Monthly Archives: June 2011

Comic Book Daily: (Canadian) Retailer Roundtable #2 – Free Comic Book Day (and conflicting events)

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Scott at Comic Book Daily asks: Free Comic Book Day is now a huge event and one no retailer can afford to skip, but how well does it work for you?  Does its benefits outweigh the costs, since the event is in no way free for you?

Participants: Chris Butcher (the Beguiling), Marc Sims (Big B Comics), Jay Bardyla (Happy Harbor), Jenn Haines (The Dragon), Bruno Andreacchi (BA’s Comics) and John Tinkess (Another Dimension) participate.

Of particular interest is the discussion that results of the Beguiling’s decision to hold TCAF on Free Comic Book Day this year and plans to do it again in 2012. Click the link above and read it all the way through. There’s some interesting points being made.

My op/ed  after the cut: Continue reading →

Présentation de la librairie PLANÈTE BD: Lauréat du Prix Harry Kremer

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Présentation de la librairie PLANÈTE BD

Nom: Librairie Planète BD

Adresse: 3883 rue St-Denis, Montréal, Québec H2W 2M4

Téléphone : (514) 759-9800

Courriel : info@planetebd.ca

La librairie Planète BD appartient à Carrefour BD Inc., une société créée par un groupe de lecteurs passionnés et réunis autour du projet de doter Montréal d’une véritable librairie spécialisée exclusivement dédiée à la bande dessinée (BD).  Elle a ouvert officiellement ses portes le 25 mars 2008 et ne compte aucune autre succursale.

Planète BD emploie à temps plein 4 libraires spécialisés. La direction est assurée par M. François Mayeux, président du conseil d’administration de Carrefour BD Inc. et conseiller en BD, comptant 25 années d’expérience en librairie et dans le milieu de la diffusion. Les autres libraires comptent chacun entre 8 et 10 années d’expérience en librairie.

Planète BD occupe une superficie d’environ 1200 pieds carrés entièrement consacrée à la vente de livres neufs ainsi que quelques magazines consacrés à la BD.

Quelques produits dérivés (T-shirts, figurines) sont également offerts à l’occasion ou peuvent faire l’objet de commandes spéciales.

Continue reading →

Surge Licensing Signs SKULLKICKERS For Exclusive Licensing and Entertainment Representation

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For Immediate Release
June 28, 2011

Contact: Elan Freedman
Surge Licensing, Inc.
elan@surging.com
516-939-2226

Surge Licensing Signs Breakout Comics Series – SkullkickersTM
For Exclusive Licensing and Entertainment Representation

The Hangover Meets World of Warcraft in Zub’s Serialized Adventure Series

Jericho, N.Y. — Surge Licensing, Inc., the agency known for developing off-the-wall comic book properties such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and, more recently, Axe Cop have signed an exclusive licensing and entertainment agreement with Swords and Sassery, Inc. to develop TV/film, video games, toys, apparel and other tie-ins for Skullkickers – an on-going series published by Image Comics that debuted in September 2010 and continues to sell-out print runs into its second story arc.
Created by Jim Zubkavich and Chris Stevens, Skullkickers is the story of two monster killing mercenaries – a giant bald-headed warrior and a short red-headed dwarf. They’re an odd pairing, a medieval fantasy-esque “Jay and Silent Bob”, in search of fame and fortune. The two adventurers, affectionately known as “Baldy” and “Shorty”, make their living slaying werewolves, necromancers, plant monsters, the undead, and almost anything else readers can imagine from classic fantasy literature and games. Nothing will stop these two from getting paid and enjoying a fine pint of ale.
USA Today describes it best – “Imagine Clint Eastwood’s The Man With No Name, Bad Boys and your local Renaissance festival thrown into a stein of the finest grog in town, and you have a sense of the full-on Skullkickers experience.”

As soon as Skullkickers comics began to hit shelves, issues immediately sold out. The first 3 issues vanished from stores within days of release. The first trade paperback collection quickly followed suit and Image has rushed a new print run to keep up with unexpected demand over the summer. A second trade, collecting the new story arc currently underway, will arrive in time for Christmas.

Skullkickers has been highly praised by pop culture news outlets including MTV, Bleeding Cool, G4 and Ain’t It Cool News, as well as virtually every fanboy site on the web.

“We couldn’t be more excited to work with ‘Zub’ and his team on Skullkickers, a comic with so much whimsy, charm and wit” exclaims Surge’s VP, Elan Freedman, “It’s a story that not only gives the masses a peek inside the fun world of fantasy adventure but rather it entirely busts down the door and brings readers in with a welcome parade of hilarious action and banter.”

Skullkickers’ irreverent approach to classic fantasy, a proverbial buddy cop movie slammed into Conan the Barbarian, plays with cartoonish violence and banter in a way that appeals to young teen boys, older fantasy fans and gamers of all ages.

Wizard World Toronto Comic Con 2012 loses a day (Updated x2).

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With last week’s news about Wizard ditching October’s Central Canada Comic Con (a show that will continue under the guidance of the old owners), it seems that there are further changes afoot.

An eagle-eyed fan pointed out to us that according to the Wizard website, the dates for next year’s Wizard Toronto Comic Con have been revised. Originally announced for March 23-25, the former 3-day show has apparently dropped Friday from the schedule and will now be a two-day Saturday/Sunday event.

Other shows on their now reduced to 11-city world tour seem similarly changed. Only Austin (Nov. 2011) and Philadelphia (June 2012) remain as 3-day events. The Chicago event remains 4 days (mid-Aug. 2011) for now.

The benefit of a shortened schedule is that they can concentrate on maintaining their strong Saturday attendance, and the exhibitor rates should drop accordingly and hopefully help them fill the space. Reports from 2010 and 2011 events both indicated that Friday was slow and will not be missed.

UPDATE 1 (September): No real change for exhibitor rates – $800 for a table, $950 for a corner. Some kind of cheap table option if the exhibitor doesn’t sell anything for more than $20 and doesn’t advertize at the event. Turns out that the March 24-25 date at the DEC was another lie.

UPDATE 2 (October): In an interesting move, Wizard has decided to move their event to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Mid-April. As the MTCC is the home of Fan Expo Canada and it’s Toronto ComiCon and Toronto AnimeCon events, this is an unusual move, and has some wondering how Fan Expo will respond. It is also interesting as it now brings the Wizard Toronto show into another schedule clash with Reed Pop’s C2E2 (scheduled for April 13-15).

Canada’s Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund (CLLDF) reforms – appeals for assistance in conjunction with the CBLDF

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The following information was made available to fans last weekend at the Calgary Comic Expo (thanks to Leonard Wong for passing it along):

CLLDF Flyer

It’s All Calgary’s Fault!

The Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund was formed in 1987 by Derek McCulloch and Paul Stockton to raise money for the defense of Comic Legends, a Calgary comic shop whose owners were charged with possession of obscene material for distribution and corrupting morals by circulating obscene material. Police raided the store after a parent phoned to complain that her 14 year old son was able to purchase a copy of Aircel’s Warlock 5. While Warlock 5 wasn’t seized by the police, they did take copies of Bizarre Sex #5, People’s Comics, Zap #1, and Weirdo #s 4, 5, and 15.

Thanks to the financial and creative support of Canadian and international distributors, retailers, creators and fans, the CLLDF raised enough money to cover the cost of Comic Legends’ initial court case, which ended with the store’s owners declared guilty of possession and intent to sell obscene materials, and a fine of $3000. The CLLDF also paid for a subsequent appeal, which did not overturn the conviction, but did result in a reduction of the fine. In Canada, obscenity is a federal offence; what’s legally declared obscene in one part of the country affects the rest of the country.

Since then, the CLLDF has been maintained to provide financial support for those fighting the suppression of comic book material. There haven’t been many battles for the CLLDF to fight, though we have made several donations to the Little Sisters’ lawsuits against Canada Customs, and paid the expenses of expert witnesses brought in to testify on behalf of Marc Laliberte, a fanzine publisher in Windsor. Laliberte was acquitted on all charges.

But now we need your help again.

Last year, an American citizen entering Canada had his laptop computer searched by Canada Customs, who found scanned manga images that they considered child pornography. The laptop was turned over to police, who reviewed the material, and charged the American with possession of child pornography and importation of same into Canada. “Child pornography” is the new “obscenity,” and we’re helping to fund the American’s defense because whatever happens to him will affect all of us.

If you would like to make a donation, mail it to 183 Woodycrest Ave., Toronto, ON, M4J 3C2. We’re also online at www.clldf.ca and on Twitter at twitter.com/clldf.

The Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund is available to assist any Canadian comic book retailer, distributor, publisher or creator who find themselves victims of Canada’s unique obscenity laws.

Wizard drops Central Canada Comic Con, attempts are being made to keep it going

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According to the Raven Toys and Comics blog, American promoter Wizard has dropped the Winnipeg based Central Canada Comic Con from their schedule. The show, purchased from the original owner last year, was to debut this October 28-30 under the Wizard World banner. Wizard had already announced some guests for the event.

A quick check of the Wizard World website confirms that the C4 event has been dropped from the schedule, along with some other US events that had no 2011/2012 dates. It’s unsure as to whether the other events have been cancelled or just taken off the schedule until such time that they can be properly promoted.

Recent twitters by Wizard staff confirm that the show has been unfortunately been taken off their show tour and that they will be releasing some kind of statement “soon”.

The show facebook group is currently a hot bed of discussion over what to do next and how to keep the show going, a mere four months from it’s planned dates — it now falls back to the former owners (who were to be the local contacts for the Wizard team) to decide what to do next. That owner, Raven Toys & Comics’ Michael Paille, has announced that he will try to keep the show alive by holding various fundraising efforts.

If you are in the Winnipeg area and want to help Michael maintain the C4, he’s looking for donations (cash, airmiles) to cover guests, etc. The hall is still being held for the announced dates, so hopefully he’ll be able to pull it off. Visit the Raven Toys & Comics blog link (in the first paragraph) for more details.

The only remaining Canadian show on the Wizard tour, the Toronto Comic Con is still on the schedule for late March 2012.

Calgary & Wrapping Up Year 7

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We’re all home and settling back in to our daily routines, and I know I’ve certainly had some time to reflect on the 2011 Joe Shuster Awards ceremony. There are some bills left to pay, and some awards to hand or send out.The comics media coverage has been great so far, and the awards were mentioned on the National during their profile of Kill Shakespeare that aired the night before the Calgary ceremony.

I’m way too close to the event to ever be really happy about how things go, but I thought the ceremony went very well in Calgary, and the people there were fantastic and we will be happy to return there if the organizers will have us. Our hosts, Ajay Fry and Teddy Wilson did a great job with the ceremony! Thanks to Mark Askwith and Michelle Dudas at Space for all of their help.

The ceremony was fast – clocking in at 55 minutes – it was our fastest yet. I hear a lot of murmers about how we have too many award categories, but presenting 10 awards and 2 Hall of Fame presentations in under an hour is mind-boggling to me but the creators loved it, as did the people in the audience. I didn’t hear any negatives from anyone at our after party (at the James Joyce pub – sponsored by The Dragon and Amazing Stories) or at the show on Sunday aside from the disappointment that only about 1/3 of the winners were in attendance. That’s just an unfortunate aspect of a national awards ceremony with 70 nominees is that we’ll never reach a point where everyone is in attendance unless we have an unlimited budget to bring everyone in (provided their schedules are clear and they can go).

We are planning a JSA wrap party event for Toronto. It will take place on Friday, July 15th and at this event we’ll be giving the winners not available to attend the ceremony in Calgary their award plaques – including Annie Koyama (Outstanding Publisher), Tin Can Forest (Outstanding Cartoonist), and John Martz (Gene Day Award). I’d hoped to give Chester Brown his Hall of Fame Award but he’s got something going on that night. The call has also gone out to our GTA and Southern Ontario winners and nominees including Francis Manapul (Outstanding Artist) and Scott Chantler (Comics for Kids) so we’ll have more information soon. The evening will be held in the new space for the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop at 587 College Street West and will run from 8 to about 11. Admission will of course be free.

San Diego Comic Con is scheduled for the weekend after, so we’ll be giving Todd McFarlane his Hall of Fame plaque there.

Heidi McDonald at the Beat pointed out that this year’s winners were over 50% female, including Fiona Staples (Cover Artist), Koyama Press (Publisher), Emilie Villeneuve (Writer), Julie Rocheleau (Colourist), Emily Carroll (Webcomics) and Pat Shewchuk (1/2 of Tin Can Forest – Outstanding Cartoonist). Men were in the minority: Francis Manapul (Artist), Scott Chantler (Comics for Kids), John Martz (Gene Day), Planete BD (retailer) and Marek Colek (the other 1/2 of Tin Can Forest – Cartoonist).

We are not making it a secret that the JSA categories will be re-examined for 2012. To paraphrase Crisis on Infinite Earths: “Some categories may live, some may die and the Canadian Awards scene will never be the same again…”. LOL.

One thing that has already been discussed is that in some categories (maybe all) we may be moving away from the “everything done in a year” system towards a specific standout work. There are many reasons for this change, but one that comes to mind is that it helps us with obtaining books for the jury members and in making sure there’s a clearer focus for them. Not sure if this means that nominees could receive multiple nominations if they produced more than one stand out book or series, these details are still being reviewed.

It looks as though we are 99% certain about where the awards will be going next – and that’s the September 2012 Montreal Comic-Con. I helped the show promoters out last year and this year I’ll just be going as an attendee (perhaps we may exhibit there, that’s still to be discussed). If it works out it means we’ve got 15 months time to assemble the 8th Annual Joe Shuster Awards. Doing that will mean a number of different changes as the awards ceremony will need to be bi-lingual.

Out today: The Art of Doug Sneyd hardcover

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The world of Mad Men and pin-up art collide in this fantastic new art book from Dark Horse Comics that spotlights the work of Canadian cartoonist Doug Sneyd. The book collects hundreds of the full colour cartoons he has produced for Playboy Magazine since the 1960′s and features an introduction by Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston (For Better or Worse) and Playboy publisher (and known comic art fan) Hugh Hefner. Adult content advisory.

Here’s the solicit from Dark Horse:

The Art of Doug Sneyd HC

The scintillating cartoon works of Doug Sneyd, an artist for Playboy magazine since the early 1960s, are now collected in this stunning art book. This book features the most lush, sumptuous, striking, and hilarious of Doug’s full-page cartoons. Readers will be charmed with the lovely scantily (and even non-) clad “Sneyd” girls and the one-line jokes they so ably illustrate. Don’t miss this collection by one of Playboy’s veteran cartoonists!

This book includes a foreword by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, an introduction by Lynn Johnston, cartoonist of the nationally syndicated strip For Better or For Worse, and reflections from the artist himself!

* Nearly three hundred full-color cartoons!
* Featuring cartoons previously unpublished by Playboy magazine.

Publication Date: June 15, 2011
Format: FC, 248 pages, HC, 9″ x12″
Price: $39.99
Age range: 16 up
ISBN-10: 1-59582-725-0 / ISBN-13: 978-1-59582-725-8

About Doug Sneyd: As well as having hundreds of full-page color cartoons published in Playboy magazine since 1963, Doug Sneyd has enjoyed success in artistic pursuits including textbook and magazine illustration, portraits and editorial cartoons.

For nearly 20 years, starting in the mid-60′s, his “Doug Sneyd” and “Scoops” news cartoons appeared daily in newspapers across North America. Sneyd’s talent has also led him into cinema: in 1993, he wrote, produced and directed “Black-eyedSusan,” an educational movie-drama about spousal abuse, for the Ontario government. He was a founding member of the Canadian Society of Book Illustrators and has been a member of the National Cartoonists’ Society and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Twenty-four of his full-page color Playboy cartoons are among the 229 Sneyd works included in the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa.

Sneyd was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, but spent much of his professional career in Toronto. In 1969 he moved his family north to Orillia made famous as the mythical “Mariposa” by humorist Stephen Leacock. He works on the third floor of his home-studio overlooking beautiful Lake Couchiching and spends his winters on the Gulf Coast in Orange Beach, Alabama.

Doug will be debuting a new 24 page sketchbook entitled Fabulous Faces this August at Fan Expo Canada.

Kill Shakespeare goes (on the) National

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Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col and Andy Belanger were on CBC’s the National last Friday! (click the link to check it out for yourself)

It was great to see the guys this weekend in Calgary at the Comic & Entertainment Expo, and even though Anthony and Conor were not selected for the Writer Award this year (the award went to Emilie Villeneuve for the graphic novel La fille invisible), it does not make the success and influence of Kill Shakespeare any less “outstanding”! Congratulations guys!

7th Annual Joe Shuster Awards: Winners Announced

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The 7th Annual Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards were presented at a public ceremony held on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo with hosts Ajay Fry and Teddy Wilson. Joe Shuster Awards 2011 ceremony audio

THE RESULTS: Continue reading →

Happenings: Calgary Comic Expo & Joe Shuster Awards this weekend!

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We’re just two days away from the June 17-19 Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, which looks to be a MASSIVE event this year, with guests coming from all over the world representing various areas of fandom — science fiction, anime/animation, horror… and most importantly COMICS.

For all of the amazing details and to peruse the guest list, please visit the Calgary Expo website.

As you may or may not be aware, we will be presenting the 2011 Joe Shuster Awards on Saturday night at the Expo in the Boyce Theatre with our hosts Ajay Fry and Teddy Wilson.

From the executive – Robert Haines, Jennifer Haines, Tyrone Biljan and myself (Kevin Boyd) will be there.

While we do have some fine tuning to do between now and then, some printing to pick up, dry cleaning, etc. We’re all pretty much ready to go.

Watch this website on Saturday night for the announcement of the winners! Good luck to all of the nominees!

May 2011 not a good month for comics: sales down 17.3%

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Yikes! Another month with less than stellar comics sales – no comic books sold more than 100,000 copies.

The #1 book was Fear Itself #2 (drawn by Stuart Immonen!) at 96K.

Flashpoint #1 debuted at #2 (~87K)

Then it’s a morass of X-Men, Batman, Green Lantern, Avengers and Spider-Man related books.

The graphic novel sales lists were pretty slow as well – down 13%, with only one book selling more than 5,000 copies (Avatar’s Crossed 3D GN #1)

As for your favourite Canadian creators with graphic novels, hardcovers and trades that debuted in May:

#4 Batman and Robin Deluxe Vol. 3: Batman and Robin Must Die featuring the work of Cameron Stewart  (4,586 copies)

#29 Paying for it  by Chester Brown (1.852 copies)

Note: I bet you that more copies of Paying for It were sold on TCAF weekend than through the entire Direct Market in May.

#31 Superboy: The Boy of Steel features art by Francis Manapul (prev. published as a hardcover) (1,833 copies)

Then it’s more printings of Y the Last Man collections and Scott Pilgrim volumes until…

#254 Even the Giants by Jesse Jacobs (409 copies)

Which is just awful for such a great and unique book. As with Paying for It I wouldn’t be surprised if more copies of Even the Giants sold at TCAF.

7th Annual Joe Shuster Awards – June 18, 2011 at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo

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NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2011 JOE SHUSTER AWARDS

LES NOMINÉS AUX PRIX JOE SHUSTER 2011

Ceremony Date: Saturday, June 18th, 2011 – 6-8 PM

Ceremony Hosts: AJAY FRY and TEDDY WILSON

Ceremony Location: Boyce Theatre, BMO Round-Up Centre, Calgary, AB

Host Event: THE CALGARY COMIC AND ENTERTAINMENT EXPO (June 17-19, 2011)

How Do I/How Did I Get Nominated for a Joe Shuster Award?

Butcher issues TCAF 2011 wrap-up and TCAF 2012 details

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Yesterday Christopher Butcher, the director of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival and the manager at Toronto comic shop The Beguiling issued his wrap-up statement on TCAF 2011 and some details about TCAF 2012, including the dates.

TCAF 2012 is scheduled for May 5-6, 2012. It will once again be held at the Toronto Reference Library.

For the second year in a row that puts the Festival on the same weekend as Free Comic Book Day – scheduled for May 5, 2012.

Ken Lashley returns to DC with the revamped Blackhawks

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The Blackhawks are an elite group of mercenaries made up of brave men from around the world equipped with the latest in cutting-edge hardware and vehicles. Their mission: Kill the bad guys before they kill us. A set of contemporary tales that battle the world’s gravest threats, BLACKHAWKS #1 will be written by Mike Costa and illustrated by Ken Lashley.