Canadian Comix News & Culture
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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,Labels: graphic novels, links
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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.
Labels: awards, contest, events, Montreal
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Tonite: Hall of Best Knowledge
:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/14/2008 02:19:00 PM 
WHO: RAY FENWICK
WHAT: HALL OF BEST KNOWLEDGE release party & author signing
WHERE: EYELEVEL GALLERY, 2063 Gottingen Street, Halifax
WHEN: Wednesday, MAY 14, 7PMLabels: book launches, events, Halifax
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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
MontrealLabels: book launches, events, graphic novels, Montreal, publishing
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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 releaseLabels: awards, political cartooning
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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.
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CanWest
cbcLabels: censorship, political cartooning
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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 |
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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_MavreasLabels: book launches, can-con, events, events links, Montreal, Quebec
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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 4:30Labels: comics scholarship, events, graphic novels, Toronto
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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.Labels: comics retailers, events, floppies, real world
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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.Labels: links
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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 VancouverLabels: events, free
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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.Labels: conventions, events, hobbystar, Toronto
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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.
Labels: awards, censorship, graphic novels, links, political cartooning
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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.Labels: obituaries, political cartooning
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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.
Labels: graphic novels, links
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