Category Archives: Fundraising

Canadian Comic Anthology TRUE PATRIOT needs your help!

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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.

Making a Graphic Novel? Get a Grant!

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Are you crafting your masterpiece? Have you made yours already, and are looking for some money to get you through your next? You should probably apply for a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. Here’s the program description from the site:

The Grants for Professional Writers program covers subsistence, project and travel expenses. The Creative Writing Grants component gives Canadian authors (emerging, mid-career and established) time to write new literary works, including novels, short stories, poetry, children’s and young adults’ literature, graphic novels, exploratory writing and literary non-fiction.

Exploratory writing is writing that uses technology to present literature in an innovative manner and (or) explores forms of literature outside the conventions of the novel, short story or poem.

Can’t hurt to apply! Grants range from $3,000 to $25,000. Deadline is coming up on October 1, so get your pens a-wagglin’. Head to the Canada Council for the Arts website for more info.

Happenings: TONIGHT TCW Industry Night – Jim Henson’s A Tale of Sand release party with Ramon Perez – January 18th (UPDATED)

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A limited quantity of the book will be available for sale at tonight’s event, courtesy of Archaia Press.

Industry Night with Ramon Perez: A TALE OF SAND launch party!

Industry Night returns in 2012 with Ramon Perez and his hotly anticipated adaption of Jim Henson’s unfinished screenplay, A Tale of Sand. The TCW gallery will feature a vast selection of pages from the graphic novel juxtaposed with pages from Henson’s actual script. All of Ramon’s gorgeous A Tale of Sand artwork will be available for sale exclusively through this event and we invite you to drop by, pick up a copy of the book and say hello to Ramon!

 Date: Wednesday, January 18

 Time: 7 – 11 pm

 Location: 587A College Street, Toronto (2nd Floor)

 Admission: suggested donation of $4

Note: the proceeds from the admission will go towards covering event costs, with the remainder going towards the Joe Shuster Awards 2012 budget.

Happy Holidays

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Two more days before Christmas, have you finished all of your Christmas shopping yet? I haven’t! I started wrapping some things this morning, so hopefully I’ll finish up all of the many little pre-Christmas errands tonight after work or early tomorrow morning before I start driving all around the GTA to various family events.

* I’d like to thank everyone that participated in the End of the Year Survey on Canadian Comics, we may still have some more, but there won’t be much more posted to the site until Tuesday next week. I think a lot of great points have been made, and it was great to catch up with some folks before we launch into 2012.

* We’ve got one more week of new books shipping next Wednesday before we close off the entries for eligible comics and graphic novels for the year and officially commence the nomination process for the awards.

* There are two days left in Darwyn Cooke’s Day 8 and 8.5 of his 12 Days of Christmas Auctions, he’s got some great Superman artwork and signed books available in each of the two auctions and the money will help us run the awards for 2012. He’s got many other great items available in the other auctions, and they are all for a great cause – the Hero Initiative.

* Next week the Boxing Day/Week sales commence, so why not check out your local comic book shop and see what they have on sale? Boxing Day and Week sales are big money makers for local comic book shops, and any sales they make may help make their holiday season a successful one. It’s been a tough year for independent retailers of all kinds, so let’s end the year on a positive note!

The Adventures of Tintin and his Taun Taun by Benjamin Rivers. My win from the "Toronto Draws Tintin" event. I'll definitely be checking out the Tintin movie over the break, anyone else?

Darwyn Cooke’s 12 Days of Christmas help the 2012 Joe Shuster Awards

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I was really surprised and honoured to see that Darwyn devoted yesterday’s Day 8 of his 12 days of Christmas auctions to assist us with our fund-raising goals for 2012.The funds from the other amazing auctions he’s prepared go to benefit the Hero Initiative, a great charity that assists veteran comics creators in need of financial assistance but these two Superman-centric auctions go towards helping us meet our fundraising goals for 2012. They include:

Darwyn Cooke's 12 Days of Christmas Day 8

DAY 8 Auction Link

1. Art by Darwyn Cooke 19 x 13, ink on Bristol.
This is a recreation of the most famous Shuster homage- the Neal Adams cover to Superman #233. This piece is blueline printed, roughly blue penciled and inked by Darwyn.

2. Art by Darwyn Cooke, 8/.5 x 11 blue pencil, pencil and ink on heavy bond paper
This is a design drawing of Superman from the Justice League: New Frontier animated movie

3. A copy of Superman: Kryptonite written by Darwyn Cooke and drawn by Tim Sale, signed by Darwyn.

Darwyn Cooke's 12 Days of Christmas Day 8.5

DAY 8.5 Auction Link

1. Full Color Superman portrait in the classic Shuster pose, drawn and painted by Darwyn Cooke, 16 x 12 on watercolour paper

2. Art by Darwyn Cooke, 8/.5 x 11 blue pencil, pencil and ink on bond paper
This is a design drawing of Superman from the Justice League: New Frontier animated movie

3. A copy DC:The New Frontier Volume 1 and Volume 2, signed by Darwyn

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We can’t thank Darwyn enough for his generosity in doing this, and huge thanks to the two lucky winners who win these amazing auctions!

Darwyn Cooke news

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Earlier in the month, Strange Adventures in Halifax held a special release party for Parker: The Martini Edition, even creating a unique Parker commemorative martini glass. Photos now online!

Darwyn has started his annual 12 Days of Christmas auctions to benefit the Hero Initiative. Some amazing pieces and packages were sold last year, so expect the same this year, and it’s all for a very worthy cause! DAY ONE, DAY TWO.

PS I received Darwyn’s response to the wrap survey today, so I’ll be formatting it and posting it here on Thursday.

2012 Joe Shuster Awards – Saturday, September 15, 2012 in Montreal, QC

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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.

Industry Night with Andy B. and J. Bone wrap-up report

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Last night, at the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop at 587A College Street, the TCW, Guerilla Printing, All New Comics and the Joe Shuster Awards held a launch party and art show event for two Toronto-based creators: Andy Belanger (for Kill Shakespeare 12 – which unfortunately has been delayed to an August 23rd release date) and J. Bone for DC Retro-Active: Wonder Woman – The 70′s #1.

Andy B's artThe night started out, interestingly enough, by our group passing renowned cartoonist Seth and his wife on College Street on our way into the school/gallery space. Seth didn’t attend the event, but it was a surprise to see him and it seemed an interesting start to what ended up being a great night for comics in Toronto.

The TCW’s Eden Bachelder and Kellam Templeton-Smith had already framed and hung the 53 pieces submitted by Andy and J. for display, with the entire issue of J.’s Wonder Woman issue on the East wall, and an assortment of pieces from Kill Shakespeare and other work by Andy along the West wall. Attendees were greeted by the absolutely stunning (and massive!) original art by Andy for the cover of Kill Shakespeare #12 as they came in.

Between 7 and 11 the place was packed with fans, art lovers, a few retailers and a number of comics professionals — a true industry night!

J. Bone (centre)

J. had even prepared some new limited prints for the evening featuring Wonder Woman, one of which was a redo of the cover for DC Retroactive Wonder Woman #, but done in J’s on style instead of the Mike Sekowski homage style he was asked to apply to the published comic. The other print – Wonder Woman soaring with an eagle was another stunner. I would personally LOVE to see more Wonder Woman comics done by J. Bone in this style. Who’s with me on this? Maybe we can put some pressure on DC’s Eddie Berganza, Bob Harras and Dan Didio when we see them here in a couple of weeks for Fan Expo Canada! Here’s a closer look at that cover recreation – great job on the colouring as well J.!:

Andy Belanger (right) and a friend

Over at Andy’s table he had a selection of issues of Kill Shakespeare and other comics he had worked on, including the first trade paperback collection. He also had a couple of great prints for sale, one a silk screen print featuring the art from that Kill Shakespeare 12 cover, as well as one of an amazing collaboration he did with another talented Toronto-based artist – Michael Cho.

I saw the piece originally on display in Calgary, and surprisingly it did not sell there. I am happy to report that it has found a home — my apartment. Here’s a closer look at that piece:

It was quite the crowd and I was really impressed with the installation and the overall atmosphere was very laid back and a lot of fun. The free beer certainly helped! Event sponsor Guerilla Printing also had a table, run by Darwin Santos and Tyrone McCarthy:We are happy to report that we had over 100 visitors and we raised 340 dollars in admission fees for the 2012 Joe Shuster Awards budget. People were very generous!

Some crowd shots:See you in late September at our next Industry Night event – The launch party for THE FLASH #1 by Francis Manapul!

From left to right: Peter Fisico (All New Comics), Francis Manapul, Marcus To and Jason Truong

Big thanks to everyone at the TCW – particularly Sean Menard, Regina Menard, Eden Bachelder and Kellam Templeton-Smith!

Big thanks to Peter Fisico for being our financial sponsor!

Big thanks Darwin Santos and Tyrone McCarthy and their staff at Guerilla Printing!

Big thanks to everyone at the JSA who came down and pitched in – Allison Covey, Andrew Walsh and Tyrone Biljan. Special thanks to Debra Jane Shelly for assisting!

And finally HUGE thanks to the stars of the night: J. BONE and ANDY BELANGER!

Happenings: Sketches for Pledges 2011 – June 2 in Toronto

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For Immediate Release:

In it’s second year, Sketches for Pledges will feature a group of talented artists aiming to raise funds and awareness by sketching original artworks for SickKids hospital on behalf of Royal Bank of Canada.

Attending artists:

  • Marcus To                  DC Comics
  • Vince Sunico             Spent Pencils
  • Arnold Trinidad         Spent Pencils
  • Paul Limgenco          Spent Pencils
  • Khan Nguyen             Spent Pencils
  • Gerard de la Costa    Spent Pencils
  • Shane Kirshenblatt    Freefall Entertainment
  • Marvin Sianipar         Powie Studios
  • Patricia Revita
  • Mark Feltham (SickKid survivor)
  • Jason Roussel
  • Shane Heron

Where: 320 Front St W (Across from Rogers Centre)
When: June 02, 2011
Time: 9am to 4pm

Come by and take a chance of winning artworks from some of the guest artists as well as a special edition Street Fighter Chun Li bust (courtesy of David Hennig of gr8collectables) and a couple of RBC Arbie Plush dolls (courtesy of Martin Teasdale of RBC)

For more info contact:
Arnold Trinidad – arnold.trinidad@rbc.com or follow us on Sketches for Pledges Facebook page.

13 Canadian comics creators join international effort for primates

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13 Canadian creators have contributed to Panels for Primates, an online charity anthology that ends its run on June 1st.

SO, WHAT THE HECK IS PANELS FOR PRIMATES?

Panels for Primates is an ongoing, online charity anthology of primate comics that has been updating every Wednesday with new material at ACT-I-VATE (http://act-i-vate.com) since October of last year, all to benefit the Primate Rescue Center in Nicholasville, KY.  Like the other content on the ACT-I-VATE webcomics site, the ever-growing Panels for Primates archive can be viewed absolutely free.  The big difference is that Panels for Primates readers are encouraged to swing over to http://www.primaterescue.org/ and make a donation.  Panels for Primates will finish its online run on June 1st, but a story by the final Canadian creator got posted this week.

HOW INTERNATIONAL IS IT?

The project features work by creators from Canada, the U.S., Israel, Britain, Mexico, Germany, and Indonesia.

THE CANADIAN CREATORS AND LINKS TO THEIR STORIES

Kari-Lynn Winters (St. Catharines) and Scot Ritchie (Lower Mainland)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-6.comic

Gareth Gaudin (Victoria)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-9.comic

Troy Wilson (Victoria)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-11.comic

Colin Upton (Lower Mainland)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-15.comic

Jonathon Dalton (Lower Mainland)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-17.comic

Clayton Hanmer (Toronto)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-23.comic

Faith Erin Hicks (Halifax)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-26.comic

Simon Roy (Victoria)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-28.comic

Mark Shainblum (Montreal), Toren Atkinson (Lower Mainland), and Jeff LeBlanc (Montreal)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-31.comic

Caleb Hystad (Victoria)

http://act-i-vate.com/114-32-1.comic

ARTISTS HELP JAPAN: TORONTO RAISES $20,000

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For Immediate Release:

ARTISTS HELP JAPAN: TORONTO RAISES $20,000
Toronto comic artists and DJs band together for Japanese Quake & Tsunami Relief

Artists Help Japan: Toronto is proud to announce that their 12 hour live art/DJ event on April 17th was an extraordinary success, raising $20,000 towards Tsunami and Quake relief in Japan.

Spearheaded by a consortium of Toronto illustration studios, the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event was the local iteration of a charity movement begun by Dice Tsutsumi at Pixar. The Toronto edition featured live art and DJ music, a silent auction and dozens of artists selling commissioned drawings, which raised about $18,000 over the 12 hour event. Event organizers UDON Entertainment have stepped in with an additional $2000 donation to help bring the final total to $20,000, with all proceeds being donated to the Canadian Red Cross.

The organizers of the event would like to thank all of the talented artists, illustrators, and DJs who donated their time and expertise, and the hundreds of Torontonians that came out in support of this event. The organizers will continue their various fund raising efforts over the weeks and months to come, including a series of special auctions featuring artworks donated by artists at the fundraiser! Look for details on these auctions in the next week.

Some words of thanks from the organizers:

Erik Ko, founder of UDON Entertainment: “I have a lot of friends and colleagues in Japan who were affected by this unfortunate event. I felt a real need to try and lend a helping hand to the people there and I really appreciate so many people supporting us! Thank you so much!”

Bobby Chiu, head of Imaginism studio: “People were incredibly generous with their money that day. It was truly touching to see a city come together to support the people of Japan.”

Alvin Lee, comic artist on Street Fighter and Birds of Prey: “It was awe inspiring to see the outpour of support and compassion from Toronto’s Art and Music scene. To give back to a country that has influenced so many of today’s artists, including myself – I felt like it was the least I could do.”

Krystle Tabujara, Library Services Coordinator for The Beguiling: “Having recently travelled to the Pacific Rim with my partner, I felt an obligation to be a part of such a great cause. It was an honour to be working alongside some of Toronto’s most talented artists.”

Jim Zubkavich, writer/creator of Skullkickers from Image Comics: “All of us involved with this event feel a deep connection to Japan and we’re ecstatic that so many people came out to show their support. To the artists, musicians and donators – Thank you everyone!”

Christopher Butcher, manager of The Beguiling and Director of the Toronto Comics Art Festival: “Japan has been an inspiring, near-mythical presence in my life since I was very young, and their culture and traditions have had a huge influence on my writing and career. Coming together with so many like-minded people to give something back has been similarly inspiring, and I’m humbled by the generosity of our volunteers, artists, DJs, and the hundreds of attendees who came to the event. Thanks everyone and please, if at all possible, don’t stop giving.”

The organizers would also like to thank the many volunteers and supporters who helped make the event a success, including: all of the wonderful artists and publishers who donated art and other items for our silent auction; Jeff at Imaginism; Michael, Akiko, Magda, Marc, Andrew, and Shane who helped out on the day-of; Peter Birkemoe and The Beguiling; Joe Saturnino and the entire staff of Revival.

ABOUT:

Artists Help Japan is a charity movement initiated by Dice Tsutsumi, an art director at Pixar Animation Studios, who was also behind 2008 Totoro Forest Project to help preserve Sayama Forest in Japan and Sketchtravel Project, to gather the force of communities of artists and creative minds around the world. We believe artists have special roles to contribute to the society. http://artistshelpjapan.blogspot.com/

Artists Help Japan: Toronto was spearheaded by Imaginism Studios President and illustrator Bobby Chiu, who was contacted by Dice Tsutsumi to run the Toronto event. Working with Illustrator Alvin Lee, UDON Entertainment CEO Erik Ko, writer/artist Jim Zubkavich, and Christopher Butcher of Toronto comic book store The Beguiling and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, the team brought together Toronto’s diverse and exciting artistic community to engage the public in an unprecedented fund raising endeavour.

Participating artists at Artists Help Japan: Toronto included: Agnes Garbowska, Alex Milne, Alvin Lee, Bobby Chiu, Brian McLachlan, Chip Zdarsky, Dale Keown, Eric Kim, Eric Vedder, Francis Manapul, Jason Bradshaw, Jeff Lemire, Jim Zub, Joe Ng, Julie Faulkner, Kagan Mcleod, Kalman Andrasofszky, Kei Acedera, Ken Lashley, Marcio Takara, Marcus To, Michael Cho, Ramon Perez, Ray Fawkes, Scott Hepburn, Stuart Immonen, Svetlana Chmakova, and a number of other local artists who showed up on the day of the event to offer their support and assistance!

Participating DJs at Artists Help Japan: Toronto included: Riviera [Perfecto,Myth, Kinetika NYC], Felix & Gani [Milk. Audio], Lazy Ray [Nighttrackin'], Gerrence [Nighttrakkin'], Alvaro G [Kings Of Late Night], Roland Gonzales [Studio+], Carlovega [Studio+], Jason Ulrich [Lab.Our Union],Shingo [Hot Sauce], Uncle Matty & Dutty Maus [The Beacs], and Illscience.

All proceeds from Artists Help Japan: Toronto will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, specifically earmarked to aid in Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief. http://www.redcross.ca/

SPONSORS:

Revival Bar has been entertaining guests, visitors and fans as a premium event space since 2002. Revival generously donated the use of their main space for the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event, and donated $1 from the cost of every drink towards fund raising efforts. http://www.revivalbar.com/

The Beguiling Books and Art is Canada’s premiere source for comics, comix, and high-art funnybooks. Visit us online at http://beguiling.com/.

All photos by Paul Hillier


Artists Help Japan: Toronto report

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Yesterday at the Revival Bar in Toronto, ON – a group of concerned individuals within the city’s comic book, animation and illustration communities organized the Artists Help Japan fundraiser at which a number of creators gathered to produce sketches and run an original art auction to benefit the victims of the devastating earthquakes and tsunamis which rocked Japan last month. All proceeds from the event went to the Canadian Red Cross.

From left to right (seated, against the wall): Jim Zubkavich, Alvin Lee, Ramon Perez and Stuart Immonen

It was really a who’s who of the Toronto comics scene, with people like Stuart Immonen, Dale Keown, Francis Manapul, Agnes Garbowska, Marcus To, Michael Cho, Ramon Perez, Jim Zubkavich, Alvin Lee, Kagan McLeod, Bobby Chiu, Steve Murray aka Chip Zdarksky, Kei Acedara, Kalman Andrasofszky, Ken Lashley, Scott Hepburn, Marcio Takara and dozens of other artists there donating their time and energy to creating some incredible pieces for the fans that came down to the event.

The view from the stage looking towards the door, Erik Ko enters on the left

I made it back from my trip down to Pittsburgh around 5pm and since Deb was already down at the event I thought I might head down and check it out. I arrived around 6:30 to find Revival packed with people and spent the next five hours having a great time enjoying chatting with folks in this relaxed and cool atmosphere. Quite a few familiar faces haunted the lines: Jason and Danny Truong, Jamie Lee, Joshua Cheung, Edward Gulane, Ryan Aleong, Myles McInnis, Andrew Uys, Matthew Allen and many, many more.

Francis Manapul at work


I’ll publish the official fundraising report when the final numbers are tallied, but based on what I saw, a TON of money was raised at this event, especially at the charity auction where pieces ranged from the $50 mark to some stunning paintings and prints getting $500-1000 each, including a beautiful one of a kind canvas print of the digital illustration by Kei Acedara that served as the poster and print for the event itself.

Marcus To and Agnes Garbowska

I had my eye on an amazing Michael Cho painting of the backstreets of Toronto (I hear the paintings are going to be collected and published by D+Q), but was outbid by the one and only Francis Manapul. So I went and spent the money I would have spent on that piece getting a stunning painting from Francis himself of Power Girl! (Alas, I don’t have a pic to show at the time this report is being written)

Matt Allen got this Joker painting from Francis Manapul

Congratulations to organizers Bobby Chiu, Jim Zubkavich, Alvin Lee, Chris Butcher, Erik Ko and all of the additional folks that helped make this a stunning success!

Deb got this interesting piece of Mecha-Garfield-zilla fighting Chip Zdarsky as a Robo-Cat warrior

Happenings: Sketches for Pledges (Toronto) on July 6th

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Flash artist Francis Manapul will be taking part in Sketches for Pledges on July 6th in Toronto

A group of artists are getting together to draw sketches to help raise funds for Sick Kids Hospital, on behalf of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

Artists that will be appearing are: Agnes Garbowska (Girl Comics#1 -Marvel Comics), Francis Manapul (The Flash -DC Comics), Daniel Wong ( McHozer Studios), and from Spent Pencil Studios: Briana Chan, Vince Sunico, Paul Limgenco, Gerard De La Costa, Khanh Nguyen and Arnold Trinidad. And last but not least, Marvin Law (Conquer Entertainment) will be there!

Two more artists just added to the line up: “Gogz” and “Marv”, both from Powie Studios.

So come on out, and help support a great cause and get a great sketch in the process.

TUESDAY, JULY 6th – 9AM – 4PM

320 Front Street West, Toronto, ON – in the Lobby (directly across from the Rogers Centre)

Sketches for Pledges is being organized by Arnold Trinidad (Spent Pencil Studios).

Joe Shuster Award Wolverine auctions end TONIGHT

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THIS IS THE 777th ARTICLE POSTED ON THIS SITE SINCE DEC 2008!

We’re down to the final hours before the closing of the last 10 original art pieces for this year’s Wolverine auctions, including pieces by DAVE SIM, TOM GRUMMETT, MICHAEL CHERKAS, TERRY MOORE and more! 10 are original art pieces.

There are some remaining original prints left to auction, as well as some Superman pieces from the 2008 fundraiser and a few Wolverine pieces listed earlier that haven’t as yet sold. Those will be listed/relisted tonight.

PLEASE NOTE: The 2009: YEAR OF THE WOLVERINE piece (aka “Logan and Rockets”) by Dave Sim has met the reserve price of $1000, so if you are interested, now is your last chance to place a bid! The winner gets to take home a small stack of preliminary art done by Dave Sim while laying out and planning this STUNNING piece.

Visions of an Icon: Wolverine by Tom Grummett

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TOM GRUMMETT, artist, has been a mainstay of the industry since the late 80s, and is best known for his work on such DC Comics titles as Superman (participating in the Death of Superman storyline of the early 1990′s), was the co-creator of the modern Superboy and worked on many other titles such as Robin, the Titans, the Teen Titans (with writer Geoff Johns), and the Power Company (with writer Kurt Busiek). He was also a co-founder of Gorilla Comics. At Marvel Comics Grummett’s action-packed pencils have been seen on titles such as Avengers/Thunderbolts, Generation X, Silver Surfer, X-Men Unlimited, assorted Spider-Man books, the New Thunderbolts, Baron Zemo and the Black Knight. More recently Tom has been working on the title X-Men Forever with writer Chris Claremont.

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The piece shown above is one of over 50 original art pieces featuring Wolverine donated to the Joe Shuster Awards for the Visions of an Icon Art Show and Sale by Canadian artists. The pieces were exhibited twice in 2009 – at the Joe Shuster Awards Ceremony in September and at the Speakeasy Comic Art Show in November. The original art pieces will be auctioned off on eBay in April and May 2010 and are currently underway.

Expect this piece to be listed on May 11th!

Visions of an Icon: Wolverine print with sketch by Ken Steacy

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KEN STEACY is a Canadian Air Force brat who decided at age eleven to become a professional comic book artist and has gone on to become one of Canada’s leading comic artists with a career spanning over thirty years. He graduated at the Ontario College of Art in the mid-1970s where he studied Photo/Electric Arts and drove all of his profs crazy by turning in comic strips for assignments instead of the film or video requested. They finally figured out what he was up to and awarded him a pile of scholarships, including the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal. He pursued his intent to become a comic creator until the magic moment occurred in 1974 with the publication in ORB Magazine of Super Student, a two page strip that he wrote, penciled, inked, and lettered. This holistic approach has been a hallmark of his work ever since, true to his belief that specialization is for insects, not artists.

He has since contributed to numerous comic books and magazines, such as Epic Illustrated, Marvel Fanfare, Jonny Quest and Iron Man. Steacy also worked a lot for the Star Wars series, making comics, trading cards and children’s books and collaborated with comic writers such as Harlan Ellison on the graphic novels ‘Night and the Enemy’ and Dean Motter on ‘The Sacred and the Profane’ along with numerous collaborations with author Douglas Coupland. Ken Steacy was the writer/artist of the 1990 comic series ‘Tempus Fugitive’, published by DC comics. In the early 1990s, he worked on an interactive CD-ROM for children, called ‘The Awesome Adventures of Victor Vector and Yondo’, and made a comic series starring the same characters and later created ‘Brightwork’, a book celebrating classic car ornamentation. He also produced all of the display artwork for the Space Place gallery at Edmonton’s TELUS World of Science, designed the sets and promotional material for a production of West Side Story, and painted stacks of World of Warcraft, Marvel Masterpieces, and Indiana Jones gaming cards. He was the recipient of a 1990 Inkpot Award and currently runs Ken Steacy Publishing, an on-demand publishing house for comic creators.

With paintings in the permanent collection of the National War Museum in Ottawa and two recent exhibits at art galleries in BC Ken Steacy has had a distinguished and very prolific career in the graphic arts, creating innumerable illustrations and covers for comics and for many productions outside the comic field, and he continues to this day producing his unique and distinctive brand of artistic magic.

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The print shown above one of over 50 art pieces featuring Wolverine donated to the Joe Shuster Awards for the Visions of an Icon Art Show and Sale by Canadian artists. The pieces were exhibited twice in 2009 – at the Joe Shuster Awards Ceremony in September and at the Speakeasy Comic Art Show in November. The original art pieces will be auctioned off on eBay in April and May 2010 and are currently underway.

This piece is currently on eBay – auction closes May 11th!

Visions of an Icon: Wolverine by Danny Wong

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DANIEL WONG joined the McHozers Comics studio shortly after it’s inception in 2007, and has produced several works with the studio, including Celtic Shaman, Grim Origins and others. With 13+ years professional experience in engineering and software development, he also serves as the studio’s webmaster and principle designer.

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The piece shown above one of over 50 original art pieces featuring Wolverine donated to the Joe Shuster Awards for the Visions of an Icon Art Show and Sale by Canadian artists. The pieces were exhibited twice in 2009 – at the Joe Shuster Awards Ceremony in September and at the Speakeasy Comic Art Show in November. The original art pieces will be auctioned off on eBay in April and May 2010 and are currently underway.

Expect this piece to be listed on May 11th!

Visions of an Icon: Wolverine by Michael Cherkas

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MICHAEL CHERKAS is one of Canada’s leading comic artists and illustrators. He created the award-winning comic book series ‘The Silent Invasion’ together with writer Larry Hancock in 1985. The comic is a tale of paranoia and alien invasion in the 1950’s, and was reprinted as a graphic novel by NBM in New York in 1988. Cherkas continued to work with Hancock on ‘Suburban Nightmares’. With writer John Sabljic, he created ‘The New Frontier’, a thriller of 1960’s conspiracies.  Mike lives in Toronto with his wife, Elizabeth, and two children, Matthew and John.  When not drawing comics he works as an illustrator and senior designer for a local visual communications company and likes to tend to his tomato garden.  He is currently working on some new comic material with his longtime collaborator, Hancock, and is drawing and co-creating a graphic novel called Third Horseman based in Ukraine during Stalin’s imposed famine and attempted genocide of that nation.

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The piece shown above one of over 50 original art pieces featuring Wolverine donated to the Joe Shuster Awards for the Visions of an Icon Art Show and Sale by Canadian artists. The pieces were exhibited twice in 2009 – at the Joe Shuster Awards Ceremony in September and at the Speakeasy Comic Art Show in November. The original art pieces will be auctioned off on eBay in April and May 2010 and are currently underway.

Expect this piece to be listed on May 11th!