And speaking of the small press, Canadian Koyama Press is making a name as a real force on the scene with a series of high-quality books. They’re having a launch for two more next week in Toronto:

Thursday, October 7, 2010, 7pm – 10pm
@ The Central
603 Markham Street, Toronto


Koyama has yet to come to a US show (to our knowledge) but they are being distributed here by AdDistro.

The new books are:

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BABA YAGA AND THE WOLF

Visually influenced by the dense forested landscape of British Columbia, Baba Yaga and the Wolf tells the story of Katerina, the journey she takes to the edge of the Underworld to save her husband from a terrible fate, and its gatekeeper, Baba Yaga. Hidden in a cottage that sits upon hen’s legs, buried in the deepest corner of a dark and inhospitable forest, Baba Yaga can at once be a saviour to those who seek her out, or a manipulator, tricking unknowing souls into giving that which is most precious, most prized. Marek Colek and Pat Shewchuk have given new breath to an age-old cautionary tale, drawing inspiration from early Russian animated films, Slavic mythology, and symbols and pictography associated with the many iterations of the Baba Yaga mythos.

28 pages ∙ full colour ∙ 9″ x 11.75″ ∙ soft cover ∙ $13 ∙ ISBN: 978-0-9784810-5-6

Working collaboratively under the name TIN CAN FOREST, Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek produce animation, music videos, comics, and art. Their work has been exhibited and screened at festivals and galleries internationally, most recently at the gallerie NEUROTITAN in Berlin, and the Edinburgh Art Festival. When on hiatus from Toronto, they can be found on a small forested island on the Canadian west coast, where they live in a house made of blackberry thorn bushes, ceremonial embroidery, delusions, and rose-hips. Their first book, Pohadky, was published in 2008 by Drawn & Quarterly. Baba Yaga and the Wolf is published by Koyama Press.

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WOWEE ZONK #3

This third volume of the comic book anthology Wowee Zonk features work by Michael Deforge, Jan Avendano, Andrei Georgescu, Zach Worton, Ginette Lapalme, Selena Wong, Chris Simonen, Chris Kuzma, Dan Rocca, and Patrick Kyle. A sort of emerging artists buffet, the spread is diverse, with samplings both rough and refined, dense and delicate, linear and chaotic, bittersweet and bizarre. While each artist works in a style distinctly their own, they share a sense of creative urgency that brings their pieces together as a gourmet whole—one that can’t help but make you wonder what the group will serve up next.

40 pages ∙ black & white ∙ 7″ x 9″ ∙ soft cover ∙ $6

WOWEE ZONK is the collective artistic efforts of Chris Kuzma, Ginette Lapalme and Patrick Kyle. Since 2007 they have forayed into fine art, book publishing, integrated media projects, and comic books, and have exhibited work throughout Toronto. The first collection of their work, Wowee Zonk: Pobody’s Nurfect, was published in 2010 by Koyama Press. The trio curated the small press pavilion at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival in 2009 and 2010, and also curates and edits the Wowee Zonk comic book anthology, which exclusively features upcoming Canadian comic book talent.

1 COMMENT

  1. Thanks for posting!

    Koyama Press was indeed at Mocca to debut the first book: TRIO MAGNUS: Equally Superior last year and will be at APE and The Brooklyn Comic and Graphics Festival this fall.