Me this Sunday

Okay - enough with the hype posts already! But seriously, have you ever yearned to listen to Brad Mackay talk? How about watching him sign your copy of The Collected Doug Wright? Well, if you're in Toronto this Sunday, you're in luck brother!

Well, he'll (okay I'll) be in Hogtown this weekend for the amazing (and free) The Word on the Street; a day-long orgy of books and authors that is not to be missed. I'll be signing copies of the CDW at Drawn and Quarterly's booth at 1:00 p.m.

Then, I'll be part of a panel discussion called "Oh, Canada! Surveying the Landscape of Canadian Comics" which is kicking off at 3:00 p.m. at the Comics and Graphic Novels Tent run by the guys at TCAF. Bryan Munn, and Max Douglas will be moderating the chat and Kevin Boyd (of the Shuster Awards) will be sitting next to me, likely still drunk from the night before.

Hope to see you there.

Ink Studded

Robin 'Dirty Bird' McConnell rang me up last week to discuss Doug Wright, comics and Canada for his radio show Inkstuds. I think it was actually a lucid chat, with very few Ahhhs or Uhmms from yours truly.

And there's a special bonus for anyone brave enough to click on the link: Part of a rare interview that Wright did in the 1970s for a Mohawk College TV show. Go listen already!

Blabitty, blabitty, Brad

Mr. Nigel Beale, a very nice man with an unquenchable thirst for books, sat down with me a few weeks ago to chat about comics, graphic novels ansd Doug Wright. Thanks to a generous glass of scotch, I can't quite recall what I said -- and since I can't stand listening to myself, you'll to take my word for it when I say this is a podcast worth listening to.

While you're at it, you should explore the rest of his site as well. He has a cornucopia of images of old and rare books taht is sure to make you drool.

'The Collected Doug Wright' as educational tool

Apologies in advance for the back-to-back cute-kids posts, but this one was too good to pass up. Drawn and Quarterly has some swell pics up of Joe Ollmann's (maybe 6-year-old?) son absorbed in The Collected Doug Wright Vol. One. It doesn't get any better than that (except perhaps hearing from Bob Rae that he had his copy of the book proudly displayed on his coffee table. That was kind of cool too.)


It's funny, because my daughter (5) did the same thing Joe Jr. here did when i got my copy of CDW in the mail. There's something about the colours and the lack of words that makes it a magnet for little kids. In fact, Seth and I got a fan letter from a retired school teacher earlier this summer that verified/quantified this appeal. I include the letter below as evidence of Wright's unheralded educational benefits:

This is actually a really good idea. Any teachers out there willing to give this a whirl in their classroom, please let me know the results.

Going prehistoric

Here are some pics from a recent visit to the iconic, must-see Prehistoric World in Morrisburg, Ontario.