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Transmission X on London UK radio  Listened to this last night, it's a very good interview I think. Starting of a month dedicated to web comics, UK talk host Alex Fitch sat down with three members of the Canadian webcomics collective Transmission X - Ramon Perez Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart - in an interview recorded during last year's Comica festival after a signing. They talked about working in a variety of genres on the web, how this contrasts with their superhero comics for more famous publishers and the experience of updating web comics on a regular basis. Stream or download from this page. Labels: international, interviews, pod casts, webcomics - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, February 03, 2010 Interview with Chris Butcher, TCAF Director  Sequential's own Dave Howard had a chance to interview Beguiling manager, book buyer, TCAF Director, and all-around Toronto alt-comics catalyst Chris Butcher about comics212.net, the history of TCAF, his own history, and his take on Canadian publishing. Labels: books.torontoist, Chris Butcher, interviews, TCAF 2010, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, January 28, 2010 Interview with Kean Soo  [by Dave Howard]Kean Soo was very generous as I tortured him through two interviews - the first one I realized after I'd hung up the phone that the tape had run out very early on. We stayed up late the following evening to get the second one done - thanks so much for your patience Kean. Read the results here on books@torontoist Keaner dot net Labels: books.torontoist, interviews, Kean Soo, kid lit, kids comics, Ontario, profiles, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, December 07, 2009 Jack Ruttan at the Montreal Comic ConThe Montreal Comic Con had it's December one day event this past Sunday. Despite plans to attend i missed it, but local writer and cartoonist Jack Ruttan [utopiamoment.ca] was there and has uploaded another impressive set of interviews and photos. We've collected the video into a playlist you wan watch bellow, along with the slide show of photos bellow that. Read Jack's musings about it on his site here. "Didn't I just do one of these in September? And then there was Expozine last month. So, many of these artist seemed like old friends. It was fun brandishing around my little Lumix DMC-FS3 and talking to artists. Sound was a little off (and some interviews are in French), but I think things are audible if you turn up the volume." In the playlist appears Convention organizers Oscar and Elizabeth. Eric Theriault, Isabelle Stephen, Michel Lacombe, Sid Vane and Gloria, Patrick Langlois, Troma, Jimmy Suzan, Fred Mahieu, Steph Dumais, Noumier Tawilah, Jipi McCloud, And Janardan. Labels: conventions, events, interviews, Montreal, photos, Quebec, video - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, November 05, 2009 Sully on Inkstuds   Sherwin Tjia aka Sully, one of my favorite people, is the latest interview subject of Robin McConnell on Vancouver's Inkstuds. Great interview, just finished listening myself.The guys talk about his latest book Hipless boy with conundrum press, the slow dance nights and strip spelling b's, some good writing and proses talk, monastiraki, and language dynamics in love. Also, really nice selection of music played throughout selected by Sully I think. Good one. Also the inkstuds mix tapes continue to rock. Labels: interviews, interweb, Montreal, pod casts, Quebec, Vancouver - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Tonite: Back + Forth Booklaunch, Toronto  Marta Chudolinska Interview Marta Chudolinska is the artist behind the new linocut novel, Back + Forth, which launches tonight at Toronto's McNally Robinson Bookstore, 1090 Don Mills Road at Lawrence, 7PM to 8PM. The book is published by Porcupine's Quill and is part of their new graphic novel line. A recent grad of the Ontario College of Art and Design, and a student of woodcut artist George Walker, Marta was kind enough to answer a few questions for Sequential: Can you talk a bit about your OCAD experience, being taught by George Walker, his influence, and genesis of the book? Working and studying with George has always been an extreme pleasure. From the first lecture of the first class, I knew that he was special. Not many profs put sound effects into their presentations! That small example expresses a lot about George. He has an energy for art and books and life that is absolutely infectious. There are people who believe in life and are able to manifest their dreams and desires. George Walker is one of those people and he leads by example. He is also an extremely generous teacher. He gives so much of his time and care to his students. I think a lot of OCAD print students have benefited from his warmth. In that first class, which looked at the book as an art object, I created a wordless book of linocuts with 16 prints (In a way, Back + Forth picks up where this book left off). In my last year at OCAD, I asked George to be my advisor for an independent study course where we would determine the parameters of the course. I was very interesting in creating a graphic novel, but I imagined a more conventional style and format: a hand-inked comic featuring words. It was at this point that George introduced me to the idea of working with Tim Inkster of the Porcupine's Quill, who had just started to publish a series of wordless novels created in the tradition of 19th century printmaking. I made the novel over a period of eight months, starting slow and doing most of the work in the last two harrowing months. I would have occasional meetings with George to check in and get feedback on the story's development. The course itself was only a half credit but after preparing, cutting and printing 90 linocuts, it ended up being more work than the rest of my entire senior year! Work well worth doing, of course. Can you extrapolate on how the experience of moving between two cities suggested time travel to you and how this in turn became a theme in your book? Traveling has been a very important act in my life and the journeys I've taken have really shaped me as a person. When I moved to Vancouver in my first year of university, it was as if I had created a brand new life for myself. This new life had no connection to my life back home and I was free to create it, and the image of myself, as I pleased. While at first, this left me feeling exhilarated and liberated, it eventually wore me out. Trying to synthesize in my mind these two identities I had created left me feeling a bit crazy, to be honest! The stories from Back + Forth are loosely based on two periods of my life that were particularly important to my development. There was something that intrigued me about interweaving these two times together, in order to create a contrast and to use these (painful) experiences to learn something about myself. Though I was constantly diligent on how certain images may be interpreted, I made this book primarily for myself, as a way to understand. As my close friends may know, I am absolutely obsessed with the idea of time travel and time itself. Maybe I've had too much postmodern education, but it makes no sense to me to see time as a linear path. While things may seem to happen in a particular order, the way we experience or organize our memories about our past is closer to chaos. There's a link to a Frans Masereel site on your blog. Do you think that there is something about our current time that makes the creation of wordless picture novels particularly apt? Why this format? What's its appeal to you? While doing research for this project, I went to the Toronto Reference Library, which has an incredible art room where you can request to view items from their rare book collection. There I was able to handle and read beautiful old copies of wordless novels produced in the early 20th century, mostly by Frans Masereel and Lynd Ward. These books really spoke to me as a lover of visual narratives. Not depending on words, Masereel especially was able to produce characters and images that none the less screamed with meaning. He was tapping into a way of expressing emotion that is beyond language, something that does not need to be translated. There is a primal appeal to it. It also forces the reader to work harder to understand and to use their imagination to smooth out the parts that don't make sense. Words tend to pin things down more precisely. Not using them frees up the interpretation of the story, allowing readers to incorporate their own experiences. I have always loved comics in their every shape and form, from my brother's X-Men to the sexist tales of Archie and friends, to instructional comics in my school textbooks. I have read just about every graphic novel at my local library, on just about any subject, in just about any style. I have such a hunger for this stuff, and I've been really happy to see in recent years that the market and demand for graphic novels has ballooned and there is more out there for me to savour. I think as we become more sophisticated at reading images, we can handle more complex and non-traditional presentations of narrative. Labels: book launches, events, graphic novels, interviews, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, September 02, 2009 FanExpo 4 Co: Patrick Berube; Been slow to post this, crazy town here at HQ! My fridge started blowing fusses! Got these links the other day, Two vids with more to come promises Patrick Berube, Comic Book Bin's new editor. Andy Doan & Herve St-Louis took a camera to the Expo this year. First a discussion with James Armstrong, the giant brain behind the machine. They talk mostly about the growth of the event, and how it's effected what they do. There's a bunch more posted in the last 4 days here that look to be from the FanExpo, pretty good though a bit more info and links to their work in the descriptions would be nice. Looking around i found more vids too. A nice little how too with Roger Corman! ...And a talk with Walter Koenig... If you want more, check this page for the cosplay all kinds of fun. Labels: events, fanexpo 2009, interviews, video - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, July 15, 2009 The C-List: Canadian Comics in the SummertimeSome quick links. Item: Dinosaur Comics' Ryan North talks internet woes with the Globe and Mail. Item: Ed Brisson notes that there will be no Vancouver Comics Jam in July. Item: Walrus comics blogger Sean Rogers talks about David Mazzucchelli. Item: Robert Fulford writes about Harvey Kurtzman and Mad for the Post. Item: Seth tells us why George Sprott will be one of Amazon's best books of 2009. Item: The Wizard Toronto comic convention has a new logo. Item: Iranian-Canadian policart Nik Kowsar talks to the Washington Post about his experiences on the wrong side of the law in Iran. Item: In case you missed yesterday's Summer Reading entry, the big (old) news is that Les 400 Coups has started a new imprint for genre comics/bd, entitled Rotor. Item: Montreal weekly The Hour reviewed Adrian Tomine's 32 Stories and Shortcomings published by D&Q Labels: British Columbia, C-List, comic jams, conventions, international, interviews, links, new books, Ontario, publishing, Quebec, social ink, Toronto, Vancouver, webcomics - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, July 07, 2009 CBR - LEMIRE ON "ESSEX COUNTY" & NEW VERTIGO WORKJust came across this, new post on CBR, looks like a nice interview with Jeff Lemire about his newest books! "Jeff Lemire has a feel for small towns. His "Essex County" trilogy of graphic novels, a multigenerational saga exploring the relationships between and within families in a small farming community, has won awards from the American Library Association, taken the Joe Shuster Award honoring Canadian cartoonists, and has been nominated for an Ignatz, a Harvey, and two Eisner Awards. Labels: can-con, international, interviews, new books, Ontario - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, June 30, 2009 New Interviews with Canadian Comics People  Check out the new series of interviews with comics creators and businesspeople over at The Fabler Blog, part of Calgary's Zensoft Studios interesting new project thefabler.com, a social networking comunity for Comics Creators. So far blogger Kevin de Vlaming Jay Bardyla (owner of Happy Harbor Comics) Gareth Gaudin (of Legends Comic and Books in Victoria BC, & The Magic Teeth Dailies) And more, here. Labels: blogosphere, British Columbia, Calgary, graphic novels, interviews, PEI, profiles, Victoria - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, June 10, 2009 Q&A with Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki CBC Book Club 2PM EST June 11  Sign up for the eventreminder to catch it live here on the CBC web site. And you can listen later in the archives here after it's posted. www.jilliantamaki.com www.marikotamaki.com Labels: interviews, radio, skim - 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 Thursday, April 09, 2009 The Mindless ones net Cameron Stewart for 13 questions  "We captured Cameron Stewart after many hours spent stalking him through the streets of Montreal, Canada.""We then set about beating him with bamboo canes through the thin webbing of the net in which he was held. Cameron withstood the breaking process for 5 days, but ultimately, through clenched teeth, agreed to answer 13 exquisitely crafted questions. He swore he'd die before answering any more." --->> Labels: can-con, interviews, Montreal, pod casts, U.S. superhero franchises, webcomics - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, April 03, 2009 Onomatopoeia BEM  This week on The Onomatopoeia Show!The long awaited interview with indie creator Bernie Mireault. I'm betting good monet Robin and Bernie geeked out big time, they will be talking about POTA, Gaimen, Grendel, Allred and a guy named The Jam. Bernie's got a very distinctive way of telling stories that i was blown away as a kid by myself when i saw his work in Grendel years ago. Check out his stuff at his site and tune in this Sunday online. The Onomatopoeia Show - Sundays from 3-4pm (eastern time) www.cartoongal.com or www.cjlo.com Labels: interviews, Montreal, pod casts, Quebec, radio - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, March 27, 2009 The C-List: A Weekend Quickie Catch-Up  New Blog: Follow Guy Delisle's adventures in Jerusalem as he creates the follow-up to his Burma book.Over at the Comicanuck blog, Robert Pincombe offers an extended examination of the weird recent story covering the comic series from France about a Canadian fighter pilot ("Dan Cooper RCAF") that may have a connection to the 1970s DB Cooper heist. Or, you can read his essay on the first season of everyone's new favourite Canadian tv series, Being Erica. [max: ohhh, i like that one too.] Podcast: Inkstuds interviews the Pohadky creators, Marek Colek and Pat Shewchuck. At the Walrus blog, Sean Rogers runs down the nominees for the Wright Awards with a series of capsule reviews, and notes what's left out. Ephemera: check out the "Quotes on Comics" site, courtesy of a link from the National Post's Ron Nurwisah. Webcomics: a short Kate Beaton interview. Publishing: Chris Butcher has all the news about the latest issue of Comics Festival, the free comic book that is published for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival and given away for Free Comic Book Day. Lots of great, kid-friendly comics: Check it out! History: a WWII Canadian political cartoon by the Star's Les Callan. Canadian manga star Svetlana Chmakova, whose collected Dramacon is a regular on the Sequential Canadian Bestsellers list, is interviewed by Publisher's Weekly about her latest series, Nightschool (published by Yen Press). Classics: Canadian comics historian John Adcock digs up an old article about U.S. comic strip creators from 1935. Labels: blogosphere, C-List, cartoon reportage, interviews, links - Stumble It! - 0 comments Saturday, March 21, 2009 The Onomatopoeia Show is Back! | Pat McEwon   After a 3 year hiatus and a move cross country, Canada's oldest radio show about the graphic arts and host Robin Fisher has found a new home at Concordia Universities radio station, CJLO.Interviews, on scene reporting, music, reviews, readings, radio plays, comics, creators, cartoons, action figures, poster art, graphitti, debates about the afore mentioned and more. Onomatopoeia embraces every arm of the graphic arts octopus. For more information and the podcast go to www.cartoongal.com This week on The Onomatopoeia Show Robin interviews the legendary Pat McEwon! From his beginnings at Aircel with Dave Cooper to now, we discover there's no resting on Grendel laurels in the world of McEwon. The music will be artists' choice.    Site Feed Labels: interviews, Montreal, pod casts, Quebec, radio - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, February 05, 2009 Coville's Clubhouse  The Febuary edition of Collector Times has and interview by Jamie Coville with Doug Simpson, manager of Paradise Comics "about the state of the industry, including the changes recently announced by Diamond Distributors.""I understand that Diamond is having to deal with a harsh economic reality and I know they are doing what they have to do to survive. Our shop has a very dedicated group of buyers and we know what will sell for us and what will sit on the shelf. I realize that some retailers are happy that they will not have as much work but some real quality books will be lost. I'll just have to order directly from the publisher in those cases. " Labels: change, comics retailers, conventions, Diamond, interviews, news, Ontario, paradise comicon, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Watchmen in Toronto  Sure to be one of the big international comics stories of this year and next, the attendant fanfare for the Watchmen movie, including the tie-in book Watching the Watchmen by Dave Gibbons has been hard to ignore. Gibbons was in Toronto last week for a signing. Quillblog has some photos here (that's one above, with Mark Asquith as Dr. Manhattan). The guy in the Rorschach costume has a blog here. As well, Gibbons and Beguiling owner Peter Birkemoe were interviwed on CBC's Q and you can hear the podcast here. Best quote: Birkemoe's closing opinion of the movie. You can also watch the whole interview on Q-Tube. Labels: blogosphere, graphic novels, international, interviews, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, October 22, 2008 Things going on in Toronto this weekend  Lynda Barry at IFOA in Toronto!: Lynda Barry presents What it is and is interviewed by Peter Birkemoe. @ Queens Quay West. CanzineOver 150 zines from across Canada on display and for sale! The heart of the event, indie publishers both in print and online come from across the country and the continent to show their wares! Canzine, the festival of zine culture and the independent arts, is Canada's largest zine fair and only festival of underground culture. The event features over 150 zines from across Canada, as well as all day underground film and video open screening, panel discussions, readings and more. Canzine is an annual one day event put on by broken pencil magazine. Be amazed at the creativity, ingenuity, and sheer weirdness! $5 includes a copy of Broken Pencil Magazine Sunday @ the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto [view map] 1 pm - 7 pm Labels: book launches, Canzine, cartoonists, comics on stage, events, events links, interviews, Ontario, Toronto - 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 16, 2008 Comic Shoppe Talk: Neo Tokyo, London, Ontario  This edition of Comic Shoppe Talk features Robert Chamberlain, owner-san of Neo Tokyo, The Anime Store, located in downtown London, Ontario. As regular readers of the Sequential Bestseller List know, manga dominates comics sales in Canada. We welcome this opportunity to get a snapshot insider's view of the retail side of this phenomenon. My thanks to Neo Tokyo for taking the time to answer the standard battery of Comic Shoppe Talk questions. Neo Tokyo is a little over 700 square feet with the space about evenly divided between manga, anime (DVD rentals & sales), and merchandise. It is located close to London's core, having opened its doors in June of 2003 expanding ever since. It left its original location (just not big enough) in Oct of 2007 and moved up the street a few blocks to double its floor space. According to Robert Chamberlain, "We continue to refine the art of packing more into a small space than we have any right to expect." You are next door to a more traditional comic book shop, The Comic Book Collector. What is your relationship? Are you in competition? Not at all, Neo Tokyo began as an out-growth from The Comic Book Collector with the owner, Tim Morris, and I moving into the next door store front as partners. I've since bought out Tim (very amicably) and the two stores continue to work in partnership each attracting their own circle of customers but with a great deal of cross interest. I believe this helps both shops by bringing out customers that may not make the trip to either store on their own but if they're already at one they'll explore the other. What is the general age/gender breakdown of your customers? What is the general culture of your store? I'd say that the age range is from 10-30 with the majority in the 16-26 range. The gender breakdown would be in the 60/40 (female/male) area. The culture I try for in the store is one of a sort of club house. I try to make sure that everyone coming through the door feels like an old friend. What do you sell more of by volume, graphic novels (including trades and manga) or monthly comic books (floppies)? We don't actually sell any floppies. Having grown out of a more traditional comic store we never had the need to sell any. We focus entirely on manga / manhwa Japanese / Korean books with very few exceptions.  Bestsellers? Bestselling I would say easily are Bleach and Naruto with Fullmetal Alchemist a strong contender. What are your bestselling non-manga graphic novels? If I were to be a purist and not consider the Korean books manga, I would say that it would have to be Banya The Explosive Delivery Man. Though the korean books still only represent a small fraction of the graphic novels I sell in a month. The manga question. Manga represents the future of comics in my opinion. Find a teen-ager reading a comic and odds are it is either manga or so heavily influenced by it as to be as good as. TV spreads the word of manga fairly well to younger readers but only a minority of my customers watch their anime on TV. Magazines / anthologies also seem to function primarily as an introduction but most new books are seen first via the internet. What do you see as the major trends in retailing over the next year? The next 5 years? I believe that manga will continue to explode and that North American retailers will have to adapt to that.  What books do you find yourself recommending the most? Depending on the age of the person asking I find myself making personal recommendations for Eden Endless World, Claymore, Bleach, Dragon Head, Uzumaki, King of Thorn, Planetes, and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. Usually the first question is what have you read that you liked? What comic/manga would you recommend for an 8-year-old girl? I have recommended Aria and First Adventure King for younger readers but even then I recommend someone read with them to help with more complicated visual concepts. What comic/manga would you recommend for a 40-year-old urban professional? Depending on taste I'd recommend Eden Endless World, Translucent, Satsuma Gishiden, Tanpenshu. Why are you a comics retailer? I've always been a fan of a good story in whatever format you find it. I became a comic retailer because I was in the right place at the right time to make it my job to deal in interesting stories. What bothers you the most about the current comics industry? I have less involvement with the 'comics industry' than most comic book stores. I don't have to deal with back issues or grading at all but any problems as far as missed deadlines and delayed books are made much worse by the fact that they start out in Japan and have to work their way through the entire machinery to make it to my shelves. How important is the web to your business? As far as the day to day business it isn't all that important, it is an important means of communication with my suppliers and customers (most of whom are extremely web-savvy). I hope to make it more important by breaking into online shopping cart sales to allow me to tap into and service the surrounding satellite communities in our area. What is the comics scene like in London? Much as I would like to see more of it and I would like to support local artists and events London hasn't, as yet, had much activity of that sort. I would very much like to see a local con happen but it needs someone who knows how to put on such an event rather than a fan, no matter how enthusiastic, without the know-how. Neo Tokyo 787 Dundas St London, ON N5W 2Z6 phone: (519) 642-7862 Labels: comics retailers, comicshoptalk, graphic novels, interviews, Ontario - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Comic Shoppe Talk: Comic Cave, Winnipeg  Boy, I haven't done one of these in a while. This time around, James Cassels of the Comic Cave in Winnipeg, Manitoba, agreed to answer a few email questions about the shop he works in. Comic Cave occupies 1000 sq ft at 1104 Corydon Ave in the 'Peg and has been in operation for 11 and 1/2 years. The set-up: "New Material and Comic Sets are set up on the eastern half of the store, Back Issues and Subscription Racks/Sales Counter on the western side. Other merchandise will likely be located near the back issues although gaming material is located behind counter." Cassels is in charge of Product Orders. Q. What is the general age/gender breakdown of your customers? What is the culture of your store? Mostly Male 20's - 30's. Most have been collecting since they were younger. People who recently pick up comic reading are often book purchasers. No particular culture. Q. What do you sell more of by volume? Still sell more monthlies although a substantial amount of trades are sold. Q. Do you have a store specialty or area of expertise? What makes your store unique? Active subscription service with discounts. Q. What do do you sell more of by dollar value? What percentage of your business is comics? What is the state of the back-issue market? Comics of either format make up most of the business. New comics are bread and butter although back issues are still important. Q. Bestsellers? Amazing Spider-man, JLA, JSA, Avengers, Astonishing X-men, All Star Superman, All Star Batman, Any Ultimate title, The Boys, Captain America. Q. Bestselling graphic novels? Walking Dead, Fables, Y the Last Man, The Boys, any Ultimate TPB. Most Vertigo series that are kept in print continue to sell. Superhero trades are generally weaker sellers. Most people would rather maintain their collection as monthlies. Q. The manga question. I sell a modest amount of it mostly to non-manga fans who just happen to latch on to a particular title. Not being located near either of Winnipeg's Universities inhibits manga sales. Q. What do you see as the major trends in graphic novels and comics retailing over the next year? The next 5 years? More large collections of back material coming out. Q. What comics do you find yourself recommending the most? The Boys, Scalped, Ultimate Spider-man, Punisher (Max), Black Summer, 100 Bullets, Blade of the Immortal and more. Pretty much anything that's on my pull list. Q. What are your favourite comics? Maus, Watchmen, From Hell, V For Vendetta, Transmetropolitan, Adolf: A Tale of the 20 Century, Sandman, DC: The New Frontier, Brat Pack, Planetary. Q. What comic would you recommend for an 8-year-old girl? A 40-year-old urban professional? Not sure anymore although in the past I would normally recommend manga since manga publishers actively make comics targetted at young girls.. Not up on current manga series for younger girls. Generally, I don't like recommending comics that I don't read. Q. Why are you a comics retailer? Beats working for some corporate dirtbag. Q. What bothers you the most about the current comics industry? Too much emphasis on marketing grandiose super soap operas. I get that some people like a big shared universe for their men in pervert suits but it seems the story is secondary to the event sometimes. Not nearly enough emphasis on self-contained stories. I don't normally recommend super hero comics but two properties I tend to recommend (Ult Spiderman and Punisher MAX) are very self-contained. Q. How important is the web to your business? We do a modest amount of mail orders but most sales are local. Q. Winnipeg is a very artistic city. Both the Royal Art Lodge and Captain Canuck have roots there. What is the comics scene like in Winnipeg? Are there any local creators/zines/minicomics that you promote in store? Minimal. I'll willingly promote local work but nothing much seems to be happening. ----- COMIC CAVE www.comiccavewinnipeg.com 1104 Corydon Ave Winnipeg, MB Canada R3M 0Y8 phone:204-284-2210 email:comiccave@shaw.ca Labels: comics retailers, comicshoptalk, interviews, Manitoba, shop profiles, Winnipeg - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, February 11, 2008 Things to See and Read: Monday
Labels: British Columbia, cartoonists, graphic novels, interviews, Ontario, Quebec, reviews, Toronto, Vancouver, webcomics - 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 Monday, February 04, 2008 Broken Pencil on Webcomics: AwesomeThe latest issue of indie guide Broken Pencil has an article about webcomics by Richard Rosenbaum. "Paper is Boring. Comics are Awesome." traces the migration of self-published comics online and includes some choice quotes from Dinosaur Comics' Ryan North: "I don't think you can make a living selling your comic online," says North. "There are so many free comics—worse, so many really fantastic free comics—that it's hard for someone to sit down and enter in credit card information to read your story when there's one just as good as it a click away. "If you look at it really cynically --really cynically-- you can say 'Oh Ryan, you adorable dunderhead. You're not a cartoonist. What you create are graphic ads for your T-shirts, a new ad every day. That's not cartooning.' And yeah, the comics support the shirts and the shirts support the comic, so there's a symbiosis there. But even if there weren't merchandise, I think I'd still be doing the comic online. Creating art in any form is hard, even comics. If you're just in it for the money it'll show, and you'll hate your job. I am satisfied to give the comic away for free and sell merchandise. I don't really see a conflict there, even though it is a bit odd to explain to someone encountering the idea for the first time that you're a full-time cartoonist, and yeah, you give the comics away for free." Labels: interviews, webcomics - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, January 31, 2008 Pia Guerra vs Dave SimNot really, but here are some comics-related links concerning both:
Labels: floppies, interviews, interweb, manga, Newfoundland, Ontario, publishing, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, January 28, 2008 Monday Links: Doucet, Johnston, Taillefer, Nunavut 
The current plan: Continue tying up loose ends with various "FBorFW" characters (a process that's taking longer than Johnston expected). Then, no later than this September, freeze all these cast members in time. After that, the 1979-launched comic will focus on the younger versions of the characters. Labels: comic strips, graphic novels, interviews, Lynn Johnston, Ontario, Toronto - 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 Tuesday, December 11, 2007 bpnichol or Julie Doucet: Great Cartoonist, or Greatest Cartoonist?  Some comic book links from around Canada for Tuesday:
Labels: blogosphere, comic strips, graphic novels, interviews, poetry - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, November 30, 2007 This Weekend  Sequential was a bit busy this morning, so many of these links have already been rounded up over at The Comics Reporter and Journalista. For the record:
his new comic, a graphic novella, on Saturday December 1st upstairs at The Victory Cafe. I have to apologise because I can't remember what it's named, but I have seen a bunch of the art for it and it's really cool, unique stuff. Show up at The Vic, second floor, around nine or ten to start partaking of the festivities. The Victory Cafe is just down the street from The Beguiling, at 581 Markham." Labels: book launches, events, graphic novels, interviews, links, Ontario, pod casts, Quebec, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, November 29, 2007 Thirsty Thursday 
Labels: awards, British Columbia, charity, exhibits, Global Links, graphic novels, interviews, Lynn Johnston, Vancouver - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, November 22, 2007 Linkology  Some comics news and links for Thursday:
Labels: graphic novels, interviews, links, misc, Ontario, reviews, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Cameron Stewart: Sin TituloCartoonist Cameron Stewart has made the big leap to self-publishing his own work online in the form of a webcomic called Sin Titulo, part of the Transmission X line-up. Brian Warmoth profiles Stewart for Wizard, and they talk about the Transmission X penalty system, Claudia Davila's awesome new comic, and Stewart's hi-tech artistic process:
Labels: interviews, webcomics - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, November 09, 2007 Friday Links  Exhibits/Events:
Reviews
Interviews/New Books
Retailing
Labels: comics retailers, exhibits, graphic novels, interviews, links, misc, Ontario, publishing, Quebec, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, August 27, 2007 Lynn Johnston Interview: No RegretsBrad Mackay interviews Lynn Johnston for CBC Arts and gets some choice biographical info as well as comics criticism: We lived with the comics growing up -- we loved them. My grandfather and my father would analyze them, and my father was quite a good cartoonist but never pursued it. So all my life I remember looking at the comics not as an entertainment, but rather as a piece of art. I loved comic books too, [especially] any one where the female character was believable or strong. I liked Little Dot, Little Lulu, and of course I liked Peanuts, because even though Lucy was kind of a crab, she was strong. Labels: comic strips, interviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, August 09, 2007 Chester Brown Interviewvia Michel Viau comes word of this interview with Chester Brown in Subjects Magazine:
Labels: graphic novels, interviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, July 12, 2007 Patricia Storms InterviewDebbie Ohi interviews Toronto cartoonist/illustrator/blogger Patricia Storms for BlogTO: Quite a bit of my cartoon work is a little racy, so I knew it would never see the light of day in print. I guess I wanted to share the irreverent, kooky side of myself to a larger audience, and see if people enjoyed it, or were totally freaked out by it. Surprisingly, most people liked my wacky cartoons and ideas. But I also wanted to be a part of a larger conversation regarding discussing books and authors and ideas and the fascinating world of publishing. Labels: blogosphere, interviews, Ontario, Toronto - 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 Tuesday, July 03, 2007 Happy Harbor Interview @ Newsarama  Stephanie Chan interviews Edmonton's Jay Bardyla, owner of the Happy Harbor comics store. Bardyla won the Best Retailer prize at the Shuster Awards. The store does a lot for local creators and for charity, in apart as a publisher of the comics anthology Tales from the Harbor: "Tales from the Harbor" was a slow building idea and I was afraid it wouldn't work since I've had trouble in the past trying to coordinate people for events and projects. There were a few anthologies around Alberta that selected content and charged for submitting (which is perfectly fine) but I wanted to offer something to the true beginner, to give them a chance to create within a schedule, have their work edited by others and finally to have it seen in a finished volume of work. Currently there are 2 volumes of "TotH" and we plan to continue to publishing twice a year for as long as we can. The first book was about 280 pages and the second was 340 and we couldn’t publish all the material we had. Clearly there's no lack of interest so we should be good for a while. Our first books were based on the works from our charity events so there are 2 "12 Hr Comic Challenge" books and 2 "24 Hour Comics Day" books, a portion of the proceeds from each continue to go to their respective charities. We also published a "Comic Talks" books after our 2005 sessions and are currently working a book based on the 2006 shows. And finally, one of our staff members has begun to produce an all-women's charity anthology in support of La Salle, a long term women's shelter based in Edmonton. We have gotten some strong support and feedback for the book so we are hoping to have it published by the end of the year. Labels: Alberta, comics retailers, comicshoptalk, Edmonton, interviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Liam O'Donnell InterviewCartoonist Debbie Ohi interviews writer Liam O'Donnell for BlogTO. O'Donnell has two new educational graphic novels for kids coming out, illustrated by Michael Dead. He is also the writer behind the Max Finder Mystery gn, illustrated by Micahel Cho. He doesn't mention either cartoonist in his interview, though: "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. Labels: blogosphere, British Columbia, graphic novels, interviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Thursday, June 21, 2007 Chmakova InterviewThe Finding Wonderland blog interviews Svetlana Chmakova (link via Comics Reporter): FW: How far back does your interest in comics and manga extend? When did you first start drawing comics? Labels: blogosphere, interviews, links, manga - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, June 05, 2007 Stuart Immonen InterviewJamie Coville talks to Toronto's Stuart Immonen about style and his approach to new projects. Briefly disccused: Spider-Man and the period webcomic Moving Pictures (a new episode of which was posted Friday). Labels: interviews, U.S. superhero franchises, webcomics - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, May 25, 2007 James Turner Newsarama Profile  Toronto's James Turner is interviewed by Newsarama's Michael C Lorah about his newest project Rex Libris, which is being collected in a trade paperback in June. Turner's Nil, a stand-alone graphic novel, was a surprise gem of 2005.
Rex Libris is published by Slave Labor. Labels: graphic novels, interviews - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, May 09, 2007 Chmakova Profile in Star  Svetlana Chmakova is profiled in the Toronto Star: If the story of her life were a comic strip, Svetlana Chmakova's creative process would span eight to 10 panels. Labels: interviews, manga, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, May 02, 2007 Talking Comics in Canadian ArtWriting for Canadian Art, Christine Redfern interviews Wayne Baerwaldt who is curating he upcoming Biennale de Montreal: The comics are so well drawn; the narratives are so sophisticated --many, of course, from Quebecois artists. Comics are a fantastical, imaginative means of breaking open creative borders. You just have a lot more freedom to be irreverent, to go beyond the predictable even in the comic genre. I think I can really treat the narrative and artwork that go into the making of a comic book just as I would treat a painting. Labels: events, exhibits, interviews, Quebec - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, April 27, 2007 Hope Larson goes APEThe Alternative Press Expo was last weekend and Hope Larson was a featured guest. Wizard Magazine (yes, Wizard Magazine) has an interview with Larson about her career and most recent projects. What can you tell us about Chiggers? (link via Comics Reporter) Labels: canadians abroad, events, interviews, links - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, April 23, 2007 Michael Cho InterviewCartoonist Michael Cho is interviewed on the subject of his beautiful sketchblog by BlogTO. Who's your favourite Torontonian? Labels: blogosphere, interviews, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Friday, April 13, 2007 FBDFQ: ReportsCoverage from here and there of the Festival de la bande dessinee francophone de Quebec: -Marie-Claude Forest profiles Nombrils creators Dubuc and Delaf --there is also a video with some footage of the Festival (it is huge!) and an interview with Dubuc & Delaf. -Eric Lamiot has interviews with everyone (yes everyone) else at his blog. Labels: bd, events, interviews, Quebec - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, April 09, 2007 Bart Beaty InterviewCalgary's Prof Beaty talks about his new Euro-Comix book, published by UofT Press (link via Tom Spurgeon): "Growing up in Canada, I started reading French comics at a very young age alongside the Archies and Harvey comics that I loved as a kid, and I kept reading them as a teenager. When I was in graduate school in Montreal I really got much more immersed because of the used bookstores, that made a lot of material available to me for the first time. Around that time I was asked by Tom Spurgeon to write on Euro-comics for the Journal and that sort of led me deeper to the point that I realized that there were things that I wanted to say that would be beyond the scope of those reviews. I first started thinking about the book in 2000, so it's been an awful long process! " Labels: bd, international, interviews, links, Quebec - Stumble It! - 0 comments Monday, April 02, 2007 Comic Shoppe Talk: 8th Street Books, SaskatoonThis week's Q & A is with Pat Thompson of 8th Street Books and Comics in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Pat also hosts Comic Chat with Theo and Pat heard on CFCR radio, FM 90.5, Friday at 6 and Monday at 6:30p.m. My thanks to Pat for taking time out to answer these questions. ---------- Q. What is the general age/gender breakdown of your customers? I have a full range of ages but the largest demographic is the 18-25 range. Q.What do you sell more of by volume, graphic novels (including trades and manga) or monthly comic books? Monthly comic books by far but the dollar value is close. Q.What are your bestselling non-manga graphic novels? Watchmen, 300 (once the movie was announced), V for Vendetta, Kingdom Come, Ultimate Spider-man (all), Bone (all), Batman: Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Long Hallowe'en, Batman:Dark Victory, Sin City (all) Q. What are your bestselling non-superhero graphic novels? Bone, Sin City, Archie Americana, Sandman, 300, V for Vendetta, Books of Magic (the original), Star Wars any, Elfquest, Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Q. What do you see as the major trends in graphic novels and comics retailing over the next year? The next 5 years? I have expected for a long time that the big companies would switch focus from monthlies to GN's but that hasn't happened. I hope/expect more European stuff to start arriving in TPB form. Q. What comics do you find yourself recommending the most? I recommend many titles. Whenever a new customer comes in and asks about comics I find out what they are most interested in and then recommend with that in mind. No sense trying to sell Girls to a super hero fan. Q. What are your favourite comics? No favourites. I really enjoy anything well-written. Okay, maybe not manga for the most part and I do pick up super hero stuff first but I do read True Story Swear to God and Strangers in Paradise every month the same way I read Amazing Spider-man. Q. Why are you a comics retailer? I actually accidentally fell into this job. I really enjoy retail work and I'm a big fan of comics. It is what I want to do for a living and it is as close to having a hobby as I come. Q. What bothers you the most about the current comics industry? Hollywood having the rights to play with comic book characters and change the characters to fit what some fool thinks is the best choice for some fictional demographic. And that isn't even in the industry but it is a significant driving force for getting new and lapsed readers into the stores and these arbitrary changes don't make selling our product any easier. In the industry I would have to say my largest bother would be how Marvel treats retailers. Q.The Can-Con question. I guess the most prominent of the Canadian comics (consider Canadian as any comic that has a Canadian involved in the creative process) is Zemo by Tom Grummett. Not because it sells really high numbers but because Tom is Saskatoon's most published comic artist. Pat Davidson who is a rising star at Marvel in the inking department has quite a few books on the shelves here at the store. Check his work in Cable Deadpool and in the upcoming Marvel version of Treasure Island . Expat Kaare Andrews (He lives in Vancouver -- I think he moved to escape the weather) just wrapped up the amazing Dark-Knight-esque Spider-man reign. Even though he has never lived in Saskatoon, Calgary's Cary Nord is doing amazing work on Conan. There are of course many great Canadian artists and writers out there and I don't have the knowledge and time to list them all here. Locally we have some self-published comics that are worth the read. Unfortunately the production has fallen off lately. Huw Evans and his sons put out one issue of Tri-focal. Hopefully more to come. Lucas Bradford has moved to Victoria so no more copies of brain pain have hit my shelves in the last few months. Elaine Will has been concentrating on art school so she hasn't put out anything new in way too long. Jesse McGibney and Adam Kirk are both in school at Sheridan College in Ontario so nothing from them until their work load is reduced. I'm out of time. Comics are here and I'm one staff short. I love Wednesday. Q. Any upcoming events/signings/sales? Just had a big sale for my file customers last Friday evening. Big signings for FCBD. Every Wednesday is a big event. We call it new comic book day. 8th Street Books & Comics 1010 8th Street East Saskatoon, SK S7H 0R9 phone: (306) 343-6624 Labels: British Columbia, comics retailers, comicshoptalk, interviews, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Vancouver - Stumble It! - 1 comments Scott Chantler talks about Tek JansenJamie Coville has an excellent interview with Scott Chantler, covering his early graphic novel Days Like This as well as the recent Northwest Passage. Also included are Chantler's thoughts on the animation industry and a discussion of Chantler's new work-for-hire project, a miniseries based on Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen sci-fi parody. Coville also provides a show report for the Paradise Comic Fan Super Show from March 25 which I totally failed to hype or link to reports of. Also included are photos of all your favourite Toronto cartoonists. Labels: conventions, events, graphic novels, interviews, links, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, March 28, 2007 Jim Munroe @ NMK interviews Senior Communications Manager Donna Balkan on the ocasion of the Canada Council for the Arts' 50th anniversary  On March 28th 1957, parliament passed the Canada Council act, making today the Canada Council for the Arts' 50th anniversary.Jim has taken the occasion to post an interesting conversation with the Senior Communications Manager Donna Balkan when she was in town for the Governor General's Awards. I found out how graphic novels became eligible for grants, what phone calls stress their staff the most, and that technological changes may banish the ghost of vanity press and make self-publishers eligible for funding. Labels: can-con, grants, interviews, news, pod casts, publishing - Stumble It! - 0 comments Keen Soo's Jellaby GoodnessChris Arrant interviews Keen Soo for Newsarama. Discussed: the Disney deal, webcomics, Hope Larson, Flight, Calvin & Hobbes, autobio comics:
Labels: graphic novels, interviews, webcomics - Stumble It! - 1 comments Monday, March 26, 2007 Comic Shoppe Talk: Elfsar, VancouverThis week, Ethan Peacock from Vancouver's Elfsar Comics agreed to answer a few email questions about his business. Elfsar occupies 2,500 square feet in Vancouver, BC. and opened May 2003 with some help from the folks behind Happy Harbor in Edmonton. The store is a participant of Free Comic Book Day and 24 Hour Comic day as well as fundraisers for charities (it donated over $1,600 to the Vancouver Ronald McDonald House last year). Peacock was nice enough to list some of his current bestsellers. Looking over the lists, it's tempting to say, as Elfsar goes, so goes the Direct Market. From Peacock's description, the store seems to attract a huge number of traditional Marvel/DC-type fans/collectors. I'm also reminded I should ask more specific questions about Canadian comics sales. Q. What is the general age/gender breakdown of your customers? The average age is about 25-30 years of age. The Male/female ratio is 85% Male 15% Female. Q. What do you sell more of by volume, graphic novels (including trades and manga) or monthly comic books? Well, it's kind of hard to say. Comics (floppies) still rank as #1 but that is mostly due to our saver file subscriptions for monthly books. However for floor traffic Trades are definitely #1. We track every sale at our store via our point of sale system so we know exactly what is selling, customer purchase history & loads of other useful data which helps us with our ordering. Q. What do do you sell more of by dollar value? Again, same as above. Q. What are your bestselling books? 1. 52 weeks 2. Civil War 3. Mighty Avengers 4. Astonishing X-men 5. New Avengers 6. All Star Superman 7. Justice League of America 8. Justice Society of America 9. Walking Dead 10. The Boys Q. What are your bestselling non-manga graphic novels? 1. Superman Death of Superman TP 2. Batman The Long Halloween TP 3. Astonishing X-men Vol 1 TP 4. Ultimate Spider-man Vol 1 TP 5. Batman Hush Vol 1 TP 6. Walking Dead Vol 1 TP 7. Batman Dark Knight Returns TP 8. Sandman Vol 4. TP 9. Superman Red Son TP 10. Watchmen TP Q. What are your bestselling non-superhero graphic novels? 1. Walking Dead Vol 1 TP 2. Watchmen TP 3. Sandman Vol 4. TP 4. 300 HC 5. Y the Last Man Vol 1 TP 6. Bone One Vol Edition SC 7. Transformers G1 Vol 1 TP 8. Conan Vol 1 TP 9. Pride of Bagdad HC 10. Transmetropolitan Vol 1 TP Q. What percent of your manga sales are driven by "TheYTV effect" and other media (anime, movies, toys, etc)? Not much or at least I have not noticed anything significant. Q. What do you see as the major trends in graphic novels and comics retailing over the next year? The next 5 years? Our sales greatly depend on what the Top companies decide to put into print. I believe that Graphic Novels (Trades) are the future and we have been adjusting out orders accordingly. I think publishers are starting to have more faith in this format. But it is kind of anti-collecting and certain companies (i.e. Marvel) make it obvious that they do not like that which is why they seem to let so many of their trades go out of print. Other companies (i.e. Dynamite Entertainment) are starting to publish variant covers for Trades which again I feel is the wrong direction. I believe that Trades belong on a bookshelf and are aimed at people who want to read stories. Plain and simple. Over the next year I foresee more collections of older material from the large publishers. I foresee more independent creators skipping the single issue format and going straight to trades, which will cost them more at first but in the long run they will sell out as opposed to having tons of #3's and #4's that they can't sell without reprinting #1's and #2's. In the next 5 years I think the larger publishers will be pushing to put ads in Trades weather at the end or throughout the book (I have already seen this in a Top Cow Hardcover). I think that there will be more comics on the web and I think single issues will crash in sales and many comic book stores will close. This will be also due to comics being pushed to things like blackberries for a subscription, etc. Hey, when you have Jonny Q [sic] at Marvel saying "The paper form of Comics will be extinct in 30 years," it doesn't give me a few positive outlook on my business of selling paper comics. Q. What comics do you find yourself recommending the most? Hard to say, for those looking for great stories, we recommend good stating points or one-shot books from some of our favorite writers. For those looking for good art, we point out different art styles and see what they bite on. Each employee has their personal faves. I like Mignola's work myself. Q. What are your favourite comics? I like any Comics/Trades that sell well and stay in print. Q. Why are you a comics retailer? At first it was because I was a comics fan. I was an aspiring artist and comics were very attractive to me. I was ordering so many comics that it was time to open a store. Now, that I have been exposed to the other side my fandomship has died down a fair amount. Now it's just a business and my priorities have changed. Q. What bothers you the most about the current comics industry? The "Comic Book Day Wednesday" situation. As much as I love the fact that we have customers that can't wait to buy our product. A lot of it is already spoken for. All other industries get at least a day to sort through inventory, check damages, make displays, enter items that were not in their database & get knowledge on the product. We have customers eagerly hounding us for stuff as our product arrives. The customer will also ask us "So how's this book?" when we have not even had time to get it out (quite literally) of the box, let alone read it. This causes a lot of unnecessary stress and I personally believe is the #1 reason that comic book shops are a dying breed. Ideally we would get our stuff a day early or during the previous night so that we could set everything up during closing hours. Ideally all comic shops would agree to not sell the books before the next day. But we are breed that feeds off ourselves and that will never happen. All it takes is one to break the rule and other have no choice but to follow suit or go out of business. If I was the only Comic Book shop in Vancouver, I would totally make Thursday "Comic Book Day", but I am not. So I have no choice but to suffer. Also we are not ever ordering for tomorrow like most businesses ... you run out of something ... you order more. Instead we have to order 2 months in advance or we have to order for 6 months down the line. It is impossible to predict your next weeks invoice so cash flow is always a problem. Q. How important is the web to your business? Very, it acts like a giant business card and with the increase in webcomics it will become more and more important as time goes on. It gives store the opportunity to showcase their Events/Sales/Product/Signings/etc... ELFSAR COMICS & TOYS. FEATURED IN BEST OF VANCOUVER 2006! www.elfsar.com (604) 688-5922 Open 7 Days a Week 1007 Hamilton St. Vancouver , BC Canada V6B 5T4 Labels: British Columbia, comics retailers, comicshoptalk, Edmonton, interviews, shop profiles, Vancouver - Stumble It! - 0 comments Tuesday, March 13, 2007 Comic Shoppe Talk: The Dragon  The Q & A with Halifax comic shop owner Calum Johnston went so well I'm going to try to make it a regular feature. This time around the profiled shop is a little closer to home: The Dragon in Guelph serves a city of 100 000, including 10 000 or so university students. Dragon manager Amy Restemayer was kind enough to answer the short list of questions emailed to her. Q. What is the general age/gender breakdown of your customers? The general age for graphic novel and manga customers ranges between about 15 and 30, with the odd older collector getting into newer series via trades. Graphic novels and trades are higher sellers for males and manga is mostly females. Q. What do you sell more of by volume, graphic novels (including trades and manga) or monthly comic books? A. By volume we sell more monthly comic books than graphic novels and manga combined. Q. What do do you sell more of by dollar value? A. Also comics, the sales of single issues outweigh all other print material in our store. Q. What are your top 10 bestselling books? A. Top ten books would be Inu Yasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fables, Ultimate Spiderman, Fruits Basket, Naruto, Bleach, Walking Dead, Angel Sanctuary and Berserk. Q. What are your bestselling non-manga graphic novels? A. Top ten non-manga titles are Fables, Ultimate Spiderman, Walking Dead, Y the Last Man, Sandman, Preacher, Runaways, Kingdom Come, Watchmen and Sin City. Q. What are your bestselling non-superhero graphic novels? A. You will notice the theme here, Fables, Walking Dead, Y the Last Man, Sandman, Preacher, 300, Sin City and V for Vendetta would be the top sellers (yes, I consider V a non-superhero book, though other may argue that). The other two top spots would be a mix of titles such as Goon, Conan, Bone, Blankets and Strangers in Paradise. Q. What percent of your manga sales are driven by "TheYTV effect" and other media (anime, movies, toys, etc)? A. It's hard to say just how much of the manga industry is fuelled by other media. Though they are still heavily editing the shows broadcast in North America they are not as strict with the manga translations and therefore we get a lot of crossover for titles such as Inu Yasha, Fullmetal Alchemist and Bleach, which are airing on YTV, because fans want to know the whole story. The manga story is also usually different from the anime, depending on the control of the original creator. I would estimate that something close to 80% of readers were introduced to manga through other media, whether going from an anime to the manga it was based on directly or from an anime to a similarly themed manga. Q. What do you see as the major trends in graphic novels and comics retailing over the next year? The next 5 years? A. Over the next year I think that the trends of the new comic book based movies will cause those properties to skyrocket. We've already seen it with 300 and the movie is only being released this month. My hope is that over the next five years Vertigo will continue to lead our sales due to the speed at which they release their trades and the low costs of each volume. Q. Any upcoming events/signings? A. We are hoping to make our November signing a yearly occurrence, but we don't have any firm plans as of yet. The Dragon 3 Wyndham Street North Guelph, Ontario (top photo: cartoonists Jay Stephens & Cameron Stewart @ The Dragon, 2005) Labels: comics retailers, comicshoptalk, Halifax, interviews, Nova Scotia, Ontario, shop profiles - Stumble It! - 1 comments Monday, February 05, 2007 Ty Templeton, Igloo DwellerCartoonist and Mr.Comics mastermind Ty Templeton is interviewed by Jamie Coville for Coville's Clubhouse. Matters discussed: working for Marvel, Steve Gerber, Bongo Comics, Max the Mutt Animation School, DC Comics' policy towards writer/artists, and the nationalist backgrounds of the creators of the Planet of the Apes comic book miniseries: "EVERY single person working on the book was a hockey playing, French speaking, bacon eating, igloo dweller, like myself." Labels: floppies, interviews, people, publishing - Stumble It! - 0 comments Wednesday, January 31, 2007 Debbie Ridpath Ohi  BlogTO's regular webcomic feature, WebcomicTO, presents an interview with Toronto's Debbie Ridpath Ohi conducted by Ryan Couldrey. Ohi is the cartoonist behind Will Write for Chocolate, a webcomic about writing, publishing and blogs. Taking the maxim "write what you know" to heart, Ohi has set herself the unenviable task of coming up with topical gags about the life of a freelance writer and aspiring novelist and manages to produce an intelligent strip in a breezy modern style with only the occasional lapse into sub-Guisewite angst. The interview also covers her other cartooning and blogging activities (she did a popular strip about waiting in line to see The Lord of the Rings), as well as various extracurricular activities like being in a band. Labels: interviews, people, webcomics - Stumble It! - 2 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 Archive by Region Alberta - British Columbia - Calgary - Gatineau - Halifax - Moncton - Montreal - New Brunswick - Newfoundland - Nova Scotia - Ontario - PEI - Quebec - Saskatchewan - Saskatoon - Toronto - Vancouver - Victoria - Winnipeg - Archive by Month January 2006 - February 2006 - March 2006 - April 2006 - May 2006 - June 2006 - July 2006 - August 2006 - September 2006 - October 2006 - November 2006 - December 2006 - January 2007 - February 2007 - March 2007 - April 2007 - May 2007 - June 2007 - July 2007 - August 2007 - September 2007 - October 2007 - November 2007 - December 2007 - January 2008 - February 2008 - March 2008 - April 2008 - May 2008 - June 2008 - July 2008 - August 2008 - September 2008 - October 2008 - November 2008 - December 2008 - January 2009 - February 2009 - March 2009 - April 2009 - May 2009 - June 2009 - July 2009 - August 2009 - September 2009 - October 2009 - November 2009 - December 2009 - January 2010 - February 2010 - |
