Labels: comic strips, political cartooning, webcomics

• Jovan Zimzovski contributes an epic-length profile of webcartoonist Ryan North for the York University paper. The gist? The key to making money in comics is selling t-shirts.

• Social media are like comics, according to rabble.ca writer Wayne MacPhail.

• The Comic Book Bin has a pair of articles about webcomics. First, there is a look at "crowdsourcing" --the practice of strip-mining ideas from users-- popular with DC's Zuda and Canada's own Zeros to Heroes. Second, there is an article about adding to comics to facebook.

Labels: links, webcomics

• Okay, maybe just one. Go read the latest Luz: Girl of the Knowing strip by Claudia Davila. The strip has been picked up by Briarpatch magazine!

• Although I can't seem to find the article online, a report in this Saturday's Globe suggested that the graphic novel Skim was the subject of international publishing rights bidding at the recent London Book Fair.

• Jeet Heer writes about one of George Herriman's final Krazy Kat strips, on the subject of race and passing.

• The latest review of Jeff Lemire's Ghost Stories graphic novel.

• An amazing collection of comic-strip-inspired antique toys owned by a Toronto collector.

• A report from a sci-fi convention in St. John, Nfld.

• Prostateman comic wins award.

• From last week: The Toronto Star has more details about the man found dead in the former Etobicoke comic store.

Labels: graphic novels, links, real world, webcomics

• Jeet Heer vs Michael Chabon: Wow, Jeet can't seem to stay out of the scraps this week. On the heels of his dust-up with Bart beaty last week, his review of David Hadju's 10 Cent Plague for Salon has drawn a lengthy rebuttal from novelist and comics fan Michael Chabon (for good measure, Beaty chimes in as well).

• Chris Butcher posts the 20 bestselling comic books/floppies at the Beguiling from last week.

• Johanna Draper Carlson reviews Hope Larson's new graphic novel for young adults, Chiggers.

• Cameron Stewart is interviewed about his Transmission X webcomic, Sin Titulo, at the Digital Strips site: part 1 part 2 Stewart has just finished work on a new graphic novel for Oni, The Apocalipstix.

• The World Press Freedom Day 10th Annual Awards Luncheon, featuring an exhibition of the winning and runner-up cartoons of the international political cartoon competition on the theme of "Re-writing History", will be held May 2nd, in Ottawa.

• An ad for a car dealership has stirred up controversy and the ire of the Winnipeg police. (see above)

Labels: comics history, comics retailers, events links, graphic novels, webcomics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: comics history, comics on film, comics retailers, manga, U.S. superhero franchises, webcomics

Project Wonderful uses an auction process for it’s buyers and sellers. If you want to run an ad to attract visitors to your site, you need to compete with other sites doing the same thing. You can do this on a site by site basis (someone can advertise, for example, on one or both boxes on my GirlAMatic site) or you can do it as a campaign. In the latter case, you enter in criteria and have PW bid on your behalf on sites that meet your specs. Personally, I use a combination of both. For instance, I find that I get a really good Q Rating on Wahoo Morris, probably because the two stories are somewhat similar and both Craig Taillefer and I are Ottawa-based creators. 'Course, maybe it's something entirely different. Regardless, I keep on bidding on his site because I like the results that I get.

If we assume, just for a sec, that those 4112 are unique individuals, then my $108.60 ad spend is pretty amazing. Even if it's quarter of that (say 1000 unique individuals), then I'm only spending 11 cents on each person. When I compare that to how much I spent going to various conventions slogging my work (keeping in mind that I went to both the Alternative Press Expo and the Small Press Expo from an advertising point of view and NOT to sell things), it's remarkable. $100.00 doesn't even cover the table costs, let alone manufacturing, travel, lodgings and food. I would never get that type of awareness going to a convention and I've certainly learned my lesson. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

Labels: blogosphere, graphic novels, webcomics

Zeros 2 Heroes Media is currently producing Gustav Hayes from Winnipeg creator Morgan Jeske. Jeske is working with editors and artists provided by Zeros 2 Heroes Media to bring his comic to life on the page.
"With 'Gustav Hayes' I hold the genre close to my heart. Science Fiction has always appealed to me, more so than Fantasy for instance. My hope is that some people read the book, and decide that they'd like to read more stories like it. In all seriousness, the fact that I'll have had a comic book published, is an amazing event for me," says Jeske on the excitement around his book.
Gustav Hayes centers on a broken anti-hero amidst the post apocalyptic nightmare of a world he is in. Gustav is a former 80's-style pop singer that battles hordes of evil creatures sent to destroy the remnants of civilization. Morgan Jeske is currently working with Zeros 2 Heroes comic editors and artists to produce his very first comic. As part of the agreement, Zeros 2 Heroes Media not only produces Jeske's book, but they will be working to get fan and media driven publicity from his hometown of Winnipeg Manitoba.
"I've been interested in the potential of Web comics for a long time," says Zeros 2 Heroes Editor-in-Chief Paul Dini. "I thought that was a very supportive way to bring new talent into what has generally been a tough business for novices."
Zeros 2 Heroes Media will be providing Jeske with his own online publication as well as putting together a plan to help get the word out to various media sources. The intention is to have not only a piece of professional work for his portfolio, but also to help him launch his professional writing career.
"Morgan's talent and creativity shines brightly in his story I think Gustav Hayes is one of those pieces of work that has potential," says Zeroes 2 Heroes Media Chairman Paul Gertz.
"This cross-platform entertainment opportunity is exactly what we're looking for in terms of our corporate mandate," says Western Region Director Earl Hong Tai of Telefilm Canada. Telefilm Canada plays in integral part in the development of Canadian writers and artists and helping pitches come to life with Canada Comic Creation Nation is another way for them to lend a hand.

Labels: pr, publishing, webcomics

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

Labels: pr, webcomics

Labels: links, reviews, webcomics

• Pictures of the Paul Goes Fishing launch at the D+Q blog.

• I haven't seen a review copy of the book myself, but here are 3 reviews of Kean Soo's Jellaby: 1 2 3.

• The National Post on Maid Cafes in Tokyo.

• Chip Zdarsky aka Steve Murray continues his comix reportage for the National Post, this time exploring the world of crossdressing (with a cartoon cameo by Chris Butcher).

• Just in time for Valentine's Day, The Kingston Whig-Standard profiles anti-romantic Taiwanese otaku.

• Sudbury cartoonist Rob Saccetto will draw a romantic zombie portrait of you.

• The National Post interviews U.S. cartoonist Kazu Kibuishi in Toronto.

• The first report of the Vancouver Art Gallery show to be curated by Art Spiegleman and Seth that I've seen. No real details --coming later this year.

• The University of Waterloo's Peter Trinh writes on cartoonist couples.

• Julie Doucet interviewed in the Montreal Gazette.

• Fleen webcomic reviewer Anne Thalheimer tackles Claudia Davila's Transmission X offering, Luz, Girl of the Knowing.

Labels: cartoonists, graphic novels, interviews, reviews, webcomics

Labels: interviews, webcomics

• Punk cartoonist Rick Trembles is all over the movie Cloverfield in one of his semi-regular genre movie reviews in intense comic-strip form.

• Salgood Sam quietly launched Dream Life on Live Journal, with the first installment.

• The weekly installment of Stuart and Kathleen Immonen's Moving Pictures graphic novel is out today: page 45.

• With all the success of his Essex County graphic novel trilogy, it looks like Jeff Lemire has (temporarily) abandoned his Soft Instruments webcomic. He's also the subject of an ISR interview this week.

• Since November, the Butternut Squash team of Ramon Perez and Rob Coughler have been handing over the reins of their webcomic to a star-studded list of guest artists including Mike Cho and Cameron Stewart.

• Friday's at Transmission X is Andy Belanger's Raising Hell, but the site features a different strip everyday of the week.

• Fred Grisolm has a new artist (KC Green) for his Hate Song strip, meaning perhaps a more regular publishing schedule.

Labels: webcomics

Labels: copyright, political cartooning, webcomics

Labels: events, webcomics

• Von Allan joins girlamatic in order to serialize his graphic novel
• Wright Award winner Lorenz Peter is launching his new book this Wednesday: Side-Effects is a collection of short works and will be launched at the Katharine Mulherine Contemporary Art Projects, 1080 Queen Street W at 6:30 PM
• a little late, but here are some photos from the Halloween costume party hosted by Strange Adventures, the Halifax comic shop
• for good measure, here are the pics from the Silver Snail's Toronto costume party
• this Canadian wrestler does not pay proper homage to Alpha Flight
  

Labels: book launches, events, graphic novels, links, U.S. superhero franchises, webcomics

Do you work on paper first? Or do you go directly to digital?

STEWART: I do both. As you've seen I have the same layout every week --the same 4-by-2 grid. I do my initial layouts in Photoshop with a tablet, and then I do the lettering and I print off my layouts in a light blue. Then I ink those. The final artwork is on paper.

So you start out on the computer and move to paper later?

STEWART: Exactly. Then I scan it back in, and the coloring is added in Photoshop afterwards.

How did you come up with that process? Is that something standard or that you'd done before?

STEWART: That's my process. If I don't do the layouts digitally, I do rough thumbnails on a piece of paper and scan them in, convert it to a blue line and then print it off. It's a process that I figured out a while ago, and it's been pretty good. It allows me to tweak the layouts as much as I want before going to the final artwork. I tend to do most of my drawing in ink and keep the layouts as loose as possible, just for composition and pacing. I do a very minimal amount of black penciling.

Labels: interviews, webcomics

Labels: art show, events, exhibits, Toronto, webcomics

Some months ago, cartoonist Phil Elliott was approached on the street by a teenage girl asking for money. It's a sad but common enough occurrence in cities, but when Elliott refused, the situation became something much different from anything he'd experienced. "A younger kid -- he must have only been about ten -- started swearing at me, 'Give us some ******* money!'" he recalled. "I was then aware that there was another girl filming all this on her mobile phone. What was going on here? Were they trying to provoke me? What happened to the video?"

The incident took on a greater significance for Elliott when writer Thomas Behe contacted him to see if he were interested in drawing a comic he'd written, which explores a voyeuristic underground where profit-hungry youths prowl the streets secretly filming violence and catastrophes with mobile devices. That comic became Contraband, the new digital comic from SLG Publishing, distributed on their online comics site Eyemelt.com.

The four-issue series will begin its serialization in October 2007, and a print collection of Contraband will be published in February 2008. A preview is available here at SLG's website, www.slgcomic.com.

Behe was inspired to write the story after he noticed people worrying about cell phones. "The new concerns were more social-related," he said. "Kids receiving intimidating texts from class bullies. A mate of mine was even propositioned to subscribe to some sort of spy-cam exhibitionist mobi-blog. I had no idea why these folks were secretly filming everyone, but there was tons of stuff on there."

In the near-future society of Contraband, bands of content-hungry amateurs armed with camera phones record violent scenes, some of which they instigate, to satisfy society's demand for ever more shocking on-the-go entertainment. Toby, a self-styled "citizen journalist," is documenting this underground when he is discovered by agents for a cell-phone channel called Contraband. Forced to work for them, Toby is assigned the task of finding a female activist set on sabotaging Contraband and must navigate a difficult path where he must choose between his own safety and the greater good.

Woven throughout Contraband are key elements of modern wireless communication, including text messaging, online blogging, avatars and alerts, gaming and live video broadcast, reflecting Behe's vision of a future society in which people can view customized video content on their mobile phones.This vision was part of what drew Elliott, a respected cartoonist known for his work on Illegal Alien and the SLG graphic novel Tupelo. "Contraband interweaves the controversial aspects of the mobile phone industry with a storyline involving a disparate bunch of characters who find themselves drawn together by the device in their pocket," said Elliott. "Each character has a story to tell and each one of them needs to find a way to come to terms with their predicament."

Contraband is available now at www.eyemelt.com, downloadable in PDF format for only $0.89. New issues will be added monthly. The SLG Publishing print graphic novel will be available for pre-order at comic book stores in December 2007. For more information about comic book publisher SLG Publishing, visit their website at www.slgcomic.com.

Labels: digital comics, new books, webcomics

Getting my attention early on is Cameron Stewart's SIN TITULO is an interesting noir thriller than catches my eye as a notable point of evolution in style for the creator. Cameron has always been a virtuoso in his work, displaying almost machine like consistency and skill in his past work. With the weekly SIN TITULO he's engaging in a paring back and simplification that appeals to my personal sensibilities, and complements his work a great deal. It's too soon to make a true comparison but so far the story is reminding me of one of my all time favourite books, City of Glass by Paul Auster & David Mazzucchelli. Very promising beginnings. This is a first for Cameron as a writer as I understand it, and so far he's displaying a good instinct for intrigue and suspense, and some nice touches with atmospheric details like the radio story about disappearing bees during a cab ride and other little notes like that. Great stuff.

Brilliantly drawn and bound to be engaging for many, is Karl Kerschl's The Abominable Charles Christopher. Kerschl has been working professionally for some time, and in the Transmission X web cast he explains that his motivation with this strip is to get away from the intense planning that typically goes into his long form comic book work and just have fun with a stream of consciousness narrative. The weekly strip is well under way and so far entirely enchanting. Backing up and often stealing the show, the mute wall eyed soother sucking Abominable headliner is supported by a cast of snappy talking animals. It's all superbly drawn and the art looks like it will be well worth seeing in print one day, elegant and subtly rendered, it's really something. 14 pages in a sub plot is now beginning to immerge about some kind of immanent peril to the forest, I'll be looking forward to seeing were this one is going.

Last for this post, Papercut is the monthly short story offering from Michael Cho. So far two have been posted, Smoke and Stars. Michael's background is in illustration work more than anything, and in a way it shows. His choice of image, subtle moods he achieves, they feel indicative of the challenges you often face in that medium. As a mode of expression it forces you to think in subtler terms than comics often do. His short stories are very introspective, and sombre so far. Their nostalgic air reminds me of Seth's work, but frankly I think more tightly rendered and lacking the obsession with a specific bygone era. Thanks to that in part, Michael's stories manage to be more contemporary feeing and broader scoped. Lovely work and when he completes a book of these shorts, I'm betting a best seller too.

Labels: can-con, comics on tv, digital comics, manifestos, reviews, webcomics

Ok, got the planers out?

Vancouver Sept. 28th @ 7-10pm

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

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



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

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

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

Get your handbook to the Apocalypse here

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

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

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

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

Colour the pictures.

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

Labels: book launches, can-con, contest, digital comics, events, graphic novels, new books, preview, webcomics

Labels: creator's rights, grants, let's get technical, webcomics

Labels: creator's rights, let's get technical, webcomics

Labels: blogosphere, graphic novels, links, misc, webcomics

WEBCOMICS COLLECTIVE TRANSMISSION-X EXPANDS PROGRAMMING


Toronto-based webcomics group Transmission-X (http://www.transmission-x.com) has added four new ongoing comics to its daily schedule. In addition to the five comics that launched the site – Karl Kerschl's Ragni: The North Sea Epoch and The Abominable Charles Christopher, Andy B's Raising Hell, Scott Hepburn's The Port and Cameron Stewart's Sin Titulo -- Transmission-X is now proud to announce the debut of Ramon Perez's Kukuburi, Arthur Dela Cruz's Kissing Chaos: Til I Die, Brian McLachlan's The Princess Planet, and Michael Cho's Papercut.

Kukuburi, written and illustrated by Ramon Perez, is the story of a motorcycle courier plucked from her mundane existence and thrust into a bizarre, dreamlike world where anything can (and does) happen. Perez is the co-creator and illustrator of the popular webcomic Butternutsquash, and has illustrated comics and role-playing games from publishers such as DC Comics and Palladium Press.

Kissing Chaos: Til I Die, written and illustrated by Arthur Dela Cruz, is the latest, all-new installment of his Eisner Award-nominated series about doomed romance, originally published by Oni Press.

The Princess Planet, by Brian McLachlan, is the long-running fantasy-humour strip appearing at www.theprincessplanet.com. McLachlan is a writer and cartoonist whose work has appeared in Owl Magazine, The Toronto Star, and Nickelodeon Magazine.

Papercut, by Michael Cho, is an ongoing anthology of short stories by the acclaimed illustrator, whose work has appeared in dozens of magazines and children’s books. Papercut will update on the 15th of every month with a complete, original story.

Also making its debut at last weekend's Toronto Comic Arts Festival were the first installments of TXTV, a weekly video podcast filmed and edited by Brenden Fletcher that features a behind-the-scenes look at the life and work of all the Transmission-X creators. TXTV will be available for weekly download beginning in September.

Transmission-X is found on the web at http://www.transmission-x.com and is updated daily with free, original content. Media enquiries can be sent to signal@transmission-x.com.

Labels: comic strips, publishing, webcomics

Labels: blogosphere, events, links, tcaf 2007, Toronto, webcomics

Stuart and Kathryn Immonen, long time collaborators and malcontents, are pleased to announce the first printing of their year-long web project Never As Bad As You Think (978-0-9780216-1-0, Trade paperback, 64 color pp, $5.95 US).

Based on the weekly word choice provided by the heavily trafficked web-based drawing project Illustration Friday and inspired by a range of fluid story-telling strategies from the Surrealists to Richard Linklater, NABAYT tracks the (mostly) failed relationships of paranoid urbanites, murderous wait staff, talking cats and dogs, dissatisfied ambulance drivers, mariachi bands, people who like cake and many who wield knives for a variety of purposes.

This full color printing contains all 52 strips as well as a new introduction written by Nickelodeon Magazine Senior Editor Chris Duffy. Never As Bad As You Think will be making its debut on August 18 at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival and will then be available exclusively through http://www.immonen.ca/store/.

Labels: publishing, webcomics

Labels: events, manga, Montreal, webcomics