NICE ART
§ Happy Canada to all my fellow Canadians and non-Canadians alike. Enjoy the Holiday and the heat wave in Ontario and Quebec. This month’s nice art features Toronto artists Sam Beck. Sam’s work was a great way for me to get back into comics. It focus on medieval fantasy and the colours are gorgeous. You can follow his work on Twitter, his website and read his webcomic Verse
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NEWS
§ This month’s list will focus on Canadian comics, with some exceptions scattered throughout. Enjoy the festivities!
§ Liam McKenna, from Prince Edward Island launched a new webcomics called Release Barabbas. So far it’s interesting and it was neat to see how McKenna’s artistic has improved over time. More details, more depth, more facial expressions. Something I’ll keep my eyes on this year.
§ Speaking of Prince Edward Island, I missed that Tyler Landry has a new comic in Spanish called Trabajar para Sobrevivir. No word on when this will be available in English, but I suspect we’ll hear from Tyler soon enough
§ A movie about people trying to keep a comic book store open was produced by a PEI production company. It’s called Kooperman. It’s not my cup of tea, but you can see the trailer and if you like it, you can watch the whole movie
§ Moving to Ottawa, Nicole Marie Burton made a wonderful documentary comic for the Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance (CCIRA) about the reduction in native rockfish population. It’s an interesting issue I didn’t know about and this comic is a good introduction to the problems cause by unsustainable and careless fishing practices.
§ A live reading of Luc Bossé and Alexandre Simard’s Gary King of the Pick-up Artists by Elisabeth Smith and Étienne Courville on Radio-Canada’s literature show Plus on est de fou, plus on lit. The audio is at the 14h20 time, it’s the fourth text that was read during this episode. Please note that this in French
§ An interview with Sean Karemaker from Vancouver about his latest comics Feast of Fields
§ Meghan Parker, an art teacher in Vancouver submitted her master’s thesis Art Teacher in Process: An illustrated exploration of art, education and what matters in comic book form.
§ Yanick Paquette talks about superhero storytelling at Montreal’s Librairie Z
§ An update on a story reported here ia few months ago. Montreal comics publisher BerBer declared bankruptcy. They were put in a tough position last year as they published a comic book origin for the Just for Laugh mascot inn partnership with the Just for Laughs festival. However, the comic came out at the same time as Gilbert Rozon, the founder and CEO of Just for Laugh was accused of sexual misconduct (that case is now a class-action lawsuit filled by his many victims). The Just for Laughs brand became quite toxic for a few months until it was restructured and the organization was purchased by a new company. BerBer lost a lot of money on that comic and requested help from Just for Laughs to help foot the bill. They agreed, and purchased the entire print run at costin January, but it turned out to be too little too late as the accumulated debt sank their company. They have effectively shut down, but are hoping for a return in the future.
§ Kelly Kwang from Toronto art for the game Bravery Network Online is the central reason why I’m interested in this video game. It looks really neat and the game looks fun and visually stunning
§ CBC’s Unreserved talk with Nyla Inuuksuk, the co-creator of the new Marvel character Snowguard. Snowguard recently debuted in Champions. It’s really neat to hear her talk about the reaction and it’s impact on youth in the Territories.
§ La Pastèque celebrates it’s 20th anniversary with an art exhibit at the Maison de la culture de Longueuil. The exhibit is running until September 9th .
§ Mariko Tamaki talked about her Supergirl mini-series on CBC’s Q
§ Jillian Tamaki talks about her belief in the power of comics
§ David A. Robertson browsed for comics in Winnipeg
§ CBC picked 18 writers to watch in 2018 and it includes Hartley Lin and GG
§ The Comics Journal profiles Toronto’s premier comic book shop The Beguiling. I don’t know how much praise I can give The Beguiling, they’ve helped me expand my horizons and understanding of comics over the past 8 years and I’m forever grateful for that. If you can visit them, please do. You won’t be disappointed.
§ Tayson Martindale from Edmonton released his first graphic novel Box Boy. There’s an article about the launch of the book on Global News
§ Kate Leth will be writing a series based on Nelvana Animation’s Mysticons, it’s a fun magical fantasy show for kids. This should be quite successful.
§ Final Canadian News, CBC profiles Christian Leblanc, a former accountant who’s been doing 3d conversion of comics. He worked with Michael and Laura Allred on Madman
NEWS – Not in Canada
§ Brandon Graham’s disappearance? This was one of the biggest news of the month, the disintegration of Brandon Graham’s career before our very eyes. Following allegations of harassment and misconduct against trans women going back years, with many trans creators speaking out against his behaviour. Graham responded by doing a series of incendiary diary (or incen-diary) comics, followed by a long “diss track” that was distinctly racist and misogynist hateful and confused where he attacked many creators who have been critical of his behaviour in the past. He then took down the comic and posted a long non-apology on his tumblr page. I found that the conversation around this took place mostly over Twitter, but I linked above to Nick Hanover’s piece on Loser City as I felt this was a good look at this whole mess.
Much like Heidi did previously, I recommend reading the comic by Cathy G. Johnson Behind Every Girl’s Arse. She recently revealed that this comic is about her interaction with Graham.
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PLUGS
§ Support Marnie Galloway, she just had her second baby and I’m sure she could use some financial help.
§ Kelly Tindall could use help in purchasing a new computer, you can get a reasonably priced sketch in exchange.
§ I haven’t seen Solo or Rogue One, but it doesn’t matter, the definitive text on Star Wars is Galactic Friends by Meghan Turbitt
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COMICS
The Nib has two comics on Canada highlighting our similarities with our American neighbour. The first comic is Oh No, Canada! by Maria Stoian and the second one is In Hono(u)r or Canada Day by Brian McLachlan
Nicole Marie Burton has a comic on Universal Basic Income over at her site Ad Astra Comix
https://www.topic.com/father-s-days
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REVIEWS
§ Robin Enrico reviews Box Brown’s Is this Guy for Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman and Iasmin Omar Ata’s Mis(h)adra
§ Andy Oliver reviews Alison McCreesh Norths
§ Ally Russell reviews Sabrina by Nick Drasno
§ Carta Monir reviews Ivy Atoms’s Pinky & Pepper Forever
§ Alex Hoffman reviews Molly Mendoza’s The Worst
§ Cecelia Bedelia reviews Melanie Gillman’s As the Crow Flies
§ Rob Clough reviews Geneviève Castrée’s A Bubble
§ Sam Ombiri reviews C.F.’s Mere
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§ If you see something I should know about, tell me in the comments or tweet at me @Leblanc_Phil
Nice to learn McCreesh’s follow-up to RAMSHACKLE is out. (Less and less graphic novels are listed in Previews, or way late, reducing its value as a centralized advance-warning catalog.) After looking into the reviews, an ISBN and a bookstore will do it for NORTHS.
About shops closing: Librairie Astro in Montréal (story on their site).
About a thesis in comic-book form, have you read Nick Sousanis’s UNFLATTENING? (If not: it’s more or less up there with Eisner’s SEQUENTIAL ART, McCloud’s UNDERSTANDING COMICS, and Barry’s WHAT IT IS. Or, on a different topic, Jens Harder’s ALPHA.)
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