Daily Archives: 10/30/2009

Canzine – November 1st & the 2010 Gene Day Award

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canzine2009If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, be sure to drop by the Gladstone Hotel for Canzine 2009. I (Robert Haines) will be there touching base with a whole bunch of creators and checking out their new comics/comix/zines. Most of these creators will be eligible for the 2010 Gene Day award so if your interest was piqued by the awesome comics produced by the 2009 finalists, I recommend you bring some money and see what Canzine 2009 has to offer!

Hal Niedzviecki and Lindsay Gibb of Broken Pencil, the organizer of the event, have been very supportive of the Gene Day award and the recognition it brings to the self-publishing community, so be on the lookout for a 6 page spread in the upcoming issue of Broken Pencil featuring our 2009 Gene Day nominees: Chris Peterson aka C. Eric Peters, Miriam Libicki, Jesse Jacobs (the winner of the 1st Gene Day Award), Jordyn Bochon and Dakota McFadzean.

Also, for all you self-publishers out there looking to submit your books for the 2010 Gene Day Award, please mail a copy of your book to:

Gene Day Award c/o The Joe Shuster Awards
PO Box 67031 – 2300 Yonge St.
Toronto, Ontario
M4P 3C8

Inside the cover, please include the following:
your email address
your phone number
and you must confirm the work as newly produced in 2009 by writing “This work was created and published in 2009″ with a signature.

Happenings: Canzine – Sunday, November 1st, 2009

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For immediate release:

Broken Pencil Magazine presents…

Canzine
Canada’s Largest Zine Fair and Festival of Alternative Culture

Sunday, November 1, 2009

1pm-7pm

The Gladstone Hotel – Downtown Toronto, 1214 Queen St. West (Queen just East of Dufferin)

$5 admission comes with a free copy of the Fall issue of
Broken Pencil Magazine – issue 45 “Olympics”

canzine2009

Poster Art by Ethan Rilly

Giant Zine Fair!Over 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! Be amazed at the creativity, ingenuity, and sheer weirdness!

The One-Two Punch Book Pitch Live on our mainstage in front of a crowing crowd, you get two minutes to pitch your book to our panel of judges. They get one minute each to tell you why you’ll never get published in a million billion years (or why they want to see your manuscript in their in-box asap!). Guest judges are Literary Agent Sam Hiyate and Coach House Books editor Alana Wilcox, along with writer Hal Niedzviecki. This is event is full. Come out and watch the pitches!

Readings From Can’tLit

That’s right, it’s finally here: the long awaited anthology featuring the best fiction from the last 12 years of Broken Pencil Magazine: Can’tLit: Fearless Fiction from Broken Pencil (ECW Press). This event will feature writers with stories in the anthology. Introductions by the editor of the anthology, BP associate fiction editor Richard Rosenbaum. Readings by Greg Kearney, Zoe Whittall, Joey Comeau and Jessica Faulds.

Hotel Room Installations

Canada’s brightest and weirdest will be creating one day unique environments to explore in 5 of the Gladstone Hotel’s rooms. Featuring: ArtCade 2009: The Best of Indie Video Gaming as Selected by Jim Munroe, The Toronto Comic Jam Room (all day long sequential art), the City of Craft General Store (cool indie crafts), The Lost Window: Toronto Mannequin Window Displays 1930-1950 (a provocative found-photo exhibit), and Spelunkin’ fer Culkin: Three dimensional zine installation by Wowee Zonk.

Workshop: Screen Printing With Style Learn how to screen print your own t-shirts, posters, zine and book covers and more! A hands-on workshop led by Michael Morton, mastermind behind the screen-printing business Crime League.

Hotel Canzine is made possible by grants from the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. Hotel Canzine also is supported by the following most excellent sponsors: Open Book, Mint Records, Insomniac Books, Magazines Canada, Movieola, Book Ninja, CIUT 88.1, NOW Magazine and the Gladstone Hotel.

Canzine is an annual event organized by Broken Pencil, the Magazine of Zine Culture and the Independent Arts.
Broken Pencil, PO Box 203, Station P, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S7
email: editor@brokenpencil.com, phone 416 204 1700

Interviews: Darwyn Cooke at Comic Book Daily

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Comic Book Daily has posted an interview with Darwyn Cooke:

We caught up with Darwyn at Art Originals’ exhibit showcasing his art from the last 20 years. The exhibit, titled Noir and Beyond: The Darwyn Cooke Exhibition was held at the very swanky Gladstone Hotel in Downtown Toronto.When we asked Sean Menard (one of the minds behind the exhibit) about why they chose Mr Cooke as their inaugeral guest he had this to say: “When considering who we wanted to bring to Toronto for the first Art Original Series, we were looking for a creator that had appeal outside of the traditional comics scene. We were clearly hoping to expand the existing demographic for this type of show. Darwyn fit the bill 110%.”

Sean reinforced the notion of Darwyn’s importance in the Canadian Comic Book scene pointing out that “[he] has demonstrated to both fans and creators time and time again that the playing field is equal for those north of the U.S. border if they’ve got the talent and work ethic. He completely immerses himself within every project he takes on and certainly doesn’t have to work in comics. Quite simply, it is his chosen profession. He LOVES the medium and its potential. Darwyn’s career accomplishments are a cause for celebration for today’s Canadian fans and an important benchmark for the Canadian creators of tomorrow.”

Darwyn held court signing everyone’s books all while telling stories, answering questions and cracking jokes. He took time out to have a little chat with us about Parker, Crime and Comics.

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Darwyn Cooke and Mark Askwith

Angora Napkin cartoon preview – Teletoon Online – 1 week only!

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n159449253869_7003Troy Little writes:

Hey gang, the ANGORA NAPKIN pilot cartoon is now online for ONE WEEK ONLY!!!! With your help and heaps of good feedback on the Teletoon site we hope to bring this show to full series!

We hope you enjoy the show! Pimp this show to your friends and get them in on the fun!

Thanks!!!
Troy & Nick

http://thedetour.ca/

(Media PR below in case you have no idea what I’m talking about)

***************************************************************************************************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2009

Angora Napkin Pilot to Broadcast on Teletoon Online

Charlottetown – Angora Napkin, the critically acclaimed graphic novel by Troy Little (published by IDW Publishing) has been adapted into an animated pilot, which will be streaming online the week of October 30th to November 5th at www.thedetour.ca

As part of Teletoon’s Detour Pilot Project, Angora Napkin was one of ten pilots selected from over 200 submission from across Canada in an effort to encourage new comedic voices in the Canadian animation community and possibly find new programming for Teletoon’s evening and night time line-up aimed at adults aged 18-34.

A unique musical bubble-gum pop trio, Angora Napkin is a band unlike any other composed of three sexy girls Beatrice, Molly, Mallory. Attracting trouble along with the macabre, the girls always seem to come out on top with the help of their impromptu peppy songs and inability to see the dark side of any situation, no matter how menacing.

Angora Napkin is the creation of graphic novelist Troy Little and animation filmmaker Nick Cross. Originally conceived of as a cartoon series in 1997, the project lay dormant until 2008 when IDW Publishing took an interest and published Angora Napkin as a hard cover graphic novel. Soon after the project was brought full circle when it was chosen to be part of the Detour’s Pilot Project. The animated pilot was produced by Mugisha Enterprises in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

“Unlike many cartoons, Angora Napkin was a creator driven project with both Nick and myself doing much of the work.” says Little, “We were given an unprecedented amount of creative freedom bringing this show to life and I think fans of the graphic novel will find nothing has been watered down; all the sex, violence and innuendo are firmly in place. It’s a quirky show like nothing else out there and I hope it resonates with both comic and animation fans. We’re counting on lots of positive feedback online to bring Angora Napkin to full series potential!”

More information on Angora Napkin can be found at www.angoranapkin.com and the pilot can be viewed online at www.thedetour.ca for one week beginning October 30th.

The animated teaser for the pilot can be found on Youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPCPGBVTccc

******************************************************************************

Troy Little
Meanwhile Studios
http://meanwhilestudios.com/