• Convention promoter and blogger Kevin Boyd offers up his list of the top graphic novels of 2007. He provides 30 mostly superhero titles which he winnows down to a top 10.

• Robin Bougie posts his top 10 graphic novels of 2007, in response to that lame Time magazine list. And Bougie's list is pretty good!

• Chris Butcher takes a stab at Dirk Deppey-style linkblogging, including pointers to some "best-of" lists and sneak peaks of Kean Soo comics. As well, Butcher has photos from the Faith Erin Hicks/Svetlana Chmakova signing at the Beguiling, including a great snap of the snow-bound front entrance to the store.

• Maclean's profiles several programs devoted to teaching comics at the university level.

• CBC reports on a new Fantastic Four comic created for the Puerto Rican market. They get it wron, however, when they claim that the franchise is "en espagnol for first time."

• Greg Roch of Comics Readers in Regina reports on sales of gonorrhea in his shop.

• Eye Weekly's Sasha gives the nod to Steve MacIsaac's comics in a Best of 2007 round-up.

• The Tyee reports on cartoonists Dan Murphy and Bob Krieger being dumped by the Vancouver Province newspaper:

Murphy and Krieger were told by Province management that their cartoons would no longer be regularly published on the editorial pages of The Province, they were offered other positions at the newspaper as well as the option of leaving the employ of The Province with buy-out payments.

Labels: blogosphere, British Columbia, comics retailers, graphic novels, political cartooning, U.S. superhero franchises, Vancouver

Labels: bestsellers, BookManager, comic strips, graphic novels, manga

As for me, it seems my "lifelong" prison sentence has turned out to be just short of four years: a year answering the backlog of mail when CEREBUS ended, keeping up with the mail (total of a little less than 3,000 pages) and doing the Blog & Mail (probably another 2,000 pages) as well as various articles, interviews, reviews, etc. As I said all along, I was just reading into the record and it looks as if God decided that I didn't have much to add (I was starting to wonder: I think I've answered every question at least five times!).

I will be spending roughly 100 hours on the Internet promoting my new bi-monthly title (starting, God willing, January 30 at 6 pm EDST on the Comics Journal Message boards and then going on from there. I'll be posting my schedule at that time).

I know this was supposed to be the official launch of the new title here on Boxing Day but, you know, in a strange way it IS! The official launch will now take place when Jeff Tundis declares the website officially and totally up and running. We'll pick up from there January 30 through most of the month of February when the ordering period is.

Labels: blogosphere, floppies, publishing

Labels: events, webcomics

NEW MANGA! NEW MANHWA! NEW STREET FIGHTER COMICS!
UDON announces new titles from their 2008 publishing line up

Toronto, ON – Dec 10, 2007 – This past weekend at the 2007 New York Anime Festival UDON Entertainment unveiled a swath of exciting announcements to a room full of thrilled anime and comic book fans. Just in time for Street Fighter’s 20th anniversary (highlighted by the all-new Street Fighter IV video game and the upcoming live action movie), UDON plans to release three pulse-pounding Street Fighter comic book series in 2008.

First up, Street Fighter II Turbo will be a 12 issue maxi-series continuing the core story of UDON’s Street Fighter universe. Featuring the dynamic and energetic artwork of Chamba (Sinbad: Rogue of Mars), this latest arc pits the World Warriors against each other in an epic tournament-style slugfest.

Secondly, artist Omar Dogan (Sakura, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles) follows up his run on the popular Sakura mini-series with Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li. This new 4 issue mini-series focuses on a young Chun-Li, revealing how she grew up to become the world’s most famous female fighter.

Finally, Joe Ng (Red Sonya: Sonya Goes East, Transformers, G.I. Joe VS Transformers) brings his skilled line work to the pages of Street Fighter III: New Generation. This 6-issue series will not only explore the new characters introduced in the Street Fighter III video games, it will also show fans for the first time what classic characters like Guile, Sakura and others are up to during the SF3 era!

Beyond Street Fighter, UDON is diving back into other publishing projects in 2008. The studio will be expanding their successful Capcom Manga line with several new titles including Onimusha: Twilight of Desire and Devil Kings Basara. Fans can also look forward to more Capcom art books including Onimusha Dawn of Dreams: Official Complete Works and the Darkstalkers Graphic File.

In addition, UDON is also kicking its Korean Manhwa line into high gear with new titles including Daring Students’ Association, Dear Waltz, Reading Club, Evyione and Chronicles of the Grim Peddler.

Release dates and more detailed information will be forthcoming in future press releases, so stay tuned to the blog section of www.udonentertainment.com for all the latest UDON news!

Labels: graphic novels, manga, Ontario, pr, publishing, Toronto

• Jeet Heer posts a long letter from Jeannie Schulz rebutting the bestselling David Michaelis bio of her husband, Charles.

• Tom Spurgeon has a long interview with Tom Devlin about his career, comics in general, and his job with Drawn and Quarterly.

• Blogger The Mighty Godking drops in on the Faith Erin Hicks signing at the Beguiling yesterday, by accident.

• Incidentally, both of the artists who were signing at the Beguiling last night appear together in the 2005 24 Hour Comics anthology.

• Gilbert Bouchard rounds-up the best graphic novels of 2007 for the Edmonton Journal.

• Most people are not aware of this, but the Superfriends cartoon was one of the most profound and artful tv shows of all time. Now it will be more readily obvious to more viewers in Ontario, thanks to Cogeco picking up Teletoon retro. (Not comics, really, but I couldn't resist).

• More fallout for the Western Standard over Mohammed cartoons, sort of.

Labels: blogosphere, comic strips, comics on tv, Edmonton, events, graphic novels, misc, Ontario

Labels: bestsellers, BookManager, comic strips, graphic novels, manga, publishing

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

• More troubles for Quebecor World: the printing giant's CEO quit yesterday.

• Was Joe Shuster inspired by a newspaper in Chatham, Ontario?

• Tonite: Booklaunch: "Revue Vestibulles"

• Another online comics retailer I did not know about.

• Dave Sim and Chester Brown discuss scripture. Sim has a new bi-monthly comic book scheduled for 2008. He will announce the details on Boxing Day and the thing should be solicited by February. Caveat: as usual, you have to scroll past the first half of all of Sim's blog posts before you get to the "meat".

Labels: blogosphere, book launches, comics retailers, floppies, Ontario, Quebec

• The Globe and Mail finally gets around to eulogizing Peter Whalley, cartoonist and sculptor extraordinare. Some choice quotes included.

• An exhibit of original art from Regis Loisel and Jean-Louis Tripp's Magasin Feneral album series continues through January:

• Nathalie Atkinson's quartetly review of comic books and graphic movels for the Globe, Graphica, features lots of Can-con, including laurels for Therefore Repent! and Long Tack Sam.

• The Montreal Gazette's Claude Lallumiere on Jack Kirby.

• Robin Bougie on the best comic of 2007 and the best comic image of 2007 (hint: Chris Ware).

Labels: blogosphere, cartoonists, graphic novels, obituaries, Quebec

Labels: awards, comics in school, comics scholarship

When: Saturday, December 15th, 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 the Jam.

Crosspost as you see fit.

See you there!

Ed

Labels: British Columbia, comic jams, events, Vancouver

• Writing for Xtra, Chris Butcher provides a primer on Yaoi tranlations and OEL Yaoi available to North American readers.

• Leroy Douresseaux reviews Jeff Lemire's Essex County 2 for Comic Book Bin.

• Man who blocked Vancouver bridge dressed as superhero in 2004 loses appeal for appeal.

• The National Post's policart Gary Clement snags a top 10 berth on the Time magazine list of best editorial cartoons of 2007. It's actually a sequential gag, to boot.

• Writing for Boston's Edge magazine, Steve Stiffler provides an exhaustive overview of the problems with Canada Customs vis a vis comics: "A far more insidious quality of life incursion is being perpetrated by our neighbors to the north. Yes, the "friendly giant" of Canada has not been so friendly--or at least gay-friendly--of late.

Labels: blogosphere, British Columbia, censorship, graphic novels, manga, political cartooning, Quebec, reviews, Vancouver

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

Labels: Alberta, book launches, British Columbia, events, exhibits, graphic novels, publishing, Vancouver

• Debbie Ohi interviews Lori Emerson, editor of a collection of bpnichol poetry. Besides writing for Fraggle Rock, nichol was one of Canada's greatest poets, a comic book fan, and the creator of several 1970s comix/graphic novels.

• The Walrus has an online-only interview with Canada's greatest cartoonist Julie Doucet, as well as a pdf excerpt from her drawn diary: "It seems that the world of contemporary art got curious about comics in the past 3-4-5 years... and the comic world opened itself to more experimental work. So yes, it was natural... in the end. I still live from my royalties, and comics original sales... art is not very lucrative!" Besides a collection of her diary drawings from D+Q, Doucet has also just released a collage collection thru L'Oie de Cravan.

• Sandra Bell-Lundy, one of Canada's most popular cartoonists based on the syndication of her strip Between Friends, blogs about sticking to your creative guns, especially when it comes to drawing women in bikinis (via Journalista).

Labels: blogosphere, comic strips, graphic novels, interviews, poetry

• Jeet Heer provides a nice chrestomathy (yeah, I had to look it up) of John Updike's utterances on comics.

• The Shuster Awards are calling for submissions from Canadian creators in order to "compile the list of eligible creators and their works published in 2007 for the 2008 Joe Shuster Awards, which will be presented in mid-2008 at a time and location to be announced." Details at Kevin Boyd's blog.
  

• Madeline Ashby provides a Canadian academic's take on anime fansubs and the lag time between the publication of popular manga like Bleach and Death Note and their eventual translation for tv.

• I really liked this review of a classic Archie comic story

• Tv chef James Barber was also a cartoonist

• Herve St-Louis has been doing a bang-up job of covering the upcoming introduction of U.S.-style copyright law to Canada. Most recently, he tried to get some answers from Industry Minister Jim Prentice about why the Harper government seems to be bowing to pressure from the U.S. government, Hollywood, Microsoft, and the U.S. music industry. Check out the links at the bottom of St-Louis' article for more background, or read this column at rabble.ca for an overview and steps Canadian citizens can take to avoid getting sued by Warner Bros now that the fair use laws (in Canada, we call it "fair dealing") are in danger.

• Robin Bougie hooks you up with the best banned porn comics, courtesy of the Canadian government.

• This Canadian Press article explains how a propaganda comic about the Afghan legal system, created in part by Canadians, is being distributed in Kandahar province.

Labels: awards, blogosphere, censorship, copyright, floppies, links, manga, Newfoundland

Labels: book launches, graphic novels, Montreal, publishing, Quebec, Sequential

Friday, December 7, 7:00 PM
D+Q Bookstore
211 Bernard West

D+Q launches 365 Days: A Diary by Julie Doucet
with vernissage for an exhibition of Doucet's prints, which will be up at the Librairie D+Q through January


"Julie Doucet is a conceptual artist trapped in a cartoonist's body... finding fresh ways to channel her creative eruptions onto paper." --The Village Voice

"Like many of her alt-comics contemporaries, Doucet eradicates any uppity delineation between art and comics." --Bust Magazine


Despite Julie Doucet's renunciation of her comics-centric lifestyle over five years ago, 365 Days is imbued with the iconic talent and studied aesthetic of her seminal comic book series Dirty Plotte, which catapulted her into being one of the world's greatest cartoonists. This visual journal, starting in late 2002, is an idiosyncratic collision of her various creative interests, wherein personal narrative, collage and drawing begin to tell the story of her pursuits into printmaking and beyond, chronicling her maturation as a mid-career artist and her fluid extension into a broader arts community.

Now exhibiting internationally, Doucet blurs the boundaries between high art, illustration, craft and comics: where panel borders once divided pages, collage creeps in; events and doodles merge; recollection and narrative blend with the abstract. The surreal neurosis of her comics has subsided to reveal a more relaxed creativity that is unrestricted by form or definition and is as engaging as ever. 365 Days: A Diary by Julie Doucet was excerpted in McSweeney's #13.

Julie Doucet lives in Montreal. Her critically acclaimed comic-book series Dirty Plotte has been collected into the graphic novels My New York Diary; Lift Your Leg, My Fish Is Dead; and My Most Secret Desire. She also has the art books Long Time Relationship, Lady Pep, and Elle Humour.

http://drawnandquarterly.com

Contact: publicity@drawnandquarterly.com / 514-279-0691, Bookstore: 514-279-2224

Labels: book launches, graphic novels, Montreal, publishing, Quebec

Labels: book launches, Montreal, new books, news, Ontario, Quebec, Toronto

• Brad Mackay visits a new Ottawa installation featuring a massive series of paintings by cartoonist-turned-painter Dave Cooper.

• Big changes may be afoot for the Joe Shuster Awards, Kevin Boyd hints at his blog. These may include venue, sponsor and rule changes. Boyd is one of the organizers behind the awards and his recent move away from the award's previous host Paradise may have prompted some movement. Also, check out what Kevin has to say about the so-called Bronze Age of comics (basically, U.S. comic books from the 1970s).

• Faith Erin Hicks is profiled by hometown paper The Halifax Daily News about her graphic novel, Zombies Calling: ""When I was a kid, I really wanted to be a journalist like Tintin," she said, referring to the popular European comic-book character, created before the Second World War. When she grew a little older, Hicks began to read more mature comic books, such as Bone."

• The Parkdale Gallery in Ottawa presents: Comic Book Chaos, an exhibit by local comic book creators including Ronn Sutton and Von Allan. December 8 to January 6.

• Publishing: D+Q has more Tatsumi; Dramacon 3, Following Cerebus #11 now out.

• The Post's book guy Robert Wiersema refers to something called "graphica" before reviewing some of the more popular U.S.-published genre comics of recent times.

• Next year's Luminato festival is already scheduling the comics guests.

Labels: blogosphere, events, exhibits, graphic novels, Halifax, misc, Nova Scotia, Ottawa

Labels: bestsellers, BookManager, comics retailers, graphic novels, publishing

Labels: anthologies, book launches, cartoon reportage, graphic novels, Ontario, Quebec

• Robert Wiersema reviews a few graphic novels that are on the bestseller list for the National Post.

• The University of Waterloo's Peter Trinh recommends some Xmas comics.

• Jeet Heer reviews a new collection of obscure 1960s Marvel monster comics.

• Was the Danish cartoon controversy responsible for the demise of the print version of Alberta's Western Standard magazine? This blog post from the mag's website asserts that the Standard's "act of printing those Danish Cartoons –an international news story – cost them tens of thousands (and perhaps more) of dollars and helped to hasten the demise of the print edition."

• Still confused about what the heck Lynn Johnston is doing with her strip? This site tries to explain.

• via Tom Spurgeon: the delightful Elise Gravel is one of the cartoonists reviewed in a roundup of kids books by the Montreal Gazette's Michelle Lalond:

Labels: comic strips, graphic novels, kid lit, links, Lynn Johnston, Quebec, reviews