Category Archives: Op/Ed

Why do we have a Webcomics category?

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The Joe Shuster Awards, among the majority of the comics industry’s other awards, are primarily awards for print-based work. That is, comics that have been created specifically for sale in comic book stores and other retail outlets.

By honouring said work in such a fashion, awards (like these Joe Shuster Awards) hope to (in no specific order) — (a) help sell more copies of the books (and thus help our retailers and creators), (b) expose more people to great comics (and help schools and libraries in selecting books to carry/promote to their students), and (c) raise the awareness, and thus the profile, of creators doing great work. The full title of every award we give out except Webcomics is OUTSTANDING CANADIAN COMIC BOOK/GRAPHIC NOVEL (artist/writer/cartoonist/colourist/cover artist/publisher/retailer/self-publisher).

In 2006 we added a Webcomic Creator/Creative Team category. Why? Well, mainly in response to the fact that many people were creating great comics and putting them online. We felt that we should recognize these creators, even though the majority of them have more in common with newspaper gag strips and short form comics, formats we don’t recognize here at the Joe Shuster Awards in the core awards. There is a great diversity of comics being published on the internet and a lot more Canadians are doing them every year. Why not recognize that? Why not, indeed.

Our intention is not to be dismissive or patronizing, it’s unfortunate that people would promulgate that as the intention of any award attempting to honour the work of any creator. I see that it can be interpreted as isolating by some webcomics creators.

I don’t see that as a negative in the case of our webcomic creator/creative team award, I think it’s a positive.

When reviewing all of the potential webcomics we were looking for not just great writing or art, but OUTSTANDING creators who use the delivery system to great effect. I think our seven nominees are all outstanding creators of comics for the internet – most used the delivery system’s potential much more than just scanning a strip and posting it online. These are great comics created specifically for the internet and most succeed because the delivery system is not print.

If we were to dismiss the category or merge it, most people would be lost in the shuffle. If anything, a discussion takes place every year about expanding this category — perhaps dividing dailies from weeklies, ongoing strips from gag strips, etc. There aren’t enough Canadians doing it to justify separate writer/artist/cartoonist/colourist awards. So far we’ve been hesitant to expand by division, instead we concentrate on focusing on putting together a strong list for the one award.

Now perhaps we’ll see a day when there’s no need to cheer-lead comics printed on dead trees and there will be no need to recognize creators for using the delivery system to create outstanding comics… perhaps on that day digital delivery and online availability will eliminate the need to send people out to buy books to support the livelihoods of those that depend on the sales of books to continue creating, selling and publishing comics. However, we are not there yet.

As always, at the end of the award year (that would be between July and December this year), we are willing to discuss whether or not changes are required to the category for the following year.

2011 Nominees for Outstanding Canadian Webcomic Creator/Creative Team:

Retailer Roundup – February 2011

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Newfoundland

Missed it, but Timemasters turned 20 in January.

New Brunswick

The Comic Hunter, and their Kremer nomination, was featured by Here NB.

Strange Adventures manager Jason Arnold is interviewed about that Godzilla-cover-thing that’s been floating around. Plus a civilian university student dropped by the shop to have a look around. She might not “do the comic book thing”, but she likes cute cats.

Quebec

Interior art from Frankenstein Reassemble

L’Imaginaire hosted four artists for book launches: Djief, Eric Theriault and Richard Gagnon from Frankenstein Réassemblé, and François Lapierre with Chroniques sauvages.

L’Imaginaire released their Top Ten sellers in 2010
#1: Thorgal #32 (Le Lombard)
#2: Donjon de Naheulbeuk #6 (Claire de Lune)
#3: Blacksad #04 (Dargaud)
#4: Largo Winch #17 (Dupuis)
#5: Assassin’s Creed #1 (Les Deux Royaumes) *This is by Corbeyran & Defali, not Cameron Stewart & Karl Kershl
#6: Les mondes de Thorgal #1 (Le Lombard)
#7: Yoko Tsuno #25 (Dupuis)
#8: Blake et Mortimer #20 (Blake et Mortimer)
#9: Antares #03 (Dargaud)
#10: Lucky Luke #4 (Lucky Comics)

What I find most interesting about this list? No Quebec-based creators or publishers. Not sure why I expected a stronger Quebec-based list; I would expect a random shop in Edmonton to have their top sellers be heavily international weighted.

This is pretty cool: Exclusively for Renaud Bray-TV, Michel Rabagliati, the cartoonist darling of Quebec, talks about the creation of Paul and a talks about his next comic.

The 4th Wall will be having a gallery show this weekend featuring customers drawing on blank comic covers.

Jimmy Beaulieu visited Planète BD for the launch of his new book Comédie sentimentale pornographique, published by Delcourt in the collection Shampoo. François Lapierre also appeared to sign his new book Chroniques sauvages, with a Planète BD exclusive bookplate.

Ontario

Looks like there has been a bit of a shake-up in Eastern Ontario. Action Packed Comics was a 2 shop company based in Kingston and Belleville. It seems that Jay Goodsell, who I believe managed the Belleville location, has purchased this store and has changed the name to Goodsell Collectables.

The Dragon switched things up and did podcasts on some mainstream comics: Identity Crisis and the J. Michael Straczynski penned relaunch of Thor.

Big B Comics has changed their hours, now opening at 10am. Beyond that, Big B just wrapped up their ‘Free Comicbook for every A on your report card‘ deal. Every shop should feel free to steal this idea. I just ask that you give out age appropriate comics, that’s key.

L.A. Mood’s hosted the Kill Shakespeare crew for a Q&A plus signing. Click to see many photos! Plus, they received a crank call. Man, I remember Marc Emery being all the news 20 years ago.

I think Pulp Comics in Niagara Falls had some sort of sponsorship or involvement in a wrestling event.

Myths, Legends & Heroes have copies of FF 587, the death issue, for $15. I know that there are still people and shops that believe in ‘collectible comics’, but FF 588 just went on sale on Feb 23rd. Should FF 587 have been sold at cover price until the next issue cycle came out or should it be pulled and marked up based on demand? I ask the question, feel free to give your opinion in the comment section.

The Beguiling manager Chris Butcher gave a talk titled Censoring Manga for Fun and Profit. For the first time in a while the Beg had no instore events. TCAF keeps rolling on. A real shame they chose to have it the same weekend as Free Comic Book Day. Since this event pulls in creators from across Canada, I would expect this to impact creator appearances for Free Comic Book Day across the country. Most harshly impacted will be shops in smaller towns, the kind of place a festival-centric creator, and the only local creator, might live. As well as smaller shops in the city of Toronto, where the majority of the local/regional creators will be at the library. How could a store counter this and not allow the Beguiling/Drawn & Quarterly run TCAF to negatively impact the Free Comic Book Day events for their shop? Perhaps a big name shop could invite and fly in a larger name creator for a Saturday appearance? Draw customers, and casual comic fans, to the in-store event for this ‘name’ creator, putting the focus of FCBD on your store. Perhaps even use TCAF to your advantage and tell the creator that they get to check out TCAF that night/the next day. Like many comic book conventions, TCAF is well known for creators drinking and chilling together.

Early in the planning stages, it looks like Rogues Gallery is stepping up their community involvement: kids comic workshops and a graphic novel club. Have they been reading our Harry Kremer Retailer of the Year criteria?

Saskatchewan

TONIGHT – Feb 26th! Unreal City is hosting a live drawing art event featuring Riley Rossmo (Proof, Cowboy Ninja Viking), Gene Day Award nominee Elaine Will (for Look Straight Ahead) and Nathen Wahl (Zap Girl, Joe the Zombie). The concept is simple, yet the possibilities are endless: three comic artists from Saskatoon will be given a large blank paper. From there, it’s up to the artists to construct an original piece of art, while those in attendance will be able to catch an intimate look at the entire process.

Alberta

Happy Harbor hosted their in-store whisky tasting.

British Columbia

Lucky’s hosted a great event featuring Aaron Renier (Unsinkable Walter Bean), Jason Shiga (Meanwhile: Pick Any Path), Raina Telgemeier (Smile), Matt Holm (Babymouse) & Dave Roman (Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden)

Canada Reads wrap-up: Essex County wins the people’s choice. Final thoughts.

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Yesterday the Canada Reads jury decided on the best book in Canada over the last decade: The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis. Sadly, it wasn’t The Collected Essex County by Jeff Lemire, as it was the first of the top 5 voted off the list.

However, the folks at CBC decided to run an online poll that closed this morning, asking the public to vote for their favourite book — and the winner, by a majority vote of 53.15% — is The Collected Essex County by Jeff Lemire. For perspective, the runner up was The Birth House by Ami McKay with 16.27%. That’s impressive.

Now that Canada Reads is over, here are my thoughts (positive and negative) on the experience. Continue reading →

Uh oh… comic sales down 23% in 1/11 compared to 1/10

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Diamond released some sales stats today, and it isn’t pretty, ICV2 always provides some great analysis.

As feared, January 2011 saw a huge drop in new product sales ordered through Diamond Distribution. Compared to January 2010 units ordered are down a whopping 23% and dollars earned on new comics are down a comparable 22%. Even more surprising was the nearly 20% drop in graphic novel sales (19% units and 16.5% dollars)….

I had a bad feeling about January and February based on a look through the Previews offerings, so I’m not shocked at these results. There weren’t a lot of great new comics and graphic novels offered in January and February.

Continue reading →

US Comics Industry happenings…

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So Wizard magazine is being cancelled, and the magazine’s staff has been fired. Not too shocking (the cancellation), it seemed lacking when they changed to a slightly larger format and the publishers slowly abandoned it. It must be tough coming up with Top 10 lists every month. People have been predicting this for a couple of years now…. too bad about the people being fired and not shifted to the also announced digital pop culture mag “Wizard World”.

Update (by Robert): In a turn of events I did not see coming, Wizard World is going to be a publicly traded company. I don’t know anything about ‘pink sheets’, but based on the comments section I think that’s just about right for Wizard. I wonder if the guys working the Wizard cons will get paid in stock?

Update (by Kevin): To be honest, I pretty much ignored that press release because it was a deflection of the major news of the day, the cancellation of the magazine. The press release doesn’t even mention it. Newsarama had to actually chase down a Wizard rep to get the confirmation statement that not only Wizard but also Toyfare magazine were cancelled.

DC and Archie dropped the comics code. Must not have been many people working at the code – one guy could read all of the Archie and DC releases coming out in a month. Now some poor schlub is out of a job. Wouldn’t that have been a great job? Free comics months before everyone else gets to read them, and you could screw with them if you didn’t like them. Awesome. I feel for that jobless guy. An afterthought decision at this point though, as the code was about as relevant as Leave it to Beaver. If the code wanted to be relevant they could have taken the initiative and adopted a more stylish symbol to make people aware they still existed, like the video game industry did.

Update (by Kevin): Here I am lamenting the loss of employment for one guy, and it turns out there may not have actually been anyone at the wheel of the comics code. Newsarama learned from Archie that they had stopped submitting books over a year ago, but continued to use the seal. Was this also the case with DC? Was it just a rubber stamp?

Pop! Retailer Panel Discussion – 1/2011 edition and some personal thoughts…

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Our friend Jeffery Klaehn over at the Pop! blog has done another edition of his retailer panel discussion, and the participants are 50% Canadian:

Panel Discussion Participants
Gerry Gladston is co-owner of Midtown Comics in New York.
Peter DeCourcy is manager of Blue Beetle Comics in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.
Jay Bardyla is the owner of Happy Harbor Comics in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Jared Myland is the owner and manager of OK Comics in Leeds, England.
Alex Phillips works at and designs and manages the website for Lookin’ for Heroes in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Gail Burt is the former owner of Metropolis Comics, Bellflower, CA, and currently hosts ‘Metro After Hours,’ a web-based comic and pop culture related talk show.

I reiterate here my personal opinion that I believe that 2011, particularly the next three months, is going to be a very hard year for Canadian comic book retailers. For years I’ve been using the phrase “period of transition” in my Overstreet reports (although I haven’t submitted a report to the 2010 or 2011 guides) and it became VERY evident in 2010 that we are moving even further away from a market that relies on weekly pamphlets towards a book retailing model.

Continue reading →

Day-Early Delivery begins next week (on 1/11/11)

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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.

Continue reading →

Happy New Year! 7th Annual Joe Shuster Awards Process Update

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Welcome to 2011! Now that the new year has begun we are ready to kick into action and officially start the process that will be completed on the evening of Saturday, June 18th at the Calgary Comic Expo!

Between now and early February we will be selecting the nominees for the many of the Award categories. Here’s an update:

- Our 15 member nationwide English nominating committee for the following awards (Artist, Writer, Cartoonist, Cover Artist, Colourist) have been given a list of eligible comics and creators and cover images and will be selecting their choices between now and the end of the month.

- Our 3 member French nominating committee for the same awards begin the same process this coming week.

- Our Kremer Retailer Award Committee has selected 10 retailers from across Canada who are in the running for the Retailer Award. They will be contacted this month and they will be asked to provide more information and complete a survey. The responses will allow our committee to narrow the list of 10 down to 5 in the spring.

- the Comics for Kids Award team has their list of eligible books

- the Webcomics selection team has their list of eligible sites, and we are narrowing down the selections for Outstanding Publisher

- we have received over 100 entries for the Gene Day Award, and from these we will be narrowing down the choices for the February announcement (much earlier than in previous years)

- the Hall of Fame committee has been discussing potential inductees for 2011 (in order to be eligible the creator would have had to have at least one project published professionally prior to December 31, 1985)

- we are putting the final touches on our Executive Choice Graphic Novel Award, and I hope to have more news on that in mid-January.

So overall, I am happy to report that we are on track to have our best year yet! I cannot thank our team enough for their contributions this year and last. Associate Director Robert Haines is to be particularly commended for the work he has done in gathering information on and communicating with Canadian comics retailers across the country. Our outgoing releases manager Jason Truong (whose last official day was yesterday) is to be commended for gathering information on the weekly releases and for updating our creator database, we are hard pressed to replace him and we will suffer for his absence, but we will do our best. Our art director, founding member Tyrone Biljan and our publisher liaison Allison Covey also deserve special recognition for their efforts last year and will have their jobs cut out for them when we get our list of nominees for the 7th Annual Joe Shuster Awards next month.

Until then, all the best to you and yours! Happy New Year!

Kevin A. Boyd
Executive Director

Comic Retailing – What will 2011 bring?

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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:

  • Event marketing of comics released by Marvel and DC has created a customer only interested in event books and their direct tie-ins, neglecting other titles
  • Line expansions on non-core Marvel and DC characters, multiple titles for the same Marvel and DC character, and multiple one-shots and mini-series of Marvel and DC characters have created a deluge of books that customers aren’t interested in
  • Deconstructed story lines have customers leaving periodicals
  • Price points for periodical comics is too high

 
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.

Some early 2011 Books I’m Looking Forward to Getting

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I’ve just spent some time reading some pretty doom and gloom essays and I must say, I really am concerned about where we are heading and how our Canadian retailers are going to do going into the new year.

Aside from the inevitable Boxing Day/Week sales on the 26th of December and beyond, January and February are traditionally SLOW months for comics retailers and a lot of my contacts are concerned about just how these months are going to be for them, and in some extreme situations how they are going to survive it.

Of course, we will be releasing the nominees list for the 2011 JOE SHUSTER AWARDS around February 1st – so I’m hoping that we will be helping our retailers out by sending many of you to their stores to dig through their back issue bins and book racks to look for all of the excellent comics and books that get nominated for Joe Shuster Awards!

Anyway, it’s a continuing joke between my retailer and I just how yo-yo-like my month-to-month order forms are getting, and I know that I am not alone in questioning just how I will be spending my hard-earned dollars each month on newly published books. January is a pretty big month for me, but February is fairly light.

However, when I look over my lists of what is pending and should be out in January and February of next year, I do see a few highlights by Canadian creators that I will recommend here – hopefully they will help warm up your Wednesdays as they will mine over the next couple of cold winter months:

JANUARY 2011

New Avengers by Bendis Vol.1 HC (Marvel Comics, January 12th)
This volume features artwork by 2010 Joe Shuster Award-winning artist STUART IMMONEN.

Steve Rogers, Super Soldier HC (Marvel Comics, January 19th)
Collecting the mini-series of the same name by 2009 Joe Shuster Award-winning artist DALE EAGLESHAM.

Weapons of the Metabarons HC (Humanoids, January 26th)
This highly anticipated volume features artwork by TRAVIS CHAREST.

Prince Valiant Vol.3 1941-1942 HC (Fantagraphics, January unspecified)
It’s no secret that I’ve been loving these gorgeous collections reprinting in order the Prince Valiant strips by Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Famer HAL FOSTER.

FEBRUARY 2011

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne HC (DC Comics, Feb. 2nd)
Features artwork by YANICK PAQUETTE and MICHEL LACOMBE. I wasn’t blown away by the mini-series as it came out month-to-month, but I am curious to see how it reads as a single volume.

The Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues HC (DC Comics, Feb.9th)
The highly anticipated collection of the Geoff Johns and FRANCIS MANAPUL ‘run’ on the Flash.

Namor Visionaries: John Byrne Vol.1 (Marvel Comics, Feb. 9th)
Although Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Famer JOHN BYRNE was a US citizen by the time these were coming out, I thought his run on Namor the Sub-Mariner was one of the best of his career. You can see him experimenting in some issues with duo-tone effects and the artwork really pops, so I hope that Marvel does a proper job reproducing these issues. Byrne had a great take on the character, coming up with an interesting way to resolve his radical mood shifts in previous appearances, and I’m really glad to see Marvel is releasing this first collection and hope to see more. Incidentally, where is Alpha Flight Visionaries: John Byrne Vol.2?

Femina and Fauna: The Art of Camilla D’Errico (Dark Horse Comics, Feb.23rd)
I’m really looking forward to getting this collection of CAMILLA D’ERRICO‘s stunning artwork.

Seven Soldiers of Victory Book Two HC (DC Comics, Feb.23rd)
Written by Grant Morrison and featuring, among other, the Bulleteer by YANICK PAQUETTE. This volume also features the Doug Mahnke illustrated Frankenstein 1-4 which was my favourite of the Seven Soldiers story arcs, and has a great end sequence by J.H. Williams III.

There are still a few items from 2010 that I am still waiting for —- such as the Bigfoot HC by PASCAL GIRARD (Drawn & Quarterly, is this out? my retailer has not received my order yet) and The Devil’s In the Details: The Art of TODD MCFARLANE (Image Comics, delayed – no scheduled shipping date at present) and I still need to get a copy of the very well recommended Mystery Society Vol.1 TPB (IDW, December 15) which features artwork by FIONA STAPLES.

JSA Holiday Update

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As we are nearing the end of 2010 (15 days – only two shipping weeks!) we have a lot to be thankful for, and not many more new releases left to anticipate! This has been another big year for the Canadian comics scene and we are really excited to see what our nominating committees will choose as the most “outstanding” creators, stores and publishers of 2010.

We’re really ‘amping it up’ here at JSA central in order to make sure we have all of the nominees in every category selected by the February 1st deadline. This includes our Gene Day Self-Publisher, Harry Kremer Retailer and Comics for Kids categories, which have traditionally been announced later. The reason for why we are aiming for a February 1 date? We want everyone who is nominated to have 4+ months to determine whether or not they can attend the awards ceremony at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo on June 18th (the Calgary Expo runs June 17-19).

Jason Truong’s departure is something we’ve been aware of for a while now, he’s been scaling back on things over the last year and yet still was a very important part of our team in 2010 as he provided the weekly updates and assembled the eligible English creators list. We wish him all of the best and hope he’ll still stop by from time to time to give us a convention report or correct our mistakes.  I suspect we’ll face some new challenges in getting the weekly list up, but we’ll do our best in his absence.

I’d like to welcome Matthew J. Allen to our blog team. Matt has been helping out for a couple of years at some Toronto area events and he will be contributing interviews to the site with various creators. We hope you enjoyed his first interview with Red Robin artist Marcus To and he’s promised some more exclusive interviews in 2011.

Incidentally, if anyone reading this would like to be a part of the blog team and contribute new content to the site, please contact me at kevin@joeshusterawards.com — make sure you read the editorial submissions requirement first though. It’s under the ABOUT US section of the website.

From everyone here at the Joe Shuster Awards we want to wish everyone a very safe and happy holiday season! Hey, if you are looking for a great gift for someone special in your life, why not buy them a graphic novel?

Thanks for reading!
Kevin Boyd,
Executive Director

Even The Giants by Jesse Jacobs

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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.

Click here for a PDF preview

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.

75 years of DC Comics – the book

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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.

Who watches the retailers? Kids Comics

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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 →

Some Geographical Perspective for Americans on Canadian Locations

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Most of Canada's 34+ Million population clusters in cities close to the US/Canada border like Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax. 21 Million people live in Central Canada (Ontario and Quebec). 10 Million people live in the Western Provinces and the other 3 million in the Maritime Provinces. Under 100,000 people live in the northern territories.

As Canadians know, Canada is a massive country, not just east-west, but also north-south. To our American friends, you need to think of a provice as you would a state. For your sake, I’m using miles below instead of kilometres. 1 mile = 1.609344 kilometers.

Central Canada (sometimes the Central provinces) is a region consisting of Canada’s two largest and most populous provinces: Ontario and Quebec. Due to their high populations, Ontario and Quebec have traditionally held a significant amount of political power in Canada, leading to some amount of resentment from other regions of the country. Before Confederation, the term ‘Canada’ specifically referred to Central Canada. Today, the term “Central Canada” is less often used than the names of the individual provinces. Despite its name, Central Canada is only called central due to it being the centre of political power in Canada. It is located entirely in the eastern half of the country, with Quebec extending further east than every province, except for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Longitudinally, the middle of Canada is a meridian passing just east of Winnipeg, Manitoba – hence the argument for using the name Central Canada to refer to the Winnipeg show — it is the city closest to the longitudinal middle of the country; however the geographic centre (latitudinal and longitudinal) of Canada is located further north and is near Arviat, Nunavut.

Anyway, Ontario and Quebec are called Central Canada because the provinces on either side of it are often grouped together as distinct regions historically and politically – effectively dividing Canada into 3 distinct regions: the Western Provinces (British Columbia gets lumped in with the three Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) to the West (natch), Ontario/Quebec aka Central Canada (as they are in between) and the Maritime (or Atlantic) Provinces to the east.

A quick, cursory overview of English language comic events in Central Canada (Ontario/Quebec) — Ontario has lots of comic book events, including: the Beguiling’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Wizard’s Toronto Comic-Con, and then there’s Fan Expo Canada (also in Toronto), which also puts on the smaller Toronto ComiCON events. Ottawa has the Ottawa Comic & Card shows. Quebec has many french language comics festivals in Gatineau, Quebec City and Montreal. As far as english language comics events go, Montreal has the Montreal Comic Con and some smaller minicons.  To give you a sense of how close Montreal and Toronto are, it would take you about 6 hours to drive from one to the other – about 340 miles.

Manitoba is the next province west of Ontario. Winnipeg, MB is the home of the C4 Central Canada Comic-Con that Wizard just acquired for 2011. If I wanted to drive from Toronto to Winnipeg it would take me about 24 hours to do it, almost 1400 miles to drive. The closest competing convention to the Central Canada Comic-Con is the Minnesota FallCon in Minneapolis-St.Paul (8 hours driving, over 450 miles), which takes place in mid-October.

West of Manitoba it’s Saskatchewan, which really has absolutely no comic-cons at this time.

West of Saskatechewan it’s Alberta – whose biggest cities are Edmonton and Calgary. Calgary is home to the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo and the Red & White Calgary Comic & Toy Expo.  I wouldn’t say that the Winnipeg Central Canada Comic-Con and the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo are in much competition any more than any other shows in different regions are. It would take you 13 hours to drive to Calgary from Winnipeg as they are over 800 miles apart. New York and Chicago are about 13 hours driving apart – almost 800 miles. It would take someone in Toronto over 35 hours of non-stop driving to go the over 2100 miles to Calgary.

Generally this is why most Canadian dealers in Central Canada (Ontario/Quebec) don’t do Western conventions and vice-versa. For the rare ones that do, they generally ship their books instead of driving them.

Finally, west of Alberta, over the Rocky mountains, is British Columbia, whose biggest city Vancouver has only some smaller one day shows at this time – the Vancouver Comicon. Vancouver and Calgary are almost 12 hours driving apart – a little over 600 miles. Vancouver really is the unplucked gem in the Canadian convention scene – with a burgeoning creative scene, a film and television industry that includes many genre-related programs and movies being filmed there, and a geographical proximity to Seattle, WA it’s no wonder that I keep hearing rumours of different groups and companies thinking of setting up a convention there.

10 Things to Know About The Future Of Comics

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Thanks to the Beat for pointing out this link: Ten Things to Know About the Future of Comics By Shaenon K. Garrity (published at comixology.com)

It’s an interesting look at how younger people (under 30) view comics, and it does parallel a lot of what we’ve learned in talking with teachers and store managers, plus personal experience out working within the industry.

Sad to say, there really is a much clearer division between the under 30 and over 30 crowd when it comes to comics purchasing habits, so stores would be better advised to start preparing for the buying power of the under 30 readers as they start to become more financially liquid as they move into their 30s. It will be tough for many stores to break with the monthly comic book as the primary delivery method of new comics. It would take a miracle to turn around the monthly comic book sales, as discussed earlier this week on this site.

I agree that there is a much more unbiased look at making and appreciating comics in the under 30 crowd (generally females). As a person that has to work with definitions and boundaries all of the time this is something I have to get my head around all of the time when people question the category definitions, or rules for how a person is determined to be a guest at a comic book show. Younger fans don’t see a difference between format and content. A comic is a comic, it can be delivered to you by any number of delivery systems. Needless to say we have discussions every year on the definitions for our awards and categories based on feedback we receive.

I completely agree that the line between fan and creator blurs considerably in these days where we tout internet news site coordinators and artist reps as headlining professional guests at comic book conventions and festivals. I often find myself looking at guest lists at shows and being surprised at how few of the people being advertised are familiar to me – and I make it my business to be familiar. If you have talent and imagination (or sometimes just one of the two) then you can easily set yourself up to build a following of friends and fans around you who support your work and get professional work.

I’d say up until now that my peers — the people (generally males) currently in their 30s and 40s, were those that came from a more traditional, pamphlet-driven access to comics, we are the children of the direct market, flawed as it is. We are devoted to new comic book day. There is some resistance to embracing web/digital comics and a lot of resistance to abandoning monthly comics, particularly superhero comics. For younger people, the superheroes populate other media – videogames, movies, television, cartoons…. we think of those things as peripheral to the comics… they think of the comics as peripheral to the other media. We are also the generation that bought into speculation, and we are still the quickest group to jump on that gravy train over “hot” books.

Stan Lee teams up with the National Hockey League

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NHL, Spider-Man creator Stan Lee join on new superheroes project.

Okay, so Stan’s not Canadian, and I’m not sure the NHL is really Canadian either, but we Canadians sure love hockey (even though Lacrosse is our national sport) and there are many Canadian teams in the NHL (and a whole lot of Canadian players) so I thought I’d let you know about this. Plans are for an initial presentation tomorrow afternoon at the New York Comic Con where some more information will be released to the public.

What I find interesting about the project is that not only is it a means to get kids interested in hockey by using these Guardian superhero characters, but it might actually have just as beneficial (or more) of an effect on comic books, or at least superheroes… when the Leafs sell more tickets at a single game than I imagine that there are regular comics fans in the province of Ontario I can’t help but feel this type of exposure might convince a few people (of all ages) to take a look at some comics.

For Immediate Release: Continue reading →

Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, my mother, and me

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Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, my mother, and me

by Sarah Leavitt
September 2010
9 x 10 paper 120 pages
ISBN 978-1-55111-117-9
CDN $23.95

published by Freehand Books

What is the book about?

What do you do when your outspoken, passionate, and quick-witted mother starts fading into a forgetful, fearful woman? In this powerful graphic memoir, Sarah Leavitt reveals how Alzheimer’s disease transformed her mother Midge—and her family—forever.

In spare black and white drawings and clear, candid prose, Sarah shares her family’s journey through a harrowing range of emotions—shock, denial, hope, anger, frustration—all the while learning to cope, and managing to find moments of happiness. Midge, a Harvard-educated intellectual, struggles to comprehend the simplest words; Sarah’s father Rob slowly adapts to his new role as full-time caretaker, but still finds time for word-play and poetry with his wife; Sarah and her sister Hannah argue, laugh, and grieve together as they join forces to help Midge get to sleep, rage about family friends who have disappeared, or collapse in tears at the end of a heartbreaking day.

Tangles provides a window on the complexity of Alzheimer’s disease, and gradually opens a knot of moments, memories, and dreams to reveal a bond between a mother and a daughter that will never come apart.

Some more background

I spoke with the publisher about the book, the first true graphic novel published by Freehand Books.

Sarah Leavitt came through the much lauded UBC Creative Writing program. Tangles was her MA thesis, a first for the program. Sam Haywood, of the Creative Rights Agency, brought the book to Freehand Books believing it fit the publishers mandate: to publish excellent Canadian literature. This is her first book.

I can tell you, having discussed with Freehand their current marketing campaign and long term goals, that the publisher is working hard to get this book into comic book shops across Canada. They are very excited about producing this graphic non-fiction story and see it as a nice first step to a broader graphic novel portfolio. In fact, a second graphic novel is currently in the works (featuring artwork by a young, upcoming and past Joe Shuster Award nominee) for release in 2011.

The really great news?

September 30, 2010 – For immediate release

Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, my mother, and me by Vancouver author Sarah Leavitt has been shortlisted for the $25,000 Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize. Tangles is the first work of graphic literature ever to be shortlisted for the prestigious award.

Upon receiving the news, Leavitt commented: “I am thrilled for Tangles and also excited that graphic memoir was included in the finalists. I think it’s great that the jury recognized graphic non-fiction as part of the non-fiction genre.”

Established in 1997, the Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize recognizes Canadian writers of exceptional talent for the year’s best work of non-fiction. The winner will be announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards, hosted by Shelagh Rogers, at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto on November 2, 2010.

Tangles was published on September 1, 2010 by Freehand Books, based in Calgary, Alberta. In this powerful graphic memoir, Leavitt reveals how Alzheimer’s disease transformed her mother Midge—and her family—forever. In spare black and white drawings and clear, candid prose, Leavitt shares her family’s journey through a harrowing range of emotions—shock, denial, hope, anger, frustration—all the while learning to cope, and managing to find moments of happiness. Brian Fies, acclaimed author of Mom’s Cancer, says of Tangles: “Sarah Leavitt uses the medium of comics to tell her story with more economy and power than either words or pictures could muster by themselves. She brings a good eye for the telling detail—the small observations that reveal larger truths—to her memoir of a family in crisis. Tangles is the work of a perceptive, creative, and honest storyteller.”

Sarah Leavitt writes both prose and comics and lives in Vancouver, BC. Her writing has appeared in Geist, The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Review, The Georgia Straight, and Xtra West. Leavitt has written short documentaries for Definitely Not the Opera on CBC Radio, and her non-fiction has appeared in a number of anthologies, including Nobody’s Mother (Heritage 2006) and Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose about Alzheimer’s Disease (Kent State University Press 2009). She has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. Tangles is her first book.

To arrange author interviews, request review copies, or for any other media requests, please contact Sarah Ivany at 403.452.5662 / 587.777.5553 or via email at sivany@broadviewpress.com.

My copy is on it’s the way, and I will have a review posted in the near future as part of a new feature which highlights books, comics and zines I think are overlooked by the comic retailing market.

Congratulations, Sarah!

Cerebus could return? (plus the Sim event at Strange Adventures)

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Information about the Last Dave Sim signing at Strange Adventures is being released. Of note, Dave conducted an exclusive interview with The Coast and revealed the following:

(T)he question of whether his beloved creation Cerebus will ever make a return will certainly come up. He does, in fact, have plans.

“The only way I would revisit the character—and here’s a Coast exclusive for you—is if I was to do a miniseries or graphic novel, Cerebus: The Afterlife, which I have a few mental notes floating around in my head about. I might have to wait a few years. People were squeamish enough about seeing Cerebus in his old age, not wanting to think about getting—or being—old. Speculations on an afterlife would really push some hot buttons, I think.”

I guess the question would be: is there an appetite for the material? How many people read the series from start to finish because they loved it? I’ll admit that I have the complete Cerebus series, all 16 phonebooks, and I’ve read most of the series. I stopped reading part way through issue 279, putting it away because I lost interest in the dense religious material and the Cerebus/Woody Allen meandering; though I did read 299 and 300. I’ve contemplated starting the series again, at #1, but there are so many comics I haven’t read already, I should probably read those first.

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As pertains to the events of Dave Sims trip, here is the schedule:

Wednesday:
First up is the airport meet & greet! Dave arrives on Air Canada 606 from Toronto at 1PM Wednesday, September 22nd. Be there with a “welcome to Halifax” sign or something to that effect, and Dave will choose his favourite to win a set of Cerebus books! AND they get another set for their local school or public library!

Thursday:
Are you an aspiring comic artist? A cartoonist ready to break into the biz? Would you like some tips and advice from one of the most experienced and award-winning
cartoonists? Drop by the Spring Garden Road Library in downtown Halifax between 4 and 7pm for portfolio reviews with the one and only Dave Sim!

Friday:
Another portfolio review is set for Friday afternoon from 1:30 to 4:30 pm also at the Spring Garden Road Library.

Then the big night – The last Signing. 10pm at Strange Adventures – 5262 Sackville Street in downtown Halifax.

Saturday:
The Glamourpuss event – dress up to the nines to join Dave and friends at the Economy Shoe Shop for a shindig.