L.A. Mood Comics & Games is proud to be hosting an appearance by the creators of Kill Shakespeare: Andy Belanger, Anthony Del Col, and Conor McCreery on Saturday, February 12. Q&A about the book from 11:00 am – noon with the Graphic Novel Group and then an open signing in the store from noon – 3:00pm.
Have an event to share? Send the details to retailers@joeshusterawards.com.
The following is a listing of Brick & Mortar comic book retailers that are participating in Free Comic Book day. This listing is made up of stores provided by the official FCBD website: www.freecomicbookday.com using the STORE LOCATOR. There may be stores which are participating in the event but not listed on the website for a variety of reasons, but I’m going with the official list. Contact your local shop directly, if they are not listed here, to find out if they are participating. Select your province to see what shops near you have planned or expand to see the full list of participating shops across Canada:
Newfoundland * Nova Scotia * PEI * New Brunswick * Quebec * Ontario * Manitoba * Saskatchewan * Alberta * British Columbia * Territories
Gene Day
The five finalists for the Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing have been selected and will be announced alongside the rest of the Joe Shuster Award finalists.
This was a very strong year for work produced and I would like to profile some of these creators in the coming months.
In the meantime, the complete list of Gene Day submissions (alphabetically by title):
Continue reading
apologies to Nancy Sinatra
I mentioned last week that Happy Harbor were going to have the shop crushed by Godzilla as part of a special cover promotion by IDW for the release of Godzilla #1? (No? Read about it here.)
Well, there have been some reveals and it looks like a few more Canuck shops are participating. Continue reading
Nova Scotia
It’s seems the Strangemobile went kaput earlier this month, the engine blew up. Calum tells us times are tough, he was ripped off for 3k by a contractor in 2010, and that he’s cutting costs rather than laying off staff. Pure speculation, but with the economy in Canada still not up and running (recent reports say that bounceback-wise we are in 6th place of the G7), a third store expansion to Dartmouth last year has resulted in a rise of fix costs such as rent, heat and hydro and staffing costs (salary, WSIB, CPP, EI & tax) have had an impact on the business. The good news is: the Bug is back.
PEI
The Comic Hunter is blogging like crazy in 2011, giving lots of opinions and reviews of comic series. Including telling us that about how much they hate Grant Morrison.
New Brunswick
New comic shop Enigma Comics and Games are must be doing okay, as they are now open Sunday.
Quebec
Publisher D+Q had some of the creators they publish appear. Lynda Barry was in town and gave a talk at the Ukrainian Federation. Dave Cooper went to the shop itself. Next week Jeff Lemire will appear and he will be interviewed by the CBC and discuss Essex County, published by TopShelf.
Ontario
Comic Connection in Hamilton is celebrating 25 years in business.
The Gauntlet in Orangeville are reducing their hours, closing on Mondays but open the other 6 days a week.
The comic market in Ottawa in flux? The Comic Cave is not a full service shop, but instead a model and gaming store that stocked comics. Yet things are so bad in their comics division that they are only selling pre-orders. Nothing to be stocked. That is a very defensive maneuver, but there has been a lot of speculation that comic shops will be under serious economic pressure through Q1 and Q2, 2011.
The Dragon hosted a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Birthday Party to coincide with the release of Buffy Season #40 (the final issue) and Buffy Summers B-Day, natch. Vampire bite butter cookies!
Paradise Comics will be hosting Danielle Corsetto on Jan 19th and Shane Kirshenblatt on Jan 22nd.
Scott Thompson showed up at The Beguiling, signing his new comic The Hollow Planet.
Alberta
Comic-Kazi has begun pre-selling celebrity photo ops for the upcoming Calgary Comic Expo.
A new shop opened in Edmonton, aptly named The Comic Shop. Most interesting about this store: they sell only back issues. Back issue comics have been virtually abandoned in Ontario shops because the $ per sq/ft they provide is too low. The labour involved in gathering, bagging/boarding, pricing and replenishing back-issue comics, the staple of comic shops for 30 years, doesn’t justify their presence in modern business environment. It’s a great way to make your shop look like it is full of product though (or tired and out of date…). Anyway, I find this most interesting. I suppose a similar shop could open up in Toronto and do really well… but for the fact that there is a comic convention every other week here, and the retailers climb over each other to sell you back issues for nearly nothing, would likely mean that bin divers have a means to be sated.
Happy Harbor comics will be crushed by Godzilla. IDW offered a cute promotion in the recent Previews: order 500 copies of Godzilla #1 and you will get your store will put on the cover… being crushed by Godzilla. I liked the idea, but moving 500 copies of Godzilla? Well Happy Harbor is juming into the breach!
“Why are we pimping a Godzilla comic? See that picture and the big empty space under his foot. Happy Harbor is going to be there! Yep, a special limited edition cover variant of this issue will feature Godzilla stomping on your very own Happy Harbor! This variant will be limited to 500 copies and with more than 600 file customers, you better get your advance orders in fast!”
Happy Harbor have also been updating photos of their ongoing reno to the new shop. It looks like after expanding to 4 shops, then closing 2 of them, then moving the remaining 2, HH is renting a large space they can grow in to.
Check out the Harry Kremer Award hanging on the beam.
Business is good in Edmonton as Quantum Comics is now open 7 days a week, having cut the Monday-off day which is so common for US based comic shops.
Not comics: Thunderground in St. Albert is hosting a midnight Magic The Gathering event. It’s limited to 8 participants: “If you know how to play Magic and can play quickly (emphasis on “quickly“), then this event is just for you!” Crazy.
British Columbia
Grey Haven Hobbies celebrated it’s 17th Anniversary this month.
Direct Market comic retailers across North America grow up a little bit next week, as they join their friends in the video game and book retailing industries in receiving product prior to street date sales.
“What?!”, you ask? In most other businesses the product that is to be sold on a specific date arrives PRIOR to that date. But not comics, comics arrive on the same day they are to go on sale… that is until Tuesday, January 11, 2011. On Tuesday, and going forward, comic shops will begin receiving their deliveries for comics to be sold on Wednesday.
This allows retailers to properly prepare the orders, count the stock, upload the inventory into their computer systems, rack the product; heck, it might even allow them to read some books and know what it is they are selling that week. Plus, comics will be available for sale when the store opens, be it 9am, 10am or noon. None of these were really possible under the old delivery system.
So, there are lots of the positives, but are there negatives?
The possibility of breaking Street Date.
Are there any comic retailers out there that have comic podcasts? I’m aware of a small handful. Big B Comics does their radio show through McMaster radio, which is podcast on their affiliated comic news website comicbookdaily. The Dragon does an almost weekly podcast. Then there is The Watchtower podcast, which predates The 4th Wall by many years, but is hosted store manager Jeff Moss. Then there is Stadium Comics who record themselves opening up the weekly Diamond shipment and show you what they ordered.
Send along any other you know about.
On to the news…
Nova Scotia
Strange Adventures Halifax hosted superstar Canadian Darwyn Cooke and Steve McNiven at the shop on Saturday, December 18th.
Quebec
Planete BD is hosted a double book launch on December 17th: Siris, author of Vogue la Valise, and Louis Remillard, author of Down on the Petawawa.
To top that Planete BD hosted Michael Rabagliati on December 4th. This was in support of a limited edition book les Extras de Paul. Not available for order, only available at special author events, this 3000 print run book is offered to customers that purchase any 2 of the 6 Paul books published by La Pasteque.
Saskatchewan
Comic Readers South lets us know that they will be moving on February 1, 2011. The new location is 4603 Albert St., Regina, SK S4S 6B6, which was a Rogers Video location.
Alberta
It looks like another comic shop has opened in Calgary. Reboot Inc. is partnering up with a new shop called IT Figures, located at 2915 Richmond Road SW, Calgary, AB, T3E 4N3. A google search of this address directs us to a business called Red 5 Collectibles.
British Columbia
In the time since the passing of owner Terry Sillman there was speculation that Talking Illustrations may reopen under new ownership. This is no longer possible though, as the store contents were auctioned off recently.
Very distressing news coming from The Comicshop. They moved to a new location in September which received some press coverage, but “The Comicshop has recently found itself in dire straits – so much so that this week’s comics shipment may be in jeopardy”, which likely means that their Diamond account is in arrears. They are asking any customers who ordered product which is currently on hold, come into the store “in the next DAY OR TWO” and purchase that product if they “want to see us stick around a while longer.” This will help the cashflow situation and allow the store to “continue serving our customer’s needs for the foreseeable future.” It’s been a couple of rough years to all sorts of small business retailers, not to focus on comic shops. I hope this situation turns itself around, and all you The Comicshop customers: get in there and buy the product you ordered. I will say that every store has a different policy in regards to preorders but my guess is that The Comicshop would preorder anything and everything a customer wanted with no guarantee of a sale. This is standard policy in most comic shops, but it can lead to these kind of circumstances.
Greyhaven Hobbies was profiled in the local newspaper. I failed at finding the article, though.
Brian Hibbs, a well known San Francisco retailer who has owned and managed Comix Experience in San Francisco since 1989 and is a founding board member of ComicsPro, has long taken on the responsibility of comic retailing advocate.
Brian has written a sign post examination of the comic industry from the viewpoint of retailer and stakeholder, speculating on what the first quarter of 2011 will bring, and for the first time in a long time Brian is very industry critical: he expects the ghosts of comic publishing/retailing past will come back to haunt us next year. Brian’s expected results: many retailers closing up shop.
Brian receives a lot of criticism for being a cheerleader of the direct market comic book retailer amongst a certain segment of the comic industry. This is mainly because the way he compiles data, critiques sales with a view skewed towards a non-returnable viewpoint and, basically, runs his business, does not align with the beliefs of others. While these critics may be made up of various stakeholders, most are internet critics who are not financially leveraged in comics to the same degree as Brian, or any other retailer.
As relates to Canada, Brian looks at things from a very US-centric viewpoint; being a US based retailer, this makes sense. I do believe much of his analysis applies to Canadian comic retailers, but some of the economic perspective is not applicable. Yes, there is a recession, but Canada has not suffered the same decline that the American (and specifically California/San Francisco localized economy) has. If the US jobless rate is 9.3% (California being 12%), this is a huge hit versus 2007 when the jobless rate was 4.8%. As a comparison, Canada currently has a 7.6% unemployment rate. We should still recognize the differences in taxation between the nations, with Americans typically having a greater rate of take home pay and a lower rate of secondary taxation.
Still, Brian’s industry critique seems to be:
This is a very interesting analysis for a number of reasons. Also, I think you can see what Brian’s critics focus on: his focus on Marvel and DC titles.
The worry within Brian’s regional market seems to be heightened by the news that Comic Relief, the Berkley-based comic institution, is on the verge of closing. ‘If one of comics institution stores can collapse, what does that hold for the rest of us?’ is the general notion here. Once we take into account the fact that Rory Root, the store’s founder and owner, passed away in 2008, we can see how a business as reliant on the passion of it’s owner and staff can fail without that keystone individual.
Another point mentioned by Brian in his article is that the “product offerings in January and February look really weak”. Basically, post-Christmas sales are traditionally low and the product that Marvel and DC are delivering is appears to be “weak”. That lack of interesting product, combined with traditionally low sales, could lead to store closings due to lack of cashflow. This is a real doom and gloom scenario presented by Brian, who, as I mentioned, is most often seen as a cheerleader.
What to do? That’s what I’d like to hear from other retailers. Would a retailers conference held at the 2010 Calgary Entertainment Expo be of interest to the retailing community? ComicsPro, the US based advocacy group who has annual meetings to discuss the business of comics retailing, has a board of directors member who is a prominent Canadian retailer. I think we can agree that the economics of the US is not the same as Canada, that we have our own home grown comic publishing industry that is not reflective of the US-based publishers that garner most of the attention, that the number of large cities and population distribution of Canada is not similar to the US; perhaps it’s time to have a Canadian edition of this event.
Does this sound like it be of interest or value to you? A Canadian retailers event where we can discuss our own experiences; the benefits of diversification within a small town market / population base; the product offerings of our Canadian-based publishers; improvements in marketing, layout, utilization of square footage, use of modern retailing practices; switching to a point of sale system for analysis of sales in your store; periodicals vs evergreen products; reaching out to new markets and audiences, finding the next generation of customers; making your comic shop a destination, hosting events; a real retailers event where we can tap into the experience and advice of other retailers in our country.
The goal wouldn’t be to have giant Toronto-based comic retailers come in and tell you how you should run your small town comic shop. I personally think that having a population base of 4 million people makes things a lot easier than being in a town of less than 150,000, which is much more reflective of the Canadian comic shop reality. Instead the goal would be to discuss ways to improve your business that can be gradual and be effective.
We would love to hear your feedback.
Original Art from Even The Giants by Jesse Jacobs (from the collection of Robert Haines)
Gene Day Award winner Jesse Jacobs will have his first solo book, Even The Giants, released in 2011 through Adhouse Books.
I am a huge supporter of his work and I can’t wait to see the final product. If it’s as good as it looks, it should be a major contender for the 2012 awards.
From the publisher:
Even The Giants by Jesse Jacobs. Published by AdHouse Books
Jesse Jacobs bursts onto the comic scene with his first published work EVEN THE GIANTS. The work beautifully captures the isolation of the Great White North while also giving the artist a sequential canvas to explore and experiment. This book will be printed in three Pantone spot colors. Jesse’s work has been nominated for the Doug Wright award and has won the Gene Day award.
details:
2C cover
80 3C pages
8.5″ x 5.5″ SC
$9.95 US funds
ISBN 978-1-9352331-0-7
Shipping in May 2011
Jesse Jacobs also has work in an upcoming book titled Root Rot, published by Koyama Press.
Photo: Ethan Rilly accepting the 2010 Gene Day Award and $500 bursary for his self-published comic Pope Hats No.1 at the June Joe Shuster Awards ceremony.
Hey all you self-publishers of comics/comix/zines, we’re nearing the end of 2010 and it’s time to submit your self-published comics for consideration of the 2011 Gene Day Award.
The Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing honours Canadian comic book creators who self-published their work during the previous calendar year. The award includes a bursary of $500.
In order to qualify you must be a citizen and current resident of Canada. Anyone who writes and illustrates a comic book of their own creation (includes creative teams) and publishes and sells that comic independently of any other publishing company and did not currently have said works originally distributed by a third party distributor may submit their publication for review.
Format and content is at the discretion of the creators but the work must include new content, not reprinted material from other sources (such as webcomics). All entries will be reviewed by an independent jury. Entries will be judged individually based on originality, literary and artistic merit, and overall presentation. There are no language restrictions for this award.
Entries should be sent to:
GENE DAY AWARD
C/O THE JOE SHUSTER AWARDS
PO BOX 67031 – 2300 YONGE ST.
TORONTO, ON
M4P 3C8
We maintain a list of self-publishers, and maintain a list of Gene Day submissions, with links to your websites and blogs. This is to support the creative efforts and provide recognition for the work being done.
Previous winners:
2008 – Jesse Jacobs – Blue Winter, Shapes in the Snow
2009 – Ethan Rilly – Pope Hats
Photo: Store manager Chris Butcher accepting the 2010 Kremer Award on behalf of his store The Beguiling in June 2010. Who will make the short list in 2011? You can help us decide by pointing out the outstanding comic book retailer in your area!
As we enter December it is time to give some thought and consider which comic shop retailer did an outstanding job in 2010 and is worthy of recognition for the Harry Kremer Award.
Do you believe your local retailer deserves to be recognized alongside the top comic retailers in Canada? Send us an email and provide us with some information as to why you believe that store deserves recognition.
Anyone may nominate a worthy comic shop including employees, owners and Joe Shuster Award committee members, but the nominees must meet the following conditions:
All nominees will be considered by the Awards Association Executive. Nominated stores will be contacted to provide further information, as well the shops will be researched, through use of secret shoppers, to determine how well they meet the award criteria.
The criteria for judging includes:
The judges of this award, aware of the award criteria, are given the freedom to determine their own preferences within the criteria (perhaps they feel that back issues are the most vital component of a comic book store) and grade the shops accordingly.
A 4 point scale is used:
0 = poor
1 = good
2 = great
3 = excellent
Total points scoring, as well as debate amongst the judges, determines the final winner.
For persons considering the nomination of a store, here is a breakdown of the criteria:
Support of a wide variety of innovative material. Providing opportunities for creators’ material to reach buyers is important and this is reflected by a retailer stocking a diverse inventory. Special focus is given to the following areas:
Overall appeal of the store and usage of space. If comic book retailers are the face of the comic book industry to the public, it’s important that the store put forth a quality image of themselves and the comic industry. We look at:
Knowledge. Comic retailing is a broad and diverse business which requires specialized knowledge. It’s important to stay informed of modern retailing practices as well as building product knowledge.
Community activity. Expanding the reach of comics is key to the growth of the market. Promoting comics to the community, building and maintaining relationships with schools and libraries, keeping active in social, business, and arts community organizations are all ways to market your business and help you stand out as a community leader.
Adherence to standard ethical business practices. Judges discretion is given here, but this would cover minor things like racking new-release ‘hot’ comics at cover price rather than marking them up, or major things, like staying off the crime blotter. Other issues, such as market competition and tactics used in growing or maintaining market share may be considered.
Éditions Pow Pow! is a new Quebec-based French language publisher that debuted this fall with two original books – both of which are now available.
Links below are to a google English translated version of pages from the Pow Pow website — the translate feature often comes across a little awkward and babble-fishy, so follow the link above for the proper French language link.
Krampus is a mythical creature that, in various regions of the world – especially Austria and Hungary – is believed to accompany St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) during the Christmas season. Krampus is a Bizarro Santa – a demonic creature who warns and punishes naughty children. Due to German and Austrian influences, the myth of Krampus is also prevalent in Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia and northern Italy.
A number of artists have done their interpretations of Krampus for this gallery show.
Running from Dec 2, 2010 – Jan 10, 2011 at RESISTOR GALLERY – Monday through Friday – 10am to 5pm.
284 College Street 2nd Floor, Toronto (Map)
OPENING NIGHT: Thursday, December 2 at 7:30pm – December 3 at 1:00am
Please note: the opening follows a double book launch by CF and Brian Chippendale from 6:30-7:30, presented by The Beguiling and Picture box at the same location.
Participating artists:
Andrew Heffron • Aaron Costain • Aaron Leighton • Attila Szanyi • Brian McLachlan •Brandon Steen • Clayton Hanmer • Crankbunny • Craig Marshall • Chris Stone • Carey Sookocheff • Drazen Kozjan • Dan Turner • Diego Bergia • Diana McNally • Faez Alidousti • Hyein Lee • Jessica Fortner • Jesse Jacobs • Jeremy Kai • Janice Kun • Jason Bone • Julia Breckenreid • Karen Justl • Katy Dockrill • Luke Ramsey • Mike McDougall • Marek Colek • Matthew Forsythe • Maylynn Quan • Michael Comeau • Michael Wandelmaier • Pat Shewchuk • Prashant Miranda • Hayley Morris • Ryan Feely • Randy Knott • Ron Gervais • Ro Rao • Steve Manale• Steve Wilson • Sarah Lazarovic • Tomori Nagamoto
The show runs every day after that – Monday-Friday 10am-5pm until January 10, 2011.
***Update: The Carry-On Comics signing is TODAY from 4:30 – 7:30***
Carry-On Comics in Waterloo will be hosting the Kill Shakespeare crew of Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col, Andy Belanger, plus Scott Chantler will be there on Wednesday, November 24th from 4:30 – 7:30.
Featuring events occurring at comic shops across Canada.
[note: this information was gathered by perusing the retailers websites, as well as email I've received from stores across Canada. If you have an event to promote, let us know! Send an email to retailers@joeshusterawards.com. And if you have an upcoming event that isn't listed here, then I was not able to find it on your website. If I can't find it, your customers can't find it.]
British Columbia
It’s like a Transformers revolution out on the West Coast as Gotham Collectibles hosts Shaun Knowles for their monthly TF event.
Metropolis Comics & Toys hosted an 80′s video game art event, their 80′s cartoon events keep rolling & now they will have something called Star Wars Grindhouse night.
Since owner Terry Sillman’s passing, Talking Illustrations is closed. There has been a facebook page created for Terry and the shop.
I visited Victoria recently and I can confirm it to be true: there are 4 comic shops, all on the same side of Johnson Street, in an 8 or 9 store stretch! It’s crazy! Curious Comics (631) and Legends Comics & Books (633) are side by side, while Yellow Jacket (649) and Trippys Emporium (645) are side by side – there is no 647. That has to be the greatest density of comic shops in the world, doesn’t it?
Alberta
Widowmaker Comic Books & Collectibles is confirmed as closed. It seems it closed a while ago, as the recession hit Alberta. Out of this comes a new comic strip My Life As A Grum, created by Widowmaker owner Rhian Engel. There is a feature story about Rhian in the Red Deer Advocate and his strip appears every Saturday in the paper.
Saskatchewan
Amazing Stories has started a Comics Club.
Ontario
Those wacky fellows a Stadium Comics are have a Moustachioed Movember sale. Anyone wearing a (real OR fake!) moustache will receive an additional 5% discount off of their purchase and they’re offering 50% off of back issues from the following 5 series:
# 1. Iron Man – We still remember when Tony Stark had the best moustache in the Marvel U!
#2. Batman – Alfred or Commissioner Gordon, whose got the cooler stache? Does it really matter?
#3. Green Lantern – How does Sinestro make something so good look so evil!
#4. Spider-man – What can we say about J. Jonah Jameson moustache? …No really, what can we say?
#5. GI Joe – Has there ever been a more spectacular gathering of moustache wearing dudes?
The Stadium guys have begun a weekly ‘opening-the-Diamond-boxes-and-recording-it‘ thing, which can be found on Youtube. Can they possibly keep it going? How many copies did they order? Count ‘em while they are held up to the screen! Do really, really care about variants but can’t be bothered to look at them on the internet? They show you every bloody variant!
The Dragon hosted Scott Chantler for his Two Generals book launch and a Comics For Kids drawing event.
The Dragon also had a whole whack of guests for their 12th Anniversary event. Everyone participated in a podcast answering ‘5 Questions‘, plus Kill Shakespeare’s Anthony Del Col blogged about the event.
The Dragon podcast #17 – 12th Anniversary Mini-Con & 5 Questions
Big B Comics is having a Toy Drive: First annual toy drive! Bring in a new toy or new or gently loved comic for charitable donation and you’ll get $1 off your purchase. Going until December 17th. Let’s help Hamilton’s children together.
The Comic Booke Shoppe gets some love on an Ottawa blog.
Second Star Comics and Toys in Port Perry, ON is closing. This was the nicer of the Wyldstar stores, but it’s such a small town with a summer time, cottage population boom. It was a neat idea.
Excalibur Comics, 3030 Bloor Street West, Toronto, will be closing on December 31, 2010. They no longer bring in new product, but are staying open to sell off remaining inventory.
Added some photos of Hairy T, from their facebook page.
Carry-On Comics in Waterloo will be hosting the Kill Shakespeare crew of Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col, Andy Belanger, plus Scott Chantler will be there on Wednesday, November 24th from 4:30 – 7:30.
Rogues Gallery in Windsor are hosting their 2nd Annual Comicbook Drive. Make some children happy at Christmas, donate comics and toys. They need 7000 comics to make that happen! Donate, please.
Quebec
1000000 Comix put on the Montreal Charity Comic Con to raise money for the Pediatric Oncology Unit of the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
Librairie Planète BD kept it rolling, hosting a bunch of great BD events at their shop:
October 27th – Éric Thériault launched Frankenstein Réassemblé.
November 11th – Jimmy Beaulieu launched a la faveur de la nuit.
November 12th – Luc Bossé, Alexandre Simard & Zviane launched Yves, le roi de la cruise
Added Marc Comic Hunter to the retailer listing.
New Brunswick
New Comic Shop!
Enigma Comics and Games
Address: 3 Bridge Street, Sackville, NB, E4L 3N6
Telephone: 506-939-3224
Email
Hours
Mon – Thu: 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Fri: 12:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Sat: 12:00 pm – 15:00 pm
Sun: Closed
Sackville is located on Hwy 104, right by the border with Nova Scotia.
Strange Adventures Fredericton (and Fredericton only) is having a “Super secret sale for subscribers only!” If your subscriber account is up to date (no retailer likes it when you dilly dally picking up your books, people) then on Thursday, Nov. 25th you can take part in the super secret savings! 30 to 50 % off!
Nova Scotia
Pabi’s Hobby Collectibles now has a web presence.
So does Batter’s Box The Collectibles.
Newfoundland
The Lair, in Corner Brook, celebrated it’s 1st Anniversary on November 10th. Congratulations!
Timemasters, in St. John’s, is hiring for the holiday season. Job creation is a wonderful thing.
A promotional image of author Paul Levitz holding the book.
The new and much talked about release from Taschen Books is 75 Years of DC Comics – The Art of Modern Mythmaking by Paul Levitz.
While not specifically Canuck, there is a lot of great content on the history of DC comics and some Joe Shuster related information.
But what people really want to know is, ‘how big is this book?’
Behold.
The very large, very heavy suitcase packaging for the book.
Out of the box.
With the dust jacket removed, here is the cover, an image of Superman breaking chains by Joe Shuster.
Gatefold chronology of DC's Golden Age.
Interior shot. Every page is packed with gorgeous images.
'The Golden Age' - a golden double spread of Joe Shusters 'Action Comics #1' cover.
Just how big is this book? Here it is compared to the November Previews magazine.
At 720 pages, '75 Years of DC Comics' dwarfs the Previews magazine.
Strange Tales has been a great series issued by Marvel the past couple of years. The concept is Altcomix creators working on Marvel characters. It’s a great idea for Marvel, as it serves to draw back comic readers to the Marvel brand, perhaps sparking an interest in one of their titles, while providing exposure a whole group of excellent creators.
The third and final issue of Strange Tales 2, which arrives in comic shops December 8th, and will feature stories by James Stokoe, Michael DeForge, Ty Templeton, and Kate Beaton.
James Stokoe. You really should click this to get a look at it full size!
Kate Beaton
Ty Templeton
Michael Deforge.
Diamond Comics has rolled out a new program called kidscomics.com. This website will allow retailers deemed ‘kids-friendly’ to be located through the comic shop locator search function. The end goal is for customers interested in age relevant / age appropriate / kid friendly comics to find a comic shop location to purchase product.
Continue reading
From The Dragon, sponsor of the Comics For Kids award:
The Dragon takes pride in our comic and graphic novel selection for all ages and to help support the young reader community we are hosting regular Comics for Kids Day events!
Saturday, November 13th is Scott Chantler Day at The Dragon.
First up: the book launch of Two Generals. Scott will be in store from 12pm – 1pm to chat about and sign copies of his newest release. There will likely be a podcast recording. Check out the research-related content over at the book’s own site, Two-Generals.com.
Then, from 1pm – 3pm, Scott will host a Drawing for Kids Workshop in support of Tower of Treasure, a wonderfully fun all ages book from Kids Can Press. This workshop is FREE with all supplies and a snack supplied by the Dragon, but participation is limited to 10 CHILDREN so be sure to sign up soon!
If you are interested in this event, contact The Dragon by email or call 519-763-5544.
A fun bunch of faux covers featuring NBA players as Marvel Universe characters.
For our purposes, here are the Can-Con images:
The Milwaukee Bucks by Kalman Andrasofszky
Chicago Bulls by Kaare Andrews
Philadelphia 76ers coloured by Nathan Fairbarn
And just for fun, my hometown team Toronto Raptors. (Bryan will get a real kick out of this, I’m sure.) How many games will I see Steven Charles Manale at this year? (and why were you dressed like a Celtic at that pre-season game?!)
Toronto Raptors featuring: #10 - DeMar DeRozan; #7 - Andrea Bargnani; #8 - Jose Calderon with special teammates Sasquatch and Northstar. FYI - Sasquatch and Northstar are not actually on the Raptors squad
I spent a 4 hours at Canzine this past Sunday, and I was quite pleased as Canzine is one of my favourite comic art events. The show was larger than ever, jammed with tables and creative types.
I was there gathering books for the Gene Day Award and building our Self-Published Creators contact list.
Comic Zines I picked up:
.Life Is Long.” by Evan Moore
Bok Choy Bash & The Sashimi Adventures by Dirchansky and Koyar
Bok Choy Bash & The Sashimi Adventures AGAIN by Dirchansky and Koyar
Boredom Pays #2 by Jason Bradshaw
Expired Seafood by various creators of the evilsmile.net crew
Freelance Blues #2 & #3 by Ian Daffern & Mike Leong (art by US citizen Vicky Tierney)
Frequently Asked Question about threesome by Hyein Lee
genevieve vol. 1 by Efehan Elbi
hello orange, hello squirrel by Mary Huang
Streakers by Nick Maandag
The Book Of Irrational Fears by Juhyun Daniel Lee
The Gentlemen by Kristi McConnel & S.J. Romm
The Worst In Everything by Jason Bradshaw
Three Girls by Hyeine Lee
