Sequential: Canadian Comics News & Culture

National Newspaper Awards Nominations Announced

2010-03-17T00:34:00.004-04:00

2009 National Newspaper Awards Nominations Announced:
Editorial Cartoonists Category
By Bryan Munn

The finalists for the 61st National Newspaper Awards were announced March 15 in Toronto. There are 66 finalists in 22 categories, culled from 1,301 entries of works that appeared in the year 2009. The categories include beat reporting, photography, and investigative articles, as well as include editorial cartooning. The award in this category is considered the most prestigious prize given to editorial cartoonists in Canada. This year, the three nominees in the category of editorial cartooning are Brian Gable (The Globe and Mail), Malcolm Mayes (Edmonton Journal), Terry Mosher aka Aislin (The Gazette, Montreal).

Gable has won the award 4 times, most recently in 2005. Aislin has won twice previously (1977 and 1978).

An Edmonton native, Mayes has been nominated twice for the NNA, most recently in 2002, but has yet to win.

Beginning in 2008, cartoonists were instructed to submit their works online and then judged online. According to the Awards' website, the policart prize is given "for excellence in editorial cartooning for a body of work of five editorial cartoons. Preference will be given to cartoons that demonstrate humour, originality and satire related to news events, with quality embracing line, style and likenesses of personalities where relevant." A panel of three judges will choose the winner.

Founded in 1949 by The Toronto Press Club, this is the 21st year for the NNAs in its current format, administered by a Board of Governors under the aegis of a non-profit.

Winners will be announced and will receive a $1000 cheque at the awards ceremony in Toronto on Friday, May 14 following the Canadian Newspaper Association conference.

New Books: Yuna

2010-03-16T05:48:00.000-04:00

Yuna, T. 2: L'Ile aux Tombeaux
by Jacques Lamontagne and Yi Ma
$21.95
Soleil
ISBN : 9782302009622

Daniel Clowes Presents: WILSON, official TCAF 2010 Kick-Off Event

2010-03-16T02:44:00.000-04:00

Daniel Clowes

presents

WILSON

Friday, May 7th, 2010 @ 7PM
The Bram & Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street
Free Tickets via: http://danclowes.eventbrite.com/
Facebook Event page

Presented by Toronto Public Library, Toronto Comic Arts Festival, and Drawn & Quarterly

Daniel Clowes will kick off the 2010 Toronto Comic Arts Festival in style with the presentation of his new graphic novel WILSON, published by premiere Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly. WILSON is hotly anticipated by graphic novel fans worldwide and Clowes’ appearance at TCAF will make this one of the most eagerly anticipated comics events of the year. Clowes will present on WILSON, and be interviewed on stage.

Copies of WILSON as well as much of Clowes' back-catalogue will be available for purchase on site. A signing by Clowes will follow the event. For more information please visit http://www.torontocomics.com.

Event begins at 7pm sharp. Doors open at 6pm. No admission after 7:30pm.

Strict limit of 2 tickets per registrant enforced. Photo ID will be required to pick up tickets at the door.

The C-List: Daylight Savings Edition

2010-03-15T04:29:00.001-04:00

Some links and notes about Canada, comics, and graphic novels for a Monday morning.

Item: Kate Beaton toy ponies. I think these were on sale at the Emerald City con?

Item: Montreal bookseller Monet presents a cartoon interview by Pascal Girard (Jimmy et le Bigfoot).

Item: The cover for the upcoming 3rd volume of Le Front, the anthology published by BDQ collective Front Froid, is now online.

Item: A write-up of Darwyn Cooke's presentation at The Smithsonian.

Item: Cooke also is doing the chores on one of the Overstreet Price Guide covers.

Item: Ty Templeton announces that the "reprints" of everyone's fave Canadian superhero comic strip, Hoverboy, are now back online in weekly installments.

Item: Dustin Harbin wants to know if readers think he should switch from daily fiction comic to daily diary comic.

Item: The most recent list of top 300 bestselling/most ordered graphic novels in North America from Diamond distributors (ie, comic shop orders) shows very few Canuck-created works on the list. Sure, there are lots of books illustrated by the likes of Stuart Immonem and Pia Guerra, but not so many examples of non-corporate work-for-hire. I think the highest rank is Skim at #141, followed by Scott Pilgrim 1 and 2 (164, 272). Is that it?

Item: Svetlana Chmakova has a facebook fan page.

Item: Call for papers for a book of essays on Dave Sim and Cerebus.

Printer refuses to print Doug Wright Awards Nominee's Work

2010-03-14T14:51:00.005-04:00

Doug Wright Awards nominee for best emerging talent, Adam Bourret has had his autobiographical comic I'm Crazy, refused to be printed by Toronto printer Harmony Printing because they were afraid of offending their 'religious' clients. Here is an excerpt from their letter:

Unfortunately due to the content I am going to have to respectfully decline. The reason is we have a lot of long standing clients who are religious organizations. They are in our facilities all of the time and cannot risk having this content out in the open during production. Please understand that this is not a slight against your artwork or the message that you are trying to convey to your audience.
I wish you all the best and I hope you can understand our position.

Adam's reply, posted on his website is below:

The only thing I understand is that you're discriminating against me for my sexuality. You're also attempting to mask your discrimination by hiding behind your "religious" clientele. This is your company's decision, not theirs.

I hope you enjoyed my website and will check back for updates. The content of your letter will be appearing on it very soon, as a warning to any other potential clients.

According to this extended editorial at The Torontoist, who contacted the printer for clarification, their refusal to print Adam's autobiographic comic is not based on same-sex issues but rather images of 'people having sex'.

This story has also been picked up by these other outlets as well:
Say it With Pie.
Hardcore Nerdity.
Award winning gay blog Towleroad
Quill & Quire
Comic Book Resources.

Comic Book Opera

2010-03-14T05:43:00.000-04:00

The Montreal opera company ECM+ has commissioned a comic book opera with a libretto to be written by Cecil Castelucci. Directed by Veronique Lacroix, four different cartoonists are contributing illustrations: Michael Cho, Scott Hepburn, Cameron Stewart and Pascal Girard. The opera is called "Les Adventures de Madame Merveille" and premieres May 6.

Here's Cho's art.

"Singing, illustrations, video projections and staging come together to recount four highly imaginative stories: The fight of a super heroine against the evil Mr. Degout, a fifties love story, the detective enquiry of François and his dog Pax and an interstellar combat. Never seen before!"

The C-List: Going Into the Weekend

2010-03-13T05:29:00.003-05:00

Item: Toronto retailer Chris Butcher reacts to the news of a new manga line from Fantagraphics.

Item: Speaking of manga, one of Canada's two manga publishers, D+Q, has a preview of their new/old Tatsumi graphic novel Black Blizzard.

Item: Silver Snail employee, comics writer, and Wordburglar Sean Jordan talks to Living Between Wednesdays about one of my favourite 1970s characters, Marvel's Tigra.

Item: A profile of the Boychuks --the brothers behind The Chuckle Bros syndicated comic strip.

Item: Students grapple with moral question of Watchmen [no, the question isn't "Is this the worst movie ever?"].

Item: Policart Aislin hasn't been controversial for awhile. Now he's in hot water over a Montreal Gazette cartoon depicting a woman wearing a Niqab.

Item: There are probably whole sites devoted to comic book film hype, but this report of a Warren Ellis-based Bruce Willis film is sort of in my backyard.

Item: In Shuster Awards news, the venue and host for the June 5 event are online.

Item: Paul Rivoche interview by Jeffery Klaehn, author and cultural commentator.

April Schedule: Toronto Cartoonists Workshop

2010-03-13T02:51:00.000-05:00

TORONTO CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP is pleased to announce our line up of new classes for April 2010. They will be:

- Ty Templeton’s Comic Book Bootcamp Level One

- Kidding Around: Writing Comics for Younger Readers with Sam Agro

- Professional Layout and Story Telling for Comics and Graphic Novels with Ty Templeton

Comic Book Bootcamp Level I is finally back. It covers indepth both the pictorial and writing aspects of comic book creation. The response to this course is amazing and it has been constantly full over the past four years in its various incarnations. The September 2009 edition was sold out very quickly following Fan Expo and had a waiting list. Apply now to avoid disappointment.

Writing Comics for Younger Readers teaches the fundamentals of what is becoming a hot market in the book field. With critical and economic successes like BONE, AMULET and DIARY OF A WIMPY KID driving industry and consumer interest it is sure to be a growth area for some time. Sign up for this in depth study of the fundamentals of writing comics and animation for kids from 5 to 15 taught by Sam Agro. Sam has written for TVO’s Polka Dot Shorts, the animated segments of Elliot Moose is on the Loose and many, many scripts for DC’s Looney Tunes and Block Party comics.

Professional Layout and Story Telling is a course I have been asked about for a long time. Many aspiring comic artists are interested in studying with Ty Templeton, but would rather not have to go through the writing lessons that are a part of the Bootcamp. If you are a student who specifically wants to focus on the art side of making comics, then this is the course for you. It compresses the art lessons taught in the Comic Book Bootcamp Level I and Level II into one course. This class will be quite intensive and students should expect to be bombarded with information in each session. Due to Ty's schedule I'm not sure when this will be offered again, so please take advantage of the opportunity now.

For FULL information on these workshops please go to our site at: http://www.cartoonistsworkshop.com

Thank you for your interest in and support for the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop. If you have any questions please address them to me at info@cartoonistsworkshop.com or by calling 647-502-7605.

6th annual Doug Wright Awards awards @ TCAF!

2010-03-12T07:10:00.002-05:00

George Sprott,

and Aboriginal manga

lead nominations

for the 2010.

March 12, 2010 Toronto -- Running the gamut from the acclaimed to the unconventional, the 15 finalists for this year's Doug Wright Awards were announced today in Toronto.

Hand-picked by an esteemed panel of comics experts, the 2010 finalists represent the finest, most thought-provoking work produced by Canada's vibrant comics community.

The shortlist contains works that explore diverse subjects, from the legendary life of Kasper Hauser and the fictional life (and death) of a fading TV host, and spans a range of formats, from wordless lino-cuts graphic novels to "manga" inspired by Western Canadian Haida mythology.

The Doug Wright Awards finalists for Best Book are:

Back + Forth by Marta Chudolinska (The Porcupine's Quill)
George Sprott: (1894-1975) by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly)
Hot Potatoe by Marc Bell (Drawn and Quarterly)

Kaspar by Diane Obomsawin (Drawn and Quarterly)
Red: A Haida Manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Douglas and McIntyre)

The Doug Wright Awards finalists for Best Emerging Talent are:

Adam Bourret I'm Crazy
Michael DeForge Lose #1 (Koyama Press), Cold Heat Special #7 (Picturebox)

Pascal Girard Nicolas (Drawn and Quarterly)
John Martz It's Snowing Outside. We Should Go For a Walk.
Sully The Hipless Boy (Conundrum Press)

The finalists for the 2010 Pigskin Peters Award (for unconventional, "nominally-narrative" comics) are:

Bebete Simon Bosse (L'Oie de Cravan)

Dirty Dishes by Amy Lockhart (Drawn and Quarterly)

Hot Potatoe by Marc Bell (Drawn and Quarterly)

Never Learn Anything From History by Kate Beaton

The Collected Doug Wright Volume One by Doug Wright (Drawn and Quarterly)

Founded in 2004 (in a dimly lit Toronto bar) to celebrate the finest in English-language comics and graphic novels, The Doug Wright Awards have since evolved into one of North America's foremost comics awards and one of its most anticipated events.

Wright Awards finalists defy easy categorization, and include past and present masters of the form and off-the-beaten-path newcomers alike, all vying for one of the most unique and coveted trophies in comics.

This year's nominees were chosen by a five-member panel who chose from works released in the 2009 calendar year. The panel included: comics historian and author Jeet Heer; filmmaker Jerry Ciccoritti; cartoonist Chester Brown; Walrus comics blogger Sean Rogers, and; writer and Sequential.ca publisher Bryan Munn.

The winners are chosen by a jury that includes cartoonists, writers, actors, directors, musicians and, on occasion, politicians.

A featured event of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF), the 2010 Doug Wright Awards ceremony will take place on Sat. May 8, at 7 pm at the Toronto Reference Library's new Bram & Bluma Appel Salon.

For more information, please contact:

brad@wrightawards.ca

mackbrad@gmail.com

Superhero Hockey

2010-03-11T06:03:00.006-05:00

This is the old-school magic that I'm talking about:

"The gay and roaring crows cheered lustily for their favourite hockey team ... and then Death came riding in on the cold air of the ice arena!"

Robert Pincombe does us all a great service by posting a 1940s comic book story featuring Ted Steele's Canadian superhero Speed Savage over at his ComicCanuck blog. As a post-Olympics bonus, its a rare hockey comic book story as well (and in true hockey style, hockey-loving cartoonist Jeff Lemire provides an "assist"). Go read "Murder Has The Puck"!

carte blanche is looking for comics

2010-03-11T02:16:00.004-05:00

Bi-annual Carte Blanche - The Literary review of the Quebec Writers' Federation - recently added sequential art to their roster, as graphic fiction. I'm going to be doing a turn as guest editor for the next issue, so part of the job is getting the word out. :)

So we are currently urgently seeking submissions for the Spring edition, the due date this coming 15th, monday! And take note american cousin, overseas readers and all canucks, Carte Blanche is open to submissions from anywhere! That's right, an open opportunity to get you're work in a recognized Literary review.

Submission page is here with details.

Currently from the fall edition, they are featuring
a really well done short by Dustin Harbin [dharbin],
part of a series of strips i've seen from him
called Fun with Autobiography.

Obviously on such short notice the call is open to existing content.

Rough art for Sequential Pulp 2!

2010-03-10T00:20:00.002-05:00

The pot is a brewing, more news to come soon but here's the rough art for the cover of this years edition of Sequential Pulp.

Canadian Bestsellers: March 10 Edition

2010-03-10T00:01:00.001-05:00

compiled/edited by B. Munn

The first list for March.

Intro: The bestselling graphic novels and comics collections in Canada, courtesy of BookManager. The full list by BookManager is available, with some work, here. The list is compiled by BookManager based on sales through over 400 independent bookstores, including several comic book stores and the D+Q store. Sales through most comic shops and larger retailers like Chapters-Indigo are not reflected in this list. For balance, you might want to try the Amazon.ca and Chapters-Indigo lists. See here for our previous list.

Sequential's Over-All Top 30 from BookManager

1. (1) Naruto 47, Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ)
2. (2) Vampire Knight 9, Matsuri Hino (VIZ)
3. (-) Negima 25, Ken Akamatsu (Random House)
4. (7) Seekers: Toklo's Story, Erin Hunter (Harper Collins)
5. (4) Zombie Survival Guide, Max Brooks (Crown)
6. (25) Footnotes in Gaza, Sacco (Henry Holt)
7. (3) Book of Genesis, Robert Crumb (WW Norton)
8. (-) Bleach 30, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
9. (15) Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Camille Rose Garcia (HC)
10. (29) Watchmen, Moore/Gibbons (DC)
-----
11. (17) Red: A Haida Manga, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Douglas & McIntyre)
12. (-) Asterix/Olympic, Goscinny/Uderzo (Orion)
13. (6) Garfield Fat Pack, Davis et al (Random)
14. (-) Asterix/Obelix's Birthday, Uderzo (Orion)
15. (13) Logicomix, Apostolos Doxiadis et al (Bloomsbury)
16. (-) Black Bird 1, Kanoko Sakurakoji (VIZ)
17. (20) Louis Riel, Brown (D+Q)
18. (5) Black Bird 3, Kanoko Sakurakoji (VIZ)
19. (-) One Piece 30, Eiichiro Oda (VIZ)
20. (-) One Piece 34, Eiichiro Oda (VIZ)
-----
21. (-) Maus II, Spiegleman (Knopf)
22. (16) Maximum Ride: The Manga 2, James Patterson/NaRae Lee (Orbit/Yen)
23. (-) Manga Messiah, (Tyndale)
24. (-) Bleach 1, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
25. (-) All Star Superman 2, Morrison/Quitely (DC)
26. (-) D.n.angel Volume 13, Sugisaki Yukiru (Tokyopop)
27. (-) Asterix/Cleopatra, Goscinny/Uderzo (Orion)
28. (-) Bleach 2, Tite Kubo (VIZ)
29. (-) One Piece 29, Eiichiro Oda (VIZ)
30. (-) B is for Beer, Tom Robbins (HC)

Analysis: Only 2 Canadian Books in the top 30 overall.

Canadian Content: You have to wade through an awful lot of translated Japanese manga, U.S. superhero fantasies, and collected editions of Sherman's Lagoon to come up with a list of 30 bestselling books created by Canadians. In total, BookManager lists over 4000 graphic novels, trades, and strip collections, the vast majority of which are not by Canadians. On this list, a single sale in a single tiny bookstore can make all the difference. This list does not include books that are only illustrated but not written/created-by Canadians.

Sequential's All-Canadian Top 30 from BookManager

1. (1) Red: A Haida Manga, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Douglas & McIntyre)
2. (2) Louis Riel, Chester Brown (D+Q)
3. (-) Bigfoot, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
4. (3) Skim Hardcover, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
5. (-) Skim Paperback, Mariko Tamaki/Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood)
6. (29) Scott Pilgrim 1, Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni)
7. (17) Scott Pilgrim 3, Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni)
8. (-) Scott Pilgrim 4, Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni)
9. (9) Pyongyang, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
10. (8) Hot Potatoe: Fine Ahtwerks, Marc Bell (D+Q)
-----
11. (26) Senior's Discount, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
12. (16) Home Sweat Home, Lynn Johnston (Andrews McMeel)
13. (23) Important Artifacts, Leanne Shapton (FSG)
14. (-) Runaways: Homeschooling, K.Immonen/Pachilli (marvel)
15. (7) Burma Chronicles, Guy Delisle (D+Q)
16. (4) The Hipless Boy, Sully (Conundrum)
17. (11) Ojingogo, Matthew Forsythe (D+Q)
18. (-) Scott Pilgrim 2, Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni)
19. (-) Just One More Hug, Lynn Johnston (AM)
20. (10) Nightschool 2, Svetlana Chmakova (Orbit/Yen)
-----
21. (-) In Me Own Words, Graham Roumieu (Plume)
22. (5) It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken, Seth (D+Q)
23. (6) Nightschool 2, Svetlana Chmakova (Orbit/Yen)
24. (12) Parker The Hunter, Darwyn Cooke (IDW)
25. (13) The Plain Janes, Castelucci/Rugg (Minx/DC)
26. (14) George Sprott, Seth (D+Q)
27. (15) Collected Doug Wright 1, Doug Wright (D+Q)
28. (19) Essex County, Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)
29. (22) Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws, Chad Solomon (Lone Pine)
30. (24) The Big 5-0, Lynn Johnston (Andrews)

Analysis: The top 30 Canadian books are all found in the top 960 comics.

The C-List: Arrests and Artists

2010-03-09T13:42:00.003-05:00

Item: The Canadian Bookseller's Association is appealing to the federal government to block Amazon's plans to open a distribution network in this country. CBA President Stephen Cribar argues that Amazon's entry into Canada would detrimentally affect the country's independent businesses and cultural industries: "Individual Canadian booksellers have traditionally played a key role in ensuring the promotion of Canadian authors and Canadian culture. These are values that no American dot.com retailer could ever purport to understand or promote."

Item: Irish police have arrested 7 people for planning to kill another cartoonist over depictions of Mohammad: "The alleged target of the murder conspiracy, Swedish artist Lars Vilks, told The Associated Press he believed that the Irish arrests are linked to two telephone death threats he received in January over one of his drawings published in a Swedish newspaper in August 2007."

Item: Comic Book Resources interviews Kathryn Immonen.

Item: Tim O'Shea talks to Ho Che Anderson.

Item: Big surprise. Conservative columnist David Frum hates Doonesbury.

Item: The B.C. and Yukon Community Newspaper Associatio's Ma Murray awards noms are out. Gerald Tisdale got the nod for policart.

Item: The Globe and Mail's Ivor Tossell profiles the creators of a new webcomic/graphic novel about the protests in Iran, being serialized by First Second in the U.S.

Upcoming: Sand and Fury

2010-03-08T13:23:00.003-05:00

Ho Che Anderson's latest. Not sure how much of this first appeared in the self-published Scream Queen. Either way, nice to see something new after he told Howard Chaykin he was giving up comics in the Comics Journal 300 interview.

Sand & Fury: A Scream Queen Adventure
By Ho Che Anderson

Sand & Fury is a story of blood, of sex, of death — of sound and retribution. It opens as a girl by the side of a desert road accepts a ride from a stranger. How could she know that behind that wheel sits the angel of death?

Of course, even the angel of death once had a life. During that life, death was a successful business woman, with a great career and an even greater future. It’s true she could be a little cavalier with her innate gifts; she had, after all, broken the heart of everyone who had ever loved her.

The C-List:: Monday News

2010-03-08T11:31:00.001-05:00

Some notes on Canadian comics culture.

Item: New date for the Joe Shuster Awards --June 5 in Toronto, coinciding with the Toronto Comicon.

Item: the 23rd Festival de la Bande Dessinee Francophone de Quebec (FBDFQ) is scheduled for April 7-11.

Item: Pan vs Satan

Item: Alpha Flight's Puck talks about the closing ceremonies in Vancouver.

Item: Mangaka Svetlana Chmakova recounts her immigrant experience in a new anthology.

Item: Two tech pieces over at the Quillblog include Apple looking to hire an ibooks manager for Canada and Amazon looking to put a physical warehouse inside Canada.

Upcoming: Moving Pictures

2010-03-08T06:16:00.000-05:00

Moving Pictures, by Kathryn & Stuart Immonen and published by Top Shelf, is now available for pre-order from the March Diamond Previews catalogue (order code MAR10 1136) or directly from the Top Shelf website:

Top Shelf is proud to welcome Kathryn & Stuart Immonen (Ultimate Spider-Man, Nextwave, Patsy Walker: Hellcat, Never as Bad as You Think) to the Top Shelf family with this thrilling, intimate tale of love, war, and art.

Moving Pictures is the story of the awkward and dangerous relationship between curator Ila Gardner and officer Rolf Hauptmann, as they are forced by circumstances to play out their private lives in a public power struggle. The narrative unfolds along two timelines which collide with the revelation of a terrible secret, an enigmatic decision that not many would make, and the realization that sometimes the only choice left is the refusal to choose.

In a recent interview at comicbookresources.com, Kathryn explained that "The history is just a backdrop to tell a messed-up love story that's about how we assign value to things and people, how we behave when not everyone is playing by the same rules" and "in the end, maybe it's all about the fundamentally perverse nature of desire, about not being to help wanting what you want even if you don't know why. And how, from the outside, we really don't know anything about someone else's intimacies." -- A 144-Page Graphic Novel with French Flaps, 5.75" X 8.25"

SHIPPING IN MAY!

Double-Barreled Comic Release | Sword of My Mouth

2010-03-07T14:07:00.004-05:00

Jim writes that he's off to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to give a talk there about the community organizing he's been doing, as a bit of a vacation after getting his latest graphic novel, Sword of My Mouth to the printer. The sequel to Therefore Repent, [which i drew for full disclosure] drawn by Shannon Gerard, you can read all but the last chapter online ici if you're a subscriber. The final act will be on hand, in print as a single volume, at TCAF 2010! I look forward to giving it a final read myself!

I've never seen either of them holding a gun before, looks like they enjoy it! ;)

Movie Review: No Heart Feelings

2010-03-07T13:30:00.004-05:00

It's Oscar Night so I thought I'd run this short review of a new film I mentioned on the C-List last week. The new film, No Heart Feelings, co-directed by cartoonist Sarah Lazarovic and featuring a performance by cartoonist Steve Murray (aka Chip Zdarsky), is playing at the Kingston Film Festival. BM

No Heart Feelings Review
by Jamie Coville
Special to Sequential

I just got back from watching No Heart Feelings at the Kingston Film Festival, the movie with Steve Murray as one of the principle actors.

The movie is about a Toronto woman breaking up with one guy, recovering and meeting another. Steve plays the womans roommate who is an graphic designer/artist. Throughout the movie there is a subtle subplot about their friendship as well. The creators described it as a post coming of age movie, where one is in their late 20s but don't yet have the house, spouse, kids, etc.. that is traditionally expected. The movie also wanted to show a side of Toronto that films usually don't show, that being the downtown neighbourly side with a close group of friends. While I don't live in Toronto I've been up there enough and hung around the locals (and their friends) enough to say they did a really good job at that.

While there was many funny parts in the movie, the crowd laughed out loud at much of Steve's scenes. After the movie the audience asked the creators about the dialog writing and they said there were certain lines that they wanted them to say, some of the dialog was created by the actors going by a guideline. This rang true for me as some jokes/comments and stuff felt like something Steve would say at a convention. There was one scene that was at an small art gallery for Steve's work. Much of Steve's real work can be clearly seen hanging on the walls, specifically art from his Extremely Bad Advice column for the National Post.

The movie was much better than I thought it would be and I'd recommend it to others.

Weekend Reading

2010-03-05T09:28:00.000-05:00

I linked to one of these already, bt you should really check out Robert Pincombe's Olympic wind-down blog posts. Through Robert's comedic genius, various members of Alpha Flight talk about the Vancouver Olympics and then go on to discuss classic comic book Olympic moments. No Puck yet, but we can dream...

Slam-Poet Superhero

Sasquatch
Northstar
Snowbird

Hark, a vagrant: 250 "Canadian stereotypes"

2010-03-05T04:02:00.000-05:00

HaHa HaHaHa HaHaHaHa HaHaHa HaHaHa HaHa Ha..... hey, that's not nice....

"All fucked up on hokey"....HaHaHaHa!
I'm sorry....:)

I <3 Kate Beaton.

Upcoming: Kill Shakespeare

2010-03-05T02:07:00.004-05:00

You can order this new IDW series involving a bevy of Toronto creators in Previews now. They have a nice website, too.

New comic series re-imagines the Bard and his most famous characters launching at WonderCon, April 2-4, 2010

To celebrate the birth (and death) of the world's most famous playwright, IDW Publishing is proud to launch a brand new comic series at WonderCon, Kill Shakespeare. Conceived and written by Canadian-based creators Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col, this twelve-issue series is a dark take on the Bard and his work, pitting his greatest heroes against his most menacing villains. The series will launch with a 32-page, ad-free first issue, and McCreery and Del Col will host an exclusive signing and panel at WonderCon, one of the country's leading comics and pop culture conventions, including a discussion of literary mash-ups with leading authors and Shakespearean scholars. WonderCon will be held April 2nd through the 4th at San Francisco's Moscone Center.

Called "easily one of the more exciting new projects" at San Diego Comic Con by Publisher's Weekly, Kill Shakespeare is true to the Bard's canon, yet also accessible to a wide range of readers. The series offers an edgy interpretation of Shakespeare's most famous characters, bringing Hamlet, Juliet, Othello, Richard III, Lady Macbeth, Puck and others together for an epic adventure. Beginning in April with issue #1, readers encounter a banished Hamlet, who embarks on a quest to resurrect his dead father. But to do so, he must kill a reclusive wizard named... William Shakespeare!

"It's poetic justice that Kill Shakespeare is released in the month of April. Shakespeare was born and died on the exact same date, April 23rd (how dramatic is that?...), and we think that our series will serve as a great tribute to the Bard while reinventing his stories and characters in a completely unique and exciting light."

Creators Del Col and McCreery bring their love of Shakespeare, independent film, and a combination of marketing and writing experience to their first comic book project. Artist Andy Belanger rises to the challenge of interpreting some of the most famous characters in the world, and he and Kagan McLeod provide attention-getting covers for issue #1.

"Kill Shakespeare has been a fascinating comic for me to edit," said series editor Tom Waltz. "On the one hand, this unique tale is undeniably grounded in its Shakespearean roots, but the creators have also produced a top-notch action thriller that rivals anything coming out of Hollywood these days."

Kill Shakespeare #1 (of 12, $3.99, 32 pages, full color) will be available in stores in April.
Diamond order code: FEB10 0959.

The C-List:: Action Cosmics

2010-03-04T03:16:00.001-05:00

Item: Colin Upton at the Olympic protest.

Item: Nardwuar's video vault features a rare Capt. Canada appearance.

Item: Kevin Boyd's Winter Comicon report reminds me of the old joke, "I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out."

Item: Abominable shirt equals excellent print.

Item: In D+Q news, we have the cover for the D+Q/John Stanley Free Comics Book Day giveaway, and the Strand Bookstore Bookbag contest.

Item: Trailers for new comics are becoming ubiquitous, but I really liked this little film for U.S. cartoonist Matthew Thurber's latest, 1-800-Mice.

Item: It's .......the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack!

Item: Sault Ste Marie tot buys manga for library with wrestling prize money.

Interview with Toronto cartoonist Dave Lapp, creator of Drop-In and Children of the Atom

2010-03-03T10:18:00.004-05:00

I had an opportunity to interview Dave Lapp last week, the highlights of which (and there are many) are now available at the torontoist books site.

We spoke of many things - his process, his connection to original art, his dream journals. I always find Dave Lapp very inspiring to talk to.

If you can, check out Drop-In and be sure to pick up his collection of Children of the Atom -- 5 years of weekly strips, 250 pages!

Christopher Butcher Liveblogging The Feb 2010 Previews

2010-03-03T04:47:00.002-05:00

Christopher Butcher's blow by blow walk through of previews are a new pleasure for me, some interesting highlights: IDW get's one of Christopher's picks for book-of-the-month, SWORD OF MY MOUTH, the new graphic novel from Jim Munroe and Shanon Gerard. KILL SHAKESPEARE's writer puts in some over time to make sure he mentioned their new book with Andy is coming out, and much more fun. Read the whole blog here - Part 1 & Part 2.