Jerry Siegel (left), Superman, Joe Shuster (right). Drawing by Shuster.
75 years ago today on April 18, 1938: Action Comics #1 (cover dated June 1938), featuring Canadian-born Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel’s Superman debuts on newsstands. They were each paid $130 for the work (about $10 a page each), but National retained the rights to the Superman character as part of the deal.
So everything is well under way now here at JSA central. We’re once again aiming for a Free Comic Book Day (May 4th) deadline for our nominee announcements.
I must say that it’s been an enthusiastic year for Canadian comics so far, as there’s been a lot going on recently – especially for things related to Canadian comics history. The shooting for the upcoming documentary LOST HEROES has wrapped and the crew is currently in post-production mode, we eagerly await the final product. We’ve been lucky enough to be able to watch some of the interviews filmed at the Comic Book Lounge, and I think people are in for a real treat when the film finally airs on Super Channel later this year. Here’s the official blurb followed by the promotional poster for the film:
Lost Heroes is a feature documentary set to air on Super Channel in 2013. We explore the history of the great Canadian superheroes, from Johnny Canuck to Captain Canuck. Currently in post-production.
Lost Heroes explores the past of the Canadian superhero, from the golden age when millions of children read the tales of Inuit goddess Nelvana of the Northern Lights, to the thrilling days when Canadian superheroes returned to the newstands with Captain Canuck and Cerebus. Lost Heroes celebrates the unique Canadian talent behind these characters and asks why can’t Canada keep their heroes?
Mister Monster by Fred Kelly, Captain Canuck by George Freeman, Fleur-de-Lys by Ken Steacy, with Adrian Dingle’s Nelvana and other characters in the background.
In what I’ve seen of it, this is a top-notch, professional production and I think it will be a great chance to expose a lot of people to Canada’s comics past, as well as it’s present and future.
With the completion of the eligible English and French list I’ve spent some time perusing the lists to play my guessing game of who I think the nominating committees will be selecting for the 2013 Joe Shuster Awards, and I think that this year’s list is strong, but seems to working from a smaller pool than in previous years. That certainly means that a lot of projects by people absent this year are on the horizon, but I’m eager to see who the nomcoms select.
Currently we have 19 individuals participating in the Nominating Committee for Artist, Cartoonist, Cover Artist and Writer. They come from across the country, but as per protocol we won’t be publishing their names until after they have finished their selections in case anyone drops out before the end.
Our Hall of Fame selection committee has expanded quite considerably this year, to make up for last year’s year off. Of the seven members, only three have participated in previous HOF nomcoms. Maybe I can convince them finally to rename the HOF “Hinterland’s Who’s Who”.
Ivan’s latest column at Comic Book Daily digs into just what WECA was and how it led to the first great age of Canadian comic books. Ivan wants us to start referring to the comics published during this time period as “WECA Comics” (or books), instead of the more traditional term “Canadian Whites”.
“WECA” is an acronym for the War Exchange Conservation Act brought into being by the parliament of Canada on Dec. 6, 1940 prohibiting the importation of “non-essential” materials into the country including magazines and comics from the U.S.
Great article for the Hamilton Spectator about ARAM ALEXANIAN’s contributions to both Canadian and American Golden Age Comics before he went to work for his well known family’s carpet business. Plus a discussion on the Canadian Whites with Big B’s Walter Durajlija and White’s authority Ivan Koczmarek.
Some amazing Canadian comic talent has assembled to create TRUE PATRIOT, an anthology of unmistakably Canadian content. Amongst the fellowship are:
Adrian Alphona (Runaways), Andy B. (Kill Shakespeare), J. Bone (Super Friends), Jack Briglio (Scooby Doo), Scott Chantler (Two Generals), Tom Fowler (Hulk: Season One), Agnes Garbowska (Girl Comics), Faith Erin Hicks (Adventure Time), Tim Levins (Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes), Ramon Perez (A Tale of Sand), Ron Salas (28 Days Later), Jay Stephens (Secret Saturdays), J. Torres (Teen Titans Go), Howard Wong (After the Cape).
They need your help! There’s a campaign running at Indiegogo to get financing, and there’s only four days left to get them to their goal! It looks like it’ll be a fantastic book, so get on board and help this get made.
SECTION A
Outstanding Comic Book Cover Artist / Dessinateur de couverture de bande dessinée exceptionnel
Outstanding Comic Book Writer / Scénariste de bande dessinée exceptionnel
Outstanding Comic Book Artist / Dessinateur de bande dessinée exceptionnel
Outstanding Comic Book Cartoonist / Auteur de bande dessinée exceptionnel
Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures :
Laurent Boutin (Montreal, QC)
Eric Bouchard (Montreal, QC)
Jeff Brown (Toronto, ON)
Lloyd Chesney (Victoria, BC)
Amy Chop (Guelph, ON)
Jamie Coville (Kingston, ON)
Gareth Gaudin (Victoria, BC)
Tyler Jirik (Guelph, ON)
Mike Jozik (Saskatoon, SK)
David Kelly (Montreal, QC)
Jonathan Kuehlein (Toronto, ON)
Andrew Uys (Toronto, ON
Leonard Wong (Vancouver, BC)
Sarrah Young (Toronto, ON)
- Outstanding Web Comics Creator / Créateur de bande dessinée web exceptionnel
Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures :
Tyrone Biljan
Kevin Boyd
Allison Covey
Robert Haines
Andrew Walsh
Art Jury (Artist / Cover Artist / Webcomics)
- Cliff Caporale (Montreal, QC)
– Amy Chop (Guelph, ON)
– Calum Johnston (Halifax, NS)
– Hope Nicholson (Toronto, ON)
– Ethan Peacock (Vancouver, BC)
Story Jury (Cartoonist / Writer)
- Cliff Caporale (Montreal, QC)
– Robin Fisher (Montreal, QC)
– Robin McConnell (Vancouver, BC)
– Rachel Richey (Ottawa, ON)
– Salgood Sam (Montreal, QC)
Coordiinator/Coordinateur - Kevin Boyd, Executive Director
SECTION B
The Gene Day Award for Self-Publishers / Le Prix Gene Day de l’auto-édition
Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures::
Robert Haines, with input from Kevin Boyd
Day Jury:
– Calum Johnston
– Jesse Jacobs
– Diana Schutz
The Harry Kremer Award for Outstanding Comic Book Retailer / Le Prix Harry Kremer du libraire de bandes dessinées exceptionnel
Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures :
Robert Haines
Kremer Jury:
Tyrone Biljan
Kevin Boyd
Allison Covey
Peter DeCourcy
Andrew Walsh
Coordinator/Coordinateur - Robert Haines, Associate Director
SECTION C
The Dragon Award – Comics for Kids / Le Prix Dragon – Bande dessinée jeunesse
Nominating Committee / Comité des Candidatures :
– Jennifer Stewart (BEd)
– Beth Alexander (BEd – elementary)
– Diana Pai (BEd)
Comics for Kids Jury:
– Douglas Davey (Halton Hills librarian)
– Graham Purcell (BEd – elementary)
– Renee Jackson (BEd, MFA)
– Kate McEvenue (BEd)
– Scott Robins (Toronto librarian)
Coordinator/Coordinateur – Jennifer Haines
ADDITIONAL THANKS TO:
Webcomics Coordinator – Andrew Walsh
Publisher Liason - Allison Covey
Graphics and Audio Visual Presentation – Tyrone Biljan
Awards Ceremony Hosts: Jason Rockman, Catherine Smith-Desbiens
Host Convention: Montreal Comic Con – contacts: Oscar Yazedjian, Elizabeth Jutras, Cliff Caporale
Awards manufactured by ACE Awards, Toronto, ON
Hall of Fame Committee – Joe Kilmartin, Robert Pincombe
The Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association would also like to thank the following publishers for their assistance in providing book for our juries to review:
Éditions Alto
Éditions Pow Pow
Éditions Soleil
IDW
Image Comics
Kids Can Press
La Pasteque
Les 400 Coups
Oni Press
Presses Aventure
Puffin Books
Katie and Steven Shanahan.
Additional books published by Archaia Press, Éditions Delcourt, Drawn & Quarterly, DC Comics, some additional IDW and Marvel Comics were provided by:
The Comic Book Lounge + Gallery, (Toronto, ON)
Finally, the CCBCAA would like to thank and acknowledge the financial contributions of our private donours, and the support of the Canadian comics community across our great nation.
THE CCBCAA 2011-2012:
Kevin Boyd, Director
Robert Haines, Associate Director
Tyrone Biljan
Allison Covey
Peter DeCourcy
Andrew Walsh
Montreal, QC – In a ceremony presided by JASON ROCKMAN and CATHERINE SMITH-DESBIENS at the MONTREAL COMIC-CON, the 8th Annual Joe Shuster Awards for Canadian Comic Book Creators and Retailers were presented to an enthusiastic crowd of nominees, friends and fans of the medium. Continue reading
Welcome back! Hope your summer was as eventful as ours was.
We’re now a mere 11 days away from the presentation of the 8th annual Joe Shuster Awards and we’ll be posting some updates as we near the event.
JURY DECISIONS
The Art Jury (Artist, Cover Artist and Webcomics) have finished their selections, as have the ones selecting the Dragon Prize and the Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing. That leaves the Retailer Jury and the Story Jury (Cartoonist and Writer), and we hope to have those wrapped up later today or early tomorrow.
HARRY KREMER RETAILER AWARD FINALISTS
The 10 stores have been narrowed down to a final five – watch for a release here shortly.
POSTER
Our promotional image is ready, just waiting for some final approvals.
HALL OF FAME
Our Hall of Fame committee has opted to pass on inducting a new member in 2012.
FINAL AWARDS LIST FOR 2012 (8 awards to be given out in Montreal on September 15):
- Artist / Dessinateur
- Cartoonist / Créateur
- Writer / Écrivain
- Cover Artist / Dessinateur Couvertures
- Webcomics Creator / Créateur de Bandes Dessinées Web
- The Dragon Award (Comics for Kids) / Prix Dragon (Bandes Dessinées Jeunesse)
- Gene Day Award (Self-Publishers) / Prix Gene Day (Auto-éditeurs)
- Harry Kremer Award (Retailers) / Prix Harry Kremer (Détaillants)
We here at the CCBCAA are saddened to learn of the recent passing of writer Alvin Schwartz on October 28 from heart complications.
Schwartz, an American who moved to Canada after his contributions to comics is best known for writing Batman, Superman and other comic strips for DC Comics, and is credited as the creator of Bizarro. Schwartz has lived in Chesterville, ON for decades, working mostly with the National Film Board of Canada and writing reports for the Federal Government, as well as writing two final novels on metaphysics involving Superman and Batman.
Here’s his bio, as prepared for Alvin for his website, modified slightly for publication here with updated information.
Born in NYC in 1916, Alvin Schwartz wrote his first comics for Fairy Tale Parade in 1939, and wrote extensively for Shelley Mayer, then an editor at Max Gaines’ All-American Publications (later purchased by National/DC in 1944). He had also done a short stint at Fawcett on Captain Marvel. Schwartz wrote his first Batman story in 1942, and his first Batman newspaper strip in Aug 1944 (an assignment he continued on until 1958) and his first Superman newspaper strip in Oct 1944. He had a long association with Superman as the writer of both the Man of Steel’s newspaper strip and many of his comic book appearances, and one of his many enduring contributions to the Superman mythology was the creation of Bizarro, a character who became a part of popular culture, quite apart from comics. While writing most of DC’s newspaper strips between 1944 and 1952, he also went on to do stories for many of their comics magazines, working on characters such as Aquaman, Vigilante, Slam Bradley, Date With Judy, Buzzy, House of Mystery, Tomahawk, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Newsboy Legion and numerous others.
After his 1958 departure from comics, Schwartz took on a whole new role in the corporate world, using the knowledge of plotting gained in comics to open new directions in market research, developing the now well-known techniques of psycho-graphics, typological identification and others, until as Research Director for the famed think tank of Dr Ernst Dichter, The Institute for Motivational Research, he provided structural and marketing advice to some of America’s largest corporations ranging from General Motors to General Foods. He was subsequently appointed to an advisory committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
Schwartz also authored three novels for Arco Press, one of which, Sword of Desire, a detective story, won praise for its successful takeoff on Reichian orgone therapy, a popular psychotherapeutic technique during the 40s and 50s. His Beat generation novel, The Blowtop was published by Dial in 1948. Under the title Le Cinglé, it became a best seller in France. He also wrote and lectured on superheroes at various universities and received a prestigious Canada Council Grant for a study on the religious symbolism in popular culture, using Superman as a springboard.
Also in Canada, he wrote feature films and did numerous docu-dramas for The National Film Board for nearly 20 years and did a number of economic and social studies for the Canadian government.
His last two books, written in his eighties, were: An Unlikely Prophet: Revelations on the Path Without Form (published in 1997) — a memoir dealing with some very off-the-wall experiences generated by his years doing Superman which led him to a unique understanding of Superman’s significance as well as some life-enriching possibilities available to every one of us, and the sequel A Gathering of Selves: The Spiritual Journey of the Legendary Writer of Superman and Batman (published in 2006).
Schwartz received the first Bill Finger Award for his contributions to comics via writing in 2006. The Finger Award was created by the legendary creator Jerry Robinson to honour his friend Bill Finger (the uncredited co-creator of Batman) and is given to comic book writers as part of the Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards in July of each year.
I exchanged emails with Schwartz a few times in the mid-2000′s when I had invited him to attend a Toronto Comicon, and he seemed excited by the fact that fans still remembered his comics work, but at the time he was not able to travel for health reasons. He did make an appearance at an Ottawa comic show in November 2009 (pictured above).
Our condolences to Mr. Schwartz’s family and friends.
Just came across this great review of the fourth hardcover collection from Fantagraphics’s latest Prince Valiant collection by TCJ’s Matt Seneca.
The conventional wisdom surrounding Prince Valiant these days characterizes it as a fussily drawn, belabored relic of the past.
Of course, critical judgments of a comic stop mattering once you read it. A few pages into the fourth of Fantagraphics’ beautifully reprinted new editions of Hal Foster’s masterpiece and it’s difficult indeed to remember that this isn’t the greatest comic ever. Comparisons of Foster’s work to that of more recent luminaries like Chris Ware and Jaime Hernandez are apples to oranges; readers will more than likely prefer one to the other, but there’s no convincing way to prove one kind of comic is objectively better than the other. And the mastery Foster brings to bear on his every panel may have been equaled both before and since his prime, but it’s never been surpassed. As far as long-form serialized action comics go, the only equal to Foster American comics have produced is Kirby, and Kirby was never shy about proclaiming his debts to the master.
~Matt Seneca, from his review for The Comics Journal
There are some great comments after the review from illustrator William Stout and cartoonist Paul Chadwick.
Hal Foster (1892-1982) was inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame in the first year of these awards along with the artist after which these awards are named, Joe Shuster. When it comes to comic art illustration, Nova Scotian Hal Foster is undoubtedly Canada’s greatest and most influential export.
Earlier this month we asked for feedback on our categories as we determine which will make up the list for the 2012 Awards. Based on your feedback and our internal debates this is the list as it stands:
2012 Categories:
* Outstanding Artist/Artist Team (no change)
* Outstanding Cartoonist (no change)
* Outstanding Cover Artist (no change)
* Outstanding Webcomics Creator/Creative Team (no change)
Note: after a lot of discussion and debate, the team has decided that we will leave webcomics as a unique category again. A line of distinction is being drawn between digital comics (online versions of concurrent with print edition comics or online previews of digital comics) which will not be eligible for the category. This remains for comics content created exclusively for the internet (later print editions are irrelevant and are considered reprints in the print categories), and one of the nominating and judging criteria will be usage of the online delivery system itself in the storytelling and presentation of these comics.
* Outstanding Writer (no change)
* Comics for Kids Award – Beginner Reader Level
* Comics for Kids Award – Intermediate Reader Level
Note: if there are enough books of each criteria to justify having two categories, the Comics for Kids Award will be split into two categories — Beginner, for younger readers, and Intermediate, for older children. For example, Binky the Space Cat might be considered a Beginner book, while Three Thieves: Tower of Treasure might be considered an intermediate level entry. The hope is to provide more information and recommendations to parents, teachers, librarians and of, course, young readers!
* Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing (no change)
* Harry Kremer Award for Comic Book Retailing (no change)
* Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame (1-2) (no change)
There is one additional category currently being reviewed by our group and is at the proposal stage.
* TENTATIVE: Outstanding Original Graphic Novel by Canadian Creator / Creative Team
The members feel that it should be specifically for original (i.e. new) graphic novels published in French or English during the previous calendar year. Unfortunately new collections of serialized comics that are later collected that same year are not going to be eligible for this award (if it happens). We are still VERY concerned about this being duplication of efforts as many of these books may be recognized in the Cartoonist, Writer and Artist categories. As it stands, we would like to follow the lead of Comics for Kids and have a similar nomination and judging process for this potential new category.
Unfortunately we’ll be placing two categories “on hiatus” for 2012: Outstanding Publisher and Outstanding Colourist.
I’m happy to report on behalf of the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Organization that we have agreed in principle with the organizers of the Montreal Comic Con and will be presenting the 8th Annual Joe Shuster Awards in conjunction with that event on the evening of Saturday, September 15, 2012.
In preparation for the ceremony, the CCBCAA will be working with members of the comics community to provide a fully bilingual awards ceremony, and we are all excited at the possibilities of providing better translation services on this site in order to help spread the word on comics and graphic novels by Canadians in both official languages.
The Montreal Comic Con will be held on the weekend of September 14-16, 2012. Due to unexpected demand, the MCC will be expanding to a full three days in 2012.
The MCC will also be changing facilities in 2012. It will no longer be held at Place Bonaventure but will be moving into the newer, larger and more colourful (!) convention facilities at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal, QC (pictured, right).
http://www.montrealcomiccon.com
This marks the second time that the Joe Shuster Awards will be presented outside of Toronto. Earlier this year we presented the 7th Annual Awards at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. Plans are for the JSAs to be presented in conjunction with a different comic book convention in Canada each year.
Set to debut in November 2011 from Montreal-based publisher La Pastèque is the seventh Paul graphic novel by Michel Rabagliati Paul au Parc. In this volume we go back to Paul’s childhood and his days scouting and mentoring, during the time of the FLQ and the October Crisis.
Paul au parc par Michel Rabagliati
ISBN 978-2-923841-05-2
144 pages, 7.5×10 inches, black and white
$24.95
For a preview of six pages from the book, please visit here!
Also, in Montreal this November to coincide with the release, a special exhibit entitled EXPO PAUL opens – it’s a look at the world of Paul and his creator, and includes original art, reference materials, notes & photos. It will be held in two locations:
* Bibliothèque Parc-Extension – November 2-28, 2011 – 421, Rue Saint-Roch, Montréal, 514-872-6071
* Maison de la culture Mercier – December 4-January 17, 2012 – 8105 rue Hochelaga, Montréal, 514-872-8755
In May 2012, just in time for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Conundrum Press will be releasing THE SONG OF ROLAND, the English translation of Michel Rabagliati’s acclaimed graphic novel Paul à Québec (published by La Pastèque), for which he was honoured as the Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist / Créateur Canadien Exceptionnel de Bandes Dessinées in 2010. It is the sixth book in the Paul series
Here’s the specifics:
The Song of Roland by Michel Rabagliati
May 2012
ISBN 978-1-894994-61-3
192 pages, 7.5×10 inches, black and white
$20
BDANG Imprint
Translation by Helge Dascher
The Song of Roland focuses on the life and death of the father-in-law of Rabagliati’s alter-ego Paul, who has been called “The Tintin of Quebec” By Le Devoir. The French edition, Paul à Québec, was critically hailed, winning the FNAC Audience Award at France’s Angouleme festival, a Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Cartoonist, and was nominated for the City of Montreal’s Grand Prize, and the Audience Award at Montreal’s Salon du Livre. The book is currently in production by Caramel Films. In his classic European cartooning style Rabagliati effortlessly tackles big subjects. As the family stands vigil over Roland in his hospital bed, Rabagliati weaves a story of one man’s journey through life and the legacy he leaves behind. The Song of Roland is a mid-career masterpiece from one of Quebec’s finest draftsmen.
“A formidable ode to life that reminds us of the importance of knowing how to say goodbye” – La Presse
“A novel that goes straight to the heart” – Le Soleil
“His stories are personally revealing but gentle, full of kind people with common problems… Rabagliati employs a light, curvy drawing style and episodic plotting that overtly recalls Herge’s Tintin adventures.” — The Onion
Michel Rabagliati was born in 1961 in Montreal, where he grew up in the Rosemont neighbourhood. Having developed an interest in typography, he studied graphic design and in 1988 moved into freelance illustration. Since 1998, his graphic novels have revolutionized the comic-book art form in Quebec. With his six books, Michel Rabagliati has become an essential figure in the comics scene of Quebec. In April 2005, he was awarded the Grand Prix de la ville de Québec, care of the Festival de BD de Québec, and was selected as a Personality of the Week by the daily newspaper La Presse. In 2007, Rabagliati’s body of work to date earned a Special Mention from the Prix des libraires du Québec.
Bibliography (includes translated editions).
Here at the JSAs we’re fairly open to making changes to the existing award categories if a solid argument can be made for the alteration, or for adding new or retiring old categories. In recent years new awards have included The Comics for Kids Award, The Gene Day Award, as well as the Outstanding Cover Artist and Outstanding Colourist Awards. Retired Awards include Outstanding Achievement, Favourite French and Favourite English creator.
As we are beginning our work in compiling the eligible comics for the 2012 Awards, the discussion has begun on the subject of Award categories. I’ve nothing to announce at present, other than over the next couple of weeks we will be hopefully deciding which of our current categories will continue on into the next Awards season and which ones will be put “On Hiatus”.
2011 Categories included:
Outstanding Artist/Artist Team
Outstanding Cartoonist
Outstanding Colourist
Outstanding Cover Artist
Outstanding Publisher
Outstanding Webcomics Creator/Creative Team
Outstanding Writer
Comics for Kids Award for Material Aimed at Younger Readers
Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing
Harry Kremer Award for Comic Book Retailing
Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame
The Webcomics Award is something that is being discussed – should webcomics (one of the most popular and well regarded awards) be retired and incorporated into the other categories (which have been exclusively for printed, distributed works)? It’s something we are debating internally so we’d love to read your thoughts on the subject.
Generally we are looking to maintain the same number of awards in 2012 — 12.
If you have any suggestions, thoughts or recommendations, please reply to this post or email me at kevin@joeshusterawards.com
Local comic creators ‘reboot’ DC’s famous heroes – thestar.com.
The 52 Reboot is still drawing press, this time the Toronto Star is profiling three local talents, Francis Manapul, Jeff Lemire, and Ken Lashley! Congrats on the article, gentlemen!
Tomorrow at comics shops across North America and the UK DC Comics will be releasing ACTION COMICS #1 (Vol.2) starring a familiar, but not so familiar, character that they are calling Superman.
Action Comics will detail his early years leading up to his current “five years later” incarnation that will appear in the similarly restarted Superman #1.
Action Comics is written by Scotsman Grant Morrison, with art by American artist Rags Morales. Based on early previews, it seems that this Superman has a lot more in common with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s original crusader for social justice that appeared in the pages of Action Comics in 1938. He’s also significantly depowered and is only able to leap tall buildings with a single bound and can be hurt by exploding shells.
This marks the second time the character has been completely overhauled for a new generation – the first time being in the pages of the 1986 6 issue weekly mini-series MAN OF STEEL by former Canadian writer/artist JOHN BYRNE. One of the changes Byrne made – keeping Ma and Pa Kent alive, is undone by Morrison for the DCnU and both will be deceased at the time that Superman debuts.
The new Superman is visually similar to his previous incarnations, although in this timeline he debuts wearing jeans, a t-shirt and his Kryptonian blanket sewn into his shirt as a makeshift cape. As in the early days of comics, Superman will once again be the first superhuman in the DC Universe. In the pages of Superman and Justice League he will be wearing some kind of armour, similar to the traditional costume but lacking the signature red trunks that were a design hallmark of the 1930′s circus strongmen and trapeze artists that inspired the original Superman.
Good or Bad? Necessary or Unnecessary? Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman receives a facelift in ACTION COMICS VOL.2 #1, out September 7th in print and also available online in a day and date digital edition. DC have already announced that the first printing is sold out on the distributor level (not at stores), with over 100,000 copies sold this marks a significant sales improvement over previous monthly issue sales of Action Comics, and only time will tell as to whether this is a short term blip or a permanent change.
Announced this weekend, appropriately enough at Fan Expo Canada — Marvel Comics has decided to turn the 8-issue Alpha Flight mini-series into an ongoing series with the same creative team of Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente and Canada’s own DALE EAGLESHAM.
According to related news, Canadian superteam Alpha Flight will find out they are part of a commonwealth of superheroes…. this is not unlike the fact that most Canadians don’t really remember the fact that Canada itself is still a member of the Commonwealth of Nations (formerly known as the British Commonwealth) that includes the UK, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa and 48 other countries around the world.
Last year on my way down to San Diego, I had the pleasure of sitting beside Renegade Arts Entertainment founder- director, writer and editor Alexander Finbow.
Finbow, along with actor Doug Bradley (Hellraiser) and writer Alan Grant formed the publishing house in the UK, but the central offices are based out of Canmore, Alberta. http://www.renegadeartsentertainment.com
It was great to reconnect with Alex at the Calgary Expo and see and learn about the projects that they have been working on, and there are two that I think are of particular interest and connect with the Canadian creative scene that we are here to promote:
SHAME – CONCEPTION (1 of 3)
I can’t believe that this series is not getting more attention. Written by Canadian comics legend LOVERN KINDZIERSKI, with fully painted art by the astounding JOHN BOLTON and lettered by the esteemed TODD KLEIN.
Shame is a Dark Fantasy Graphic Novel, Suggested for Mature Readers. The concept: When the purest woman on earth allows herself one selfish wish, it is enough to conceive the most evil woman the world has ever known. Shame: Conception introduces a world much like our own but with magick and those with the power to control it, for good and for evil. In the first tale we meet Shame, discover the unique circumstances of her creation, and follow her choices as her true nature is revealed. It is difficult to say more without giving away too much of the story, and it is a story of such scope and imagination that it would be seriously remiss of us to lessen your reading experience with spoiler now.
To reserve a copy at your comic book store give them this code:
MAY111180
The first issue just went to print and debuted at the Calgary Expo but the series was made available for order through Diamond MAY111180 / ISBN: 978-1-908217-01-1 and should be shipping to stores who ordered it on JULY 13 (next week).
THE LOXLEYS AND THE WAR OF 1812
Writer Alan Grant’s epic adventure of a family caught up in the conflict that helped to define both Canada and America into the nations they would become. With the Bicentenary fast approaching Renegade will be publishing several books to commemorate the events.
The 102 page comic book is being drawn by Claude St. Aubin, coloured by Lovern Kindzerski and lettered by Todd Klein. It will also feature a 30 page summary of the war written by well known Canadian historical author Mark Zuehlke.
The Loxley’s left America after the American war of Independence to start a new life in the Niagara region of Canada, only to find themselves thrust back into the madness of war when America declared war against Britain and the Canadas.
Adapted from Aurora Loxley’s journals, the story follows the family members involvement in the war and their challenges at home dealing with the chaos and violence of the time.
The project will be accompanied by a number of interesting initiatives that we were given some information on but will share with you here on the blog when more information is made available. The project will premiere later this year and the preview art we were shown in Calgary looks fantastic!
The recent Marvel mini-event “Chaos War” has come to a conclusion and it seems that it was a good one for Alpha Flight “Classic” fans. The Chaos War: Alpha Flight one shot revived Canadian superheroes GUARDIAN, VINDICATOR, SHAMAN and MARRINA. They returned to join NORTHSTAR, AURORA, SASQUATCH & SNOWBIRD.
Unfortunately, at the end of the Chaos War #5 all of the formerly deceased heroes that showed up went back to their eternal reward with some exceptions: Greek demi-god and Avenger Hercules and the aforementioned Alpha Flight members.
Is it just me or is Sasquatch in need of some manscaping in this panel? From Chaos War #5
This sets the stage for an Alpha Flight revival using the classic characters created by John Byrne in the pages of the Uncanny X-Men and their own long-running series (also by Byrne, at least until issue #28).
My sources tell me that some AF news from Marvel is imminent, and rumour has it that a high profile Canadian artist is involved.
Meanwhile, diminutive hero and still dead AF member Puck is appearing in Wolverine in the “Wolverine goes to Hell” storyline.
The limited edition Alpha Flight variant cover for Avengers #4 asked a valid question that seems to have been answered with the return of most of these characters. What's next?
