• John Bell is interviewed for the Inkstuds podcast about his history of Canadian comics, Invaders from the North. (recommended)

• Jeff Lemire is interviewed by New York Magazine, and his Essex County graphic novel series is previewed.(see above)

• The Montreal Mirror interviews editor David Widdington about his new anthology of comics reportage, Extraction! The book features several prominent Canadian cartoonists and launches next week. Tom Spurgeon is impressed.

• John Mitchell reviews Scott Chantler's Northwest Passage graphic novel: "all the thrills and grit of any novel about men taming the wild, but adds to it a cartoonish charm and a good helping of fascinating Canadian history — with informative annotations."

• Robin Bougie is interviewed about Cinema Sewer and talks about his pop culture collections for Vancouver24Hs.

• Toronto comic book launch, Saturday, December 1. From the Beguiling mailing list:

Labels: book launches, events, graphic novels, interviews, links, pod casts

At a press conference Tuesday morning at the law offices of Bakerlaw, at Christie and Dupont streets, Mahmood and his lawyer Nicole Chrolavicius, announced they would be filing a human rights complaint against Air Canada over the country's unofficial No-Fly list.

The complaint was being lodged with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, with support from the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, the Canadian Arab Federation, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations and local MP Peggy Nash (Parkdale-High Park).

Mahmood, a High Park area resident, is a Canadian citizen, who is also a Muslim. He and his wife were headed to a wedding in May three years ago and wanted to take a connecting Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Victoria - they had flown from Toronto to Vancouver on a Jetsgo flight and had no problems.

"In the Vancouver airport, immediately after processing our credit card payment and being reassured of the availability of seats, I was told that I would not be allowed to board the flight because my name was 'flagged' in the system," Mahmood told reporters.

Air Canada's corporate office in Montreal told their Vancouver desk staff that evening that Mahmood was not to board any Air Canada flights the following day. His wife however, Chiliean-born and non-Muslim was told she was free to board and travel onwards to Victoria.

"I was told that in the future, I would always be asked to show a Canadian passport at check-in," Mahmood said. "We ended up renting a hotel and then a car and driving to Victoria the following day just in time for the wedding."

The complaint, according to Chrolavicius, would be filed by fax and by mail. The Canadian Human Rights Commission will then decide whether to hear the complaint and follow up with an investigation.

Mahmood was shocked to find out he couldn't board that flight, especially when he provided the appropriate identification and arrived for the trip in plenty of time.

"The idea that my name was somehow 'flagged' in the security system was extremely unnerving," he said. "I am just as in the dark, with no tangible answers from Air Canada now as I was three years ago."

Mahmood says he wonders if this would have happened if he wasn't Muslim. He also has questions about how these lists are created and what he needs to do to remove himself from them.

In a letter to Nash on May 17, 2007, Air Canada did acknowledge that there was some kind of list in existence, said Chrolavicius. Nash said she met Mahmood back in 2004 and when she found out what had happened, she got in touch with Vancouver International Airport.

"They said there is a list, that there is a procedure that if a name is flagged, a supervisor must be called," Nash told The Villager.

According to Gale Paul, a privacy officer with Air Canada's Law Branch, in the letter to Nash, "Air Canada does not, and did not, practice racial profiling... Passenger bookings are automatically flagged if the name of a passenger is a close match to a name appearing on a security list."

Labels: political cartooning, real world, Shahid Mahmood

• Brad Mackay announces the debut of the Doug Wright Awards sticker program. See here for more images.

• Perro Verlag Books by Artists will be at Toque, the Western Front's Christmas Craft Fair. We will have Hell Passports galore (21 completed in the 24 volume series!) as well as other exciting and insightful artists' books, original gocco print postcards and exquisite small notebooks.The fair runs Friday, November 30^th, 6-9 pm and Saturday, December 1^st. 11-4pm at the Western Front, 303 East 8th Ave, Vancouver. Also launching: Ben L Jacques' Hell Passport Volume 4, and Robert Pederson's Hell Passport Preamble on Saturday December 8 at Lucky's Comics, 3972 Main Street, Vancouver @8pm. Featuring an evening of music and animation projections.

• Renaissance man Ty Templeton talks to the Laurier student nerspaper about a gallery show featuring his 2002 graphic novel Bigg Time.

• BogTO's Jenny reports on the closing of the IMaid cafe, Toronto's first cosplay eatery, and ponders the reason for the closure. My take? Maybe the food sucked.

• Scam comic book charity hooks accountant.

• Radio station listeners hate Vancouver Olympic mascots. Hard to fathom, considering how generically adorable the characters, revealed to the public only days ago, are.
  

• Lynn Johnston-related charity reaches landmark.

Labels: awards, charity, exhibits, Global Links, graphic novels, interviews

• Tonite: Industry Night at the Vic --the monthly gathering of comics industry-related types at the Victory Cafe in Toronto. Drop by and kvetch. No special event or booklaunch this time around. Wednesday, November 28th, 8pm-Close, Victory Cafe, 581 Markham Street (South of The Beguiling).
  
  
• The first volume of Kean Soo's Jellaby graphic novel is now available for preorder. A successful webcomic, Jellaby was picked up by Hyperion Books. More news at Jellaby's online home, The Secret Friend Society.
  

• Kevin Boyd reviews the 20 (!) comic book conventions he attended over 2007, a wild year, at least for Kevin and the Toronto con scene.

• Sandra Bell-Lundy (creator of the comic strip Between Friends) lists her biggest cartooning influences in this interview and blogs about her road to syndication on her own blog: parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.

• Ho Che Abderson is interviewed for an Italian website about his influences as a cartoonist, his latest project (Godhead), and the genesis of his graphic novel biography of Martin Luther King.

• They're here! After a long wait, he mascots for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics were unveiled yesterday, according to every Canadian news outlet:

None of the three mascots actually exist in real life. Miga the Sea Bear is a combination of an orca and a sea otter. Sumi, the Paralympic mascot, is a Thunderbird but looks more like a bear with wings. And Quatchi is the first Sasquatch in history to actually make an appearance before human beings.

Mukmuk is the only real animal. But the committee said it isn't really a mascot and will only make appearances on its website.

The mascots are the creation of Vancouver graphic designers Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy, who own Meomi Design. The committee said that although the two provided more than 20 different concepts, it was Quatchi, Miga and Sumi that they first proposed and which were selected as winning designs.

Labels: blogosphere, comic strips, Global Links, graphic novels, mascots, publishing

• Apparently, the new graphic novel by Alan Moore, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, is not for sale in Canada, a fact asserted in the recent Beguiling mailing. The mailing also asserts that the Beguiling does have copies of the book in stock.

• The Globe reports that Quebecor World, the giant printer (comics and everything else), continues to have money problems, including a refinancing scheme and a tumbling stock. Discussion here. Stock talk. CBC. Quebecor World is owned by Quebecor, a multimedia empire that owns Videotron cable, Sun newspapers, the Montreal Mirror, and everything else. The printing arm has been losing money due to price wars (the dollar and China), less business, and general, good old-fashioned Canadian "operating inefficiencies". (via Journalista!)

• The first of Jeet Heer's 2 articles on David Michaelis's Schulz bio prompts a response from Schulz's widow Jeannie.

• Strange Adventures in Halifax hosted a signing for Faith Erin Hicks and her new graphic novel, Zombies Calling, over the weekend. The publisher's blog has a wrap-up of links about the event.

Labels: blogosphere, Global Links, graphic novels, links, publishing

• Marvel announces a new licensing agent for Canada: Segal Licensing, a large Toronto marketing company
  
• a National Post profile of Ann Marie Fleming and her new graphic novel, Long Tack Sam
• translated interview with Guy Delisle about his new book on Burma
• Michel Rabagliati is the cover feature at Voir Weekly
• how did we miss this? James Turner's Rex Libris has been optioned as a film
• Turner is interviewed by Peter Jaffe at Comixology
• Rick Trembles reviews Cinema Sewer: The Book in his distinctive comix style (recommended!)
  

Labels: graphic novels, interviews, links, misc, reviews

Labels: bestsellers, BookManager, comic strips, comics retailers, graphic novels

• Von Allan joins girlamatic in order to serialize his graphic novel
• Wright Award winner Lorenz Peter is launching his new book this Wednesday: Side-Effects is a collection of short works and will be launched at the Katharine Mulherine Contemporary Art Projects, 1080 Queen Street W at 6:30 PM
• a little late, but here are some photos from the Halloween costume party hosted by Strange Adventures, the Halifax comic shop
• for good measure, here are the pics from the Silver Snail's Toronto costume party
• this Canadian wrestler does not pay proper homage to Alpha Flight
  

Labels: book launches, events, graphic novels, links, U.S. superhero franchises, webcomics

his finest work, including a depiction of Bert and Ernie heading to Canada for a gay marriage, and Premier Rodney MacDonald living rent-free and playing video games in his parents' house - after getting a substantial raise.

Northern News Services cartoonist Norm Muffitt, a former RCMP officer, pilot and Transport Canada official, remembers the controversy well. He drew many a cartoon in support of Laserich, which made for an uncomfortable moment when applying for an enforcement job with Transport Canada.

"I had done a cartoon of a Transport Canada guy behind a desk, and on the desk was a nail with a cord attached to it. The other end was fastened to Willy's licence," said Muffitt.

"When I went in for my interview, the first thing that happened was the guy sat down with this cartoon in front of me and said, 'before we start, maybe you'd like to explain this.'"

Labels: events, graphic novels, links, misc, political cartooning, reviews

Jim Munroe (w)
Salgood Sam (a)

What if the religious right... are right?

Therefore Repent! is a graphic novel set in a Chicago neighborhood after the Rapture. Once the Christians have floated bodily into the sky, life goes on pretty much as usual for the immoral majority... except that magic works, if you're willing to risk demonic mutations. CNN reports that Mr. Christ and Mr. Bush are on a speaking tour of the red states. And an angelic army appears to have been deployed to mop up the sinners. But through it all, outsiders Raven and Mummy face the possibility of a bigger problem than the end of the world: the end of their relationship.

In the tradition of The Book of Revelations, Therefore Repent!, courtesy of novelist Jim Munroe (Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask) and acclaimed artist Salgood SamSea of Red) is a lurid, dark fantasy tale. By taking the apocryphal scripture as literal truth - as the American powers-that-be claim to do - the story also explores the political and spiritual ramifications of God abandoning humanity.

TPB-FC
6" x 8"
$14.99
160 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-60010-146-1

Labels: can-con, corrections, new books, news, preview

And we're back on...

When: Saturday, November 17th, 2007. 8pm until midnight.
Where: Clubhouse Japanese Restaurant, 255 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver

MAP

Who: Anyone who is of legal drinking age is invited.
How Much: Free. Bring your own pencils/pens. Paper is provided.

I've reserved the upstairs room at the Clubhouse Japanese Restaurant for this upcoming Saturday. Let's hope this venue pans out better than OG Joes did.

Crosspost as you see fit.

Check out the new Vancouver Comic Jam website at www.vancouvercomicjam.com.

See you there!

Labels: comic jams, events, Vancouver

Labels: bd, events, Montreal

The game also helpfully explains the head-scratching origins of the character, and how the spirit of a giant, nine-tailed fox was sealed inside Naruto's body when he was an infant, making him an outcast in his own village.
"To me this is a metaphor of what a teenager is," said Puel. "You feel you are a monster, you feel rejected, and you will try to find ways to grow up and to get accepted.
"I think that's what the manga is trying to say, so that's what we're trying to say with the game."

individual comic sales aren't going to make anyone rich. There is a reason why comics are a niche item and rarely found outside of comic book specialty stores - the profit margin per item is too low to make it worthwhile to sell them. Selling 100 comics is less than $150 profit. You need to sell 1000 to make approx. $1500. 2000 sold may pay the rent at a brick and mortar store.

So in order to increase unit sales you have to either increase your customer base or get your existing customer base to buy/spend more (such as the reliance of late on publishers printing variants to increase orders/sales, or the crossover events that spin out into 20 titles) or you have to sell something else that is similar (like graphic novels/books or specialty items like statues/toys) or completely different (as stores did with Collectible Card Games) where your profit margin is higher for selling fewer items.

Labels: comics retailers, manga, video games

Labels: bestsellers, BookManager, comics retailers, graphic novels

Labels: bd, blogosphere, events, graphic novels, Montreal, profiles, publishing, reviews, slm

Labels: awards, graphic novels, links, real world. woodcuts

Do you work on paper first? Or do you go directly to digital?

STEWART: I do both. As you've seen I have the same layout every week --the same 4-by-2 grid. I do my initial layouts in Photoshop with a tablet, and then I do the lettering and I print off my layouts in a light blue. Then I ink those. The final artwork is on paper.

So you start out on the computer and move to paper later?

STEWART: Exactly. Then I scan it back in, and the coloring is added in Photoshop afterwards.

How did you come up with that process? Is that something standard or that you'd done before?

STEWART: That's my process. If I don't do the layouts digitally, I do rough thumbnails on a piece of paper and scan them in, convert it to a blue line and then print it off. It's a process that I figured out a while ago, and it's been pretty good. It allows me to tweak the layouts as much as I want before going to the final artwork. I tend to do most of my drawing in ink and keep the layouts as loose as possible, just for composition and pacing. I do a very minimal amount of black penciling.

Labels: interviews, webcomics

Labels: comics retailers, graphic novels, links, publishing, reviews

• Toronto Sun policart Andy Donato is part of a group show at the Kipling Gallery. Mondo Italiano showcases the paintings of local Italian-Canadian artists.
• Roxboro Library (110 Cartier St., Montreal) exhibits Benoit Laverdiere, illustrator and cartoonist --until Nov. 30. For more information, call 514 684-8247.
• Also in Montreal, beginning Monday November 12, original art exhibit at Studio 9, from the collection of Martin Desroches comes work by Milton Caniff, Berke Breathed, Gene Colan, Dan Decarlo, Tony Millionaire, Raymond Poivet, Bill Ward, and more. 5835 Saint-Hubert. (info@studio9cs.com 514-272-6043. 7pm.
• Jody Haucke and Chris Maxwell, owners of Ottawa's The Comic Book Shoppe on Bank Street, are hosting an art gala for local artists to exhibit their comic art and genre-themed work.
• via Drawn, the exquisite illustration and toys of Gary Taxali are on display in Chicago.
  

• Pascal Blanchet's White Rapids reviewed in the National Post.

• Megan Stewart interviews graphic memoirist Sarah Leavitt about her new book, My Mom Got Sick and Died, the story of her mother's experience of Alzheimer's.

• Jennifer Contino interviews Jay Stephens, who has travelled back in time to work with the legendary U.S. superhero scribe Bob Haney on Teen Titans: The Lost Annual.

• CBC Arts profiles Ann Marie Fleming, who has created a collage graphic novel about the life of her great-grandfather, Vaudeville magician Long Tac Sam, based on her award-winning 2003 film.

• Quillblog's Derek Weiler roundsup recent news about how booksellers are dealing with the strong loonie. One reaction involves "variable discounting," which sounds like a way of averaging out wild price differences at the wholesale end of things.
  
• Related: a Canadian blogger reflects on recent changes to the cover prices of Marvel and DC comic books
  

Labels: comics retailers, exhibits, graphic novels, interviews, links, misc, publishing

Labels: bestsellers, BookManager, comic strips, comics retailers, graphic novels, Lynn Johnston, video