Friday 4 December 2009
George Feyer's Stamp Book
Saturday 10 October 2009
Diving 101 - way up north
Thursday 8 October 2009
So, a cartoonist walks into a comic shop...
The guy in the final panel is Kin Jee, the long-time manager of the store. Ha ha! See? Now it's hilarious, right?
Wednesday 23 September 2009
Me this Sunday
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
Wednesday 16 September 2009
Blabitty, blabitty, Brad
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.
Wednesday 9 September 2009
'The Collected Doug Wright' as educational tool
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.
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Going prehistoric
Saturday 29 August 2009
Mazzucchelli's graphic novel masterpiece
Monday 10 August 2009
Not-So-Wacky Packages
I vaguely remember this - and it seemed utterly normal 20 years ago to mock other cultures. That "ah-so" gets me; do the Japanese even say anything resembling this?
Friday 7 August 2009
Best Thank You note, evah!!!
The story follows two wayward teenagers (Misty and Leppard) as they endure another tourist-plagued summer in their hometwon of Niagara ("Nigraw") Falls. Anyways, the book made the Best Emerging Talent list at this May's DWAs, and Caitlin was so genuinely appreciative it made my heart melt. She was so appreciative, she sent this awesome hand-customized postcard as thanks:
Tuesday 21 July 2009
Rilly's really spiffy new site
Monday 29 June 2009
A life inside a life inside a life
Like a lot of people I've talked with, this book was a peculiar read at first. It came on a crest of huge expectations, thanks to the fact that it arrived after three excellent (and handsome) volumes of Tatsumi's classic gegika; volumes designed and edited by cartoonist Adrian Tomine, and published by Drawn and Quarterly.
Tuesday 14 April 2009
If all reviews were like this, I'd be a happy man
(This is an enlarged Wright drawing that was embellished by Seth.)
It's definitely worth a gander.
Oh - and you can buy the book online here. Or wait a few months, and buy it here and then get is signed after this.Wednesday 11 March 2009
A challenger to the KE7 crown?
But, yo! What's that on the horizon --a challenger to KE7's crown? And it's Canadian????
Maybe. Simply titled RED, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas's book of "Haida manga" (a term that the B.C. visual artist coined a couple of years ago) measures in at a jaw-dropping six feet by 14 feet! Or, 6.6 square meters for you Metric nuts. (That's a shot of it above.)
That's about 5 times larger than KE7; which weighs in at a paltry 16 x 21 inches (take that Harkham!) According to Yahgulanaas's publisher's site, RED is slated for publication this fall but I can't parse out what kind of print run they're planning. It kind of sounds like it's a one-shot gallery piece.
Regardless, they're billing it as "one of the world's largest comic books" which sounds about right to me. Seriously, though, you should check out Yahgulanaas's work; here, here and over here. He's a really talented guy, who has managed to merge native imagery and the comics form in a way that seems entirely natural.
I can't believe it's taken me so long to discover him.
Friday 27 February 2009
Offspring of famous cartoonists (#1 in a series of one)
There's a great photo-gallery up now on Wired that explores the unsettling lives of comic store clerks. I say unsettling because the piece features Q&As with the mostly-male clerks and photos that peer into their private nerd lairs. It ends up provoking the same reaction i get when i look at Diane Arbus photos; growing curiousity that eventually gets wrapped up in creeping uneasiness. For the most part I feel really bad for these guys, completely immersed as they are in a man-child state of Alex Ross comics and over-priced action figures.
But then, part way through, we get this great little interview with Olive Panter, the 18-year-old daughter of alt-comix Buddha Gary Panter.
Not only is it refreshing to see someone from a comic shop that doesn't worship at the temple of Marvel/DC, but she has some pretty funny things to say about; Alt-comics:
"I love Johnny Ryan and I always have. But it's getting pretty repetitive these days. Less anal rape."
about working in a comic shop:
"I started when I was 14 and quit and returned and quit and returned and quit and returned. My dad got me into it. He works at the School of Visual Arts and it's nearby and Mark, the owner, really liked his comics. I started on Sundays bagging books and now I come and don't do anything."
and, about her clientele:
"On a Wednesday, a regular customer came and bought a ton of comics as per usual. Then the next day he came in he was completely scab-covered and bruised on his face. We were like, "Dude, what happened to you? Are you okay?" Turns out he started falling down on a escalator while holding his comics and rather than protecting his face he protected his comics. But they still got a little bent, so the next day he came back and re-bought them."
So, good for her. And for Gary. He seems to have raised a killer kid. (Now, is it too much to ask that she starts making comics?)
- B.
Tuesday 27 January 2009
Batman as jazz
Yet, no matter how many times I talked about it with my comics-savvy colleagues (just imagine these conversations, for a moment) I always walked away with a different idea: That comic books and jazz have more in common than we give them credit for.
My jazzbo father Dad would probably wretch, but I finally got around to writing about it on the Globe and Mail's new Books site. My essay is called "Batman and jazz," and doubles as a sort-of book review of the sensational Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan.
Please buy it! And read my piece! And if you feel the need, rip me one!
Sunday 11 January 2009
25 Great Things About Being A Comics Fan
"#2. You'll have a better vocabulary than the people you know that only read prose and you'll have a better eye for visual language than the people you know that only look at art. ...
#6. You'll have the best conversations at parties with the widest range of people while quickly learning how to duck the truly dreary conversations at parties with that one narrow range of people. ...
#11. From now on, every garage sale, flea market and library sale is hope. ... and,
# 16. At first you'll like all the comics. Then you'll get a little bit older and like only a few of them. Then you'll get a little older than that, and you get to like all the comics again."
More, here.