Archive for the "International" Category

11.May.2013 TCAF Preview Review: The Library by Chihoi

“You Know This Man Has Translated The Chinese Name of Coca-Cola…”

The Library
by Chihoi
Conundrum International
ISBN 1-894994-72-8
978-1-894994-72-9
184 pages, black and white, hardcover
$20

review by BK Munn

Chihoi Lee, who creates comics under the pen name Chihoi, is one of the leading figures in Hong Kong’s tiny alternative comics scene. While most of the comics market in China is dominated by Japanese manga and the Japanese-inflected manhua industry, represented in North America mostly by a handful of genre exercises published by the same people who publish Sailor Moon and Bleach, for the past decade or so a small core of writers and artists, influenced in part by the wider world of art and literature, as well as European comics in general, have carved out a niche for themselves producing personal and sometimes political work for a growing audience. Emerging from the 90s magazine collective Cockroach, Chinhoi has gone on to co-found the group Springrolllll, made up of 5 of the most well-known “alt” cartoonists at work in the HK scene.

As evinced in this collection, the first English-only translation for the artist after a series of European publications, and the flagship title of Canadian publisher Conundrum’s new “International” imprint, Chihoi is a very subtle cartoonist, more concerned with self-expression and memory than some of his contemporaries. While not exactly a crackerjack draftsman, his cartooning is nonetheless very evocative and gestural, with an attention to body language, atmosphere, and pacing; adept at creating a feeling of space and interesting patterns, with a meandering line and regular panel grids. While some of the stories here are traditional pen, brush and ink productions, with a moderate amount of hatching and deep blacks, others are reproduced from pencils, full of sketchy lines, smudges, and shading. In this regard he has much in common with some of his more avant garde North American contemporaries like C.F. and even Kim Deitch, although he also cites Anke Feuchtenberger, Amanda Vähämäki, and the FRMK artists as influences.

Chihoi comes across as a very literary cartoonist, in the sense that many of his stories remind us of Modernist fiction touchstones like Borges and Kafka, replete with dreams, doppelgangers, labyrinths, libraries, and odd transformations. The title story, “The Library,” follows an anonymous library patron as he searches for a book mentioned in a text he inherited from his grandmother. A malevolent library clerk lets our hero into the stacks, but confiscates the incriminating book, tearing out the reference and tossing the remaining binding onto a passing cart. The hero then descends through a series of increasingly tiny and more-hellish reading rooms, until arriving in a cramped, Alice-in-Wonderland-style cave where he sits between two skeletons (his grandparents?) and reads the book he has been searching for. The same clerk reappears in the next story, “Borrowed Books,” reprising his role as bespectacled agent of bureaucracy, as part of a narrative in which an old man attempts to accumulate, by hook or by crook, all the books his dead wife ever read, in order to burn them at her shrine and them immolate himself in a fatal fit of loneliness and heartbreak.

Of the other stories, “Sorry” has a Killoffer vibe, “The Sea” and “I’m With My Saint” are almost post-Impressionist, and “Summer” and “Father” read as poignant surrealist-autobio, a la Chester Brown. Chihoi has a lot to say about family, love, and anxiety and his stories reward careful contemplation and rereading. His art is funny, absurd, depressing, and poetic in almost equal measure and the comics in The Library are a welcome addition to the ever-widening world of comics.

10.May.2013 Tonite: Hernandez Brothers TCAF Kick-off Event

Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez in Conversation with Tom Spurgeon

by BK Munn

The last time Los Bros were in Toronto was a generation ago, so don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime mighty meeting of titans in Hogtown.

NOTE: You must register here for FREE tickets!

TCAF 10th Anniversary Kick-Off Event
Featuring Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez, in conversation with Tom Spurgeon
Friday, May 10, 2013
@ The Bram and Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge St, Toronto, Ontario, 2nd Floor
Doors at 7:00pm. Ticket valid until 7:20pm. Rush-line admtitance from 7:20pm-7:30pm

Come kick-off the 10th Anniversary of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival with us on the evening of Friday, May 10th! TCAF will welcome to the stage alt-comix legends Gilbert Hernandez and Jamie Hernandez, as they engage in a lively career-spanning conversation with The Comics Reporter’s Tom Spurgeon! Both artists will also sign autographs and meet with fans at the event. Selections from their complete comics library will be available for sale at the event.

Plus! A look back at ten years of TCAF with some very special guests.

Presented by Toronto Reference Library and The Beguiling Books & Art, with support from Drawn & Quarterly Books and Fantagraphics Books.

09.May.2013 Tonite: Comics in Translation,Toronto

TCAF: Other Tongues: International Cartoonists Discuss Their Work in Translation

by BK Munn

The poster features Ulli Lust, David B. Frederick Peeters, Judith and Vanistendael, but I’m not sure if any or all will be in attendance for the event?

Here’s the PR from the facebook page:

“Have you ever wondered what your favourite French, Belgian, and other European artists think about the English translations of their books? What jokes or turns-of-phrase wouldn’t quite work in any other language? Between words and pictures, what gets lost in translation? What new meanings emerge? This is your chance to hear some of TCAF’s European guests speak in at least two languages in an informal setting, and even ask them some questions yourself! Hosted by The Beguiling’s Peter Birkemoe, and featuring a bevy of TCAF’s Featured guests.”

The Pilot Tavern
22 Cumberland St., Toronto
7pm – 10pm
(a licensed event)

30.Apr.2013 Conundrum Press to Translate Brooklyn Quesadillas by Antony Huchette

by BK Munn

Conundrum Press announced yesterday they will publish the English-language translation of Antony Huchette’s graphic novel Brooklyn Quesadillas, scheduled to be published by Cornelius in French later in 2013. Conundrum plans to have their own edition on hand for the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival in November. The French-born Huchette currently lives in Brooklyn, where he works as an animator. He has previously published the graphic novel La Marée Haute through 6 Pieds Sous Terre and the series Love Machine Comics (self-published). According to Conundrum, “The book follows a young father as he navigates the surreal streetscapes of Brooklyn, trying to produce a tv show hosted by a coffeepot, while tracking down forgotten sitcom stars from the eighties who live on a ‘fantasy’ island.”

The Huchette book joins the upcoming The Library by Chihoi in Conundrum’s “International” imprint. The book will be translated by Edward Gauvin. English rights were negotiated through Nicolas Grivel Agency, the representative of Canadian Nina Bunjevac and several international names like Igort, Ulli Lust, and Blutch.

11.Apr.2013 The last week for Dracula Son of the Dragon, the kickstarter needs your help!

Full disclosure, this if a personal project of the publisher of this site.

Mark Sable (Graveyard of Empires, Unthinkable) and our own Salgood Sam (Sea of Red, Therefore Repent!) would like to tell you a story, about how the young prince of wallachia lots his soul and became Bram Stokers’ Dracula.

The book is called Dracula Son of the Dragon. To help get it started they’ve been holding a Kickstarter drive to fund the first book of a four part series.

Described as starting in young Vlad’s childhood, “he will learn hard early lessons in politics and betrayal, as a young prince in his native Wallachia. As a prisoner of the Ottoman Turks, how to inflict pain and instill fear in his enemies. And of the dark arts in a scholomance hidden on Lake Hermannstadt.”

Their Kickstarter got off to a great start but is in need of some help to make it’s goal. They are looking to raise 14k, to fund getting the book drawn, and pay for special editions created for the drive. With the bulk of the fund going to supporting Salgood Sam while he draws the book. A case of being able to directly back an independent creator while they make a book for you, personally!

They have a smart set of rewards that include a range of limited editions – drive only trade paperbacks, hand bound soft and hard leather bound editions. Art is on the table, writing chores, walk on parts for a few. One backer is even having Mark read the story to them poolside and getting swimming lessons!

Both creators have a track record in mainstream and independent comics of producing strong work. Dracula is a totally independent production, with the initial planned limited print editions being put out by Salgood’s boutique imprint Spilt Ink exclusively, And slated to be serialized in Salgood’s Revolver Quarterly for the general audience.

The same roof under which his upcoming graphic novel Dream Life will be released. Scheduled to drop at TCAF 2013 in Toronto, May 17-18th. A nearly full preview of Dream Life can be read online. It’s a different genre but contains some beautiful examples of his work. He completed that book as well with the help of a successful funding drive on Indiegogo, making this his second crowdfunding venture.

The Kickstarter dive is ending on the 17th of April, if they fall short of the goal it’s going to be by a slim margin, Mark and Sam are considering trying again there in that case, or using indiegogo perhaps. But would much rather entertain your pledges now to make it the first time.

08.Feb.2013 Conundrum’s Andy Brown at Angouleme

Along with cameos by Smurfette, Chester Brown and Herge, Conundrum Press publisher Andy Brown reports on his trip to the Angouleme comics festival in France: “Hopefully one day I can return to a place where comics are respected, nay even revered.”

22.Jan.2013 Winnipeg Art Gallery thrust into Marvel Original Art Theft Controversy Spotlight

by BK Munn

Sean Howe, author of the recent history Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, has unearthed an old memo about the sale of original art to a Canadian gallery. Posting on the tumblr site used to promote his book, Howe displays the smoking gun of Marvel correspondence listing the artwork sold to the gallery, which includes work by John Romita, Gil Kane, and others. The memo is the first documented proof that accounts for artwork that went missing from the Marvel warehouse before the company began returning originals to freelancers in the mid-70s. This missing artwork, including thousands of early pages by Jack Kirby, is at the centre of a conflict between Kirby, the Kirby estate and Marvel/Disney that continues to this day. Long assumed stolen or destroyed, Howe’s discovery is the first to show possible malfeasance on the part of the company: since the company did not technically own the originals, it could not legally sell them. The artwork in question was displayed by the as recently as 2006.

The WAG is the 6th largest public gallery in Canada with 10s of thousands of items in its permanent collection. Sequential covered the 2006 Funny Papers exhibit here.

17.Jan.2013 TCAF Announces Feature Guests, Reveals Poster

Art Spiegelman Heads List

by BK Munn

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival has announced its initial slate of featured guests for 2013. Taking place May 11th and 12th 2013 at the Toronto Reference Library, this year’s show will feature an international group of headliners including Art Spiegelman (Maus, Co-Mix), Francoise Mouly (Art Editor of The New Yorker, Founder of Toon Books, Co-Founder RAW Magazine), Taiyo Matsumoto (Tekkon Kinkreet, Sunny), Raina Telgemeier (Smile, Drama), Blutch (So Long, Silver Screen), Gengoroh Tagame (The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame), Dash Shaw (BodyWorld, New School), and Canada’s own Maurice Vellekoop (Gloria Badcock). Vellekoop also designed this year’s poster, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the festival.

The 10th anniversary is the subject of an art show at the Steamwhistle Gallery featuring contributions from every past guest of the festival on the subject of comics and Toronto. TCAF events will also include The World Of Taiyo Matsumoto exhibit, and the debuts of new books by Matsumoto, Shaw, and Spiegelman. PictureBox will also debut The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame: The Master of Bara Manga, designed by Chip Kidd and introduced by literary icon Edmund White, billed as “a collection of works by [the] undisputed gay bondage comics master.”

A regularly-updated lists of books scheduled to debut at TCAF can be seen here. Exhibitors and publishers are listed as well.

full press release here

01.Nov.2012 The C-List: Kate Beaton and Comics People Respond to Hurricane Sandy

The hurricane has come and gone, leaving a huge expensive mess, death, and destruction in its wake all across the U.S. Eastern seaboard. I haven’t heard anything specific about comics people suffering great losses due to the storm but I can’t imagine, viewing CNN footage of towns in New Jersey underwater, that there isn’t a comic shop, collection, or artist’s studio somewhere that has been damaged or otherwise adversely affected. Here’s a couple things I have seen:

Item! Kate Beaton sketched during the storm and its immediate aftermath. Such a great casual line. (Beaton also just sold out of a limited edition of 500 sketchbooks.)

Item! Gary Panter shares harrowing news of his neighbourhood on facebook.

Item! Heidi takes a stroll though the NYC comics landscape.

Item! Tom Spurgeon has the news, or non-news as the case may be, via Bill Kartalopoulos, that the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival is on schedule for its November 10 opening.

02.Oct.2012 Koyama to Publish Nathan Bulmer and Jane Mai in November

by BK Munn

Toronto’s Koyama Press has announced two new titles making their début in November 2012: EAT MORE BIKES by Nathan Bulmer and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH BOYS by Jane Mai.

27.Aug.2012 Let’s Help Sandeep

As a result of last week’s devastating fire in Waterloo, Aardvark-Vanaheim communications director Sandeep Atwal was left homeless.

I understand that not only the equipment and negatives being used for the Cerebus digital project but also Atwal’s collection of Dave Sim sketches and drawings, among other personal possessions, were destroyed.

When I contacted him via email, Atwal shrugged off his loss, noting he was physically okay and the things he had lost were “just stuff”. I’m sure he could use a bit of cheering up and maybe some new stuff?

Luckily, the Cerebus Fangirl blog has stepped up and started a Paypal donation fund for Atwal. Click here to “help Sandeep.”

09.Aug.2012 TCAF Offers Tokyo Exhibit Space to Canadian Cartoonists

The Catch? You’ve Got to Pay Your Own Way

by BK Munn

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival will be exhibiting at the inaugural Kaigai Manga Festa, dedicated to non-Japanese comics, in Tokyo, Japan on November 18th. The TCAF folks, in the person of director and Japan-ophile Chris Butcher, have made an offer of exhibit space to Canadian cartoonists.

Writes Butcher: “TCAF will be making available exhibition space at Kaigai Manga Festa, for free, to any Canadian cartoonist who has exhibited at TCAF at least once since its inception. Basically, if you can get yourself to Tokyo, we will help you exhibit your comics and promote your work to the more than 40,000 attendees of this event (not to mention international publishers, licensing agents, etc. in attendance!). We will also probably do things like organize group dinners and teach you how to ride the train, that sort of thing, but the big thing is: Come promote your work and further your career in Tokyo.”

The Kaigai Manga Festa is festival-within-a-festival being held within Comitia, a comics event with an alt/art comics focus and attendance of 40,000 (TCAF had an attendance of 18000 in 2012). Sounds like fun! Butcher has tons more info and a FAQ at the TCAF site.

21.Jul.2012 San Diego Panel Recordings and Pictures

Jamie Coville wrote us with the links for his haul of goodies.

He’s posted online a whooping 16 panels, and the Will Eisner Awards!
Job well done Jamie!

It’s all posted here, and 174 Photos here.
And he prepared the following post, pared with photos for us, after the jump…

(more…)

12.Jul.2012 Brother. Prince. Snake. on Tor & The Year of the Beasts

Been meaning to post about Cecil Castellucci’s new book The Year of the Beasts, with one of my favorite comics artists Nate Powell.

I’m in the midst of reading The Silence of Our Friends now.

The Year of the Beasts is an interesting sounding experiment in terms of formalism. Combining chapters in pure text alternating with ones in sequential art.

I’ve not read it yet but i’m excited to check it out. Both authors are very accomplished storytellers so if anyone is going to make that mix work. If you’ve read it let us know what you think in the comments! From what can be gleaned at a pass online a lot of people are liking it. Here’s a selection of linkage to drill down a little on the book with. They are getting a pretty good spread on Goodreads.com. Shelf-awareness.com says “Castellucci’s prose brims with wise observations about the all-consuming feelings of adolescence“. San Diego CityBeat posted “Powell’s loose, black and white illustrations bring this strange world to life in evocative fashion. But what’s most impressive about Castellucci’s storytelling is her manipulation of time and metaphor to create an ending that is poignant, powerful and unexpected”. Yareview.net posted a cool mutual interview about the creation of the book here. And comicsbeat.com listed it as one of The Hottest Graphic Novels of 2012!.

I was inspired/reminded to finally post about it when notice of her new short story Brother. Prince. Snake on Tor.com, which I extra like the posting of for it’s wonderful dragon illustration by Sam Burley.

05.Jul.2012 Final Slate of Xeric Grant Winners Announced

2 Canadians Among Grant Recipients

by BK Munn

The final slate of winners of the Xeric Grant, the comic book self-publishing prize established in 1992 by Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird, have been announced.

As Laird announced last year, this is the last group of grants to receive funding ever from the Xeric Foundation before it shuts down permanently, having given out over $2 million to young cartoonists in a 20-year period.

Among the 17 winners this last time around, are two Canadians. Shih-Mu Dino Pai and Elaine M. Will.

Vancouver art teacher and self-confessed Ninja Turtle fan Shih-Mu Dino Pai won for his first graphic novel Dear Beloved Stranger. You can see a promotional video of the book here and a sample of Dino’s comics work here.

Saskatchewan-based Elaine M. Will won for her graphic novel Look Straight Ahead, which Will describes as “a real-life drama about mental illness, loosely based on my own experience during autumn of 2002.”

With this book, Will is “attempting to explore, as realistically as possible, all the situations that go along with this: What does it mean to be “crazy?” What are some of the stigmas associated with mental illness? What are some of the negative side effects of antidepressants and other medications?”

The book has been serialized as individual issues and online. currently Elaine is posting pages or chapter 6 so there’s quite a lot to take in.

25.Jun.2012 Shary Boyle to Represent Canada at 2013 Venice Biennale

Artist Became Known for Comics-Like Drawing

by BK Munn

Toronto artist Shary Boyle has been named as Canada’s chosen representative to the prestigious 55th International Art exhibition at the Venice Biennale for 2013, according to Marc Mayer, Director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada in a surprise announcement Friday night at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art Toronto (MOCCA).

Mayer spoke on behalf of the National Gallery of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts who are again working in partnership to organize the Canadian representation at the 2013 Venice Biennale. The only international visual arts exhibition to which Canada sends official national representation, the Biennale is among the most important contemporary exhibitions in the world and will showcase official entries from over 80 countries. The Canada Pavilion is situated in the heart of the historic exhibition grounds and has presented the work of some of Canada’s most accomplished artists on the world stage for over 60 years. (The Globe and Mail reports on the sorry state of the Pavilion and the lack of Canadian funding here.)

Boyle has become known in comics circles for her narrative drawings. Combining drawings with text, her early work explored themes of shame, sexuality, and body image in an autobiographical mode similar to the work of comics makers like Aline Kominsky, Megan Kelso, and Julie Doucet, but without those artists’ more traditional approach to word-balloon-heavy sequential storytelling. Her works on paper (she now works extensively in ceramics) fall somewhere between the Royal Art Lodge/Marcel Dzama schools and the comics and collective doodle art of Marc Bell. In 2004, Conundrum Press released Witness My Shame, a collection of Boyle’s self-published mini-books filled with captioned drawings depicting embarrassing life moments and romantic humiliations. Her work has also appeared in the U.S. avant garde comics anthology Kramers Ergot (issues 6 and 7), leading her to be sometimes associated with that aspect of contemporary comics making, although she recently noted that “the world of comics can be a sequestered and dusty place.” Boyle remains the only artist associated with comics to represent a country at Venice, although some U.S. artists (Crumb, Chris Ware) have showed at the bigger American Biennials (Whitney, Sante Fe).

The selection committee for the Venice show included Gaëtane Verna, Director of The Power Plant, Toronto; Timothy Long, Head Curator of the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina; Sarah Fillmore, Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax; Josée Drouin-Brisebois and Marc Mayer of the National Gallery of Canada.

Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Curator of Contemporary art at the National Gallery of Canada, will be the curator for the Canadian project.

According to the National Gallery’s press release, Boyle is known for her “bold, fantastical explorations of imaginary narratives featuring a cast of marginal characters. By giving voice to these alienated figures she redeems their emotional states of pain, grief and anger with defiant grace. Employing a high level of hand-made craft and detail her multi-disciplinary practice mines the history of porcelain figurines, animist mythologies and arcane techniques to create a symbolic language uniquely her own.

Fueled by her concerns about class and gender injustice, Boyle transgresses traditional boundaries between human and animal, animate and inanimate, life and death, young and old, male and female. The artist embraces the realm between the tangible and intangible – the soul and what is timeless, essential. From sculpture to projection she translates her personal vision of sexuality, relationships and human vulnerability through a poetic and humane lens.”

Gallery director Marc Mayer sees her as “one of Canada’s most innovative mid-career artists”

Born in Scarborough, Ontario in 1972, Boyle graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1994 and has had solo exhibitions in Canada, the United States and Europe, most recently Fleshand Blood at UQAM, Montreal, Quebec which traveled to Art Gallery of Ontario and Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver (2011); Canadian Artist at the BMO Project Room, Toronto (2012); The Illuminations Project with Emily Duke at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia (2011); Moon Hunter at Fumetto Festival, Lucerne, Switzerland (2009) and The History of Light at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge (2008). Boyle also participated in L’Espace des métamorphoses, Biennale internationale de Vallauris, France (2012); Le sort probable de l’homme qui avait avalé le fantôme in conjunction with Nouveau Festival, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2009); Noise Ghost (Shary Boyle and Shuvinai Ashoona), Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Hart House, University of Toronto (2009); My Winnipeg, La Maison Rouge, Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris (2011) which traveled to Musée International des Arts Modestes, Sete, France and Plug In ICA, Winnipeg (2012). Shary Boyle has performed at the Olympia Theatre, Paris (2005), The Sonar Festival, Barcelona (2005), The Hammer Museum, LA (2006, 2008), Brooklyn Academy of Music (2008), La Maison Rouge, Paris (2011) and presented a new theatre work Everything under The Moon with musical collaborator Christine Fellows at the Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto in February 2012. Shary Boyle was a finalist for the Sobey Award (2007, 2009), the recipient of the Gershon Iskowitz Prize (2009) and the Hnatyshyn Foundation Award in 2010.

31.May.2012 For immediate release: Eagle Awards continue to fly high!

Just got this in the mail now, thought i’d get it up asap seeing as I talked about this in my last post about the awards – “Jeff Lemire lands one of the last Eagle Awards“ – It seems news of the name change was, premature.

“People often say ‘Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet’ and this is one of those times,” announced Eagle Awards chair Cassandra Conroy.

Referring to an announcement made by MCM Expo’s Bryan Cooney at the conclusion of 2012 Eagle Awards ceremony on Friday night, she added, “To paraphrase Mark Twain: The reports of the Eagles’ death have been greatly exaggerated.

“Neither my father (Eagle Awards founder Mike Conroy) nor I attended Friday night’s ceremony, which we were boycotting in response to actions that are now being reviewed by my lawyer. Thus we don’t know exactly what Bryan said,” she explained. “However, with Bleeding Cool posting that Friday night’s ceremony was ‘the end of the road for the Eagle Awards after 30-some years and from next May, there’d be something called The MCM Awards instead.’ and others suggesting that next year the Eagles would be transformed into entirely new awards. I feel the need to put the record straight…”

“The Eagles are neither dead nor morphing into anything else. MCM Expo is in no position to announce, imply or indicate otherwise,” Conroy stated. “In fact no third party can casually discard what my father has developed over the past 36 years. The Eagles will continue to soar into 2013 and beyond. We’ll be announcing further details of our plans for next year in the near future.”

For interviews or further information on the Eagle Awards contact:
Cassandra Conroy: cassandraconroy@gmail.com
Mike Conroy: demigod@btconnect.com

30.May.2012 The First Festival BD de Montréal, June 1st-3rd

The fist FBDM, Festival de Bandes Dessinées de Montréal, is this coming weekend.

News to me, not much press to the English media it seems. Well, then again it’s been a while since I read the local weeklies.

Mostly free to attend I think, it’s being held in senic Parc La Fontaine, at the Space La Fontaine [map]. Part of the set up will be under shelters but outdoors, under the wings you can see in the illustration for the show. Here’s some shots of the space and the floor plan. Photos link to source, including this one in a old local issue of the Merto paper that talks about recent renovations to the space. Interested to see that. 8 years ago or so it was a sad cafeteria, but i’ve not looked back in since. The grounds are gorgeous. The Daily schedule is here, day one starts at 1pn, two and three at 10am.

Weather permitting it should make for a lovely atmosphere.  The organizers, in collaboration with Lyon Comics Festival & le Collectif Montréal BD-Lyon, are encouraging you to come ‘talk comics’ with a wide variety of authors, community members and their official ambassador. A fan of comics [I should hope so], Stéphane Archambault!

But if comics is what you’re really after, rather than pop stars, the list of exhibitors is quite good. It includes publishers Colosse, Le Studio coopératif Premières Lignes, Bayard Canada, Pow Pow, Éditions TRIP, Glénat Québec, Boomerang éditeur jeunesse, Editions Michel Quintin, Front Froid, Éditions Petit Homme, Presses Aventure & éditions Les 400 coups. Local retailers Otaku Manga Lounge, Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, librairie Planète BD, Librairie Millenium & Librairie Marché du Livre! They also have something called an “ESPACE FANZINE”, for the small press I gather. They appear to be rotating the zine publishers, check this page for what days they will appear: They are Adeline Lamarre, Vaar editor. Antonin Buisson, Antonin Bush. Boom. Cathon. Danielle Archambault, DanieleBD. Dynamo-machine. Frederic Auln. Group Fanzine Frontenac Library. Joseph Baril. Kaylynne Johnson. Martin Monette-Patenaude. Mathieu Dubois. Pierre-Luc Lebeau. Rémi Mathieu Bernier et Paradis, Zidara9. & Martyn Pigeon, Breath of Eden.

And not least of all, many authors! First names last, Authors in attendance are as follows ● A., Alex ( Agent Jean ) ● Al + Flag ● Angers, Philip ● Antoine, Frédéric (El Spectro, Biodôme) ● Archambault, Danièle ● Banville, Simon (Asymptote) ● Baril, Joseph ● Beaulieu, Jimmy ( Romantic comedy pornographic ) ● Bedard, Sophie ● Bernier, Mathieu ( Zidara9 ) ● Bérubé, Jean●Sébastien ( Radisson ) ● Bottenberg, Rupert ● Bouchard, Pierre ● Boudreau, Iris ( of Chat Hosts ) ● Boum ( Boumeries ) ● Bourgoin, Bruno (Front Froid) ● Boutin-Gagne, Patrick ( Brögunn ) ● Buisson, Antonin ● Cantin, Samuel ● Carrier, Dominique ● Cathon ● Champoux, Yanick ( Academy of Bounty Hunters ) ● Claveau, Marie-Pier ( The Front ) ● Colpron, Pascal ● Cyr, Maxim ( The dragouilles ) ● Delaf ( Les Nombrils ) ● Denomée, Ariane ● Demers, Tristan ( Gargouille ) ● Desharnais, Francis ( Burquette ) ● Dijef ( Götterdämmerung ) ● Dion, Jeik ( La Grande Illusion ) ● Dubuc, Maryse ( Les Nombrils ) ● Duguay, Ghyslain ( Lionel et Nooga ) ● Eid, Jean●Paul ( Jérôme Bigras ) ● Etien, David ( The Four of Baker Street ) ● Falardeau, Michel ( Luck ) ● Forsythe, Mathew (Jinchalo) ● Fortin, Ian ● Fournier, Pierre ( Red ketchup ) ● Gagnon, André ● Giard, Vincent ● Girard, Philippe ( Kill Velasquez ) ● Godbout, Réal ( Red Ketchup ) ● Godbout, Benedict ( Academy of Bounty Hunters ) ● Goldstyn, Jacques ( The Débrouillards ) ● Gottot, Karine ( Les dragouilles ) ● Goulet, Albert-André ( Lionel et Nooga ) ● Grant, Michel ( Ti-Guy ) ● Groovie, Annie ( Leon ) ● Hellman, Michel ( Mile-End ) ● Hicham, Absa ● Jalette, Jocelyn ● Jobin, Olivier ( The Front ) ● Johnson, Kaylynne ● Jourdain, Fred ( Dragon Bleu ) ● Lacombe, Michel ( Academy of bounty hunters ) ● Lamarre, Adeline ● Landry, Mario ● Lapierre, Francis ( Wild Chronicles ) ● Laurent, Dominique ● Leriche●Gionet, Samantha ● Levasseur, Marcel ● Loisel, Regis ( General Store ) ● Marcotte, Jean●Philippe ● Mandel, Lisa ( Nini yield ) ● Minikim ( Alta Donna ) ● Mongrain, Yan (Front Froid) ● Ollman, Joe (Mid Life) ● Pageau, Marc ● Paradis, Rémi ( Zidara9 ) ● Parent, Raymond ( BiBop ) ● Pare●Sorel, Julien ( Le Front ) ● Patenaude-Monette, Martin ● Rabagliati, Michel ( Paul ) ● Rodier, Yves ( The Spectro ) ● Rodier, Denis ( The order of the dragon ) ● Roy, Myriam (Front Froid) ● Santos, Carlos ● Sherwin, Tija (You are a cat) ● Simard, Alexandre ● Sirois, Shawn ( Zoockey ) ● Sirois, Bob ( Zoockey ) ● SIRIS ( non la Vogue ) ● Tessier, Marc ● Tija, Sherwin (You are a cat) ● Trahan, Sébastien ● Tripp, Jean-Louis ( General Store ) ● Turgeon, David ( The Muse recursive ) ● Vachon, Jean-Francois ( Zoockey ) ● Vaillancourt, Michel ( Lionel and Nooga ) ● Vaillancourt, Sylvie ● Vézina, Benoît (Front Froid) ● Voro ( Été 63 ) ● Wany, Stanley ● Zviane ( of Chat Hosts ).

Whew! Let me know if I missed any typos, It’s not a very large space so expect it to be packed!

Here’s the PR: The FBDM is a place to meet and exchange ideas with professional cartoonists. It aims to discover the diversity of the 9th art with all Montrealers and all Quebecers: children, families and fans of comics in general.

Many free activities make up the program: theatrical improvisations on BD, BD readings, book signings, panel discussions, and comic animations for the whole family! The various proposed activities and the educational component of FBDM make a true inter-generational event. Many exhibitors reflecting all types of comics will be present and will offer readings as varied and exciting.

Quebecois Comics is currently experiencing a boom thanks to designers like Michel Rabagliati, Guy Delisle, Delaf and Dubuc. Montreal, cultural capital the province, has much to offer it’s visitors.

In a festive atmosphere, fueled by the imminent arrival of summer, the organizer look forward to seeing you at L’Espace La Fontaine this coming weekend!

Sounds great! Wish I was exhibiting! Might ask if there’s space free, I live blocks from this so wouldn’t be hard to set up in a few hours.

25.May.2012 Jeff Lemire lands one of the last Eagle Awards

Kevin Boyd broke the news on the shuster blog, Jeff Lemire won the Best Newcomer at the Eagle Awards, presented earlier today at the MCM Expo in London.

Another fine feather in Jeff’s hat. It could not happen to a more soft spoken and deserving fellow! I just hope his head does not explode!

Kevin also mentioned that it was announced at the ceremony that after 35 years the Eagle Awards name is being retired in favour of the MCM Expo Awards…Really?

Well, really not a good name but there you go.

Named originally after the “fifties and sixties” UK comic Eagle [see left] because the Eagle symbol was perceived by co founder, 2000 AD Editor Richard Burton, to stand “for a standard of quality that is seldom reached today”. A proper aspirational notion.

MCM stands for “Movie Comic Media”. The Movie Comic Media Expo Awards. Way to go for the gold guys. ಠ_ಠ

No other Canadian creators were nominated in 2012 either, so that means Jeff gets to claim the last Canadian Eagle for his own too.

Congratulations Jeff, again!

For the historian nerds, the image on the right is cropped from this, posted here. Scroll down to “Comicon 77 and beyond”.

24.Apr.2012 The C-List: Fan Expo Vancouver 2012

Rounding up all the links from Fan Expo Vancouver, which took place this past weekend at the Vancouver Convention Centre. It seems to have been the first time for a con of this size in the city and fans and pros seem to have embraced it with open arms.

Item! Great photo parade and report from Will Harris of comicsblend.com.

Item! A nice blog report from a con-virgin at Geek-badge.com is the first to mention the unconfirmed 80,000 attendance number which surprised organizers who had expected 20,000. That can’t be right. Sounds more like the Toronto numbers.

Item! The show was sold-out?

Item! Cute photo of Kathryn and Stuart Immonen.

Item! Representing The Burrard Inlet Fan Fellowship.

Item! Sketch duels from the con, featuring Stephen Sadowski, Georges Jeanty, Mike Choi, Tony Daniel, Whilce Portacio, and Yanick Paquette.

Item! The Comixverse website had some good coverage, including photos of a ton of comics guests, a Day 2 report (7000 attendance?) with photos, and a Day 1 report with photos (12,000 attendees?)

Item! One fan’s underwhelmed report from the con. Worth reading but quick summary: too small, not enough bathrooms.

Item! “tearing up about Mike Weiringo…”

Item! Short report.

Item! The UBC cosplay club has some great Day 2 unoffical costume contest parade photos. Scott Pilgrim cosplay sightings:1, Alpha Flight cosplay sightings:0.

Item! Report from Artist Alley by Albert Art.

Item! The Canadian Video Game Awards took place at the con as well.

Item! A webcomics fan gets to meet Emily Carroll.

Item! Another kind of comics-centric report from the con.

Item! Tons of cosplay photos. What do you call a group of Robins? A murder? A sidekick? A Grayson?

Item! And some more photos.

this post will be updated as more links come in….

UPDATE: MORE LINKS!

Item! Straight.com has a photo parade.

Item! CTV news blog report from a hungover reporter.

Item! Metronews photo parade.

Item! Photos and video from The Vancouver Sun.

Item! Clothing designer Punch Brand has a short show report talking about the unexpected halt in ticket sales on Saturday.

Item! Blog post from science fiction writer Alyx Dellamonica.

Item! Photos from VanCityBuzz.

Item! 5-minute podcast from Geekin-out.

Item! Rocketeer cosplayer report.

Item! Buying tickets on Saturday and the male/female ratio at the con.

Item! Bat-villain cosplayer con guide.

Item! This fan makes two really good points: A) a multimedia event like Fan Expo makes perfect sense in a town where so many sci-fi/fantasy tv series and films are shot; and B) Vancouver is a beautiful city and the sharp-looking Vancouver Convention Centre is set among some of the most awesome scenery on the continent.

Item! Blogger and cosplayer Frederick Linsmeyer has some criticisms of the ticket process, lack of programming.