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Summer Reading: Ronn Sutton ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey comes from comic book artist Ronn Sutton. Since this is the last day of Summer, sending us your own list will probably do no good. I'm Ronn Sutton, longtime comicbook penciller. website: www.ronnsutton.com email: ronnsutton@aol.com My strip in Dark Horse's "Fear Agent" finally came out (#22 - June 2008 issue). It was my third collaboration with inker Hilary Barta. He and I are currently working on a "Munden's Bar" story for Mike Gold's www.comicmix.com website. Some time back "Munden's Bar" was an ongoing back-up feature in First Comics' "Grimjack" and now he has revived it with a number of different creators. Hilary and I are also working on a horror story for another publisher, Asylum Press, for an anthology book. I also have a four-issue mini-series possibly coming up at Dark Horse. I'm not as big a reader as I once was but I'm currently reading the fantasy novel "Enchanters" written by my very long time friend David Bryan Russell (storyboard artist on such films as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Thin Red Line and the upcoming Wolverine film starring Hugh Jackman). Next I'll be reading "Big Bosoms and Square Jaws" by Jimmy McDonough, the biography of filmmaker Russ Meyer. My favorite magazine continues to be "From The Tomb", a British publication about horror comics. Particuliarily the ones from the 1950s. In some future issue they'll be running an interview with me about my 9-year run pencilling issues of "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark" (among other comics). I've got an issue of "Illustration" here to read about painter Haddon Sunblom and a couple horror graphic novels by each Kelley Jones and Kyle Hotz that I'm looking forward to reading. Labels: summer reading, summer reading 08 - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 3comments - Today: Lynn Johnston's Last StripThe last original episode of Lynn Johnston's long-running and super-popular comic strip, For Better or For Worse, appears in newspapers worldwide this weekend. Calling it quite after over a quarter-Century of success, Johnston plans to scale back considerably but continue the strip with a series of repeats and "greatest hits" story arcs, partially redrawn and re-framed. Lets hope she also gives us some other new work, like maybe a graphic novel... (see the second-last strip here and the Sunday strip --Saturday in Canada-- here.) Anyway, Sequential congratulates Lynn on her mighty achievement --an amazing life in comics! Lynn's latest letter to fans, from her website:
Labels: comic strips, Lynn Johnston - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Thursday, August 28, 2008 Vancouver Comix & Stories ReportsA few reports from this past weekend's Comix and Stories event at the Vancouver Art Gallery/KRAZY! show: Derek Kirk Kim's is the funniest Buying minis report Artist turfed Kim Dietch was there Here, too Labels: British Columbia, conventions, events, Vancouver - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Wednesday, August 27, 2008 Tonite: Ojingogo Launch, MontrealMatt Forsythe launches his Ojingogo graphic novel through D+Q. Librairie Drawn & Quarterly Wednesday, August 27 7:30 p.m. http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/211bernard/uploaded_images/poster-772434.jpg Labels: book launches, graphic novels, Montreal, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Sequential Reports: Fan Expo Photos ![]() (Mostly) Canadian Content As an event partially dedicated to Canadian comics and comics creators, FanExpo 2008 could have been alot worse. FanExpo, billed as "a multi-genre convention" by its organizers, covered over 270,000 square feet at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this past weekend, August 22-24. Roughly one-fifth of that massive space, accessible through a labyrinthine series of hallways and escalators, was dedicated to comics and cartooning, with space devoted to over 200 artists and writers (the so-called "Artists' Alley"), as well as to publishers, comics retailers, and assorted producers of ephemera. -As Kevin Boyd notes in his wrap-up, the organizers of the comics show ("Comic Book Expo") made the wise decision this year to integrate all of the creators, regardless of genre ("indy meets pro", as the convention program has it), into one area, which made for a bustling space, with many fans discovering young artists who may have been overlooked in the past. In addition to several big-name U.S. creators like painter Alex Ross and DC editor-in-chief Dan Didio, the convention also featured a large number of Canadian artists who have made a name for themselves in the world of U.S. superhero comics. Alongside these were a huge group of more-or-less independent comics creators, self-publishers, and arts comics auteurs, representing the alternative comics world of graphic novels, minicomics, and fanzines. Jeff Lemire is perhaps the most well-known of this batch, having just won several awards for his Essex County graphic novel trilogy, published by Top Shelf. Lemire was busy sketching and selling artwork throughout the con and I personally witnessed him selling-out of copies of the newly-published final volume, The Country Nurse, around 4pm on Saturday. -Another sell-out was Benjamin Rivers' very pretty Snow mini. Rivers is a Toronto illustrator and the book he debuted at FanExpo is the first chapter of a longer graphic novel done in his deceptively simple, cartoon-y style. -It was also delightful to meet longtime Playboy cartoonist Doug Sneyd, perhaps the most successful and enduring of the comics artists present, and a local boy to boot! Doug was selling prints of some of his classic work as well as a book of cartoons called Unpublished Sneyd, dedicated to Sneyd's original Playboy editor, and fellow Canadian, Michelle Urry. Doug also has a blog where his adventures at the con are chronicled in great detail. -Something of a cross-section of Canadian comics culture was examined at the "Made in Canada" panel Saturday evening, featuring Montreal artist Yanick Paquette, the Toronto comic book creating duo of Stuart and Kathryn Immonen, and the afore-mentioned Jeff Lemire. The panelists talked about their influences and how aspects of their "Canadian-ness" may or may not filter into their work. Photos: ![]() Michael Cho and Claudia Davila ![]() Stuart Immonen and Kathryn Immonen --see their webcomic here ![]() Cameron Stewart ![]() Valentine Delandro ![]() Ramon Perez and Rob Cloughler ![]() Agnes Garbowska and Francis Manapul ![]() Kalman Androsopsky and Marcus To ![]() Jeff Lemire ![]() Lemire signs the last copy of The Country Nurse ![]() Cliff Chiang ![]() Blake Bell discusses Steve Ditko with Rob Walton ![]() Steven Silver and Ken Wheaton ![]() Doug Sneyd and his significant other/Girl-Friday Heidi Hutson ![]() The Bear Stories' George Todorovski and Chris Hatzopoulos ![]() Ian Daffern and John Lang are behind the Zuda competitor Shock Effect ![]() Hoverboy, a project of Mr. Comics' Ty Templeton and Canadian tv personality Rick Green. I happen to know from experience that the device on his belt is an antique vibrator. ![]() The Bootcamp gang, another Ty Templeton project. The team was hyping its new mini-collection: Sex & Violence, Suffering and Wickedness. ![]() Zen Rankin, promoting his minicomic epic, Action Satisfaction Supreme ![]() Zen Rankin was also selling the best comics-related novelty at the con, cute little stuffed toys of his V.D. Duck character: it has pubic hair and makes a noise when squeezed! ![]() The Durham Comics gang and their new anthology, Blitz ![]() Michael Cherkas (saving a seat for Larry Hancock) ![]() Jay Saobento and Bang Bang Kill Kill, which is also online. ![]() J. Torres and Scott Chantler ![]() Sequential has a brief chat with Ray Fawkes, writer of The Apocalipstix (thanks to ace photog Stephen Lewis for the Fawkes and Immonen photos) Labels: cartoonists, conventions, events, fanexpo 2008, graphic novels, hobbystar, photos, Quebec, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Tuesday, August 26, 2008 FanExpo 3 ![]() More links from this past weekend's FanExpo in Toronto: Michael Cho writes a short report, including some of the sketches he did for fans. The Submariner cosplayer that didn't show up in yesterday's photo link is here, wearing a jacket signed by the Smallville cast. Ty Buttars has been a blogging machine all day, with a short report and video of the Brian Bolland panel, Alex Ross signing, and Keith Giffen signing, among others. Marvel editor C.B. Cebulski has pics. BlogTO has a full report with pics and video. The Fonz wears Lacoste. Another piece of vaguely Canadian Marvel news: another Wolverine-as-Canadian-secret-agent miniseries. Some great pics and commentary from the Dead Robot blog. Dr. Who cosplay. Photos: Here are the 810 results for the search "fanexpo 2008" on flickr. Red and Jonny meet Fonzie. A link to some photos on Facebook, with the only photo of a Wonder Woman I've seen. Marvin Mariano, sketches, Natasha Elloi, and the Shockstudios crew. Murtz Jaffer can strike a pose. 3 days of photos. A fellow Guelphite has some pics, including the one of young Yoda, above. The ever-dependable Danny Truong has links to 3 sets of his photos. Best quote: "Joker makeup does not equal joker cosplay, sorry." Labels: conventions, events, fanexpo 2008, hobbystar, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Publishing: CTON's Super A-maze-ing Year of Crazy Comics ![]() OWL magazine stalwart Clayton Hanmer presents a collection of comics-goodness, CTON's Super A-maze-ing Year of Crazy Comics, Puzzles, Mazes, Blobs, & More! The Toronto-based cartoonist will be officially launching the book in September. OWL Books CTON blog Labels: kids comics, publishing, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Monday, August 25, 2008 Shock Effect production processShock Effect, a newly-minted sci-fi comic by Toronto writer Ian Daffern and Toronto artist John Lang, is in competition at DC Comics' publishing competition site, www.Zuda.com, at this link: www.zudacomics.com/node/543 www.Zuda.com is a site where artists submit their work and compete against similar comics, in order to win a publishing contract with publishing giant DC Comics. You can vote for them, offer critcism, leave comments about the comic and offer support. To promote their effort -and to drive people to their appearance at Zuda and encourage people to vote for them - Ian and John have put up a production blog, which includes a short documentary on their creative process, at www.shockeffect.blogspot.com Take a look, vote at www.Zuda.com, and consider leaving a comment - it ends Aug 28th. Best of luck, guys! Labels: publishing, Toronto, webcomics - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 1comments - FanExpo 2 ![]() Some quick links to reports and photos from this past weekend's FanExpo in Toronto: Edward James Olmos charges $60 for an autograph. A nice little report from a comics fan. An Australian who really likes Beta Ray Bill has some artist photos, comments, and sketches. A con virgin posts some impressions. "Inkygirl"'s flickr photostream (that's her photo of Prince Namor, the Submariner, up top). Fashion blogger Chloe Tejada has some nice cosplay photos and gushes about her meeting with Edward James Olmos. A Sheridan student has some photos from a few of the art-themed comics panels. Was Watchmen a big seller? Labels: conventions, events, fanexpo 2008, hobbystar, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 1comments - Last Toronto Comic Jam of the summerDalton Sharp announces this month's Toronto Comic Jam: Hello, Labels: Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - FanExpo 1 ![]() The 2008 Toronto FanExpo wrapped up yesterday. According to the press kit fact sheet, the organizers expected in excess of 50,000 attendees over the weekend, up 7000 from last year, a number I would not dispute judging from my experiences of the crowd on Saturday afternoon. It was crowded, but not crazy crowded. I can't speak for the areas around the various B-actors, video-game contests and U.S. superhero comics A-listers who merited special event status at the show, as I managed to avoid these entirely. There seemed to be a nice mix of people due to the cross-genre/media nature of the show: lots of families, lots of couples, costumed and in mufti. Look for a full report and photos, as well as Sequential's usual massive list of links to fan reports, video and photos, coming here over the next few days. In the mean-time, a few links for your browsing pleasure:
(The above photo of Coke Man --he looks sort of like a combination of Iron Man and Marshal Law to me-- is from a Day 3 photo report by blogger "Saku" available here.) Labels: conventions, events, fanexpo 2008, hobbystar, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Sunday, August 24, 2008 Co: theMMCJgroup Bonjour a Tous! The next Comix Jam will be held at Bar des Pins, 3714 Park, this coming Thursday, August 28 at 8 PM. As usual, bring your artist gear and good humor! Le Comix Jam se tiendra au Bar des Pins, 3714 rue du Parc Jeudi prochain, le 28 aout a 20hres. Comme d'habitude amenez votre attirail du dessinateur et votre bonne humeur! A la Prochaine! See You there! Jane Labels: comic jams, events, Montreal, Quebec, social ink - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Friday, August 22, 2008 This Weekend: Fan Expo, Toronto ![]() The largest comic book and related media event in Canada takes place this weekend. The Toronto Fan Expo, including the Comic Book Expo, Festival of Fear horror convention, CNAnime anime and manga convention, and the SFX science fiction expo, all under one giant roof, is the culmination of the Toronto summer convention season. This year's Comic expo marks Kevin Boyd's first full year as organizer. Guests include U.S. painter Alex Ross, DC Comics Vice President & Executive Editor Dan Didio, and UK cartoonist Brian Bolland, as well as a host of others, including, almost inexplicably, The Fonz and astronaut Buzz Aldrin. All this is not to mention a great collection of Canuck comics creators, ranging from Kalman Andrasofszky to Richard Zajac (A to Zed, get it?). Labels: conventions, events, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Sunday: Comics and Stories, Vancouver ![]() The second of two big events featuring U.S. Underground and graphic novel master Kim Deitch in Vancouver. This iteration of the regular Vancouver Comicon features a "who's who" of contemporary Canadian and international graphic novelists. See here for full guest list. Sunday, August 24th, 2008 11am to 5pm Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC Free admission (if you want to go view the KRAZY! exhibit, inside the Gallery, regular admission prices apply ($19.50/adult, $14/student with ID, $6.50/children 5-12)) Labels: British Columbia, Vancouver - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Saturday: Kim Deitch Film Fest, VancouverOne of the top five surviving members of the U.S. Underground comics movement of the 1960s, and one of the greatest living producers of graphic novels, period, Kim Deitch will be appearing this weekend in Vancouver at several events. First up: a showing of animated cartoons from Deitch's vast collection: ![]() See the inkstuds write-up here for more info. Vancouver Art Gallery Hornby St. entrance 7 pm $8 --limited seating Labels: British Columbia, comics history, comics on film, events, undergrounds, Vancouver - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Thursday, August 21, 2008 The ego and the squid : Ojingogo book launch @ the Drawn & Quarterly Store ![]() Montrealer Matt Forsythe got the cover of this weeks Montreal Mirror and a nice big full page interview/profile inside by Rupert Bottenberg to announce the launch of his new D&Q book this coming weekend, Ojingogo."I feel like I'm just escorting this thing along, not driving it," says illustrator and comic artist Matt Forsythe of Ojingogo, his new graphic novel from Drawn & Quarterly. "It's kinda weird seeing my name on the cover-that's how dissociated I feel from it." Ojingogo book launch at the Drawn & Quarterly Store on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 7:30 p.m. Labels: book launches, Montreal, new books, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Summer Reading: Brad Mackay ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey comes from writer and Wright Awards founder Brad Mackay. Please send us your own list. 1. Name and occupation (contact info/website/publisher's website). Brad Mackay, writer, www.bradmackay.com, www.drawnandquarterly.com. 2. What is your latest project (ie, what are you hyping)? Volume one of the two-part HC retrospective Doug Wright: Canada's Master Cartoonist, for which I wrote a substantial essay that attempts to piece together Wright's life and career arc from his birth through to what was arguably the peak of his success in the early 1960s. The article will be a good read, but the real corker will be seeing the pages upon pages of Wright's art (a fair bit unseen) all compiled and designed by Seth. I hope this book becomes the Canadian treasure I imagine it to be in my head. 3. Please provide a list of books you have recently read or are planning to read. They don't have to be comic books. (In fact, we would almost prefer they weren't.) Any number of books is fine. Please feel free to comment (ie, Why are you reading these books? What did you think?). Steve Ditko: Strange and Stranger by Blake Bell. Reading this book made me happy that Doug Wright was such a balanced, hard-working chap. It couldn't have been easy to write a book about a cranky old guy who wants nothing to do with you, and for this reason i give full credit to Bell. I've read as much about Ditko as the next comic geek, but up until now I didn't really get a fuller idea of who the man is. As iconoclastic as he is - what with the Objectivism and all - it was reassuring to feel that he was genuinely dedicated to being a cartoonist. It also re-sokoed my interest in Mr. A, and re-introduced the phrase "I don't abuse my feelings" back into my day-to-day lexicon, where it belongs! The Amazing Adventures of Jimmy Olsen. I snapped this book up in a fit of drunk shopping and I do not regret it. I loved these stories as a kid, and the stupidness of them endures to this day. According to my Pal Jeet Heer, editor Mort Weisinger actually interviewed kids and asked them what creature they wanted Olsen to turn into next - and used the ideas in the book. My four-year-old daughter was obsessed with this book all summer, but couldn't figure out why the comic never showed Jimmy actually writing his stories. As a former news reporter my answer was simple: It would be excruciatingly dull. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. Despite having one of the best double-barreled titles ever, this book is a remarkable, eye-opening read. The only way it could have been better is if it was published when I was 15. The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman. This is less a book, more of a magnificent piss take. An ambitious parody of olde "almanacs" with plenty of false information and funny stuff. (Not for girls!) The View From Castle Rock by Alice Munro. I credit Seth and a long wait in Markham with only New Yorker magazine for company, for stoking my interest in Clinton Ontario's-own genius, Alice Munro. She's spare and withering in her appraisal of the human condition, and I thanks her so much for that. What It Is by Lynda Barry. The great one (Barry) answers the question posed by the Red Foxx (the other Great One) decades ago; "What is it?" "What it is!" An amazing, inspiring, crazy beautiful book that demystifies the elusive thing called "creative inspiration." Gary Panter. I bought this $100 art book without my wife's knowledge a couple of month's ago. The trouble is, that I was so good at concealing my purchase that i can now only read it when she's not around - which isn't often. Great book, but I think the sneaking around has enhanced my enjoyment of it. Essentially, I'm having an affair with this book. 4. Please list any upcoming events/upcoming publications. Your next project? With the 2008 Doug Wright Awards swept out of the way, I am now focussing on; training for a half marathon, preparing to fly to Nunavik to arctic undergo survival training, and sanding and painting an old table. Oh - and there's a kid's book I'm working on with my wife called The Shortest Story in the World. (It isn't, really.) That's all. Have a good balance of the summer. Labels: summer reading, summer reading 08 - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 2comments - Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Summer Reading: Myles McInnis ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey comes from podcaster Myles McInnis. Please send us your own list. 1. Name and occupation (contact info/website/publisher's website). Myles McInnis, Super Awesome Podcaster and bank teller. 2. What is your latest project (ie, what are you hyping)? I'm totally hyping up www.digitalkontent.com where a new season of the most-terrifyingly, satisfactory podcast is on its way...in a couple months. 3. Please provide a list of books you have recently read or are planning to read. Read: Formerly Known as the Justice League TPB by Giffen, DeMatteis, Maguire - Super Awesome The Sad Lonely Life of Eddie Elephant Ears by Jeff Lemire - Super Awesome Iron Man Viva Las Vegas #2 by Favreau and Granov - Meh. Final Crisis #3 by Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones - BOOOO! Personality Comics Presents "LUKE PERRY" (the unauthorized biography) by Amy Wasp-Wimberger, JK Stephen, Nora Tapp, Kenneth Becker, Garrett Berner - Fascinating The Savage Dragon #1 by Erik Larsen - Has Potential Peanutbutter & Jeremy by James Kolchaka - GENIUS Half of an issue of Giffen's Trencher - I don't know what's happening in any of the panels! angst "the best of Norwegian comics" by Various - THANKS BEGUILING! on the web: AWESOME MARCUS NINJA by Joel Buxton and Shane Heron - Super Awesome (http://www.marcusninja.com/) Raisin Hell by Andy B - Super Awesome (http://www.transmission-x.com/_raising_hell/) ...and, of course, some of this DWA/JSA controversy. Labels: summer reading, summer reading 08 - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 1comments - Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Hell Passport Box Set, part of Comix and Stories at the Vancouver Art Gallery Was sent this by Jo Cook:Perro Verlag has just put together a box set of 24 visual art chapbooks by 24 different Canadian artists. They we will be part of Comix and Stories at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Sunday August 24th. "A day of alternative & small press comics, zines, artwork & culture" Sunday, August 24th, 11am to 5pm Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC Guest list is on the site here, Top Star Guest is Kim Deitch and there's some other pretty cool people on the list with him. The Hell Passport Project is a 24-volume series of visual art chapbooks by 24 artists riffing on hell, holes, holiday suicides, sewers, zombies, ghost tracks, acephalic vulva, evil eye families, premonition rip-offs, bone hounds, contamination, papists' passports, larva womb rat, scum, entrail readings & scabnose demons. The artists in this project come from across Canada and take a variety of approaches and styles, making this series a comprehensive survey of current contemporary drawing. Artists in the series: derek beaulieu, Lisa Cinar, Mark Connery, Rebecca Dolen, Brandy Fedoruk, Julie Feyrer, Emily Goodden, Roy Green, Sally Ireland, Ben L. Jacques, Collin Johanson, Donato Mancini, Billy Mavreas, Wesley Mulvin, Robert Pedersen, Guinevere Pencarrick, Owen Plummer, Terry Plummer, Fiona Smyth, Scheisse Wives, Colin Upton, Ed Varney, Julie Voyce and James Whitman. The sets were printed in a limited edition of 20 boxes: 10 in blue and 10 in red. The complete set sells for $150. Some individual books are also available, at $7 each. Inquiries: Jo Cook www.perroverlag.com Labels: art show, book launches, British Columbia, can-con, comic jams, drawings, ephemera, events, events links, illustration, mini-comics, social ink, Vancouver, zine fair, zines - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Publishing: Von Allan's "Li'l Kids: road to god knows... adventures!" ![]() Prolific blogger Von Allan, who has posted ceaselessly on his efforts to create and market his first graphic novel, "The Road to God Knows", has some exciting news: a companion volume to the book is finished and available in print. See the press release below: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (August 17, 2008) -- Comic books and graphic novels have, over the past twenty years, become a widely embraced medium in book publishing. Initially dismissed as children's entertainment, comics have now developed a maturity and range of vision that rivals other forms of art and literature. Graphic novels are read by people from all walks of life and have reached a level of critical acceptance that was unheard of decades ago. This resurgence has been led by a number of young artists who bring unique voices to the medium. Von Allan, an Ottawa-based artist and graphic novelist, joins this group with his recently published graphic novel "Li'l Kids: road to god knows ... adventures!" Labels: book launches, graphic novels, Ontario, Ottawa, profiles, publishing - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Monday, August 18, 2008 Summer Reading: Jennifer Stewart ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey comes from comics retailer Jennifer Stewart. Please send us your own list. 1. Name/occupation - Jennifer Stewart, owner of The Dragon, Guelph's comic, gaming, and anime destination - www.thedragonweb.com - and its side project Comics in the Classroom. I'm also the Latin and Drama teacher at The Linden School in Toronto. 2. What is your latest project (ie, what are you hyping)? I'm currently gearing up to promote the second year of Comics in the Classroom - a resource for teachers and school librarians looking to integrate graphic novels into their curricula or libraries. I am also putting together The Dragon's 10th Anniversary celebration, taking place this September and October. On top of that, my novel submission just went in the mail to Tor Books. 3. Please provide a list of books you have recently read or are planning to read. On the non-comic front, I'm reading "The Naked Olympics" by Tony Perrottet, which is a great overview of the ancient Olympics. His engaging writing will appeal to anyone interested in the subject. I'll be moving on to "Understanding Roman Inscriptions" by Lawrence Keppie, as well as a number of plays in preparation for the coming school year. In terms of comics, I'm currently reading the new volume of DMZ. I recently read "The New York Four" (brilliant writing, as always), "Waterbaby", "Apocalipstix", "Coraline GN" (beautiful work by Russell), "Tellos Colossal Vol.1", "Thor Vol.1" by Straczynski, "Superman/Batman Saga of the Super Sons" (cause I love Bob Haney!), and "Maintenance Vol.3". I'm also looking forward to reading "The Ten Cent Plague" by David Hajdu. 4. Any upcoming events/upcoming publications? What is your next project? Upcoming events? We've got lots! We're turning 10 after all! September 13th-14th is our annual sale, September 20th-21st is Warhammer weekend, September 27th-28th is Magic and WizKids. We finish it off on October 5th, with a signing and party in support of the Hero Initiative, with special guests, Rock Plaza Central. Also look for a 10th Anniversary poster by a noted artist. More info will be coming as we approach September, so check the website. Labels: comics retailers, summer reading, summer reading 08, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Sunday, August 17, 2008 A Talk with Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas on art, memory, and the power of small Admission is free; Reservations are required. Please e-mail cstudies@sfu.ca or call 778.782.5100. Find out more at:.geist.com/yahgulanaas-michael-nicoll "[His] paintings . . . represent a contemporary Haida inquiry into image and narrative . . . and they link Haida and non-Haida concerns through a popular culture medium." - Karen Duffek (UBC Museum of Anthropology, Curator of Contemporary Visual Art) Michael Yahgulanaas was born born in Prince Rupert in 1954 and raised in Delkatla, on Haida Gwaii. He has exhibited work around the world and currently has collections at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, as well as at the Kawasaki City Manga Museum in Japan. More.... Labels: British Columbia, can-con, Vancouver - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Andy & Ramon Take The Call Aug 24 Co: FacebookWhat do you get when you combine a dozen buckets of a acrylic paints, nine canvases, lots of coffee, a couple bottles of rye and a telephone theme... Stop by and find out. Type: Music/Arts - Exhibit Date: Sunday, August 24, 2008 Time: 8:00pm - 11:00pm Location: Insomnia Cafe 563 Bloor St. W. Toronto, ON View Map http://www.insomniacafe.com http://www.ramonperez.com http://www.andybelanger.com Labels: art show, can-con, events, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Summer Reading: Salgood Sam ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey comes from, Me. Please send Bryan yours. 1. Max Douglas. Aka Salgood Sam. Artist writer, other @ www.salgoodsam.com Cheers Labels: Quebec, summer reading, summer reading 08 - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Saturday, August 16, 2008 Summer Reading: Kurt Beaulieu ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey comes from Kurt Beaulieu. Please send us yours. 1. Name and occupation (contact info/website/publisher's website). Kurt Beaulieu http://www.comicspace.com/kurtbeaulieu/ 2. What is your latest project (ie, what are you hyping)? I've been working on a pile of pages that i hope to turn into a graphic novel someday. Some bits have been published here. 3. Please provide a list of books you have recently read or are planning to read. I've got a particular fascination for the art movements from the 1910-1930 period, so i've been reading "The Talented Intruder", Wyndham Lewis In Canada 1939-1945. A book about the dirty drawings of illustrator Tom Poulton. (Well...) The Joker, The Greatest Stories Ever Told. For the Joker Boners story alone. Labels: Quebec, summer reading, summer reading 08 - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Friday, August 15, 2008 More hot air about the so called DWA controversy. In response to The Doug Wright Awards' so called 'Canadian' language controversy, re: your defense of the Doug Wright Awards from Robert Haines. With all due respect to Robert, and due warning to future commenters. I don't have time to manually post comments for you. That's why we use an automated blogger system for the site, so I don't have to do things like that. It's password protected so that we don't get spammed to death. If you want to participate sign up. And if you waste my time with poorly thought through crap in my Email, If i do anything, it's more likely to be this - post you on the front page of the site to tear it apart. Don't get your hopes up, not doing it again for this subject. This one time to make a point, USE THE COMMENTS. Hello Max, I do not have a blog account and so I am unable to comment directly at Sequential. Please post this comment as found below: Bryan is deeply involved? I said closely involved, he helps organize at the events. I didn't characterize it as deep. I'll leave that for him to comment on if he feels inclined but it's truly irrelevant to the charge of discrimination. What this was about primarily. As for the the Prix Bedelys/hypothetical solution i proposed - I just suggested a collaboration, a sharing of resources, not a bloody "merger"! And how the hell is 'work alongside' any different from my 'trade for mutual benefit' or your 'pairing'. Don't be a prat. NOTHING comes up for the solid phrase "Canada's premier comic award" "Canada's premier comics and graphic novels awards" gets two hits, one is a TCAF/DWA site, the other is Dave Sim talking about the same auction as the first. To get anything else you have to take it out of quotes, and what you end up proving is that they are in fact well known in Lit circles, and have courted an elite profile from the start. Not THE. Take a look at the Jury Lineups. The press they get. The critical awareness of the work the nominate and awarded. Look up "Doug Wright Awards" in the news search. EXCLUDE us. EXCLUDE Brads past day job work at the CBC. what do you have? Along with many other sites, Walrus Magazine, Quill & Quire, Editor & Publisher, Publishers Weekly, Globe and Mail, etc. Not all nice long articles at all but some good coverage in some very prominent, NON comics media. The first two being Literary in fact. Do the same of ANY of the other awards currently in Canada. In the News search I ran on "The Shusters", not even "The Joe Shuster Awards" which draws a blank - I got one hit today, in an article about the DWA. It's a short reference about how the ONE thing they do, "nominally" better is award french language books....! hah! I love irony. Hey, I love that they are out there too, doing what they do. It's great they put together a special comity to nominate FR language books. I haven't got one bone to pick with any of the awards. But no others are an elite award with anything like a national profile! O_o [ <-this is me giving the hairy eye] The Shusters are Populous. Not elite. Not critically Primer. [ed: seems they switched, from their site-"Although these awards were chosen, in their first three incarnations, by a public vote, the process changed in 2007 to decision by a jury of individuals [ For the DWA, the Past Jury list includes Bruce McDonald, Mark Kingwell, Judy MacDonald, Lorenz Peter, Jessica Johnson, Ho Che Anderson, Marc Glassman, Katrina Onstad, Helena Reckitt, Mariko Tamaki. Chester Brown. Rebecca Caldwell, Nora Young, Jerry Ciccoritti & Don McKellar. Every year a film maker, at least one prominent member of the media if not two, someone from the Arts or Academia, and a critically significant cartoonist. With it's Jury's CV's on it's sleeve, and a purely Critical standard, ED: nominating a SINGLE book per Creator, The DWA are currently the most prominent, critically elite, highest standard bearing Award that ANYONE and EVERYONE in the country can be eligible for assuming they can fit into what is still, JUST TWO AWARDS CATEGORIES in ONE language. Because for now, it's a small operation despite it's critical standing and they do not have the time and money to do more! Would love to, but nope. ED: The Shusters have never had a Literary profile, it's not how they present themselves, or how the books they choose come off exclusively as a rule, as it pretty much is for the DWA. Great that they got a kick ass Jury now, but it's just true. Even the prize is a lot more classic comic book humble. Compared to this? The JSA don't promote an elite image, it's just a fact. They are not intentionally Literary at all. The DWA does, and is. And I don't think they are going to apologize for that. It's how they started, it's what they are all about. All of this only proves they have one front on which they truly discriminate, QUALITY. You can call it a small operation. Call it elitist. You can point out how incredibly small the community is leading to some very close associations that are frankly unavoidable. This is true for all awards let alone the all the comics awards in Canada. You could suggest we should sit around and wait for someone outside of the community to notice the work - which would be stupid. Far better we got off our asses and brought the outside in to see the work. Hey, you can even talk about how funny it was when Seth was given the very trophy he built himself the first year, and turned bright red and said himself how someone should have stopped that from happening as the jury sat and chuckled at him. Darwin Cooke also i suspect was bright red, when he stormed out of the ceremony yelling 'this is bullshit' and went to drink some more at the bar. That was pretty funny. But excluding Seth's book from the list, given it was the most wildly reviewed and lauded comic of the season hands down even without the nomination! Would have made the DWA claim to be for the Best Book false. It would have been the best book, barring having to compete with Seth's. He was asked to make the trophies before his book came out and was eligible for the list, or the list had even been drawn up. What ya' going to do? It's a small fucking scene people, thousands of creators but the cream is a thin skim on the top of it. And as it turns out a few creators of that caliber are amongst the ones who thought recognition for this kind of achievement was lacking in Canada and took it upon themselves to begin to do something about it. I personally cant thank them enough, even know I also personally felt out of my place at times being nominated that first year. Yep, that's right, I was nominated and here I am, dyslexic and too damn busy but still the guy running the ONLY web site so far dedicated exclusively to Canadian comics coverage and who cant get any of you other geeks to contribute unless it's to try to tear down shit. When if ever are more people in the 'community' going to work towards something instead of against? It's a FUCKING small scene and a lot of it is bloody lazy or superficial. Pardon my french. And you can complain all you like about that stuff. I, and I'm sure the DWA organizers will shrug and say, what's your point? Do you suggest it would be better not to have the DWA at all? 'cus these are the options for now. No one else was stepping up to do the job, to put an award like this together at all! The Shusters started around the same time and have very different goals. Before that, ZIP for a dog's age. So a group of Journalists, Critics, Super Fans and a couple of creators got together and made it happen with the help of the Wright family and some amazing volunteers. What have you done Robert? Better be good trying to pull this one. And I mean outside of being Deeply Involved with the Shusters yourself? That's great you doing that, but it brings your critique into some light don't it? Course line of it's a small world after all goes here. Calling the DWA anything else is BS. Calling it pretentious is redundant, and calling it, or suggesting it's bigoted against French comics or French creators is not only steaming hot BS, it's also offensive, dirty politics gaming, confrontational, and unsubstantiated. AND TO BE CLEAR, that was what Herve charged the DWA with. 100% FAIL Good day sir. Max Douglas, aka Salgood Sam. PS: want to comment on this? USE THE COMMENTS. Labels: awards, blogosphere, can-con, events, festivals, Letter to the Editor, publishing, tcaf - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 7comments - This Weekend: Vancouver Comic JamFrom Ed Brisson: When: Saturday, August 16th, 2008. 8pm until midnight. Labels: British Columbia, comic jams, events, Vancouver - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Thursday, August 14, 2008 The Doug Wright Awards' so called 'Canadian' language controversyWith a charged OP ed piece by Herve St-Louis, the publisher and editor for comicbookbin.com has kicked off a pretty intense conversation over the question of whether or not The Doug Wright Awards has the "right" to call itself a Canadian award. Tom Spurgeon has started to act as something of a neutral presenter of the issue, posting several responses to the first posting from St-Louis on The Comics Reporter. And there's alot of back and forth in the comments of PW The Beat. So far i've found the debate very interesting. I have a problem with the tone taken at the start by St-Louis myself; I feel he was pretty wildly hyperbolic in his analogies, and presents a basically false premise. And he seems upon a little asking around, to be speculating a lot about the intentions of the DWA organizers without information. There was a small amount of communication with our own Bryan Munn informally as a DWA representative on the subject, but it seems St-Louis cut that short and ran with his story. But from a purely rhetorical point of view, many have made some very good points on the broader subject. Bryan, who is responsible for most of the posting here on Sequential now, is bowing out of commenting on the debate on our site as he's closely involved with the Doug Wright Awards, so I'm going to try to keep on top of this for Sequential, work schedule permitting. I will be thinking on it and perhaps posting my own perspective more in the future but at this time a few things seem clear to me. First I think that it's clear the DWA's present themselves as A Canadian award, not THE Canadian awards. A point made by Brad MacKay but also consistent with my impression of their promotion of the awards. St-Louis's argument seems to be build a lot on the idea that something other than this is true. The About page's first short opening paragraph from the DWA site.
And, the very relevant last one...
And if testimony is required, going back to the first year of the awards, I can confirm from my own discussions with the organizers, that what Brad MacKay says in his official statement as true; That there has all along been very active discussion of how eventually to address the question of, at some point, bringing in a french language category. But that for now they lack the resources to do so. There has been no active discrimination against french creators in anyway, or a flat refusal to address the issue. Only a recognition that they are unequipped to review french language submissions at this time in a manor suited to the standards they set out for the DWA. And far from being presented as THE Canadian comics award, they are more like A Literary Canadian Comics Award in affect. And yes we could be really precise and call them The Doug Wrights, A Literary English Language Canadian Comics Award, but frankly as precise as that would be, it would be a terrible, terrible name! OK yes I'm being a little dramatic, but The Doug Wright English Canadian Comics Awards is truly not too much better. So it's the The Doug Wright Awards, period. As Hervé points out; hyphenation, and over qualification is a pain in the arse. The idea is to make the awards appealing, and interesting. Not boring and didactic. Now It's all very fine and well to say they could make the contacts here in Quebec, associate with a local award or start a parallel operation. But it takes two to tango, and speaking as an Anglo, living in Montreal, I have to say the French community here at least, when not too busy with their own things to be bothered, is seldom very welcoming or enthusiastic of this kind of collaboration over all. Nor do they reach out often themselves in a collaborative manner to make such things happen. It's like herding cats here on both sides of the language divide. Maybe in Alberta where Hervé lives now, he's unaware of this. He started out here so he should know. It was true more so when he lived here! It's true that in their own language sphere many people have done amazing things to promote local French work to an international French audience. But making the effort to promote their work to an audience that overwhelmingly won't be able to read it is never appealing to any publisher. Frankly I for one can't fault them for that. And far from generally being ignored by English Canada, I and many Anglo's have come to Montreal thinking we would be able to connect and build bridges with the french community, only to find a wall of often disinterested backs turned on us because we speak French as poorly as many of the Quebecois speak English. For those who are more engaged and welcoming - and there are many now - it's shrugs and a lack of interest in general. Not to say it's always cold, but I have not experienced a culture in a hurry to be embraced by it's English neighbors. They want more than not to be admired in their own language in their own region or in the EU. For those few desiring more English attention, they look south, like a lot of us here, were there are many many millions more in the audience than here. A practical issues more than not. I would put it to Herve that this often kind of insular approach, and a love of confrontation and conflict expressed to me by many of my Francophone Montreal peers, and as exemplified by the rather inflammatory examples in his post - Is as much if not more a problem than any active bigotry in the English community... "If the Harvey Awards, were to refuse all comic books by blacks or women, until they bleached their skin white or undergo hormone therapy to change their gender, it would be clear to everybody that their policy and the support of those awards was morally wrong" Really? Comparing asking for translations to bleaching skin, AND forced gender reassignment. Was one over the top inaccurate analogy not enough? Hmmmmm. Numerous times have I inquired locally in Montreal, as to why more effort is not made by French creators and publishers to translate the huge amounts of work produced here into English for the larger North American market. Or why there are so few sites promoting the Quebec community outside of the Francophone sphere. Coverage and effort has improved, yes, far more of both things happen now than just 5 years ago. But it's been very, very slow. And my said inquiries are more often than not responded to with shrugs and the refrain that they rather someone else do the work. They are too busy, it's as simple as that. No bigotry, no conspiracy, no surprising undercurrent of hate. I've done my own best when I've had the time to do so to promote local work, regardless of language, as has Bryan who is I'll repeat an active member of the DWA organization. I have tried at some length to recruit contributors for this very site to help cover the Quebec scene, as well as trying to find people on the coasts and in the mid west. I have constantly failed to find interested parties on all counts. Even Herve's own site spends most of it's time reporting on American, English comics. On the site's menu there is not even a way to filter the posts to view QC or Montreal stories. Just Cunuck. And I invite you to look for yourself to see how many are for French Language books.... It seems to me Herve is asking, demanding, others to confer praise for work he seldom promotes himself. No he does not call himself THE Canadian comic news site anymore than the DWA call them selves THE Canadian comic awards, but then this only furthers my point. I can understand that there are a lot of bruised egos, as I'm always reminded when I talk to my peers here in Montreal about this sort of thing. It does not come up nearly as often as Herve's article would suggest but sure, some feel a little left out. But I have a hard time giving too much credit to said egos, when they do so little to change the situation themselves through constructive positive actions. But rather it seems - when bothered to do anything - prefer to rant at supposed arms length about it. In this case at Provincial length, and without foundation or information speculating in an overwhelmingly demonizing way about the intentions of the 'Others' they think someone may perceive themselves slighted or ignored by. So what do I think they should do instead? How about this; I've not talked to anyone about this so I don't know if the will or means can be mustered, but say they do and could be. Say someone in QC, or the french community outside of QC cares about this all that much, and wants to do something. Say maybe the Prix Bedelys have any interest in this, that they take the initiative to put together a jury and reading list for a French language award to spotlight Original French books to the rest of Canada and the English comics reading world and any French readers who may be paying attention, to be presented at The Doug Wright Awards. They can also help raise funds locally for the prize and to pay for the trophy, and The Doug Wright Awards in turn give them the additional press and attention. The DWA orginization have the current problem of a lack of resources and means on their side addressed in this way. Maybe as a way to make this a mutual trade - not to besmirch anyone's best intentions; but the Bédélys trophy is not, well, all that impressive. Perhaps they also might be able to persuade the Doug Wright Awards rather famous trophy builder to help them out as well? Call it a trade for mutual benefit, and fix the problem by doing something about it, rather than making over the top and inaccurate analogies to civil rights abuses and the intentions of others you don't actually talk with before speculating on publicly. But in the mean time, until the French Comics community is willing or wants to be bothered to take on the task of promoting their own work to the rest of the world regardless if it's Francophone or not, I think it's a little disingenuous for someone in the to cry discrimination in this manor. A lack of means does not equate a intentional bigoted refusal. LINKS comicbookbin.com : The Wright Awards Discriminate Against Canadians A Response From The DWAs Regarding The Charge That They Discriminate PW The BEAT comments section where many have made thier thoughts known A Response From The DWAs Regarding The Charge That They Discriminate And having had a quick look, notably nothing yet from any French BD sites about this, they don't seem to care as yet to comment. Labels: Alberta, analysis, awards, bd, blogosphere, can-con, cartoonists, comics history, francophone, furries, Montreal, news, people, Quebec, tcaf - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 4comments - New Links and News-y Links ![]()
Labels: links, Lynn Johnston, New Brunswick, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Summer Reading: Danny Truong ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey comes from comics blogger Danny Truong. Please send us your own list. 1. Danny Truong / Pop Culture & Comic Book Fan (That's The Heavy!). 2. What is your latest project (ie, what are you hyping)? On September 13, 2008, I will be participating in a 5km charity walk for kidney research called Give the Gift of Life Walk. To help support my campaign to raise funds for the Kidney Foundation of Canada, you can go to my personal fundraising page and click 'Sponsor Me'. 3. Please provide a list of books you have recently read or are planning to read. Current Non-Comic Relate Book: My Honda Owner's Manual - I am trying to figure out what other parts of my car require servicing when I bring in my car for an oil change. Recently Read Comic Books/Graphic Novels: NO DEAD TIME by Brian MacLachlan & Thomas Williams; PAUL GOES FISHING by Michel Rabagliati; WATER BABY by Ross Campbell; and THE NEW YORK FOUR by Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly Currently Reading: THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1950-1952 v1 by the great Charles Schulz; and MAX FIND MYSTERY COLLECTED CASEBOOKS v1 & 2 by Liam O'Donnell & Michael Cho Looking forward to Reading: THEREFORE REPENT by Jim Munroe & Salgood Sam; The APOCALIPSTIX by Ray Fawkes & Cameron Stewart; and SHENZHEN by Guy Delisle. 4. Any upcoming events? Besides tons of comic book related events in Toronto, one of my friends is involved in the following upcoming charity events that is comic book genre related. Student Team SickKids & IMAX Present the Dark Knight at the Movies on August 11, 2008. The event will feature The Dark Knight playing on a 90 by 60 ft IMAX screen at the Scotiabank Theatre. The movie will begin at 10:15PM, but reception will occur at 9:00PM in the VIP Lounge. There will also be a silent auction beginning at 9pm. Labels: Ontario, summer reading, summer reading 08, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Summer Reading: Jamie Coville ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey comes from Jamie Coville. Please send us yours. 1. Name and occupation (contact info/website/publisher's website). Jamie Coville. Comics Columnist / Historian. CollectorTimes.com and TheComicBooks.com 2. What is your latest project (ie, what are you hyping)? Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon and San Diego Comic Con Coverage. Also a Mark Waid telephone interview about Boom! and his more recent written work. 3. Please provide a list of books you have recently read or are planning to read. They don't have to be comic books. (In fact, we would almost prefer they weren't.) Any number of books is fine. Please feel free to comment (ie, Why are you reading these books? What did you think?). Recently Read: Monster Vol. 15 - An Excellent Thriller. A must read along side Walking Dead. Clyde Fans Book 1 - A greatly executed book that makes a very mundane story interesting. I'll get Part 2. I Killed Adolf Hitler - Short and fun, the story had twists I didn't expect. Flash: Rogues - Part of a greater story. It was good, but not SO good that I'll actively seek out the rest. Wonder Woman: Eyes of the Gorgon and Land of the Dead - One of the better Wonder Woman stories I've read. Upcoming: The Punisher: River of Blood - Dixon and Joe Kubert on Punisher peaked my interest. Tales of the Bizarro World - Recently read the 1st Bizarro story,wanted to read more. Yen Press + Magazine - Mainly for Svetlana Chmakova's latest work, but I'm curious about the rest. Impulse: Reckless Youth - I liked the character, wanted to read more of him. Mrs. Tree Case Files Vol 2 & 3 - I read the 1st volume years ago and it stuck with me. Delighted to have found these books. Plus a handful of comics to review. Non Comics (but all comic related) The History of Romance Comics. Not a lot of detailed research has been done in this area, so I'm curious. The Golden Age of Comic Fandom Alter Ego #56 (Siegel interview and more) Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comic Fanzine Following Cerebus #9 4. Please list any upcoming events/upcoming publications. Your next project? I'll have a Neal Adams interview up on CollectorTimes.com either next month or the issue after. Labels: Ontario, summer reading, summer reading 08, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Monday, August 11, 2008 Big News Links: Lynn Johnston, Steven Harper, Muhammad ![]()
Labels: Alberta, awards, censorship, comic strips, grants, Lynn Johnston, political cartooning - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Summer Reading: Jeet Heer ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey comes from Jeet Heer. Please send us yours. 1. Name and occupation. Jeet Heer, www.jeetheer.com, http://sanseverything.wordpress.com/ 2. What is your latest project (ie, what are you hyping)? I've written the introduction to the first volume of the Complete Little Orphan Annie (published by IDW). 3. Please provide a list of books you have recently read or are planning to read. They don't have to be comic books. (In fact, we would almost prefer they weren't.) Any number of books is fine. Please feel free to comment (ie, Why are you reading these books? What did you think?). Fredric Jameson's Marxism and Form: Twentieth Century Dialectical Theories of Literature (A very dense and rewarding study of Western Marxist thinkers like Marcuse, Adorno, etc. There is a discussion of nostalgia which is highly relevant for understanding Seth, Chris Ware and Robert Crumb). Various short story collections like John Updike's Trust Me and K.D. Miller's A Litany in a Time of Plague. Various comic strips from the early 20th century (Little Nemo, Clare Brigg�s panels, Little Orphan Annie, Gasoline Alley). 4. Please list any upcoming events/upcoming publications. Your next project? I've co-edited (with Kent Worcester) A Comics Studies Reader (to be published later this year by University Press of Mississippi). Labels: comic strips, comics history, summer reading, summer reading 08 - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Friday, August 08, 2008 Wright Awards Winners CO: Brad Mackay via facebook.The envelopes are opened, the drinks are drank, and the 2008 Doug Wright Awards are over for another year. For those of you who couldn't make in person (I'm talking to you CoCo!) here are the winners: The 2008 DWA winner for Best Book is:The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam by Ann Marie Fleming (Riverhead Books) The 2008 DWA winner for Best Emerging Talent is: Essex County Vol. 1 Tales From The Farm & Vol. 2 Ghost Stories by Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf) The winner of the inaugural Pigskin Peters Award* is: Milk Teeth by Julie Morstad (Drawn and Quarterly) The trophies were handed out at the Toronto Reference Library, the historic main branch of the Toronto Public Library, in a 90-minute ceremony that featured Lynn Johnston. Johnston, the ceremony's guest of honour, was on hand to discuss her 32-year career and to be inducted in The Giants of the North, the Canadian Cartoonists' Hall of Fame. The medal was presented to her by Seth. (* The Pigskin Peters Annual Award for Nominally Narrative Cartooning – or PPAANNC - is intended to recognize progressive works by Canadian cartoonists that are more experimental in nature and/or lack a traditional narrative structure. It is named after a character in the classic Canadian comic strip Birdseye Center, by Jimmy Frise.) Labels: awards, events, graphic novels, Lynn Johnston, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Tonite: The Doug Wright Awards ![]() The 4th Annual Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning will honour the career of Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston, of For Better or For Worse fame. Friday, August 8, 7-9 p.m. Toronto Reference Library 789 Yonge St. Free admission Presented with Toronto Public Library, the event will feature: * A retrospective of Johnston's more than 30-year career * A moderated Q&A * A book signing The 2008 Wrights will also see announcement of the winners of: * The Best Book trophy * Best Emerging Talent trophy * The brand-new "Pigskin Peters" award The awards are decided by a jury made up of members of the country's arts and culture community, including: author Katrina Onstad, cartoonist Ho Che Anderson, book seller Marc Glassman, writer Mariko Tamaki and Power Plant curator Helena Rickett. Labels: awards, comic strips, comics in libraries, events, graphic novels, Lynn Johnston, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Thursday, August 07, 2008 Summer Reading: Simon MacDonald ![]() Our next Summer Reading Survey respondent is Sequential reader Simon MacDonald. Please send us your own list. Here are my answers: 1) Simon Mac Donald, Software Engineer. 2) Nothing to hype as I'm not a writer, just an avid reader. 3) The last 5 books I've read are: The Execution Channel by Ken McLeod, Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips, A Gentleman's Game by Greg Rucka, How to Read Superhero Comics and Why by Geoff Klock and Naruto Vol 8. I keep an update list of my books at http://www.shelfari.com/SimonMacDonald 4) The next big event I'm attending may be the Toronto Comic Con but I'm going to the Comic Geek Speak Super Show (http://www.comicpodcasting.com/cgsss/) for sure in September. Simon Mac Donald Blog: LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/simonmacdonald Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/SimonMacDonald Labels: Ontario, summer reading, summer reading 08, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Wednesday, August 06, 2008 Tonite: Apocalipstix Launch, TorontoFrom the Beguiling: APOCALIPSTIX Graphic Novel Launch Featuring Ray Fawkes and Cameron Stewart Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 8PM Revival Bar, 783 College (at Shaw) http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=25642968337 FREE The Beguiling is proud to present the official Canadian launch party for the new graphic novel THE APOCALIPSTIX by Toronto’s own Ray Fawkes and Cameron Stewart! This rollicking adventure story is set after the end of the world, featuring the last band on earth! Join us to celebrate this book’s release with the book’s authors as well as great music, live bands, door prizes, and much more! The event is All Ages (with wristbands for older folks that might like to imbibe) and totally FREE! see here for more Labels: book launches, events, graphic novels, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Tuesday, August 05, 2008 Summer Reading: Kevin Boyd ![]() Next up in the Sequential Summer Reading Survey is Toronto convention high lama Kevin Boyd. Please send us your own list. Kevin Boyd, Associate Director - Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association, Comic Book Event Coordinator - Hobbystar, Signature Series Director - Comics Guaranty, LLC (CGC). Upcoming: Comic Book Expo @ Fan Expo Canada - August 22-24, 2008 Upcoming sale of the Visions of an Icon: Superman original artwork Non-Comics currently reading: You did What? Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters - Bill Fawcett and Brian Thomsen, editors Non-Comics recently read: Apocalypse 2012 by Lawrence E. Joseph Comments: 2012 is an interesting look at a series of coincidental convergences of environmental and cosmic disasters that experts predict may come to a head around the year 2012, which interestingly enough ties into the end of the Mayan calender (that many feel represents the end of the world). I think I'll hold off on buying property until 2013. Comics and related on my to read pile: The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba The Starman Omnibus Vol. 1 by James Robinson and Tony Harris Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vol. 1 Whatever comes out on Wednesday Comics and related recently read (July 16-Aug 2): Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by Blake Bell The Apocalipstix by Ray Fawkes and Cameron Stewart Captain Marvel: Secret Invasion by Brian Reed and Lee Weeks Green Arrow/Black Canary: The Road to the Altar by various Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! by Howard Chaykin Absolute Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank Astro City: The Dark Age by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson Coraline by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell Criminal: The Dead and the Dying by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips Annihilation Conquest Vol. 2 by various Plus new single issues: Justice Society of America Annual 1, Superman/Batman 50, Wolverine 67, Ultimate Spider-Man 124, Invincible 51, Justice League of America 23, Brave and the Bold 15, Ultimate X-Men 96, New Avengers 43, Patsy Walker: Hellcat 1 and Glamourpuss 2 Comments: I highly recommend Bell's Ditko book, Flagg!, Superman and the Legion, Coraline and Criminal. Watchmen I re-read on the trip to and fro San Diego and always stands up. Apocalipstix was fun. Astro City, Annihilation and Captain Marvel collections were okay reads, while the Green Arrow/Black Canary trade was forgettable. As for the issues recently read, I'd recommend Invincible (big fan of this book), Wolverine, Glamourpuss. Ultimate Spider-Man and Justice Society of America were okay as well. Pass on the others. next project? Comic Book Expo @ Fan Expo Canada on August 22-24 Baltimore Comicon - late September for CGC Labels: Ontario, summer reading, summer reading 08, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Publishing: Scott Pilgrim Full-Colour Odds & Ends 2008 ![]() Scott Pilgrim Full-Colour Odds & Ends 2008 Bryan Lee O'Malley, writer/artist Oni, July 2008 32 pages read about it here Labels: floppies, graphic novels, publishing - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Monday, August 04, 2008 Comics history links ![]()
Labels: comics history, links, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Summer Reading: Diana Tamblyn ![]() First up in our Summer Reading Survey is cartoonist Diana Tamblyn: 1) Diana Tamblyn, cartoonist, web consultant, website - www.speedlines.com 2) My latest comic project is "From Earth to Babylon: The Story of Gerald Bull and the Supergun". This is a historical based work on the life of Canadian Gerald Bull - considered to be one of the most brilliant scientists of the 20th century. His work on artillery led him across the globe, from Canada to the Pentagon, Barbados, South Africa and Iraq - where he ultimately developed the "Supergun" for Saddam Hussein. He was unable to finish it off as he was assassinated in Brussels in 1990. 3) This will be a big reading list because I'm a voracious reader and I'm in the research phase of my project so have been reading a lot of related material: Unholy Babylon: The Secret History of Saddam's War; Golgo 13 - The Supergun - Tako Satto, Guns, Lies and Spies - Chris Cowley; Arms and the Man - William Lowther; Bull's Eye - James Adams; Fist of God - Frederick Forsythe; Three in the Back, Two in the Head - Jason Sherman. I went into this project knowing next to nothing about the middle east and as a lot of my story takes place there I'm really trying to educate myself about it. Reading all of these books has made me fairly discouraged about the state of the world as even though they all take place about 20 years ago now, all the themes are still very much in evidence today in terms of how the US deals with other countries, what subjects take priority on political agendas and all the back room dealing that goes on. Comics-wise, I've recently read the following (many of which I picked up at Mocca '08 in NYC): Freddie & Me - Mike Dawson, Street Angel - Jim Rugg and Brian Maruco, Emiko Superstar - Mariko Tamaki and Steve Rolston, Janes in Love - Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, New York Four - Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly, Pride of Baghdad - Brian Vaughn and Niko Hendrichon. Also have re-read The Long Halloween - Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb, and The Killing Joke - Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. Of all of these I was really impressed with Pride of Baghdad. Street Angel I loved because it was just sheer joy and fun on the page. It reminded me of why I like comics so much. To still read this month are a mixture of more books for research and some for fun - The Places in Between - Rory Stewart, Paris Kanonen and Project Harp - Gerald Bull and Charles Murphy, In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story - John Stockwell, The Apocalipstix - Cameron Stewart and Ray Fawkes, Strange and Stranger - Blake Bell, When you are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris, From the Earth to the Moon - Jules Verne. 4) Upcoming I will have a booth at Word on the Street on September 28th in Toronto. Then on October 23, I will be speaking at MIT to a graduate comparative media studies class along with Jeet Heer and Ho Che Anderson about comics. I am really excited about this and plan to have some artwork from my Bull project to show. That's it! D. (top image: portrait of Gerald Bull by Tamblyn) Labels: cartoonists, graphic novels, Ontario, summer reading, summer reading 08, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Saturday, August 02, 2008 Monastiraki presents Man Drawing Salon : The Exhibition ![]() The show runs August 5 through August 31st. collaborative drawings by Joe Ollmann, Todd Stewart and Vasilios Mavreas! Labels: art show, drawings, events, Montreal - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Friday, August 01, 2008 Upcoming: Comix and Stories, VancouverA big event featuring Kim Deitch. Full details here. a day of alternative & small press comics, zines, artwork & culture Sunday, August 24th, 2008 11am to 5pm Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC Special Guests: * Kim Deitch (The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Shadowland, All Waldo Comics) * Derek Kirk Kim (Good as Lily, Same Difference and Other Stories, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall) * Jesse Hamm (Good as Lily) * Julie Morstad (Milk Teeth, Where You Came From, When You Were Small) * Chris Von Szombathy (Fire Away) * James Stokoe (Wonton Soup, Popgun) * Brandon Graham (King City, Multiple Warheads, Escalator) * Moritat (Elephantmen) * Steve Rolston (The Escapists, One Bad Day) * James Lloyd (Other Stuff) * Damian Wilcox (Dorkboy) * Miriam Libicki (Jobnik) * Josue Menjivar (Everyday Things, Way Off Main) * Ken Boesem (The Village) * Robin Bougie (Cinema Sewer) * Owen Plummer (Flip Flop Prophets, Kittenclops) * Gabriel Frizzera (Codex) * Mike Myhre (Space Jet) * Robin Thompson (Champions of Hell, Hemp Island) * Kelly Everaert (Jungle Tales, Trilogy of Terror) * Steve LeCouilliard (Much the Miller's Son) * Verne Andru (420) * Toren Atkinson * Stephanie Blakey * Nick Chretien * Jesse Davidge * Laura Eveleigh * Susan Ferguson * Trevor Frick * Sarah Haxby * Mary Kim * Donald King * Carrie McKay * Justin Pasieka * Critty Riphick * Dex Thompson * Beth Wagner * Ted Wilson * Critical Hit Comics * New Reliable Press * Perro Verlag Books by Artists * The Radar Friends * and many more! Free Admission! It's true: admission to Comix & Stories is free, as the show is taking place in meeting rooms on the main and third floors of the building, but if you want to go view the exhibits, such as KRAZY!, inside the Gallery, regular admission prices apply ($19.50/adult, $14/student with ID, $6.50/children 5-12). Please note that some of the materials on display and for sale at this show may not be suitable for all ages. Creator/Publisher Tables: $35/$65 Vendor Tables: $65 Labels: British Columbia, events, Vancouver - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - Archive by Region Alberta - British Columbia - Calgary - Gatineau - Halifax - Moncton - Montreal - New Brunswick - Newfoundland - Nova Scotia - Ontario - PEI - Quebec - Saskatchewan - Saskatoon - Toronto - Vancouver - Victoria - Winnipeg - Archive by Month August 2002 - September 2002 - October 2002 - November 2002 - December 2002 - January 2003 - February 2003 - March 2003 - April 2003 - May 2003 - June 2003 - July 2003 - August 2003 - September 2003 - October 2003 - November 2003 - December 2003 - January 2004 - February 2004 - March 2004 - April 2004 - May 2004 - June 2004 - July 2004 - August 2004 - September 2004 - October 2004 - November 2004 - December 2004 - January 2005 - February 2005 - March 2005 - April 2005 - May 2005 - June 2005 - July 2005 - August 2005 - September 2005 - October 2005 - November 2005 - December 2005 - January 2006 - February 2006 - March 2006 - April 2006 - May 2006 - June 2006 - July 2006 - August 2006 - September 2006 - October 2006 - November 2006 - December 2006 - January 2007 - February 2007 - March 2007 - April 2007 - May 2007 - June 2007 - July 2007 - August 2007 - September 2007 - October 2007 - November 2007 - December 2007 - January 2008 - February 2008 - March 2008 - April 2008 - May 2008 - June 2008 - July 2008 - August 2008 - September 2008 - October 2008 - November 2008 - December 2008 - January 2009 - February 2009 - March 2009 - April 2009 - May 2009 - June 2009 - July 2009 - August 2009 - September 2009 - October 2009 - November 2009 - December 2009 - January 2010 - February 2010 - March 2010 - |