Both of my comic stores can no longer subsidize the chasm that is building between their costs and revenues. Fluctuating exchange rates of 5% to 10% were somewhat manageable but now approaching 30% with no signs of bottoming out or stability in the very near future? Well, that is starting to scare retailers.

Labels: blogosphere, comics retailers, dollar, international

Labels: links

Labels: lectures, Ontario, Toronto

www.torontocomicjam.com

Labels: comic jams, Ontario, Toronto

Labels: events, windsor

Labels: bd, events, photos, Quebec

• A short slide show of scenes from this past weekend's 9th Rendez-vous International de la BD in Gatineau, Quebec.

• Related: French-language profile of Thierry Coppee, creator of Toto; Swiss wordless graphic novel creator Daniel Bosshart.

• Walrus Mag comics blogger Sean Rogers walks us through his various Mystery Hoards (tm) from recent Toronto book sales. I recently found Steig's The Lonely Ones at a thrift store in Brantford, Ont.

• Alain M. Bergeron's Capt. Static kids book/comic reviewed in the Gazette.

• The charity-centric efforts of the cartoonists involved with 24-Hour Comic Day at Happy Harbor comic book shop are the focus of this profile in Metro-Edmonton.

• Zach Worton and John Martz meet Lynda Barry, the Star interviews her, while Xtra and the Post profile Chip Kidd (both were in T.O. this weekend).

Labels: links

Labels: comics in school, events, international

Labels: book launches, Canzine, cartoonists, comics on stage, events, events links, interviews, Ontario, Toronto

Labels: awards, graphic novels, news, Ontario, skim, Toronto

Labels: links

Labels: events, international

When: Saturday, October 18th, 2008. 8pm until midnight.
Where: Clubhouse Japanese Restaurant
255 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver
Who: Anyone who is of legal drinking age is invited.
How Much: Free. Bring your own pencils/pens. Paper is provided.

I've reserved the upstairs room at the Clubhouse Japanese Restaurant for the Jam. I've been told to let everyone know that there is a maximum capacity of roughly 25 people. If there is overflow, we can always take a table or so downstairs.

Also, if you're drawing with markers that bleed through paper, be sure to either bring a drawing surface or place extra sheets of paper under the paper you're drawing on.

Crosspost as you see fit.

Labels: comic jams, Vancouver

Labels: book launches, events, graphic novels, Vancouver

Canada imported $3.96-billion worth of cultural products in 2007 - the last year for which statistics are available - while exporting only $1.96-billion worth of cultural goods. Printed materials account for the majority of imports, including $1.4-billion of books and $1.1-billion of newspaper and periodicals, while film and video imports were a comparatively paltry $297-million, or about 7.5 per cent.

Trade with the United States accounts for 75 per cent of cultural imports, worth just under $3-billion, and 90 per cent of exports, worth almost $1.8-billion.

Labels: international, publishing

Labels: bd, book launches, can-con, cartoonists, conventions, events, events links, exhibits, festivals, Gatineau, Ottawa, profiles, Quebec

Labels: conventions, events, Manitoba, Winnipeg

Labels: bd, can-con, conventions, events, events links, exhibits, festivals, Gatineau, Ontario, Quebec

Expozine No.7!

@ 5035 St-Dominique [map] (Eglise Saint-Enfant Jesus, between St-Joseph and Laurier, near Laurier Metro).

Free admission!

Creators of all kinds of printed matter and crafty DIY fun will be in attendance, in numbers! - from books to zines to posters and comics - in both English and French. In the past seven years, Expozine has become one of North America's largest small press fairs, attracting thousands of visitors as well as exhibitors from as far afield as Chicago, Toronto, Ottawa, and Quebec City! That's the PR, but it truly is a smorgasbord of cool stuff!

Drop buy and discover multitudes of things that are often difficult to find anywhere else, much less all in one room! One very big, sometimes steamy room being a November [MTL winter] crowd so bring stuff you can peal off easy, and something to carry it and all the cool books and stuff you're bound to end up buying! Also there's usually some good eats sold on sight, and lots of prime spots for food or drinks in the area.

Most of the Montreal art and DIY crowd show up on one side of the tables or the other, and there's usually some off site part time stuff going on too.

To reserve a table at Expozine, you can fill out the online registration form before November 17, 2008, or mail the printed form to Archive Montreal, box 1232, Place d'Armes, Montreal Que. H2Y 3K2.

They are also looking for sponsors folks, contact them at expozine@archivemontreal.org if your interested.

www.expozine.ca

Check out this Flickr slide show of past Expozines, to get a taste of what to expect.

Labels: book launches, conventions, events, events links, Expozine, Montreal, Quebec, small press, zine fair, zines

Labels: conventions, Montreal, Quebec

If we agree that Canada should have a distinctive policy for its comic book industry, then the next question is what strategy to must use to enact its policy. Should the Canadian Government and provinces be actively supporting the comic book industry through grants, loans, tax credits, or help for representation abroad? Should for example, a special push be made to create comic books for special groups like children and aboriginal Canadians? In the book world, most type of literature is supported, but material such as cookbooks and travel material are not supported to the same extent as fiction. In the film world, the government does not support pornography, reality television, and game shows. In animation, because most of the contents is geared towards children, there are stricter guidelines and requests for clear overt Canadian contents in the works. In video games, there doesn't seem to be any oversight over the contents of the products, probably because the job creation aspect is the ultimate objective of the government as opposed to the promotion of Canadian culture.

There are many genres of comic books touching very different target markets, not sound support strategy can be generated without first understanding what it is one seeks to promote. In hindsight, perhaps Canadian comic book readers should take their local industry more seriously and start asking themselves what kind of comic books they would like their fellow Canadians to create.

Labels: analysis, blogosphere, can-con, news

Allo, pascal girard (www.paresse.ca) et moi (velue.blogspot.com) sommes a St-Malo, en ce moment, pour tout le mois d'octobre, dans le cadre d'une residence organisee par le festival Quai des bulles (www.quaidesbulles.com). On a demarre un blog pour l'occasion : Les malouins temporaires (lesmalouinstemporaires.blogspot.com), qui vous donnera l'occasion de plus ou moins suivre nos aventures (!) bretonnes.

Et en passant, au Quebec, nos deux nouveautes de la rentree sont sorties : Tantrum, de Jules Feiffer (traduction francaise d'une de mes livres preferes) et Par un fil, de Jean-Nicolas Vallee (enfin un livre personnel de ce veteran de la bande dessinee quebecoise). Si votre libraire prefere ne les a pas, il est incompetent. Donc il serait grand temps pour vous de changer de libraire prefere (faites-lui remarquer, quand meme).

D'ici la mi-novembre, aussi, paraitront (pas chez MG mais dans la collection [strips] des 400 coups, aussi dirigee par votre humble serviteur) un nouveau Ben, de Daniel Shelton (L'envers de la retraite, qui reprend l'integrale des strips de la deuxieme année de Ben) et le gros evenement : Une piquante petite brunette, qui rendra enfin disponible une partie de l'oeuvre d'Albert Chartier, pionnier de la bande dessinee quebecoise.

Et a la Pasteque paraitra sous peu le recueil Paresse de pascal girard et Quelque part au debut du XXe siecle, collctif dirige par Nicolas Langelier pour lequel j'ai fait quelques dessins.

A bientot,

bise aux filles,

Jimmy

--
Jimmy Beaulieu
-----------------------------------
mecanique generale >>> www.mecaniquegenerale.org
la chronique velue >>> http://velue.blogspot.com/
monsieur populaire >>> www.myspace.com/monsieurpopulaire

Labels: bd, blogosphere, can-con, canadians abroad, events, events links, festivals, francophone, Montreal, Quebec

"I've been covering the comic book industry for years and have always found the level of professionalism and maturity of players involved lacking. Many times, I have written and said that what passes for public discourse in this industry would get all participants fired from their respective jobs, were they in any other mature industry." - Herve St-Louis

Labels: analysis, awards, blogosphere, can-con, cartoonists,