Labels: art show, book launches, British Columbia, can-con, comic jams, drawings, ephemera, events, events links, illustration, mini-comics, Vancouver, zine fair, zines

@ SFU Harbour Center
Fletcher Challenge Theater
Wednesday, August 27, 2008, at 7 pm

"[His] paintings . . . represent a contemporary Haida inquiry into image and narrative . . . and they link Haida and non-Haida concerns through a popular culture medium."

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....

mny.ca
rockingraven.com

Labels: British Columbia, can-con, Vancouver

Labels: British Columbia, events, Vancouver

Labels: British Columbia, obituaries, Ontario, political cartooning, Toronto

• The Gazette profiles Francis Desharnais, creator of the strip collection Burquette (400 Coups), the story of a teenage girl forced to wear a burka.

• Double Jolt of Jeet: aside from writing about history and politics for a variety of publications, Jeet Heer occasionally writes about comics. This week, at the Sans Everything blog, Jeet muses about Archies' girls, Betty and Veronica, and bring Northrop Frye along for the ride. Then, Jeet reviews David Hajdu's The 10 Cent Plague for the Globe and Mail:

In 1949, E. Davie Fulton, an up-and-coming Tory MP from British Columbia, got Parliament to pass a private member's bill banning crime comics from our pristine dominion. Fulton's efforts were loudly praised by a 10-year-old Baie Comeau boy named Brian Mulroney, who delivered an award-winning speech denouncing crime comics.

• Chris Butcher thoroughly reviews the first issue of PiQ magazine, ostensibly devoted to fans of anime, comics, manga, and video games, and includes an interview with a local OTAKU to prove a point.

• Toronto cartoonist Jacob Blackstock was the hit of SXSW in Austin, Texas, with an application that helps users create webcomics, according to this CBC article. Bitstrips has caught the attention of the Facebook team and Wired magazine.

• The Comic Book Bin's Philip Schweier offers COMIC SHOP ETIQUETTE 101, a survival guide to Wednesday/New Comic Book Day.

• Nathalie Atkinson reviews graphic novels for kids in the Globe.

• Actor Michael Cera is the latest name associated with the Scott Pilgrim movie project. There is even some form of script floating about.

• Quebec language police investigate D+Q over signage, website.

• Vito Pilieci writes about Superman's 70th anniversary for Canwest News Service, thankfully omitting any "Superman is Canadian" nonsense.

• Jian Gomeshi interviews New Yorker cartoonist S. Gross about his new book of swastika gags on the Q podcast (the interview is right off the top).

Labels: British Columbia, comics history, comics on film, comics retailers, manga, Ontario, Quebec, Toronto, U.S. superhero franchises, webcomics

Labels: British Columbia, comics retailers, comicshoptalk, graphic novels, Vancouver

• Rick Trembles gives more than I ever wanted to know about tweenybopper Hannah Montana, in his latest comic strip movie review.

• Welcome back, Michael Cho. The Toronto cartoonist just got over a 3-week bout of hospital-quality intestinal nastiness.

• Jay Stephens has a comics version of his Secret Saturdays animated tv show coming from DC in June.

• Scott Chantler has announced that his next graphic novel project is a non-fiction adaptation of his grandfather's wartime diary. Scheduled for a 2009 release from Tundra Books.

• The nominees for the BC and Yukon Community Newspapers Association's Ma Murray Awards have been announced: Dennis Parker (Gulf Islands Driftwood), Wendy Brown (Powell River Peak), Wyatt Tremblay (Yukon News). The winner will be announced in April.

• Upcoming: The Expozine Gala takes place this coming Monday, March 10. 9 p.m., free admission, Mainline Theatre, 3997 St-Laurent, Montreal.
  

Labels: awards, British Columbia, floppies, graphic novels, Ontario, publishing, Quebec, Toronto

Vancouver, British Columbia (February 11, 2008) – After a month of
voting on Canada's Comic Creation Nation, the fans have crowned
writer Greg Robinson as their winner. Robinson's pitch Age of Heroes
stood out amongst all of the competition and is now in the process
of being put into production. The first issue of Age of Heroes will be
produced and published online by Zeros 2 Heroes Media. Greg Robinson
will be working with comic book editors and artists provided by Zeros 2
Heroes to bring Age of Heroes to life on the page.
"For me as a writer, I would hope the experience could maybe open a
creative door or two, or present an opportunity or two that maybe was not
there before," says Robinson on the excitement around his pitch.
Age of Heroes is centered on a world run by super-powered beings and
enslaved humans. Robinson's first issue focuses on a small resistance
group as they attempt desperate and drastic action that will either begin
them down the road of salvation or damnation.
Greg Robinson will now work with Zeros 2 Heroes comic editors and
artists to produce his very first comic that will be published online by
Zeros 2 Heroes Media. As part of the agreement, Zeros 2 Heroes Media
not only produces Robinson’'s very first book, but they will be working to
get fan and media driven publicity from Robinson’s hometown of Langley
British Columbia.
"I've been interested in the potential of Web comics for a long time,"
says Zeros 2 Heroes Editor-in Chief Paul Dini. "I thought that was a very
supportive way to bring new talent into what has generally been a tough
business for novices."
Zeros 2 Heroes Media will be providing Robinson with his own
online publication as well as putting together a plan to help get the
word out to various media sources. The intention is to have
not only a piece of professional work for his portfolio, but
also to help him launch his processional writing career.
"Fans know what a good story is and where it can go
so we trust them to decide what ideas we should
invest in. Jason's talent and creativity shined brightly in his pitch
and I have no doubt that the fans made a great decision to see
Blake Undying go into production," says Zeroes 2 Heroes Media
Chairman Paul Gertz.
"This cross-platform entertainment opportunity is exactly what
we're looking for in terms of our corporate mandate," says Western
Region Director Earl Hong Tai of Telefilm Canada. Telefilm
Canada plays in integral part in the development of Canadian
writers and artists and helping pitches come to life with Canada
Comic Creation Nation is another way for them to lend a hand.
Zeros 2 Heroes plans to award all Canada Comic Creation
Nation winners with their published online comic. All creators are
encouraged to pitch their ideas online in order to let the fans decide
what they would like to see published. As the contest continues,
members of the Zeros 2 Heroes community will rate, review and
ultimately choose one winner for every month.

Labels: British Columbia, pr, Vancouver, webcomics

Labels: Alberta, British Columbia, conventions, Edmonton, events, manga, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Labels: Alberta, book launches, British Columbia, events, exhibits, graphic novels, publishing, Vancouver

Labels: Alberta, British Columbia, Edmonton, links, Quebec

Ok, got the planers out?

Vancouver Sept. 28th @ 7-10pm

Therefore Repent! will have it's formal BC Launch!

@ Lucky's Comics (3972 Main St., Vancouver).



He's presenting our post-Rapture graphic novel THEREFORE REPENT! along side new issues of Fred Grisholm's HATESONG, Brian Fukushima's JOBGOBLIN. And Jason Turner & Manien Bothma's True Loves 2!

Then it's back to old Hog town for Word on the street Sunday Sept 30th to present Therefore Repent! He'll be signing books at his table in Fringe Beat as well as giving a presentation called Be Your Own Boss In The World Of Publishing.

And you can also catch him participating in a panel with Willow Dawson and Ray Fawkes called "I Have A Great Idea For A Story, But I Need An Artist!"

Get your handbook to the Apocalypse here

The first third of Therefore Repent! - 60 pages - is now available for your browsing pleasure.

And not only is it free to read, it's also free to use: we're licencing the jpg versions of these as remixable under this Creative Commons licence.

So, if you've ever wondered what'd it'd be like to be the writer of a comic book and work with as talented an artist as Salgood Sam, now you can.

Download them from this site, and open the pages up in Photoshop or Gimp to replace my words with more interesting ones.

Colour the pictures.

Use the images as graphics for your non-commercial projects. Send the results to us and we'll put 'em up on the site: even better, we'll send the three most inspiring remixes a free book.

Labels: book launches, British Columbia, can-con, contest, digital comics, events, graphic novels, new books, Ontario, preview, Toronto, Vancouver, webcomics

Gaudin had a hunch the troops would appreciate it. Taking a seat on stacks of comic catalogues, two years worth of his own comic covers peeking out from the rack behind him, Gaudin tries to recall how many subscribers he gets in his shop. He figures it's 200 overall. More than a quarter of those, he says, are in the army and navy.

He half-jokes that a few of them will pass through the shop in the next 10 minutes. Many, he hasn't seen in months. "The people who've mysteriously gone missing are probably still there (in Afghanistan)," he says.

"Knowing these guys who are all happy-go-lucky, cool guys that come in the store, and these are friends of mine. And it's hard to think they're in the desert bored out of their minds. That's a job I don’t envy. What I can do is send some comics," he says.

About a month ago, he started asking his military customers if they thought it was a good idea.

Leading seaman Jason Aucoin was one of those guys. His emphatic response: "Oh, yeah."

Aucoin regularly brings a stack of comics with him when at sea, including Gaudin's titles. "You don't get a lot of time to yourself. If you can climb in with a book and escape from everything else, it's a nice little vacation, even if it's only for 20 or 30 minutes," he said.

Gaudin's printer, South Island Print Services in Sidney, B.C. was also impressed by the idea. They agreed to make up the order, gratis.

Labels: British Columbia, comic strips, comics retailers, international

Labels: British Columbia, comics on tv, interweb, Vancouver

If cartooning is a solo activity, acting is a cacophony of souls; I like the quiet control I have over my work in cartoon-land, and I enjoy the collaborative process of theatre. In my life, the contrasts feed one another, and I feel lucky to be able to indulge in more than one passion.

Labels: British Columbia, comic strips, Vancouver

"I actually have two new graphic novels out this fall. Wild Ride from Orca Publishers is the first in a new series, Graphic Guide Adventures. It's a wilderness survival adventure for 8-14 year olds, about three kids who get trapped in the woods of northern BC. In addition to the story, real life, step-by-step wilderness survival tips are blended into the action, so kids can learn how to build a shelter from tree branches, how to cross a river safely, set a broken limb and lots more fun stuff. It comes out in October. The next in the series is Ramp Rats, which is about skateboarding and is packed with instructions on how to land skating tricks. It comes out in 2008.

Coming out in September is Max Finder Mystery Collected Casebook Vol. 3, the third installment in my you-solve-it mystery comic, Max Finder Mystery, which ran in OWL Magazine for four years."

Labels: blogosphere, British Columbia, graphic novels, interviews

After decades of newspaper cartooning, Nelson Dewey has finally received Ma Murray’s recognition.

Dewey won the best cartoonist award Saturday at the annual Ma Murray Awards, presented by the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspapers Association in Vancouver.

Dewey told the crowd he began hawking his cartoons in 1968 by sending them out to newspapers across the province.

"I'm probably the only one here who has a handwritten rejection letter from Ma Murray," he said, referring to the legendary B.C. newspaper publisher after whom the awards are named.

Freelance cartoonist Wendy Brown was recognized for her efforts with a silver award. Her cartoon tied together the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon with the stranding of BC Ferries passengers when a ferry left the terminal half-full. The judge, who loved the tying of two news stories together said, "The drawing is great, perfect lettering space, very loose. A great cartoon."

Labels: awards, British Columbia, events, political cartooning, Vancouver

Perro Verlag Books by Artists is pleased to announce the launch of their spring titles at Storage Gallery on Saturday March 31st, 8PM at 28th and St George in Vancouver. Please come to celebrate new books by Julia Feyrer, Doug Jarvis, Collin Johanson, Fiona Smyth, James Whitman, and an exquisite collaboration by Jo Cook, Wesley Mulvin, and Terry and Owen Plummer.

The books by Feyrer, Johanson, Smyth, and Whitman are part of the Hell Passport Project, a 20 volume edition by 20 Canadian artists published periodically as each artist completes their book for the series. Printed in a limited edition, these publications showcase the work of the individual artists as they riff on connections between passports and Hell.

As part of his solo exhibition, It's All in my Head, for Access ARC's Project Room, January 12 - 27, 2007, Doug Jarvis has designed a catalogue with additional material from his ongoing collection of perceptual tools and gestures.

Exquisite Dino World Corp reproduces the collaborative drawings that Cook, Mulvin, Plummer and Plummer exhibited in Welcome to Dino World at the lowercase gallery in November 2006.

Please join us. Refreshments will be served!

For more information contact: books_by_artists@perroverlag.com

Perro Verlag Books by Artists
PO Box 60206
Fraser RPO
Vancouver, BC V5W 4B5
www.perroverlag.com

Labels: British Columbia, events, Vancouver

Labels: British Columbia, comics retailers, comicshoptalk, Edmonton, interviews, shop profiles, Vancouver

Labels: British Columbia, comics history, events, exhibits, undergrounds, Vancouver

"I would say that the academic study of comics right now is where the academic study of film was in the '60s," he says.

"Scholarship on film in the '60s tended to focus on certain things like genre and character, largely to the exclusion of visual elements." The arrival of acclaimed directors like Fellini, Bergman and Godard sparked more appreciation for film's more visual aspects, such as cinematography.

"With comics, a lot of the work that's going on takes place in literature departments," notes Dr. Beaty. Yet comics are usually produced by a writer and an artist working as a team. The best comics writers, creators like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, he notes, are respected in academic circles, "but we don't hear about the artists."

And while comics might be garnering more attention from academe, the same isn't always true for society at large. Dr. Beaty has written books on both television and comics, but at a party, "no one wants to talk to me about comic books," he says. "People are happy to get my take on Oprah or The Apprentice. That gets more respect than comics do."

Labels: Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, comics scholarship, Quebec