Thursday, May 29, 2008  
More News-y Links

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/29/2008 04:21:00 PM
Tonite: Montreal Comix Jam. Details here.

Political cartooning: Owen Sound Sun Times cartoonist Patrick Callaghan has joined, after a very long review period been accepted into the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists, something that I never would have figured warranted a newspaper profile, but I'm linking to it anyway. [Max:Ah ha, the lead was buried! -See Comments for a note from Patrick; thanks for the correction and congratulations!]

Events: Superhero artist Kaare Andrews is one of the people complaining that the new KRAZY! exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery excludes local artists, local historians and superhero comics in general, according to this Georgia Straight article.

Publishing: Penguin/Penguin Canada is the publisher behind a new series of books by DJ Steinberg. Illustrated by Brian Smith, The Adventures of Daniel Boom aka Loud Boy is up to two volumes.




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   Wednesday, May 28, 2008  
Midweek News and Reviews

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/28/2008 01:51:00 AM
men of the mounted ted mccall canadian comic book rcmp big little book


  • Halifax-based Bryan Lee O'Malley provides a public service by dissecting the new Tokyopop contract. O'Malley, who has a successful series of books in print and a major Hollywood film based on his books planned, knows a few things about creative control and, I would expect, contracts. All contracts, Hollywood, webcomic, or book, should be looked at by a lawyer (better still, a lawyer who is familiar with publishing or copyright).
  • Reanna Alder of The Tyee interviews Vancouver curator Bruce Grenville and has a nice review of both the show and catalog for the KRAZY! exhibit. I saw the book myself at the Beguiling last week and it is quite a handsome volume, with great visuals and nice notes by all the co-curators on their selections.
  • Sequential didn't get the press release, but the Beat reproduces the pertinent text of the inductees to the Shuster Awards hall of fame. The inductees this year are U.S. citizen John Byrne (co-creator of Alpha Flight), 1930s-40s cartoonist/writer Ted McCall (creator of the Men of the Mounted and Robin Hood comic strips), satiric cartoonist Pierre Fournier (Capitaine Kebec), and 70s satirist Stanley Berneche (Fuddle Duddle, Captain Canada). The induction ceremony will be part of the awards Saturday, June 14th in Toronto.

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   Tuesday, May 27, 2008  
Anime North Reports

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/27/2008 01:53:00 AM
The big anime and manga convention, Anime North, took place this past weekend. According to this blog post by organizer Donald Simmons, attendance was 13300, 1000 more than 2007. Here are some intitial reports. Bookmark this entry for updates during the week.

photos
video
day 1
zine creator sells out
Friday report from Quebecer first-timer
cosplay slideshow

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   Monday, May 26, 2008  
Comics vs The Real World

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/26/2008 12:01:00 AM
This Sequential contributor has been only sporadically online over the past week or so, an example of the real world winning out over comics (although while offline om the so-called real world I did manage somehow to buy and sell comics, talk to cartoonists and comics critics, and even read some comics). Thus, some of the following news tidbits may be a bit stale (but guaranteed 100% nutritious for the brain matter).

  • Real World: This news item is the perfect example of what has come to be called "not comics" --the only tangential relation to comics is that is was forwarded by ex-comics publisher David Widgington. Anyway, readers of Sequential may want to follow this story, about Canadian mining giant Barrick-Gold slapping Montreal publisher Editions Ecosociete with a nuisance lawsuit in an attempt to block publication of a book critical of corporate practices in Africa (the book links Barrick Gold Corp. to the alleged 1996 deaths of miners in Tanzania). The publication of the book, Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalite en Afrique, was delayed after the $6 million (!) lawsuit appeared, but the publisher is fighting back with a solidarity campaign and responses from the Canadian Labour Congress and press coverage.

  • Publishing: Stuart Immonen has just released CENTIFOLIA, an art book collecting sketches, strips, and finished art. I saw a copy in my local shop today and it is a handsome package.
  • Retailing: Ben Benedict talks to Brahm Wiseman of London, Ont.'s Heroes on the occasion of its grand re-opening this past Saturday.
  • Conventions: Andrew Nguyen posts the first report from this past weekend's Anime North event in in Toronto.

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   Saturday, May 24, 2008  
Montreal Comic Jam May 29th

:: Posted by max @ 5/24/2008 08:05:00 PM
From Jane Tremblay - event host

Bonjour a Tous!

Le Comix Jam se tiendra au Bar des Pins, 3714 rue du Parc Jeudi prochain, le 29 Mai a 20hres. Comme d'habitude amenez votre attirail du dessinateur et votre bonne humeur!

The next Comix Jam will be held at Bar des Pins, 3714 Park, this coming Thursday, May 29 at 8 PM. As usual, bring your artist gear and good humor!

A la Prochaine!
See You there!

Jane


Site link
Photo by Jack Ruttan

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Toronto Comic Jam This Tuesday May 27th, 2008, 9 p.m. onwards

:: Posted by Dave Howard @ 5/24/2008 07:32:00 AM
From coordinator Dalton Sharp:
T.O. Comic Jam time again. Toronto Comic Jam This Tuesday May 27th, 2008, 9:00 p.m. onwards in the back room of the Cameron Public House, 408 Queen St. W., (Queen-Spadina). All welcome. B.Y.O.pens and stuff, paper provided.
See you there,
Dalton
Also, if you have some music you want to hear bring a CD and we'll play it, otherwise it's the Led Zeppelin in Paris bootleg again.

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This Weekend: Anime North

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/24/2008 04:30:00 AM

Anime North
May 23-25, 2008
Doubletree International Plaza Hotel
Toronto Congress Center
Renaissance Toronto Airport Hotel

(see here for a list of upcoming conventions)

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   Friday, May 23, 2008  
Cumulus Press to Close

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/23/2008 03:13:00 PM
Cumulus Press, the Montreal-based publisher of the recent comix anthology Extraction, has signaled that it is closing its doors, with some of its titles being picked up by Conundrum Press. From this link at the Comics Reporter, we learn from the company's website that the announcement was made at the 10th anniversary celebrations of the company this past Wednesday, May 21st.

From the press release:


On April 5, during Cumulus Press' 10th anniversary celebration, publisher David Widgington
stood up on a chair, thanked everyone for helping celebrate 10 years of independent publishing,
then prior to cutting into the massive cake of Cumulus' logo, announced that Cumulus Press was
shuting down.
"This is not a funeral," Widgington said to more than 100 people in attendance. “It is a wake to
celebrate 10 great years!" He also stated that several of Cumulus' titles will remain in print and
carried by other publishers like Montreal's Conundrum Press. "Cumulus Press books will live on
through these types of collaborations," the publisher added.
Widgington stressed that he is not ending his publishing career because he of a difficult financial
situation but rather because he is changing his medium of communication. "I loved publishing
books that criticize established structures and propose new ones even though it is increasingly
difficult to do so," which he emphasized with the $6-million SLAPP lawsuit by Barrick Gold
against non-profit Les Editions Ecosociete and the authors of the title, Black Canada: pillage,
corruption and criminality in Africa. "I will continue in the same direction as Cumulus but will
evolve further with documentary filmmaking, which I have been dabbling in for many years as
member of video collective Les Lucioles."
Widgington thanks all of the authors, editors, publishers and others that he has collaborated with
over Cumulus Press' ten-year lifespan. "I look forward to sharing my film work with them in the
future," he said.

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   Thursday, May 22, 2008  
Tonite: Hanga to Manga, Toronto

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/22/2008 02:47:00 AM
Toronto Public Library will present From Hanga to Manga, an exhibition of woodblock prints (hanga), Japanese comics (manga) and rare illustrated books. Japan's rich literary tradition has grown alongside a complementary respect and appreciation for stories told largely or entirely in pictures. The exhibition features a wide variety of these materials from Toronto Public Library's Special Collections, supplemented by loans from the H. H. Mu Far Eastern Library at the Royal Ontario Museum and the Japan Foundation.

The Lecture:

The Man who made 'The Great Wave'
Award-winning novelist Katherine Govier discusses her research into the little known life and mysterious works of woodblock print artist Katsushika Hokusai.

Thurs. May 22nd, 2008, 7 p.m.
Beeton Auditorium

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   Wednesday, May 21, 2008  
Krazy! Comic Art Show Opens in Vancouver

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/21/2008 02:00:00 AM

Vancouver, and specifically the Vancouver Art Gallery, is the place to be this summer for comics fans, as Art Spiegelman and Seth co-curate the comics and graphic novels section of the multi-curator, multi-medium art show, KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art. Dumb but accurate title aside, the comics section of this exhibit looks interesting, with work from Chester Brown, Lynda Barry, and Harvey Kurtzman on display, with the added bonus of some Japanese cartoonists and related work in the field of animation (early Winsor McKay, etc).

There has been a flurry of coverage of this event in the mainstream press recently.

Globe and Mail: Seth and Spiegelman interview
Global TV: Spiegelman profile

In addition to the exhibit, there will be a series of related events, beginning with "Comic Demonstrations" running on Sundays (July 6, July 13, August 3, August 10), from 2pm-5pm in the Gallery rotunda. Local comic artists will be appearing for workshops and discussions. As well, on Thursday, August 7, at 7pm, Alywn Spies, assistant professor of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC, gives a special tour of KRAZY!'s manga artworks for an event called "Teaching Manga."

From the press release:

For the first time, the Vancouver Art Gallery will bring the worlds of anime, comics, cartoons, video games, manga, graphic novels and contemporary art together in one exhibition. Offering an innovative and dynamic survey, KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art reveals the uniqueness of each medium, while uncovering their histories, interrelations and future trajectories. On view from May 17 to September 7, 2009, the exhibition is cocurated by some of the art forms’ most influential artists and cultural producers, including Maus author Art Spiegelman, The Sims creator Will Wright, comic artist Seth and animated feature film director Tim Johnson. Conceived and developed by Vancouver Art Gallery senior curator Bruce Grenville, the exhibition will travel to a New York City arts institution in March 2009.

"The Vancouver Art Gallery is committed to fostering new and dynamic understandings of visual culture. With the exhibition KRAZY!, we seized a tremendous opportunity to forward the study of some of the world's fastest growing art forms," said Kathleen Bartels, director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. "Despite the pervasive presence of these media, little has been done to assess the ties that bind them. By offering an interdisciplinary account in a major survey exhibition for the first time, we will illuminate their importance as a sustained cultural force."

One of the largest exhibitions ever organized by the Gallery, KRAZY! will occupy two entire floors of gallery space and is designed in collaboration with Tokyo-based architectural firm Atelier Bow-Wow --a design team renowned for their understanding of informal culture and ability to enhance communal visual experiences. Divided into seven sections defined by medium, the exhibition takes viewers through everchanging gallery environments, which include a mini-theatre for viewing animated cartoons and anime, immersive video spaces and innovative reading environments for visitors to experience a deluge of manga, graphic novels and comics. Built to ensure visitors are exposed to the full breath of the media, the exhibition comprises more than 600 artworks, including original sketches, concept drawings, sketchbooks, storyboards, production drawings, films, video games, animation cels, three dimensional models, sculptures, books, manga and much more.

The artists and works in the exhibition were selected by a group of co-curators, including Bruce Grenville, the exhibition's coordinating curator and curator of the visual arts section; Tim Johnson, curator of animated cartoons; Kiyoshi Kusumi, curator of manga and anime; Seth, curator of comics and graphic novels; Art
Spiegelman, curator of comics and graphic novels; Toshiya Ueno, curator of manga and anime; and Will Wright, curator of video games. Each curator was invited on the strength of their unique knowledge of their particular field, favouring practitioners, artists and cultural producers who are highly regarded for their work. Using their strong historical knowledge, each curator was asked to select a small group of artists who had made a significant contribution through a particular work or body of work. To give the overall selection historical context, curators selected precursors in their respective fields, artists who had established their given genres and artists who are leading the way to the future.

"The co-curators, who are also co-authors in the publication that accompanies the exhibition, are among the most active and sought-after practitioners in their respective fields. Despite their own vigorous workloads they shared their extraordinary insight and experience of this art," said curator Bruce Grenville. "No one person could have selected the work in this show, but collectively we have drawn a new map of the world of visual culture."

KRAZY! is a rare opportunity to see artworks that have shaped the history of contemporary visual culture, including Art Spiegelman's drawings for the first three-page version of his Pulitzer prizewinning Maus; George Herriman's last three drawings for Krazy Kat; Lotte Reiniger's 1927 The Adventures of Prince Achmed, the first feature-length animated cartoon; a sneak preview of Will Wright's groundbreaking video game Spore; and an extraordinary selection of drawings from Yuichi Yokoyama's latest manga, New Engineering. The exhibition also includes works by Moyoco Anno, Lynda Barry, Marcel Broodthaers, Chester Brown, Cao Fei, Milt Gross, Pierre Huyghe, Ichiro Itano, Tim Johnson, Yoko Kanno, Satoshi Kon, Harvey Kurtzman, John Lasseter, Roy Lichtenstein, Christian Marclay, Winsor McCay, Sid Meier, Shigeru Miyamoto, Junko Mizuno, Mamoru Nagano, Claes Oldenburg, Mamoru Oshii, Katsuhiro Otomo, Nick Park, Raymond Pettibon, Seth, Iwatani Toru, Chris
Ware, Masaaki Yuasa and many more.


The PR lists the manga co-curators as:

Kiyoshi Kusumi (Curator -- Manga and Anime)
Kiyoshi Kusumi is a freelance writer and cultural critic. He was formerly the editor-in-chief of the Japanese art journal, BT Magazine. Kusumi is currently the editor of the Japanese manga magazine Comickers and is credited with identifying and naming the Nouvelle Manga movement. He is an established art critic and cultural theorist and is considered a global authority on manga.

Toshiya Ueno (Curator -- Manga and Anime)
Toshiya Ueno is a sociologist, media theorist and critic who lives and works in Japan and Amsterdam. He is currently an associate professor in the Expressive Cultures Department at Wako University, Tokyo. He has written numerous articles, essays and reviews on media, rock/pop music, film, contemporary art, architecture and urban design.

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   Tuesday, May 20, 2008  
D+Q to Reprint John Stanley Classics

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/20/2008 02:53:00 AM
Sequential heard about this "secret" reprint project a few weeks ago but now it's official: Montreal's Drawn and Quarterly will be reprinting classic kids comics series Melvin Monster, Thirteen Going on Eighteen, Kookie, and Dunc and Loo, all by cartoonist John Stanley, the artist/writer behind Little Lulu. Stanley's non-Lulu comics have long been championed by D+Q cartoonist Seth and now it looks like his publisher has taken up the torch, as these blog posts reveal.

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Fan Expo Guest List

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/20/2008 02:31:00 AM
Kevin Boyd reveals the big list of guests for the 2008 Hobbystar Comic Expo, one of the larger comics events in Canada, taking place August 22-24 in Toronto.

The biggest name comics guest is probably comic book "painter" Alex Ross but there are many other well-known names for fans of U.S. superhero comics, including writers Matt Fraction and Peter David, artists Alex Maleev and J.Scott Campbell, and cartoonist Keith Giffen. Tons of Canadian talent as well, including Ty Templeton, Stuart Immonen, Kathryn Immonen, Karl Kerschl, Cameron Stewart, J. Torres, Michael Cho, Michael Cherkas and many more. See the above link for a full list.


Award winning illustrator

BRIAN BOLLAND
Legendary illustrator

MARK BAGLEY
Artist, Trinity, Mighty Avengers & Ultimate Spider-Man

ADAM HUGHES
Cover Artist, Catwoman, upcoming All-Star Wonder Woman

STEVE McNIVEN
Artist, Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine

TIM SALE
Captain America: White & Heroes artist

J. SCOTT CAMPBELL
Artist, Gen 13, Danger Girl, upcoming Spider-Man

GABRIELE DELL'OTTO
Cover Artist, Secret Invasion

MATT FRACTION
Writer, Invincible Iron Man, Punisher War Zone, Immortal Iron Fist, Casanova

MARKO DJURDJEVIC
Marvel cover artist

PETER DAVID
Writer, Stephen King’s Dark Tower, She-Hulk

Special Guests

KEITH GIFFEN
Legendary writer/artist

MIKE CHOI
Uncanny X-Men and X-Force artist

ALEX MALEEV
Halo: The Uprising and Mighty Avengers artist

KEVIN EASTMAN
Creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Editor of Heavy Metal

CLIFF CHIANG
Green Arrow/Black Canary artist

GEORGES JEANTY
Buffy the Vampire Slayer artist

C.B. CEBULSKI
Avengers Fairy Tails writer

STUART IMMONEN
Ultimate Spider-Man artist

KATHRYN IMMONEN
Hellcat writer

KARL KERSCHL
Teen Titans:Year One artist

LEONARD KIRK
World War Hulk:Warbound artist

ALVIN LEE
Heroes For Hire artist

FRANCIS MANAPUL
The Legion of Super-Heroes artist

CAMERON STEWART
Apocalipstix artist

TY TEMPLETON
American Splendor

J. TORRES
Teen Titans Go! writer

Studios

MIRAGE STUDIOS

UDON STUDIOS

BRIGHT ANVIL STUDIOS

DMF COMICS

IMAGINISM STUDIO

Special Appearances By

ATILLA ADORJANY
SAM AGRO
KALMAN ANDRASOFSZKY
JASON ARMSTRONG
NEELAM ARORA
ANDY BELANGER
JACK BRIGLIO
SCOTT CHANTLER
MICHAEL CHERKAS
MICHAEL CHO
ROB COUGHLER
CLAUDIA DAVILA
VALENTINE DE LANDRO
ARTHUR DELA CRUZ
MICHAEL DOONEY
RAY FAWKES
AGNES GARBOWSKA
DREW GERACI
SCOTT HEPBURN
JANET HETHERINGTON
RAFF IENCO
JOHN KALISZ
LEO LEIBELMAN
JEFF LEMIRE
LOGAN LUBERA
VATCHE MAVLIAN
BRIAN McLACHLAN
STEVE MURPHY
JOSEPH O'BRIEN
RAMON PEREZ
NICK POSTIC
PETER REPOVSKI
DAVE ROSS
ALEXANDER SERRA
STEPHEN SILVER
RONN SUTTON
ERIC TALBOT
MARCUS TO
MARC WOLFE
HOWARD WONG
CHRIS YAMBAR
RICHARD ZAJAC

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   Thursday, May 15, 2008  
Round-Up Time

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/15/2008 06:00:00 AM
Links to news and reviews of Canadian comics and graphic novels.

Tom Spurgeon reports on U.S. publisher Fantagraphics signing an exclusivity deal with Diamond Books to distribute their books and comics to "direct market" comic shops in Canada and the U.S. The deal means that Fantagraphics will no longer be distributed by Raincoast in Canada (Fantagraphics is distributed to bookstores in the U.S. by WW Norton). One tidbit from the article is the information that Canada accounts for only about 5% of Fantagraphics' business. Beguiling employee Chris Butcher, whose store probably accounts for a sizable chunk of that 5%, is quoted extensively in the article and bemoans the end of his direct relationship with the publisher of Love and Rockets, Dan Clowes and The Complete Peanuts.

Speaking of Chris Butcher, a recent blog post reveals he would like to see a well-funded online magazine devoted to graphic novels. Speaking as someone who helps maintain a totally-unfunded blog and only occasionally finds time to write the odd review, I can echo those sentiments. The Comics Journal is still the bible of print-coverage of comics, as far as I'm concerned, with Publisher's Weekly earnestly trying to carve out an online niche, but it is the two bloggers with the closest ties to the Journal, Tom Spurgeon and Dirk Deppey, who seem to cover best what, for lack of a better term, I'll call the "graphic novel market". But even these two sites woefully lack the resources to do more than the occasional "pro" reporting piece and only Spurgeon manages regular reviews and interviews. There are tons of other English-language sites, many of which actually pay contributors, but most of them are genre-specific, focusing on U.S. superhero and adventure comics or translated Japanese manga for teens almost exclusively.

Interview: Busy Jessica Smith from my own hometown paper, the Guelph Mercury, interviews webcomics phenom Ryan North, with a few comments from paper comics giant Seth.

Interview: ( interview with cartoonist Denis Rodier at Comic Book Bin about his two new albums being published in France.

Jillian and Mariko Tamaki collaborated on a Mother's Day-themed strip for the New York Times.

The summer schedule for the Inkstuds podcast is up.

Some recent reviews of Canadian graphic novels: Essex County 2, Glamourpuss,

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   Wednesday, May 14, 2008  
Beer and Comics Contest

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/14/2008 03:19:00 PM
A new contest has been announced in conjunction with the Montreal beer festival, Mondial de la Biere.

The 15th anniversary of this huge festival, taking place May 28-June 1, will incorporate the "Bieres et bandes dessinee" contest, which is shaping up to be the most lucrative comics-related prize in Canada, according to this press release:


The new Bieres et bandes dessinees contest has been organized in
conjunction with Oleg Dergachov, MA, cartoonist and sculptor, and Deborah
Wood, home brewer and Master of Arts degree holder. Contest participants must
invent a cartoon featuring beer: beer and women, beer and politics, beer and
the environment, etc. A six-member international jury will select the winners.
Winners will receive cash prizes: GOLD Beer Stein: $1500; SILVER Beer Stein:
$1,000; and BRONZE Beer Stein: $500.

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Tonite: Hall of Best Knowledge

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/14/2008 02:19:00 PM
fenwick hall of best knowledge cover

WHO: RAY FENWICK
WHAT: HALL OF BEST KNOWLEDGE release party & author signing
WHERE: EYELEVEL GALLERY, 2063 Gottingen Street, Halifax
WHEN: Wednesday, MAY 14, 7PM

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   Tuesday, May 13, 2008  
Tonite: Billy Mavreas Booklaunch, Montreal

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/13/2008 01:23:00 AM
Just a reminder. See here for details.

INSIDE OUTSIDE OVERLAP

7:00pm - 11:00pm

Casa Del Popolo
4873 St-Laurent
Montreal

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Serge Chapleau Wins National Newspaper Award

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/13/2008 01:02:00 AM

Cartoonist Serge Chapleau of Montreal's La Presse has won his sixth National Newspaper Award for editorial cartooning. The awards, given annually by the Canadian Newspaper Association, were handed out May 9 in Toronto. The awards are considered to be the premier journalism awards in the country and the NNA for editorial cartooning is the big policart prize, period. Chapleau has been nominated nine times and has won in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003. This year, he beat out fellow nominees Patrick Corrigan (Toronto Star) and John B. Larter (Brandon Sun/freelance).

full press release

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   Monday, May 12, 2008  
Cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon Investigated by Cops, Human Rights Commish

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/12/2008 12:50:00 AM

Bruce MacKinnon, editorial cartoonist of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, is at the centre of a new controversy being investigated by police and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Tribunal.

A MacKinnon cartoon that appeared April 18, depicting Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, the wife of Qayyum Abdul Jamal, one of the so-called "Toronto 17" --men arrested in 2006 on the grounds that they were members of a terrorist cell-- has been accused by the Halifax-based Centre for Islamic Development, represented by Will King and Zia Khan, of inciting hatred.

The cartoon depicts Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal with a a sign declaring "I want millions" --a reference to her reported intent to sue the federal government after charges against her husband were stayed. The cartoon also depicts Jamal as saying "I can put it towards my husband's next training camp" --a reference to the alleged terrorist activities of the Toronto 17.

MacKinnon recently won the Atlantic Journalism Award for editorial cartooning.

----
CanWest
cbc

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   Saturday, May 10, 2008  
Billy Mavreas is Launching his Graphic Novel INSIDE OUTSIDE OVERLAP

:: Posted by max @ 5/10/2008 01:23:00 AM

Found on Facebook

I'll be signing copies of my new comic book, INSIDE OUTSIDE OVERLAP published by Timeless Books, Toronto. Come by, say hi, have a drink, buy a book, stay and drink even more.

Time and Place
Date:
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Time:
7:00pm - 11:00pm
Location:
Casa Del Popolo
Street:
4873 St-Laurent
City/Town:
Montreal, QC



----

Vancouver Launch - June 7, 7:00 pm
Lucky's 3972 Main Street. ph: 604-875-9858.

Toronto Launch - June 25th, 7:30 pm
Part of the The Beguiling monthly series

http://drawrings.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mavreas

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   Friday, May 09, 2008  
This Weekend: Graphic Novel Conference, Toronto

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/09/2008 06:00:00 AM


The New Narrative?

An academic conference devoted comics and the graphic novel, presented at the University of Toronto, May 10-11. Hilights include a talk by Seth on being a cartoonist in Canada, relative to the other visual arts, and a paper by the controversial Jeet Heer on Orphan Annie and Dickens.




Saturday 10 May

9:00 - 9:30 Registration (ongoing through to noon)
Contact: Andrew Lesk andrew.lesk@utoronto.ca 416-841-8985


Panel 1A Auto/biography UC 140 9:30 - 10:45
Chair: Tanis MacDonald (Wilfrid Laurier)

Ian MacRae (Toronto): The Progress of Love: Queering the Canon and the Odyssey of Identity in Alison Bechdel's Fun Home

Edward Hornick (Journalist - New Orleans): Evan Dorkin's Nervous Breakdown and the Hidden Comic Indies

Panel 1B Superheroes & Super ... Annie? UC 179 9:30 - 10:45

Chair: Jean-Paul Gabilliet (Universite de Bordeaux)

Felan Parker (Carleton): Batman Begins, Superman Returns: Reintroducing the Franchise Superhero

Jeet Heer (Toronto): Little Orphan Oliver Twist: The Dickensian Inheritance in Mid-20th Century Comics

Megan Kelley (Calgary): Earnest Heroes and Outrageous Villains: The Dynamics of Camp in Superman films

Panel 2A Ideologies and Ethics UC 140 11 - 12:15

Chair: Doug Stetar (Malaspina)

Doug Stetar (Malaspina): Of Rags and Riches: The Complex Ideologies of Wealth, Class and Consumption in Classic Richie Rich Comics

Doug Mann (Western): To Compromise or Not to Compromise, that is the Question: Watchmen as Ethical and Political Dialogue

J. Andrew Deman (Waterloo): Jimmy Corrigan vs. Superman: Deconstruction, Disillusion, and Social Collapse


Panel 2B
Cities UC 179 11 - 12:15

Chair: Amir Hussain (Loyola Marymount, L.A.)

kevin mcpherson eckhoff (Calgary): Dat Ain't as Funny as it Looks, See? Reconsidering the Realism of Richard F. Outcault's Hogan's Alley

Michel Hardy-Vallee (McGill): Escape from the City of Words: Finding a Better Literary Haven for Comix

Paul Atkinson (Monash - Aus.): The Graphic Novel as Metafiction

Lunch break

Panel 3A Un/real UC 140 1:30 - 2:45

Chair: David Huxley (Manchester Metropolitan)

Steven Shaviro (Wayne State): You Will Never Own a Jetpack: Warren Ellis' Science Fiction Comics

Michael Freethy (Carleton):Rotoshop, Scramble Suits and Substance D: A Scanner Darkly and the Crisis of Hyperreality

Lamia Kosovic (European G.S.): Cyberpunk K-inema: Re-imag(in)ing of the Posthuman

Panel 3B O Canada UC 179 1:30 - 2:45

Chair: Joan Ormrod (Manchester Metropolitan)

Jean-Paul Gabilliet (Universite de Bordeaux): Comics in the Cambridge History of Canadian Literature: Is Sequential Art the Future of the Canadian Literary Canon?

Kevin Ziegler (Waterloo): The Making of Riel Comic Literature: The Re-circulation of Brown's Louis Riel

Tanis MacDonald (Wilfrid Laurier): The way I've drawn the scene: History and Historiography in Chester Brown's Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography

Panel 4A Social Panic UC 140 3 - 4:15

Chair: Paul Atkinson (Monash - Aus.)

Nicholas Holm (McMaster): Beneath Consideration: Reassessing Wertham and the Role of Taste in the Decline of the Comic Book

Clint Burnham (Simon Fraser): Ho Che Anderson's King trilogy: Comics, Social History, and the Zizekian Ethical Act

David Huxley (Manchester Metropolitan): Moral panics, censorship and the cultural status of comics in Britain

Panel 4B Modernism UC 179 3 - 4:15

Chair: Jeet Heer (Toronto)

Joan Ormrod (Manchester Metropolitan): A Heap of Broken Images: Countersong and Readership in T S Eliot and Martin Rowson's The Waste Land

David N. Wright (Douglas): "'kontinue kuriousity to its illogical klimax': Krazy Kat, E. E. Cummings and the Grammar of Modernism"

Glenn Willmott (Queen's): Catwoman's Pedigree

Seth speaks! (keynote address) UC 140 5 - 6


Reception Croft House @ UC 6 - 8:30

Sunday 11 May

Panel 1A Across the Ocean(s) UC 140 10 - 11:15

Chair: Nicholas Holm (McMaster)

Gokul Gopalakrishnan (Hyderabad): G Aravindan's Small Men and the Big World: Re-Defining the "Comic" in the Strip

Josh Chong (Waterloo): Impregnation of the Cyborg: Problematic Reproduction in Japanese Manga

Pierre Chermartin (Montreal): From the multiple-room set to the split scene: quarrels, disputes and altercations in turn-of-the century European comics.

Panel 1B Victorians UC179 10 - 11:15

Chair: Andrea Schwenke Wyile (Acadia)

Andrea Day (New Brunswick): Playing With the Pen and Pencil Sketches of Thackeray's singular performance: Illustrations of Dolls, Performativity, and Narrative Technique in Vanity Fair

Christine Yao (Dalhousie): Queen Victoria, Captive Despot: The Dissemination of Image and Power in Alan Moore's From Hell

Jason Frank (Youngstown): Even More Blood in the Gutters: Taking Apart Rick Geary's Narration of Jack the Ripper

Lunch break

Panel 2A Methods and Stylings UC 140 12:30 - 1: 45

Chair: Gokul Gopalakrishnan (Hyderabad)

Edward Bader (Lethbridge/Grand Prairie): Comics Carnet: Graphic Novelist as Global Nomad

Peter Coppin (Toronto) and Stephen Hockema (Toronto): Research Methods to Understand Comics and the Human Mind

Andrea Schwenke Wyile (Acadia): Which Umbrella: Comix or Picturebooks?


Panel 2B
Bodies, Pathologies, Illness UC 179 12:30 - 1:45

Chair: Tim Bavlnka (Independent journalist)

Allison Crawford (Toronto): Framing the Body-Embodying the Frame: Graphic Novels and the Representation of Illness

Marni Stanley (Malaspina): The Art of Embodiment in Graphic Autopathography

Panel 3A Endings 1 UC 140 2 - 3:15

Chair: Stephen Hockema (Toronto)

Kalervo Sinervo (Simon Fraser): Grains of Sand: Renaissance Intertextuality in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman

Aaron Kashtan (Florida): Jeepers Jacobs in the Network of Lines That Intersect: The Deconstruction of the Clear Line in Kevin Huizenga

Tim Bavlnka (Independent journalist): The Superhero Significance: The Role of the Contemporary Superhero in Literature

Panel 3B Endings 2 UC 179 2 - 3:15

Chair: Andrew Lesk (Toronto)

Anthony Enns (Dalhousie): Media, Memory, and the Metropolis in Jason Lutes’ Berlin: City of Stones

Amir Hussain (Loyola Marymount, L.A.): Representing Muslim lives: pedagogy and the comics journalism of Joe Sacco

Roundtable So, what's new?
UC 140 3:30 - 4:30

Jeff Parker, Luca Somigli, Tim Bavlnka



Closing words: Andrew Lesk 4:30

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This Weekend: Free Comic Book Day, Fredericton, NB

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/09/2008 01:54:00 AM
The flooding in New Brunswick has delayed this comic book event by one week.

Details here.

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   Wednesday, May 07, 2008  
Short Links

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/07/2008 04:35:00 PM
Toronto webcomicers Ryan North and Joey Comeau are profiled by Eye Weekly on the occasion of their participation of a "Famous on the Internet"-style conference at MIT.

The Comic Book Bin has the announcement for Ray Fenwick's Hall of Best Knowledge booklaunch.

Today's comic book, art book, and graphic novel releases, courtesy the blog of Toronto bookstore The Labyrinth.

In Quebec City tonite, Michel Giguere hosts a talk on bd album cover art at the Gabriel-Roy Library, 350, rue Saint-Joseph Est. 7pm. Free admission.

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   Tuesday, May 06, 2008  
Free Comic Book Day Reports

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/06/2008 04:42:00 PM
This past Saturday, May 3, was Free Comic Book Day across the U.S. and Canada, an event intended to promote comics through local comic book shops. I largely agree with Kevin Boyd that the event should be an opportunity to reach out to the larger community of people who might not venture into comic shops normally or even read comics. This is a great time for local shops to get some free press coverage and lots of potential new customers. With few exceptions, I don't really see this happening. For the most part, the people who show up for this event usually have found out about it in one of their weekly visits to the shop. No press releases are sent out and no outreach or cross-promotion with other organizations is ventured. When I wandered into my own local comic shop around 5 pm to ask how things went, the teenage clerk painting a role-playing model at the large table that takes up the front window of the empty store informed me that most of the free comics vanished in the first hour of the promotion, around 9am, gesturing to a pile of brochures and 3 copies of the VIZ/Shonen Jump giveaway to indicate all that remained. As far as I could tell, the sole message to the outside world that something unique was happening today was a lone poster in the window, competing with the other posters.

The events that I heard of before hand include the signings at the Silver Snail and the Beguiling event at the Toronto Public Library (which began at noon).

Here are some reports and pictures:

Stuart Immonen
Jason Truong reports
Chris Butcher reports on the Beguiling event
Strange Adventures in Halifax got some press
A picture of Elfsar in Vancouver

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   Monday, May 05, 2008  
Jamie Coville: Hobbystar Toronto Comicon Report

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/05/2008 12:01:00 AM

No evil shall escape his sight: a nice report from last month's Toronto Comicon by Jamie Coville. Coville's photos from the con are here. A highlight for some might be the mp3 of a Blake Bell-moderated Iron Man panel featuring Mike Grell, Bob Layton and David Michelinie. A good summary of the con:

I talked with a variety of retailers and pros at the end of the convention to see how they did. Most of the responses ranged from slow to okay. One unhappy dealer said he only made his table costs. Nobody seemed particularly enthusiastic about the show. One dealer said the entire market is slow right now. He says people have money and they're seeing stuff they're interested in, but they need some enticing to spend it. He was giving discounts in order to do that. That dealer was selling TPBs only. Another dealer who was only selling back issues said pretty much the same thing. He said he dropped his prices by half, something he very rarely does, but it did move a lot of stuff. Overall there was a bit of disparity between retailers and dealers. Retailers that participated in the 10 dollar voucher to promote the con got their tables for free, while dealers had to pay for them.

Almost every retailer/dealer I talked to gave me a different answer for what moved well for them. One said the expensive wall comics, another Captain America books, another Bronze/Modern bins, another Hardcovers, another Golden Age books, another Manga and 1-2 dollar bins, a few said Trades. Some of those with a mix said everything sold equally well. I noticed a lot of sellers seemed to be specializing. Some come with only back issue bins, some come with only trades. Even with the back issue bins it broke down to dollar bins with bronze to moderns, some silver-bronze, some gold.

I talked to a handful of pro's and they were split about Saturday or Sunday being better for them. My general impression was that Saturday drew out the die hard readers willing to spend some money. The "Free" Sunday attracted a different crowd, likely a more budget conscious group. Some of them appeared to be more casual readers or still quite new to comics.


Interested parties might also want to check out the report by con organizer Kevin Boyd, available here.

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News and Views

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/05/2008 12:00:00 AM
Some comics-related links from the past few days:

  • Another obit for Robert Bierman, the political cartoonist who passed away April 16.
  • The Comic Book Bin chronicles the move from print to web by cartoonist Karl Kerschl.
  • Ivan Anchukov of Voronezh, Russia, won the 8th Annual International Competition for Editorial Cartoonists from among 700 cartoons submitted from 40 countries, in an award handed out in Ottawa May 2nd in honour of International Press Freedom day (May 3).
  • The comics critics: "Jog" tackles Dave Sim's Glamourpuss comic while Tom Spurgeon casts a wide net over Michel Rabagliati's graphic novel Paul Goes Fishing.
  • Chris Butcher wants your help in i.d.-ing the hottest obscure manga.
  • The second volume in the Cosmos Cafe album series by Quebec bedeist Tristan Demers in now out.
  • Newsarama interviews graphic novelist Faith Erin Hicks.

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   Thursday, May 01, 2008  
Bob Bierman, 1921-2008

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/01/2008 06:00:00 AM

Cartoonist Sued by Vander Zalm

Victoria Times and Monday magazine editorial cartoonist Bob Bierman died as a result of a stroke April 16, according to a report by the Globe and Mail.

Born in Amsterdam, Bierman worked for a variety of Dutch publications before emigrating to Canada in 1950. He first worked as a bar doorman in Toronto before moving to British Columbia in 1954, eventually publishing his first cartoons with the Victoria Times. After the merger of the Times and the Victoria Colonist in 1976, Bierman published in the weekly alternative paper, Monday Magazine. Besides regular contributions to the annual Portfoolio collections of Canadian caricature, Bierman published one book, 1984: A Collection of Political Cartoons (New Star Books,1982).

Bierman is best known for a court case involving Bill Vander Zalm. The cartoonist drew a cartoon of then-Human Resources Minister Vander Zalm pulling the wings off flies and was sued for libel by the future B.C. premiere and amusement park owner (who was also a Dutch immigrant). A $3500 decision against Bierman and his publisher was later overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal.

A collection of Bierman's cartoons can be seen here.

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Thursday Links

:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/01/2008 12:00:00 AM
  • Zeros 2 Heroes' latest endeavour involves recruiting a writer for an internship at big video game company BioWare. According to the Z2H press release, the contest is being co-sponsored by the National Screen Institute, a tradeschool with 60% of its funding coming from government sources: "As part of increasing their capacity, BioWare has joined the NSI playWRITE competition --a Telefilm-funded collaboration between the National Screen Institute and Zeros 2 Heroes --as a partner who will provide an internship to a winner announced in August 2008. To find out how to pitch, go here.
  • Want updates? Cartoonist Jason Copland (Mortal Coils, Digital Webbing Presents) has just created a monthly newsletter with the promise of free art.
  • Law student and D+Q cartoonist talks to the National Post about his collection, All We Ever Do Is Talk About Wood.
  • The Montreal Gazette profiles Jesse Heffring's attempt to produce a sci-fi graphic novel.

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