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• Jeff Lemire has a new 5-page comic online.

• This past Saturday, Happy Harbor Comics in Edmonton hosted their annual 12-Hour Comic Challenge for charity. Jamie Hall of The Edmonton Journal has a report.

• No, it's not Guy Delisle. Sudbury cartoonist Sue Dewar writes about her trip to China.

• Patrick Berube reviews Delisle's Chroniques Birmanes for Comic Book Bin and cofrims it will be translated by D+Q.

• This Georgia Straight article makes coherent sense of the latest press release from Zeros 2 Heroes, including the news that Astral Media has committed $18,000 towards script development for the latest winner of the Comic Book Nation contest.

• Another Vancouver web-based company, Optimum Wound Comics, has announced their first graphic novel release, Croatian artist Danijel Zezelj's Rex. Comic Book Bin has the press release.

• Steve Murray writes about how his parents used comics as positive reinforcement for the National Post.

• Teletoon is airing a few animated episodes of U.S. cartoonist's Aaron McGruder's Boondocks after the offending eps were yanked from the Cartoon Network. I can't tell if this is news or not --this isn't really an animation blog and I don't follow the show in question (it's pretty crappy).

Labels: blogosphere, British Columbia, comics on film, comics on tv, Edmonton, graphic novels, publishing, reviews, Vancouver

• Scott Pilgrim vs Antman

• This article about a concert of video game music in Edmonton highlights the connection between comics, anime, and gamer subcultures

• Quebecor World news: the Quebec printer has been granted until May 12th to get its house in order. Meanwhile it is still landing contracts and the value of the company's bonds has been set at auction.

• Von Allan on Rogers tv

• Photos from the character design face-off at the Labyrinth, Toronto

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• What does Canadian non-fiction cartoonist David Collier have to do with ancient Mexican civilizations? According to the Edmonton Journal's Gilbert A. Bouchard, quite alot. Bouchard also interviews Joe Sacco.

• Faith Erin Hicks' Zombies Calling graphic novel is the best-selling book at Strange Adventures in Halifax, according to Michelle Macleod of the Chronicle-Herald. The zombie-battling tale is a big draw for everyone over the age of 13.
  

Labels: comics retailers, comicshoptalk, Edmonton, graphic novels, Halifax, Nova Scotia

• Jeet Heer posts a long letter from Jeannie Schulz rebutting the bestselling David Michaelis bio of her husband, Charles.

• Tom Spurgeon has a long interview with Tom Devlin about his career, comics in general, and his job with Drawn and Quarterly.

• Blogger The Mighty Godking drops in on the Faith Erin Hicks signing at the Beguiling yesterday, by accident.

• Incidentally, both of the artists who were signing at the Beguiling last night appear together in the 2005 24 Hour Comics anthology.

• Gilbert Bouchard rounds-up the best graphic novels of 2007 for the Edmonton Journal.

• Most people are not aware of this, but the Superfriends cartoon was one of the most profound and artful tv shows of all time. Now it will be more readily obvious to more viewers in Ontario, thanks to Cogeco picking up Teletoon retro. (Not comics, really, but I couldn't resist).

• More fallout for the Western Standard over Mohammed cartoons, sort of.

Labels: blogosphere, comic strips, comics on tv, Edmonton, events, graphic novels, misc, Ontario

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This is McCulloch's first graphic novel, but he's had a long history within the comic-book universe. In the '80s, he joined a coalition of comic book enthusiasts, which would eventually come to be known as Strawberry Jam Comics. Through this group, a total of 14 issues of two titles were published in a time that McCulloch refers to as the "black-and-white boom."

"[The boom] followed the advent of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, when all of a sudden, a whole bunch of people at the same time realized that it was actually pretty cheap to publish a black and white comic book," he recalls. "And, as evidenced by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it didn’t really have to be that good to do very well.

"Following the boom, very quickly there was a bust," he continues. "Unfortunately, our publication schedule was very erratic, and we managed to put out a bunch of them before the boom happened, and a bunch of stuff after the bust happened. So we completely missed the window when there was money to be made."

Labels: comics history, Edmonton, graphic novels

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Award-winning graphic novel writer and former Edmonton resident Derek McCulloch will return to his old stomping grounds this October to pass on a little of what he's learned about the blues in his time in America. On Friday, October 5th, McCulloch will appear first at Happy Harbor comics, where he will sign copies of his graphic novel, Stagger Lee. Later that evening, he will appear at the Edmonton Public Library, where he will give a slide show and lecture on the history and myth of Stagger Lee.

Appearing with Derek is local comic historian and professional reviewer Tim Lasiuta who will be signing copies of his book "Brush Strokes With Greatness - Life & Times of Joe Sinnott" and will be available to talk to fans about other great comic legends. You can listen to Tim's weekly, live comic webcast on World News Radio's COMIC ZONE every Wednesday at 2 pm Pacific!

Friday, October 5th, 4 p.m - 6 p.m. - Signing
at Happy Harbor Comics,
10112 - 124 Street,
(780) 452-8211
7 p.m. - Slide show, reading,
Q&A, and signing at Edmonton Public Library,
Centre Core, Centre for Reading and the Arts,
Stanley A Milner Library,
7 Sir Winston Churchill Square,
(780) 496-7000

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The cartoon currently appears in 36 newspapers in Canada, including the Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, Victoria Times Colonist, Regina Leader Post, Calgary Herald, and Edmonton Journal.

Chuckle Bros is the collaborative work of Brian Boychuk, a violinist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, his brother Ron Boychuk, originally from Regina, and illustrator Ronnie Martin, also from Ottawa.

"With Torstar Syndication Services covering the Canadian market and now Creators Syndicate on board for both U.S. and worldwide distribution, the stage is set for one heck of a ride," said Brian Boychuk. "The Chuckle Bros are as ready as we'll ever be."

"The fabulous success of the Chuckle Bros launch was a great beginning, as editors found out what we already knew: this is a terrific little comic that people will love because it consistently delivers a solid punch line and outstanding art," said Robin Graham, Managing Director, Torstar Syndication Services. "Eight months later, we are still adding a steady stream of new customers."

"Chuckle Bros will make a great addition to our line-up and we're so excited to have them on board with their zany humour," said Margo Sugrue, National Sales Director, Creators Syndicate. "I first saw the panel in an editor's office at the Ottawa Citizen, and knew immediately that I'd love to have it."

Labels: Alberta, Calgary, comic strips, Edmonton, international, Ontario, Ottawa, Toronto

The shelves at Happy Harbor at Manning Crossing bear pretty much the nerd-store standard stock of comics, manga geek-books and vinyl tchotchkes, but Happy Harbor competes on atmosphere. I was in there killing time while I waited for my ride after a wisdom-tooth extraction, and the staff were all "Have a seat!", directing me to a couple of comfy chairs, encouraging me to sit and read. A refreshing reversal of the police-state customer-is-the-enemy approach of some other shops.

Labels: comics retailers, comicshoptalk, Edmonton

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Usually, when people say "see you in the funny pages," it's just an expression.

For local artist Jack Reid, however, it rings true.

Reid's name was mentioned as part of an ongoing storyline in the comic strip "Between Friends," which appeared in The Packet & Times May 11-12.

"I was very pleasantly surprised," said Reid on the phone from Quesnel, B.C., where he was holding a painting workshop last week. "That's quite an honour."

The artist, who has lived in Lagoon City for more than a year, wasn't familiar with the syndicated comic strip and didn't learn of his mention until he started receiving calls from people in Victoria and Edmonton - and even Hawaii - asking him if he is the Jack Reid in the strip.


Sandra Bell-Lundy, the creator of "Between Friends," is a big fan of watercolour art, the medium in which Reid paints, and so was familiar with the painter.

"I didn't know him, but I knew his work," she said.

When she started creating the storyline, Bell-Lundy said she thought it would make the content funnier if she inserted an artist's name, and Reid's was the first that popped into her head.

"I just really think he's got a lot of talent," she said.

Reid, who will celebrate his 82nd birthday June 1 in Whistler, B.C., said he's lost count of the number of pieces he's created over the course of his career.

Aside from his artwork, Reid has also written a number of art books and, as a rough estimate, has taught more than 25,000 people through classes and workshops.

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"As the title of the latest book suggests, this chapter of the story is based in Edmonton and features characters dredged up from Jorden's life.

It's the old case of the pen being mightier than the sword -- or, in this case, the gun. Jorden's characters switch between pens, markers, and spraypaint as weapons in the stories. Even when guns are used, the line gets blurred, such as blood splatters that look like ink sprays from a pen.

The business runs in a holistic fashion, with each area feeding off the others. The characters from the graphic novels show up in No Dice's clothing line, photographic art displays and company logo designs.

It's all quite methodical.

ThreadZ, for example, will release distinct lines of clothing based on each of Jorden's graphic novels and the fashions portrayed by characters."

Labels: Edmonton

Having originally set his sights on becoming a classical watercolourist, the Welsh-born Jones left the UK for Canada with his wife in 1957. Upon arriving in Edmonton, he found work as a house painter, but, having done a bit of freelance cartooning back home, he soon found himself peddling cartoons to local publications, delivering sketches to the publisher of the Edmonton Journal almost daily.

"He would chuckle pleasantly, but say no," remembers Jones, surveying the collection of originals and prints crowding the tiny gallery. Undeterred, he continued to sketch, and one afternoon in January of 1962, while watching workers scale the treacherous heights of a building being demolished on the corner of Jasper Avenue and 101 Street as the Western world was transfixed by American astronaut John Glenn's heroics as the first non-Soviet in space, he had an epiphany, drawing a simple cartoon on an envelope and delivering it to the Journal publisher, who this time relented, hiring Jones as the paper's full-time editorial cartoonist.

Jones went on to work for the Toronto Telelgram and then the Montreal Star in the '60s and '70s before coming back to Edmonton to work for the Sun in the '80s and finally retiring in the early '90s after returning to the Journal.

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