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Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Happy Canada Day!  Happy Canada Day from Sequential! The above image is the front cover of Mike Friedrich's Quack #3, a comic book published in 1977 (the year punk broke and the year of the Queen's silver jubilee). The Beavers was a short-lived newspaper strip by Dave Sim (of Cerebus fame). The cover of Quack was drawn by Sim with inks by Steve Leialoha. To learn more about the genesis of The Beavers, check out issues of the new Cerebus Archive (issue #2 is on stands now), which retraces the early career of Sim. Labels: comics history, floppies, holidays, undergrounds - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, June 22, 2009 New Books: The Collected Captain Canuck, Vol 1  Captain Canuck Vol. 1 Written by Richard Comely, art by George Freeman, Jean-Claude St.Aubin 152 Pages $24.99 Full-colour hardcover IDW Publishing June 2009 An archival edition of the seminal 1970s superhero comic book series featuring art by the underrated yet fondly-remembered George Freeman. Erroneously credited as "Canada’s first superhero" by re-publisher IDW, the first volume features issues #4-10 of the original series published by Comely Comics (widely available in bargain bins for decades). Labels: canadian superheroes, comics history, floppies, new books, publishing - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, June 12, 2009 The C-List: Mania Rebound  And we are back with more cross-country and international comics mania! Item: Jeet Heer writes about Hall of Fame cartoonist Jimmy Frise. This piece was originally written for the Sequential print edition but due to a muffed deadline on my part was left out. It's really an excellent article and you should go read it. Item: Speaking of Hall of Famers, the Doug Wright backlash begins: Andrew Wheeler trashes Nipper, and Kevin Boyd of the Shusters blog makes a case for renaming the new Doug Wright book. Item: On the international front, Kent Worcester looks at the growth in comics acceptance in universities. Item: Cartoonist Nick Craine is the latest graphic novelist to be hired to class up an otherwise pictureless Canadian prose novel. Item: Inkstuds' Robin McConnell reviews Dater's Dozen by Melaina. Item: Quillblog reports on the BookCamp that "replaced" Book Expo Canada. Item: The Beguiling, European comics publisher? Item: Seth talks George Sprott to Time Out Chicago ("Boring Can Be Interesting"). Seth also created a book bag for the Strand bookstore in New York (above). Labels: comic strips, comics history, graphic novels, links - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, May 08, 2009 Sequential Pulp in the pixels
Labels: comic strips, comics criticism, comics history, comics in libraries, interviews, Montreal, new books, Ontario, profiles, Quebec, Sequential Pulp, tcaf, TCAF09, Toronto, Vancouver - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Publishing: The Collected Doug Wright, Volume I  The Collected Doug Wright: Canada's Master Cartoonist, Volume One by Doug Wright with an introduction by Lynn Johnston Hardcover, 240 pages, 9 x 14 inches, color. ISBN: 9781897299524 $39.95 US / $39.95 CDN Designed by Seth and with a comprehensive biographical essay by Wright scholar Brad Mackay, this book is probably the most significant historic comics project to come out of Canada this century. A beautiful book, revealing the early career and artistic maturity of Canada's most widely-read cartoonist in the post World-War II years. Plus, this thing is about the size of a monument --and there's going to be two of them! Just like the 10 Commandments! The first of a historic two-volume set, Doug Wright: Canada's Master Cartoonist presents the first-ever comprehensive look at the life and career of one of the most-read and best-loved cartoonists of the 1960s. Compiled in cooperation with Wright's family, it draws from thousands of pieces of art, pictures, letters, and the artist's own journals, to provide a fully rounded view of Doug Wright, both as a cartoonist and as an individual. Labels: comic strips, comics history, publishing - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, September 08, 2008 Lost Chartier  Albert Chartier (1912-2004) was one of Canada's greatest strip cartoonists, best-known for his extremely long-running strip Onesime, but most of his work is sadly out of print, with the exception of a few anthologies that have reprinted some strips over the last decade. As we reported earlier, the good news is that Les 400 Coups, a division of Montreal comics publisher Mecanique Generale, is publishing a collection of Chartier's sexy girl strips this fall. The book is called Albert Chartier: Une Piquant Petite Brunette and collects tons of the risque, mostly-silent strips that Chartier syndicated to one or two papers in Canada back in the 1960s. The bad news is that the publisher has some gaps in their collection and is making an appeal to collectors and archivists to help fill the gaps. Read the appeal from Jimmy B over at the bdq boards --translated here. (The best thing about the translation: apparently, thanks to this risque strip collection, we will now "be able to harness the peter.") As well, the family of Chartier is circulating a form letter to the head of Canada Post, requesting a stamp in honour of the cartoonist's 100th birthday in 2012. The full text is also at the link, as are many examples of the strips in question. Labels: bd, comic strips, comics history, help wanted, publishing, Quebec - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, August 22, 2008 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! - 0 comments 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! - 4 comments Monday, August 11, 2008 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 - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, August 04, 2008 Comics history links 
Labels: comics history, links, Quebec - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Happy Canada Day!  Labels: comics history, events - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, June 18, 2008 Today: Ditko Book Launch, TorontoToronto writer and blogger Blake Bell celebrates the release of his long-awaited Steve Ditko biography. Ditko is one of the top-twenty post-war creators of U.S. kids' comics (Spider-Man, Marvel monster and horror comics) who also has had a very interesting career as a creator of highly personal and idiosyncratic politico-philosophical comics. Bell has spent years researching his life and work. The World of Steve Ditko Book Launch, with author Blake Bell (includes a screening of the BBC documentary film about Ditko) In partnership with The Merrill Collection and the Beguiling Wednesday, June 18th 7PM-9PM Lillian H. Smith Library, 239 College St. (at Spadina) FREE  Labels: book launches, comics history, Ontario, publishing, Toronto, trade, U.S. superhero franchises - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, June 16, 2008 Shuster Award Winners  The Shuster Awards were handed out on Saturday in Toronto. Here are the results: OUTSTANDING CANADIAN COMIC BOOK WRITER - Cecil Castellucci for The P.L.A.I.N. Janes (DC/Minx) OUTSTANDING CANADIAN COMIC BOOK ARTIST - Dale Eaglesham for Justice Society of America #2-4, 6-7, 9-11 (DC Comics) OUTSTANDING CANADIAN COMIC BOOK CARTOONIST (WRITER/ARTIST) - Jeff Lemire for Essex County Vol. 1: Tales From The Farm, Essex County Vol. 2: Ghost Stories (Top Shelf) OUTSTANDING COVER BY A CANADIAN COMIC BOOK ARTIST - Steve Skroce for Doc Frankenstein #6 (Burleyman) OUTSTANDING CANADIAN COMIC BOOK COLOURIST - Dave McCaig for Nextwave, Agents of H.A.T.E. #12, New Avengers #27-35, Fallen Son – The Death of Captain America #1: Wolverine, Marvel Comics Presents #1-4, Wolverine #50, Avengers Classic #7 (Marvel Comics) DC Infinite Halloween Special #1 (DC Comics), The Other Side #4-5 (DC/Vertigo) Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jensen #1 (ONI Press) OUTSTANDING CANADIAN COMIC BOOK &/OR GRAPHIC NOVEL PUBLISHER - Drawn & Quarterly OUTSTANDING CANADIAN WEBCOMICS CREATOR / CREATIVE TEAM - Ryan Sohmer and Lar De Souza for Least I Can Do and Looking for Group OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT BY A CANADIAN RELATED TO COMIC BOOKS David Watkins for using comic books as a teaching tool CANADIAN COMIC BOOK CREATOR HALL OF FAME Stan Berneche John Byrne Pierre Fournier Edwin R. "Ted" McCall FAVOURITE CANADIAN COMIC BOOK CREATOR - ENGLISH LANGUAGE PUBLICATIONS Faith Erin Hicks - Zombies Calling FAVOURITE CANADIAN COMIC BOOK CREATOR - FRENCH LANGUAGE PUBLICATIONS Philippe Girard aka phlppgrrd - Danger Public FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL (NON-CANADIAN) COMIC BOOK CREATOR Ed Brubaker - Captain America, Criminal, Immortal Iron Fist, Uncanny X-Men HARRY KREMER OUTSTANDING CANADIAN COMIC BOOK RETAILER Big B Comics - Hamilton, Ontario Labels: awards, comics history, events, floppies, graphic novels, Ontario, Toronto, U.S. superhero franchises - Stumble It! - 0 comments Saturday, June 14, 2008 Today: Shuster Awards  SEQUENTIAL ART SYMPOSIUM / VISIONS OF AN ICON / JOE SHUSTER AWARDS JUNE 14, 2008 Lillian H. Smith Library Auditorium, 239 College Street, Toronto see here for details Labels: awards, comics history, Ontario, Toronto, U.S. superhero franchises - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, June 13, 2008 Saturday: Shuster Awards and SymposiumThis weekend is the annual Shuster Awards at the Lillian H. Smith Library in Toronto, preceded by a Comics Symposium and art show centered on Superman co-creator Joe Shuster. The event features comics-historian John Bell and a host of comics creators. SEQUENTIAL ART SYMPOSIUM / VISIONS OF AN ICON / JOE SHUSTER AWARDS Labels: awards, comics history, events, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, June 05, 2008 2 Shots of Canadian Comics History1. Brad MacKay reveals the secret history of Canada's own Iron Man, created by Vernon Miller: White's Iron Man (which preceded Marvel's by a couple of decades) was the sole survivor of a destroyed civilization who lived and brooded underwater, surfacing occasionally to help out a couple of trouble magnets named Ted and Jean. 2. John Adcock has a new blog devoted to Canadian comics history and delves into the work of Hector Brault, two-fisted Western cartoonist: I have had a small collection of clippings of the comic pages for about ten years now but always figured they were reprints of European bande dessinée and British comic art. Recently I bought the issue pictured, from 19 septembre 1942, and noticing Hector Brault's signature on the comic pages looked him up to discover that he was from Québec and a cartoonist. Needless to say I was visibly chuffed to rediscover such an interesting fellow in Canadian comic history. Labels: blogosphere, comics history, Quebec - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, April 28, 2008 Weekend News and Comment Catch-Up
Labels: Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, censorship, comics history, copyright, events links, interviews, Ontario, pod casts, Toronto, U.S. superhero franchises, Vancouver - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, April 09, 2008 Midweek Madness 
Labels: comics history, comics retailers, events links, graphic novels, Manitoba, Ottawa, webcomics, Winnipeg - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, April 07, 2008 Monday Morning Blues? Read About Comics!  Links from hither and yon about comics, not necessarily Canadian:
Labels: blogosphere, comics history, copyright, graphic novels, international, links, manga, Nova Scotia, Quebec - Stumble It! - 0 comments Hoverboy: Hero of a Thousand BucketsMr. Comics goes viral with Hoverboy, there's the classic HOVERBOY DESTROYS CHRISTMAS! and then there is this... Promotional film for full-length documentary on Hoverboy- one time hero of radio, comic books, and TV. Now a forgotten footnote of 20th Century popular culture. Featuring interviews with Rick Green (PRISONERS OF GRAVITY, RED GREEN SHOW) and writer/artist Ty Templeton (BATMAN, AVENGERS) who is preparing to release the first Hoverboy comic in more than 30 years. For more Hoverboy history go to www.hoverboy.com If you like, you can dig it on Digg... Labels: barely comics, can-con, comics history, comics on film, comics on tv, events, misunderstanding comics, new books, news - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, April 04, 2008 Weekend LinksI found this blog post that journalista linked to yesterday, about the impending death of paper comics and the various devices vying to replace them, very interesting. This is a long-ish report on the Toronto Animecon that took place a few weeks ago. The article is a primer on the cosplay phenom and the range of participants. Jeet Heer extends his Wertham article, incorporating the critiques of Bart Beaty, for Slate. The Winnipeg Police get a free propaganda forum in the form of a comic strip in the Saturday Winnipeg Free Press. Eli Green reports on Art Spiegelman's talk in Toronto last night for the Comic Book Bin. Labels: comic strips, comics history, events links, manga, Manitoba, Ontario, Toronto, Winnipeg - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, March 31, 2008 Bart Beaty vs Jeet Heer: 1950s Culture Wars Redux  Professor Bart Beaty of the University of Calgary responds to Jeet Heer's review of David Hadju's Ten Cent Plague, from last week's Globe and Mail. The debate centers on the controversial figure of Fredric Wertham, whose Seduction of the Innocent argued that comics turned children into juvenile delinquents. Beaty's 2005 biography of Wertham, Fredric Wertham And the Critique of Mass Culture partially rehabilitated its subject as a misunderstood crusader against racism and the rights of children. Here is a bit of the back and forth between Heer and Beaty (the argument is followed up at Heer's blog): Beaty: Hajdu asserts that the voice of children was lost in the anti-comics movement of the 1950s, but, in reality, he is talking about teenagers. Indeed, the most popular comics among children in the 1950s were not, as he contends, the crime and horror titles that raised public alarm. They were Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny. There is an inherent slippage between teenager and child in the contemporary category of youth, and it is one that troubles both Hajdu's book and Heer's reading of it. Importantly, teens are not children, and children are not teens. Heer writes that "children need monsters and ghouls." That may be indeed be the case, but the debate in the 1950s centred around whether a child of 7 needed realistically depicted images of rape. Heer: True, Wertham didn't favour censorship and the rating system he advocated was eminently sensible. Still, Wertham used language so inflammatory as to give aid and comfort to censors and book-burners. "I think Hitler was a beginner compared to the comic-book industry," Wertham argued. If Superman and Tales from the Crypt were more dangerous than Mein Kampf or Triumph of the Will, then it might make sense to have comic-book burnings, as happened in the Wertham era. As for the conflation of children and teenagers, that's Wertham's fault. He constantly talked about protecting children, obscuring the fact the most violent and salacious comics were too wordy for pre-teens and were largely read by high-schoolers. If I had a child, would I want him or her to see "realistically depicted images of rape"? No, probably not (although the film The Kite Runner contains a rape scene and is fine for kids as long as they have parental guidance). It's well worth checking out this discussion and reading all the books in question (including Wertham). For my part, the most compelling parts of Seduction of the Innocent are Wertham's case histories of the kids he has talked to, like 14-year-old comic book fanatic and accused murderer Willie --the subject of Wertham's first chapter. Among his many other objections to comic books was the manner in which they were consumed. Worth tracking down are Wertham's descriptions of the "hookey clubs" where children traded comics for (gasp!) less than cover price! Labels: Alberta, Calgary, comics history, comics scholarship - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, March 24, 2008 In Other News: 
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.
Labels: British Columbia, comics history, comics on film, comics retailers, manga, Ontario, Quebec, Toronto, U.S. superhero franchises, webcomics - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, March 07, 2008 March Break Madness: Doug Wright's Tickytacky Township?  Comics historian John Adcock has come across a cache of Doug Wright cartoons from 1972. These look something like Wright's political cartoons from the Hamilton Spectator but are more slice-of-life and sitcom-y. More like a typical gag-a-day panel featuring domestic humour. Adcock says the panel was syndicated and called Tickytacky Township. I'm sure there is more of this sort of thing, but we might have to wait a while until the second volume of the Collected Doug Wright is released by D+Q. Labels: comic strips, comics history - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, March 06, 2008 Cartooning a New Canada  The Sequential Contest: A columnist for the Orangeville Citizen gives a brief history of cartooning in Canada (of the editorial sort) and puts out the call for a new cartoon representation of Canada. The columnist, William Bothwell, does a good job, but he might have mentioned Johnny Canuck, Captain Canuck, Jasper the Bear, or the work of contemporary iconic Canadian cartoonists like Seth (who, in case you haven't noticed, has an artisitc passion for all things Canadian). And what's wrong with the lumberjack, anyway? Sequential is putting out the call: design a new cartoon image for Canada. Submit your own design or a favourite from years gone by. Submit to Sequential. Other quick links:
Labels: comics history, contest, floppies, graphic novels, links, Ontario, political cartooning, Toronto, U.S. superhero franchises - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, March 04, 2008 Histoire de la bande dessinee quebecoise by Mira Felardeau  Histoire de la bande dessinee quebecoise by Mira Falardeau Editions VLB editeurs, 187 pages This new book covers the history of comics in the province of Quebec from its earliest history to 2007. Felardeau has written a lot on this subject and this sounds like, at the very least, a very thorough overview. A translated review is here. Labels: bd, comics history, publishing, Quebec - Stumble It! - 1 comments Tuesday, February 26, 2008 The Collected Doug Wright Mock-UpOver at the D+Q blog, a sneak peak at Seth's designs for the first volume of the Collected Doug Wright cartoons:  Labels: blogosphere, cartoonists, comics history, publishing - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, February 25, 2008 Comics 101: Is the Canadian Shield Made of Platinum? 
Labels: Alberta, censorship, comics history, floppies, international, manga, Manitoba, Winnipeg - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, February 06, 2008 Midweek Linkage: Sim, Simone, Butcher, etc
Labels: comic strips, comics history, floppies, graphic novels, interviews, interweb, Quebec, reviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, January 15, 2008 Alberta Writer Pens Joe Sinnott Bio80-year-old cartoonist and inker Joe Sinnot has a new biographer in the person of Red Deer, Alberta writer Tim Lasuita. Brush Strokes with Greatness profiles U.S. artitis Sinnott's long comic book career. Sinnott is perhaps most famous for the slick line he gave to Jack Kirby's pencils on the 1960s Fantastic Four comics. Sinnott also enjoyed a long run on Treasure Chest comics. Lasuita was introduced to Sinnott while working on another project about Tom Gill, who drew The Lone Ranger for more than 20 years. Sinnott, a student, had assisted Gill on his freelance work for nine months before striking out on his own. His enthusiasm, energy and magnetism during the interviews for Gill’s project left a lasting impression on Lasuita. "Everybody has a favourite uncle — that’s Joe," he says. "He’s talented and humble, all at the same time." Once his book on Gill was off to the publisher, Lasuita approached Sinnott about doing a book on his remarkable career. Sinnott, 80, jumped at Lasuita’s offer to leave something behind for his family. Upon reflecting, he was amazed to discover just how much work he had done. Sinnott’s ledgers suggests he pencilled more than 2,700 pages for various romances for Charlton Comics alone, in addition to his copious output for Marvel. "And that was after supper," he says. Labels: Alberta, comics history, U.S. superhero franchises - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, January 11, 2008 Brad Mackay on Comics Journalism  For This Magazine, Brad Mackay writes on the history of reportage by cartoonists, with a behind-the-scenes look at the origins of Extraction!, the Cumulous Press collection of comics stories about mining. Along the way, he also touches on Joe Sacco, Art Spiegleman, the 19th Century cartoonist JW Bengough and early comics reportage in Canada (like the image of the Riel Rebellion from The Canadian Illustrated News above):
Labels: cartoon reportage, comics history, interviews, political cartooning, Quebec - Stumble It! - 0 comments Saturday, October 13, 2007 Stagger Lee's Derek McCulloch on 90s ComicsPassing through Edmonton, comic book writer Derek McCulloch flashes back to the heady days of the black and white glut: 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." Labels: comics history, Edmonton, graphic novels - Stumble It! - 0 comments George F. Walker ProfileMemorial University's The Muse student newspaper profiles George F. Walker, whose new woodcut novel is part and parcel of a revived interest in the genre, including the work of Canadian cartoonist Laurence Hyde: "We can naturally read symbols," said Walker to the small group cluttered inside the Eastern Edge Gallery on Sunday afternoon. Labels: comics history, graphic novels, publishing, woodcuts - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, September 25, 2007 Comics in Literature, Film, and Art - An interdisciplinary conference University of Toronto 9-11 May 2008  This is for next year, something to put in your planner. Co: andrewlesk.com
Labels: analysis, can-con, comics history, comics in school, comics on film, events, misunderstanding comics, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, September 05, 2007 Have You Seen This Zine?  Have you seen me? I am Canazine, a fanzine advertised in The Buyer's Guide in 1971, and published by Ralph Alphonso of Montreal. Persons with information about my whereabouts should contact this blog.(image courtesy the yahoo canadiancomics group) Labels: can-con, comics history, Montreal, Quebec, zines - Stumble It! - 2 comments Friday, August 24, 2007 Toronto Convention Shocker: Kevin Boyd Jumps Ship  FanExpo's New Star by Bryan Munn In the relatively small world of Toronto comics fandom it is a story of almost Biblical proportions: Kevin Boyd, long-time promoter of the Paradise Toronto Comicon, has left Paradise for arch-rival, Hobbystar Promotions, owner of the Toronto FanExpo. Boyd, along with Paradise Comics owner Peter Dixon, had been co-promoter of the Paradise conventions since 2002. He announced his move to Hobbystar last month through several online venues. Boyd's move came as a surprise to many, given the recent acrimony between Hobbystar and Paradise. Boyd was an active player in these disputes, even going so far as accusing Hobbystar of "aggressive counter-programming tactics" in 2006. According to Boyd, since the two organizations began arguing 3 years ago over event scheduling, brand confusion, and the alleged intimidation of guests and dealers, Paradise and Hobbystar have "been trying to get along and the conflict has pretty much disappeared," paving the way for Boyd to join his former competitor. The Stop Hobbystar Movement The conflict between Paradise and Hobbystar held many comics fans and businesses in its thrall, some quite literally, to the point where several dealers and pros took sides and refused to do business with one or another faction. For the most part it seemed that Hobbystar suffered the most in this regard, with several high-profile vendors like Toronto's The Beguiling, and several comics artists actively boycotting the FanExpo shows. Things came to a boil with the creation of the Stop Hobbystar blog by Brian Garside, of online comics retailer All New Comics. According to Boyd, "the whole Hobbystar/Paradise feud was something I was deeply caught up in. I was one of the people fighting tooth and nail with them over playing fair and not interfering in other people's businesses. I think last August, with the creation of the Stop Hobbystar blog, and some industry interest in the conflict, that most of us realized that this was not good for the city of Toronto and the industry as a whole. "The two sides met many times last fall to try to resolve something, and while no agreement was reached, we've been trying to get along and the conflict has pretty much disappeared and the Paradise Comicon had this year to stand or fall on it's own without interference. The Stop Hobbystar people closed the blog up in the spring, feeling it had served its purpose. They've also worked out their concerns with Hobbystar and will be at the show in August. Most of the industry didn't like the conflict, but remained neutral in their actions as they saw merit in supporting both." The Move Boyd was hired away from Paradise by Aman Gupta, owner of Hobbystar, after meeting with him for several years to resolve the differences between the two cons, all the while resisting Gupta's offers of employment. According to Boyd, the crucial meeting happened early last month: "We met again on July 12 and he made me an offer which I seriously considered and decided to take after consulting with my family and close friends outside of comics. My options were limited: retire from conventions or work with Hobbystar. It happened very quickly, in less than a week's time." This seeming drastic change in Boyd's orientation and loyalties was actually a long time coming. He had been dissatisfied with the financial aspects of the Paradise con for several years and argues that his decision to leave the show was based almost solely on the lack of renumeration he received for his efforts. "Since I agreed to be involved in the Paradise show in late 2002 my involvement has been pretty all-encompassing. I worked on pretty much every facet of the event. The only thing I did not do was deal with the suppliers or book flights and hotel rooms. It has always been a common misconception that I was an employee of Paradise Comics. Aside from occasionally watching the store when no one else could, I have never worked there for pay. So to say I worked for Paradise is not really true. I shopped there, and was friends with the staff there, helped out a lot, and my commitment with the show was to work on the show in exchange for a percentage of the gate, which I never received. My contribution and commitment to the con was time and effort." "The convention business was not successful so I decided it was time to end it. I worked on it for five years and did not receive any money for time spent on the big convention, as bills needed to be paid first. It was not acceptable for me to continue working so hard on something that I was not making anything from and saw no room for that situation improving. Being in business is supposed to be about making money, and I make no ancillary profits from the con. I don't set up as a dealer any more. I don't have a store to promote. I'm just a guy that likes comics and got caught up in something that I thought would give me more money to pay my own bills and buy more comics, and that didn't work out." Boyd has a long history of involvement with comic art and conventions. Although by day he is a mild-mannered research affiliate for Cancer Care Ontario, by night and on weekends he has operated as something of a super-fan for years. A collector and fan for most of his life, in the mid-1980s he formed Black Light Comics with two friends from high school and sold photocopied mini-comics (The Cat, Tales from the Hood and Battlestar) at Toronto conventions. In the early 90s Boyd started selling comics at some smaller shows run by Simon Watson and Doug Simpson, two employees of the Paradise Comics shop. When Simpson retired, Paradise owner Peter Dixon came on board. In 2002, after Watson left under difficult circumstances, Boyd was invited to fill his role as co-promoter of the Paradise cons and began work on the Toronto Comicon 3-day events. Boyd worked on 10 Paradise events in total: five 3-day conventions and four and a half one-day shows. In addition, Boyd is an organizer of the Joe Shuster Awards and does work with the Certified Guaranty Company, travelling to U.S. shows with them and getting books signed for their customers. He is also an Overstreet Price Guide advisor with market reports published in the last two editions. "I do some work with the Hero Iniative as well," he adds. Boyd and Dixon were the sole owners of the Paradise con. The con itself had no employees, although according to Boyd, Dixon's store employees contributed by answering calls, taking messages, offering advice and forwarding e-mails, with the rest of the slack being taken up by unpaid friends, family and between 15-25 volunteers. Faced with another year of zero net profit from the Paradise con, Boyd decided to quit: "Although I had been saying I was done since I was told the financial results in mid-June, on July 9, I wrote a letter detailing my position on future cons and my lack of interest in continuing, and I reiterated that position to Peter Dixon in person on July 11 and July 14." It was during these last two dates that he was approached again by Hobbystar's Gupta, who successfully persuaded him to hire on as Coordinator, Comic Book Events for the FanExpo convention. Boyd took over the position quite late in the run-up to this weekend's con, after much of the groundwork had been laid, guests booked, etc., so that his duties have been limited to "working on the comic book programming and related events and assisting with guest services, things like that. Doing what I can and learning along the way." The Future Boyd sees quite a few differences between his new job and his old business, not the least of which is the focus on the bottom line. "There are a lot of differences, mostly in tone and atmosphere. Hobbystar conventions are very much focused on the big mainstream end of comics. That's the gateway to other comics. Paradise Comicon was about celebrating comics on their own terms. I'm obviously going to try and bring a lot of that to what I do with Hobbystar events. Unlike Paradise where I was pretty much on my own, Hobbystar already has an existing and successful formula and organization. I have to apply that formula to the comics piece of the large pie that is FanExpo Canada. As a relative outsider and newcomer, there are things that I think could be tweaked to make for a more enjoyable experience for the attendees and the creators, but I have to learn how they do it firsthand and then make recommendations." Although he has contributed to the programming schedule of this weekend's con, he doesn't think his impact will be visible this year: "I'm just learning the ropes. If this works out and I continue with them then I'll have more of an involved role in future comic events." As for any regrets over leaving Paradise, Boyd seems to have left them behind in his excitement over the transition. "I feel that how Paradise feels is not really my concern at this point. I tried to explain my position for not continuing, and the further I get from the decision the better I feel that it was the right thing to do. I wish them luck with whatever they decide to do from now on." Although there has been some grumbling from observers, Boyd has been getting quite a bit of support over his move. "I expected a lot more negativity, and I've been getting a lot more support than I ever expected. I guess people knew I was not happy. I'm not saying that I haven't received some negative e-mails from people who feel betrayed, but they see my actions as being anti-Paradise. I don't see it that way at all. If anything, my like and support of those people should help eliminate any future problems." This sentiment is echoed by Boyd's friend Peter Fisico, the All New Comics co-owner who is also a sponsor of the Shusters and of the Paradise con's Women of Comics programming. According to Fisico, "in the end it will be a good thing. It will hopefully improve relations within the Toronto comics community and Kevin will also help bring comics as a medium back to the forefront of the Hobbystar show." ----- The Toronto FanExpo begins today and continues through Sunday. (top image: a tight-lipped Boyd transforms into a happy partygoer at last week's Wright Awards. Photos courtesy of Brad Mackay and amateurishly edited without permission.) Labels: comics history, events, fanexpo 2007, hobbystar, Hobbystar vs Paradise, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - 3 comments Friday, August 17, 2007 Rand Holmes: Giant of the NorthRand Holmes, the Underground Cartoonist who died in 2002, is being inducted into the Giants of the North today.    1. Watch an old hippie talk about Harold Hedd on Youtube. 2. Rand Holmes, Wally Wood, and the "EC Influence". Labels: comics history, events, Toronto, undergrounds - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, August 16, 2007 Bert Bushnell: 1940s Canadian comic book artistJohn Adcock has all the details at his blog:  Labels: blogosphere, comics history - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, July 24, 2007 Jeet Heer on Douglas WolkThis past weekend's Globe and Mail Books section featured a review of Douglas Wolk's Reading Comics by the very busy Jeet Heer: Wolk has a contrarian streak: He likes to tweak the masters and champion the half-forgotten. Strikingly, he has some harsh words for Spiegelman and Ware, while being tenderly protective toward Gene Colan, the journeyman hack who drew the Tomb of Dracula. These curious judgments (which I find thoroughly unconvincing) are perhaps a legacy of Wolk's fannish roots. They also call to mind Wolk's intellectual hero, the late film critic Pauline Kael, who liked to put in a good word for trashy pleasures. Kael loved starting critical fights, a habit Wolk has inherited. Labels: comics history, international, reviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, July 18, 2007 Dave Sim: Some Recent UpdatesReading Dave Sim's blog is hard but occasionally enlightening, but not in the way you might think. Or maybe you might. The blog is kind of weird: Sim isn't online (is, in fact seemingly characteristically suspicious of the interweb and computers) but sends (via fax?) typewritten entries to a fan who transcribes them on a computer. Each entry has lots of ads for Sim product and each begins with a long list of things about modern Canada that Sim finds hard to believe, like daycare subsidies and affirmative action. Hard to read unless I'm really bored. There, that's out of the way. I had to do it to fulfill a Sim prophecy, from one of the following links, "nothing good is said about CEREBUS or Dave Sim unless it is prefaced by at least three caveats to make sure that the listener is aware that the speaker is absolutely and unequivocally establishing from the outset that they couldn't be further apart from Dave Sim and his ideas if they had been shot out of a cannon in the other direction" Some recent tidbits: -Sim is apparently currently living off of art commissions and is concerned that an art collector named Brian Coppola may have too much influence over the market for his drawings -Sim and Jeet Heer correspond about the need for a book collecting Sim's writings about comics, and how the two have different aesthetic preferences -Sim talks about the upcoming Comic Eye anthology and provides an update on cartoonist Larry (Silent Invasion) Hancock, who is also apparently an accountant who specializes in helping out other cartoonists and creative types with their taxes -Sim discusses Chester Brown's plans to edit Harold Gray's comic strip Little Orphan Annie into a graphic novel format by eliminating the redundancies of daily comic strip publishing, in a project for D+Q that may or may not involve Jeet Heer - Labels: blogosphere, comics history, links, publishing - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, July 17, 2007 John Adcock: Canadian Sketches and Northwest Passage  Ex-tra, ex-tra! Over on his blog, comics researcher John Adcock posts some drawings of Canadian winters by cartoonist Harry Furniss from 1899, including this great sketch of a Canadian newsboy that I am going to steal. As well, Adcock offers a quick review of Scott Chantler's Northwest Passage GN. Labels: blogosphere, comics history, reviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Hear Heer!The "ingenius and imaginative" Jeet Heer on Australian radio: ...cultural theorists have turned their gaze to the world of good and evil and subversion that some comics represent. Like Jeet Heer, he is an Indian born Canadian and learned to speak English by reading comics. Labels: comic strips, comics history, international, pod casts - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, July 10, 2007 Jeet Heer Interview  The great Jeet Heer is interviewed by Tom Spurgeon. Read how Heer went from remedial reader status to genius historian and ladies' man using the power of comics! A desire to master English was a big part of what made comics attractive; they seemed like a fast-track to literacy. The school board had labeled me a "remedial reader"; ashamed of this stigma, I tried to learn as much English on my own as quickly as I could. Labels: comic strips, comics history, interviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, July 04, 2007 Louis St Cyr Graphic Novel  For those who don't know, legendary Canadian Louis St Cyr was once billed as the Strongest Man in the World. There is a new graphic novel out that tells his story, published by Groundwood Books. Created by French-born illustrator Nicolas Debon and intended for younger readers, the book is entitled The Strongest man in the world: Louis Cyr. Debon was also responsible for a book about Emily Carr a little while ago. -preview -history of Louis Cyr in comics at BFQForums Labels: comics history, graphic novels - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, June 13, 2007 Alter Ego to Reprint Great Canadian Comic Books  According to the advance publishing info for the magazine Alter Ego, the August issue will reprint the classic 1970s history of WWII Canuck comics by MICHAEL HIRSH & PATRICK LOUBERT. The book was quite an eye-opener when initally published and spurred an interest in Canadian comics among many young fans (myself included). The information here doesn't really explain how much of the original content (ie, what strips) will be reprinted and Roy Thomas hasn't answered my email asking for clarification, despite the fact I wrote a fan letter to Arak Son of Thunder. ALTER EGO 71 spotlights THE GREAT CANADIAN COMIC BOOKS, and features a fabulous cover by GEORGE FREEMAN, from a layout by JACK KIRBY! This issue, we're proud to represent the milestone 1970s book by MICHAEL HIRSH and PATRICK LOUBERT on Canada's 1940s Golden Age --back in print after three decades, with rare art of such heroes as Mr. Monster, Nelvana of the Northern Lights, The Penguin, Thunderfist, The Dreamer, The Brain, Johnny Canuck, et al.! Also: JIM AMASH interviews AL SCHUTZER, Golden Age writer of Superman, John Wayne, Hopalong Cassidy, Straight Arrow, etc. --lavishly illustrated by BOB POWELL, FRED MEAGHER, the JOE SHUSTER Studio, and others! Bonus: Brand new Invaders drawings by JOHN BYRNE, MIKE GRELL, ERNIE CHAN, RON LIM, CHRIS IVY, BENITO GALLEGO, and others! Plus there's FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with Marc Swayze, C.C. Beck, and others, Michael T. Gilbert and Mr. Monster, and more! Labels: comics history - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, June 11, 2007 Gerry Lazarre ProfileThe North York Mirror profiles painter Gerry Lazarre, who was inducted into the Shuster Hall of Fame yesterday. Lazarre drew for Canadian comic book publisher Bell Features in the 1940s: Lazare was among the first Canadian comic book illustrators, embarking on that part of his career in the 1940s at the tender age of 16. He drew and wrote nine separate comic strips, including such titles as Nitro, The Wing, The Dreamer, Drummy Young and Air Woman, for Golden Age comic publisher Bell Features. While he has always had both a knack and a passion for art, he fell into comic illustration purely by accident. "During the Second World War, there was an embargo at the border and American books couldn't come into the country," he said. "That's when a group of people started up our own comic book industry in Canada, and I guess I'm one of the few left from that Golden Age period." Lazare enjoyed the freedom he had working for Bell Features. Unlike current comics, which often have an artist and a writer who work together to create the finished product, comic illustrators in those days had almost complete creative control over their work. "It was really an artist/writer kind of thing, which is a dream job," he said. "They didn't tell you what to do; you'd go home and come back to them with ideas, which they'd either like or they wouldn't. It's more your creation and you really are more invested in the work." He wrote strips that reflected his own interests, with Air Woman, a strip revolving around a Canadian woman in the Air Force, the only one that had the war as a major part of the storyline. "My other strips were only incidental to the war," he said. "Like any writer, what I wrote was a bit autobiographical, so it would come through from time to time, but (the Second World War) was never a real focus for me." By the time American comics were once again able to make it across the border, which all but doused the Canadian comic industry, Lazare had already moved on to illustrating for magazines. "I wasn't a born comic artist, so I moved into something that was more in line with what I wanted to be doing," he said. Labels: awards, comics history, paradise comicon - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, June 06, 2007 Invaders from the North Shortlisted for Design AwardAccording to the Dundurn Press blog, John Bell's history of Canadian comics Invaders from the North has been shortlisted for the 2007 CBA Libris Awards for Best Book design. The CBA is the organization of Canadian book sellers. Invaders was designed by Alison Carr and featured cover illustration and lettering by Dave Cooper. Labels: awards, comics history, comics retailers, publishing - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, June 01, 2007 Jeet Heer on Invaders From the NorthThe latest issue of The Literary Review of Canada has Jeet Heer's review of John Bell's history of Canadian comics, Invaders From the North. It's a great review that suffers only from a horrible title ("POW! BLAM! ZOWIE! eh?"). Some choice quotes: Reluctantly Bell concludes that the dream of a Canadian national superhero might have to be abandoned and that the future of comics lies in the more mature graphic novels created by contemporary graphic novelists like Chester Brown and Seth (the pen name of cartoonist Gregory Gallant). Brown’s graphic novel about Louis Riel sold more than 20,000 copies in hardcover and is now used in many university courses. Perhaps the best chapter of Bell ’s book is the one arguing for the centrality of Brown’s work in contemporary comics. Seth’s wistful nostalgia-laden mediations (published in such magazines as Toro, The New Yorker, and the New York Times Magazine) also have an enthusiastic (and international) audience. Certainly both artists have produced a body of work that is more successful, aesthetically and commercially, than Captain Canada or Nelvana. Labels: comics history, reviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, May 29, 2007 On Being a Young Comics Fan in 1970s CanadaThe second of two good articles I'm linking to from Comic Book Bin today: The Beginning of Fandom by Philip Schweier. I like the article mostly because the time period that Schweier writes about overlaps with my own (even though I still don't appreciate the comics stylings of Jim Aparo) . Basically, one of those nostalgic "the golden age was whenever you were 9 years old" subjective approaches to comics history: One thing about looking through those old issues is to see a very obvious time period, indicated by the "impeach Nixon" grafitti in the background and the general design of the clothes and cars. It's a window to a time of Jim Rockford and the Captain & Tennile. Many people will scoff at the hokiness of the mid 1970s, and with good reason. Watergate and leisure suits are nothing to look back on with fondness. But regardless of when we grow up, whether it's the 1930 Depression or the turbulent 1960s, it's our childhood. That ultimately is our point of reference. A 9-year old's universe rarely extends much beyond 100 yards from the front door. Labels: comics history - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, May 15, 2007 Albert Hillier Collection DonatedA Newfoundland historical society is the recipient of a collection of artwork and photographs created by Arthur Hillier, an important local cartoonist. Dave Hillier, nephew of the artist, has donated the collection of his uncle's work to the Exploits Valley Heritage Society, according to this article from the Grand Falls-Windsor Advertiser. Arthur Hillier (1916-2004) was the first cartoonist to work in Grand Falls, Newfoundland. His editorial page strip, Our Town, ran for 40 years in the Grand Falls Advertiser. Hillier was also known for his pen-and-ink sketches and for his photography. The collection contains a large amount of this material, as well as hand-written manuscripts and other documents: Dave acquired Albert's collection of old photographs and other items about seven years ago when his uncle moved into a senior citizens' home. There would have been no room at the home to store the many boxes, so Dave decided to bring them to his house in St. John's for safekeeping until a decision was made about what to do with it. Labels: comics history, Newfoundland, political cartooning - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, May 14, 2007 Quick Links for Monday-Rebecca Kraatz inspires rocker -Steve Murray, Sarah Lazarovic and Kagan McLeod review Spider-Man 3 for the National Post (I don't think the strip is online but it's worth checking out --a sort of panel discussion in comics form) -John Adcock digs up another lost Canadian cartoonist: Mial Lishness of the Lethbridge Daily Herald, circa 1926 Labels: blogosphere, cartoon reportage, catch-all, comics history, links, music - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, May 09, 2007 2007 Shuster Hall of Fame Inductees  The Shuster Awards Hall of Fame have announced their 2007 inductees. The four cartoonists being honoured this year are Albert Chartier, Gene Day, Jacques Hurtubise (aka Zyx), and Golden-Ager Gerald Lazare. The inductees are an equal mix of Quebecois and English-Canadian and represent several aspects of 20th-Century Canadian comic art. From the press release:
(top image: Jerry Lazarre helps induct Ed Furness at the 2005 Shuster Awards) Labels: awards, comics history, events, Ontario, Ottawa, Quebec, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, April 30, 2007 A Tale of Two PudsThis past weekend the Globe and Mail added a new strip to its comics page, "Pud" by Steve Nease. Nease is the art director and editorial cartoonist for the Metroland group of papers, including The Oakville Beaver. Nease has won numerous awards for his editorial work and is well represented in the editorial cartooning annual, Portfoolio. Pud began as a strip in 1984 and is syndicated by the Canadian Artists Group. The strip is a domestic comedy and the protagonist Pud, who began his cartoon life as a child, is now in his 20s. Some readers may remember another comic strip character with the unlikely name of Pud. Back in 1950, Dubble Bubble debuted the adventures of a newly christened character in "Fleer Funnies, starring Pud" (see sample). Dubble Bubble had included a comic strip with each package of its pink bubble gum beginning in 1930, pre-dating Topps' Bazooka Joe by several years. Created by cartoonist Ray Thompson, Pud is one of the most iconic comic strip characters of all-time, a part of the childhoods of every gum-chewing tot in the U.S. and Canada (and parts beyond). This begs the question, why would a cartoonist name his comic strip after another famous comic strip character? To me it seems tantamount to naming a strip "Snoopy" or "Charlie Brown" while Schulz's "Peanuts" is still going strong. Weird. Before I start pulling or pounding on Pud, however, I'm going to give the strip a chance to grow on me, even though I'm 23 years late. Nease doesn't have a website, so interested readers will have to check their local papers for or see Nease's syndicate. Thus was born Pud, a comic strip about the hilarious on goings of Nease's real life family-- with a little artist liscense employed too of course. The recurring characters are sons Max, Ben (PUD), Sam, and Robert. The family dog is another, as well as himself and his wife. ---- Tribute to Steve Nease Nease to talk about his work History of Fleer Funnies Labels: comic strips, comics history - Stumble It! - 1 comments Thursday, April 26, 2007 Thursday Cover Gallery: Canadian Classic Comics HeritageFans of old comics should check out the Yahoo discussion group Canadian Comics     Labels: comics history - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, March 23, 2007 Even More Rand Holmes Photos  A Flikr set from last weekend's event courtesy of "Crispin Credible". Labels: comics history, events, exhibits, undergrounds - Stumble It! - 0 comments Sunday, March 18, 2007 Fear of a Black Superhero Planet  Writing for the Toronto Star, Brad Mackay traces the decline of superhero comics and investigates the dearth of black heroes in U.S. comic books. If, as the director and Black Panther writer Reginald Hudlin states, "black culture is popular culture," then why are the superhero comic books published by Marvel and D.C. so lily white? Several comics writers and collectors are interviewed, with one of the most succinct explanations coming from Peter Birkemoe: "Everything that these companies do is in complete isolation from true market forces. They are not now, nor have they been for 30 years, part of the mass media," says the co-owner of Toronto's most discerning comic shop, The Beguiling. "Companies run by fans with comics drawn by fans rarely think of catering to anyone but themselves, which unfortunately means comics aimed primarily at adult men who still want to read comics featuring characters suited to children's entertainment." (above image: The Black Panther by Jack Kirby, 1967) Labels: comics history, floppies, Ontario, publishing, Toronto - Stumble It! - Saturday, March 17, 2007 More on this Weekends Rand Holmes EventThe Georgia Straight profiles two of the organizers of this weekend's Rand Holmes retrospective on Lasqueti Island. There are also some choice quotes from Holmes' widow Martha: Martha says it's important the Lasqueti community get a chance to see the work before it moves off-island. She hopes to eventually get a version of the retrospective into galleries, and to that end, Mameni and Pace are helping to write proposals. Labels: comics history, events, undergrounds - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, March 15, 2007 Rand Holmes Retrospective This Weekend  Rand Holmes, Canadian underground comics genius, is the subject of a retrospective in BC this weekend, March 17 & 18. The exhibit is bing organized by Holmes' family and Patrick Rosencranz, underground comics historian and author of Rebel Visions (he also wrote a great article about Holmes for Comic Art magazine). Long before artists like Dave Cooper, Chester Brown, Valium or Julie Doucet, Holmes was creating scabrous, taboo-defying, quality comics. Holmes left behind thousands of pages of comic art that document the underground era. Art from Vancouver underground newspapers, advertising, rock posters, underground comics, graphic novels, paintings, etc will all be on display. A rare opportunity. The exhibit is on Laqueti Island so you need to make travel arrangements. Google Maps Ferry Directions Bed and Breakfast  Labels: British Columbia, comics history, events, exhibits, undergrounds, Vancouver - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, March 12, 2007 Harry Moyer: Early Canadian Cartoonist  Canadian comics researcher John Adcock has uncovered a great article by cartoonist Harry B. Moyer. Moyer worked for a variety of Canadian publications in the early 20th Century. The article is entitled "Art and the Newspaper" and appeared in The Canadian Magazine in 1915. It chronicles the tribulation of the typical newspaper artist and all his jobs, with aparticular reference to cartooning in the U.S. and Canada. The article also includes a sketch by Edwin P. Gray, a cartoonist for the Salvation Army (!) and Toronto Star who died in 1914. Labels: comics history, ephemera, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - 1 comments Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Canadian Comics Treasure Trove  Calgary cartoonist and illustrator Scott Dutton has just made part of his personal collection of 1940s Canadian comics available online. Now curious readers who don't have the time, inclination or cash to track down these rare volumes can discover the secret appeal of Dizzy Don, Nelvana of the Northern Lights, and Men of the Mounted --all in giant-size scan-o-vision. Canadian Golden Age Comics Labels: Alberta, Calgary, comics history - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, February 01, 2007 Richard Comely ProfileThe Guelph Mercury profiles Richard Comely, one of the creators of Captain Canuck. Comely is teaching a comics course in Brantford and hyping the latest incarnation of his patriotic superhero, a new comic book series begun last Fall, and has some funny things to say:
On a related note, Halifax fan-historian Phil Latter has just posted an exhaustive critical history of the character --Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Captain Canuck But Were Afraid to Ask. Labels: comics history, Halifax, Nova Scotia, people, profiles - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, January 30, 2007 Claude St. AubinHalifax fan and comics historian Phil Latter interviews Canadian cartoonist Claude St. Aubin at Silver Bullet Comics. St. Aubin has been contributing to U.S. mainstream superhero and adventure books for years (and is winding up a run on Penny Farthing Press' The Victorian), but long-time fans may remember his contributions, as Jean-Claude St. Aubin, to the 1970s incarnation of Captain Canuck. Back then, St. Aubin inked George Freeman's pencils and pencilled and inked "Beyond", the lushly-illustrated, well-remembered, early sword-and-sorcery back-up strip in Captain Canuck. A career-spanning interview, of sorts. Labels: comics history, Halifax, interviews, Nova Scotia, people - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, January 24, 2007 Rand Holmes Exhibit  Underground comix historian Patrick Rosenkranz writes to remind us that an event celebrating the life and work of cartoonist Rand Holmes is being organized at his family's home and studio at False Bay, Lasqueti Island B.C. An open call has gone out for fans and friends to lend artwork to an exhibit of the thousands of pages of comics and paintings the Holmes family has stored away. Holmes was an important member of the underground comix movement of the 1960s and 70s. He produced tons of comix for U.S., Canadian and European publishers but is perhaps best known for his character Harold Hedd. Holmes' Hitler's Cocaine featuring Harold Hedd was an early graphic novel. Described by Rosenkranz in a recent Comics Journal article, Holmes was "the quintessential anarchist cartoonist" responsible for art that appeared in comics like Fog City Funnies and Death Rattle, and The Georgia Straight and Vancouver Sun underground papers, among many others. Holmes died of Hodgkin's lymphona in 2002. The exhibit is planned for the fifth anniversary of his death: St. Patrick's Day Saturday, March 17, 2007 False Bay, Lasqueti Island British Columbia Ferry service is availiable from the mainland at Fench Creek from Vancouver Island. Labels: British Columbia, comics history, events, news, undergrounds, Vancouver - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, January 23, 2007 TM Maple  T.M. Maple was one of the most widely published comic book letter writers of the 1980s. His real name was Jim Burke and he was, of course, from Canada ("The Mad Maple" was his official name). He also published his own fanzines and contributed to many others: his column "The Canuck Stops Here" was a regular feature of Gene Kehoe's seminal It's a Fanzine. Sadly, T.M. died in 1994 of a heart attack. Over at The Comics Journal Message Board, older readers and fans share memories of him, including a comic strip. --- Other TM Maple links Selection of Letters T.M. Maple on Superman Is the Simpsons' "Comic Book Guy" based on T.M.? The Fallcon in St. Paul, Minnesota holds all of its guest panel presentations in the "TM Maple Edutorium"! Labels: comics history, links, people, zines - Stumble It! - 0 comments Sunday, January 21, 2007 Comics Scholar Bart Beaty's new book Unpopular Culture now available  Comics scholar Bart Beaty- associate professor in the Faculty of Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary, as well as a columnist for both The Comics Journal and The Comics Reporter - has published a new book from University of Toronto Press, Unpopular Culture: Transforming the European Comic Book in the 1990s.Gene Kannenberg of ComicsScholar.org is very happy to be offering this book on their blog at 20% off the cover price, directly from the publisher. Here's a link to the publisher, where you'll find great press such as: Here's a bio of the well respected Mr. Beaty; here's a query of his name on Sequential, and here is the book on Amazon. Labels: Alberta, Calgary, comics history, comics scholarship, links, new books, news, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, January 15, 2007 Invaders from the BinAvi Weinryb reviews the new book of Canadian comics history, Invaders from the North, over at Comic Book Bin: If you get past the freaky cover art, you will discover that Invaders from the North is an astounding addition to the slow-growing pile of books that focus on comic book criticism and history. An added boon is the fact that this micro-tome pins its focus on Canadian contributions to the comics world... 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