher, Bell Features. At Bell he created such strips as Nitro; the Wing; the Dreamer; Drummy Young; Air Woman and others and acknowledges that Alex Raymond was his greatest influence for his comic book work. He went on to work as an illustrator for Saturday Night Press, Bomac Engravers, Clement Salias Inc. and Art Associates. Along the way he took the Famous Artists Course and studied for a year in Europe, before returning to Bomac as a senior illustrator. In 1956 Lazare started his freelance career working for magazines, books and television in Canada. In the United States he created historical paintings and murals for museums and governments. Lazare joined the faculty of the Ontario College of Art in 1966 and returned to gallery painting in 1974.

Gerald has been widely published and exhibited. Collections and commissions include; Confederation Life, Bank of Montreal, MacLean Hunter, McLelland and Stewart, City of Toronto Archives, The Hudson Bay Company, Metro Toronto Library, Museum of Man and the Cartier Museum.

As a cartoonist, illustrator, teacher and fine artist, Gerald Lazare fills a sizeable chapter in the history of Canadian Art.

Jacques Hurtubise / ZYX (1939-)
Jacques Hurtubise, who uses the pseudonym Zyx, was a member of the Cooperative des Petits Dessins, a group of young Canadian artists, since 1969. In November 1971 he cooperated on the launch of the periodical l'Hydrocephale Illustre. Later on in the 1970s he drew the comic about bad guy 'Sombre Vilain' for the daily magazine Le Jour. This series was later continued in the satirical magazine Croc, which he founded himself along with Pierre Huet. In the 1980s he co-founded yet another magazine, Titanic, which wasn't that successful however. Not only because of his talents in graphics, but also because of his editorial exploits, Zyx is one of the big names among Canadian artists of the 1970s and 1980s.

Gene Day (1951-1982)
Gene Day began his career in the Canadian alternative comix scene. In 1974, he published the short-lived underground comic Out of the Depths. He cooperated with Dave Sim on Oktoberfest Comics #1, published by Now and Then Publications in 1976. Day drew for the Skywald magazines Psycho and Nightmare from 1974, as well as Mike Friedrich's independent comics company Star Reach, contributing to Star Reach anthology, Image and Quack. Day did illustrations for fantasy role-playing games and published his own graphic novel, 'Future Day', in 1979.

He was a longtime inker on Marvel's 'Master of Kung Fu' title by Mike Zeck, starting in 1976. He also inked on the licensed 'Star Wars' series, pencilled by Carmine Infantino, as well as 'The Mighty Thor' and 'Marvel Two-in-One' featuring 'The Thing'. From 1985 to 1986, Renegade Press published four issues of Gene Day's 'Black Zeppelin', an anthology series primarily featuring stories and painted covers Day completed before his death, as well new contributions by Sim, Bruce Conklin, Augustine Funnell, and Charles Vess. More of his work appeared posthumously in Caliber Comics' anthology series Day Brothers Presents, which also featured the work of Day's artist brothers, David Day and Dan Day.

REMINDER: VOTING FOR THE JOE SHUSTER AWARDS ENDS THIS FRIDAY - MAY 11TH! Vote online at: www.joeshusterawards.com

Labels: awards, comics history, events, Ontario, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto

If the story of her life were a comic strip, Svetlana Chmakova's creative process would span eight to 10 panels.

And she'd be a cat trapped in a box in the first frame.

In the second, Chmakova, a comic book author, would stare with wide kitten eyes at the confining walls. The next four panels might show her at various stages of bewilderment, clawing the cardboard and searching for a way out. The seventh panel could depict her stumbling into an exit.

In the eighth, she'd climb through.

"That's the Aha! moment," Chmakova says. "Maybe there would be two more panels...like when the cat gets out and is all happy, then realizes there's another, bigger box. `Oh no! there's a lot more to get through before the end.'"

Labels: interviews, manga, Ontario, Toronto

Well-known artists and long-time Dorval residents, John Collins and Thomas de Souza, will exhibit their works at the Dorval Cultural Centre from May 16 to 30, 2007.
Born in Washington, D.C. in 1917, John Collins came to the Montreal region at the age of two. He attended school in Montreal including art studies at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Sir George Williams College. For more than forty years he was editorial cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette and while there illustrated editor Edgar Andrew Collard's historical column "All our Yesterdays". His sketches have illustrated five of Mr. Collard's books. The artist has won two National Newspaper Awards for cartooning and two national watercolour awards. He is an ex-president of The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and an honorary member of The Canadian Association of Editorial Cartoonists. A member of The Lakeshore Association of Artists, he has paintings in public and private collections here and abroad.

Labels: exhibits, political cartooning, Quebec

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Fun-loving people everywhere are also urged to enjoy CARTOONISTS DAY and CARTOON APPRECIATION WEEK May 3-9. May 5 has been designated as CARTOONISTS DAY because the first comic strip, “The Yellow Kid,” appeared in the newspaper on May 5, 1895.

CARTOON APPRECIATION WEEK offers a chance to recognize the positive influence and laughs this art form has provided for so many years in films, books, newspapers, magazines, comic books, and commercial art.

Labels: events, international

I've been a comics retailer since the mid 1980s. Prior to that, I was a traffic manager in international freight, warehouse manager, and shipper. I have designed corrugated boxes for multiple purposes.



Diamond, in my opinion, does an excellent job in packaging. Scott criticizes the C400 boxes, but fails to mention that these are simply outer sleeves. They are single wall, relatively lightweight, but they enclose two C200 cartons, which are both doublewall. Effectively, on the sides, the comics are protected by three layers of flute and five boards. That's extreme in itself. On the top and bottom, the flaps add four layers of flute, eight layers of board. These are not simply ECT42, the UPS limits for such are simply not applicable.

Labels: comics retailers, comicshoptalk, Quebec

Gemini Jetpack's closing is certainly a loss for myself and other fans
of anime and manga in the area; It certainly makes it harder to find
new
manga, or to find new anime to purchase. As far as I know, its the only
major retailer of anime in the area, and one of the best retailers of
manga in the area.

CTRL-A has a relationship with Gemini Jetpack that dates back several
years; I'm not sure quite how long, but its existed at least since I
came to University (Sept 2004). Gemini has been very supportive of
CTRL-A; Gemini regularly gave discounts on anime rentals to CTRL-A
members, and a large proportion of the anime we show is rented from
Gemini. As a show of gratitude, we would typically allow Gemini to sell
their merchandise at some of our shows, but I don't recall the last
time
this took place.

As a CTRL-A member, losing Gemini is very unfortunate. Gemini was a
great source of anime, and now we won't be able to easily obtain the
same variety of anime as previously. Additionally, our members won't
really have a place to go if they want to buy anime or manga (aside
from
Chapters). It's sad to see it go.

Regarding the closing letter, I think the Gemini crew makes some very
valid points. Anime piracy is a serious problem for small businesses
like Gemini and for groups like CTRL-A. In the letter, they mention
"bootlegs, downloads, and the bastards at YouTube", and I'd agree that
they are all serious problems. I don't think fansubs are a bad idea;
it's good to watch a few episodes of something to get a feel for it,
but
that's all that fansubs should be used for: to get a feel for a show.
Numerous times I have encountered folks that watched a 'horrible' show
all the way through, but wouldn't dream of purchasing it. If it's so
horrible, why did they watch it the whole way? I'll never know. Worse
is
when someone loves a series, but would never purchase it. I just can't
understand it. I would argue that CTRL-A has had similar problems to
Gemini, without the huge financial loss however. With fansubs and
YouTube, there's not a huge incentive for anime fans to trek all the
way
to the university campus to watch anime, even if it is on the big
screen.

As for some of the other points in the letter, I don't really have much
to say; I just don't know enough about comics or card games to comment
on those points. The marketplace for anime has certainly changed for
the
better, being more accessible than it has ever been, but its far from
perfect and Gemini's closure will certainly make anime a little less
accessible in Waterloo, at least from a purchaser's perspective.

As for CTRL-A, we do have events planned for the summer. As it is now,
there are plans for four shows this term (I can provide you with dates
if you like, but they should be available at our website
http://www.ctrl-a.org somewhere between now and May). There has also
been talk of organizing transportation to Anime North, but only talk;
nothing decisive. Really, I don't have much of an idea what will take
place during the summer, not until the new executive is elected; it's
really their call.

As for manga, the club doesn't really deal much with manga
surprisingly,
though that may change in the near future.

I don't quite know what else to say. I hope that these comments have
been helpful, and if you have any other questions I'd be glad to answer
them. Also, may I inquire as to what my comments will be used for?

-Nicholas Terwoord
W07 CTRL-A President

Labels: comics retailers, comicshoptalk

Labels: comics retailers, events, Ontario, publishing, Toronto

Between Gentlemen (excerpt), Rupert Bottenberg, 2003

"Most of us probably first encountered drawings, art, and literature through comic books, but they're rarely recognized for that role,"

"This exhibition pays homage to the formative role that comics have played in our creative lives. It also renews our understanding of comics by demonstrating the high level of sophistication that comic books have achieved today."

[Sequential ed note by max: It is indeed a huge pile of books! A Montreal artist included in the show and coincidentally present at the initial exhibit in Banff was surprised to find his own books there. After some asking around, it's been determined that many of the books creators were not told that their books would be put on display, or asked if they could be included. Nor are most of them listed or indexed in any of the shows press or catalogue material to our knowledge. And have not been able to add their inclusion to personal CV's or press. It seems the 'homage' only extends as far as the art, and not to the artists.]

Labels: art show, can-con, events, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec

The comics are so well drawn; the narratives are so sophisticated --many, of course, from Quebecois artists. Comics are a fantastical, imaginative means of breaking open creative borders. You just have a lot more freedom to be irreverent, to go beyond the predictable even in the comic genre. I think I can really treat the narrative and artwork that go into the making of a comic book just as I would treat a painting.

Labels: events, exhibits, interviews, Quebec

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Our annual Lulu Awards bring honor and recognition to the most inspiring and noteworthy women in the comic book industry, as well as the efforts, achievements, and works that reflect Friends of Lulu's goals. It's up to you, Lulu members, to make the nominations and to vote for this year's shining stars.

Nominations for the Awards are made by and voted on by current members of Friends of Lulu. The Lulu Awards are handed out at Comic-Con International in San Diego each year.

The Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame nominees must have published work, whether self-published, company-published, or web-published. An individual cannot win more than once.

Women of Distinction nominees must have worked in the comic industry in a non-creator role, such as editing, publishing, reporting, or retail.

Labels: awards, events, international

A new issue of CollectorTimes.com is up.

In it, an live interview with Carmine Infantino, a transcript of which
can be read here:
http://www.collectortimes.com/Clubhouse.html

A convention report on the HobbyStar Toronto Comicon that took place
April 13-15th is here:
http://www.collectortimes.com/cons1.html

Pictures from the convention are here:
http://www.collectortimes.com/HobbyStar/index.html Pics

I recorded two panels from the con, the first was a Dan Slott panel
where he talks about writing corporate comics and breaking into them.
http://www.thecomicbooks.com/Audio/HobbyStar-04-14-07-DanSlottPanel.mp3

The 2nd is a Q&A panel where Carmine Infantino answers questions from
the crowd:
http://www.thecomicbooks.com/Audio/HobbyStar-04-14-07-InfantinoPanel.mp3

And for some on the floor fun, comic writer Dan Slott draws (to the
best
of his ability) She Hulk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoB2bh6x2Go&eurl=

Labels: events, Ontario, Toronto

Labels: events, Ontario, Toronto