I was in a mood but I’m done now.

- Chris

Hey everybody! I just posted The Beguiling’s Free Comic Book Day wrap-up at: http://www.beguiling.com/2008/05/free-comic-book-day-2008-wrap-up.html.

We had a good year this year despite some pretty awful weather, and though I don’t have exact figures I’d say that we had at least 600 people through both events over the course of the day, and a lot (at least 200 of them) were under 14. Mission: Accomplished.

Because my site gets way more traffic than The Beguiling’s site, I did want to take the opportunity to send you to visit the online homes of all of our participating artists at this year’s FCBD events. They were really stars, drawing and sketching all day (many of them without any breaks) and sending you to check out their work is the least I can do.

Michael Cho (Transmission-X, Max Finder): http://www.transmission-x.com/ , http://chodrawings.blogspot.com/
Willow Dawson (Violet Miranda): http://www.willowdawson.com/
J. Korim (Neozoic): http://www.jkorim.ca/main.htm
Jessie Lam (Neozoic): http://axl99.net/
Steve Manale (Superslackers, You Crack Me Up): http://www.superslackers.com/
Nick Mandaag (Artist): no website!
Tyrone McCarthy (Corduroy High): http://www.corduroyhigh.com/
Alana McCarthy (Illustrator): http://www.alanaland.com/
Brian McLachlan (Princess Planet): http://www.theprincessplanet.com/, http://www.transmission-x.com/
Tara Tallan (Galaxion): http://www.girlamatic.com/comics/galaxion.php
Jeremy Tankard (Grumpy Bird, Me Hungry): http://www.jeremytankard.com/
Chip Zdarsky (Monster Cops): http://chipzdarsky.livejournal.com/

Hope you all had a great Free Comic Book Day!

- Christopher
(Photo: Jeremy Tankard talks about his very first home-made comics to a group of rapt youngsters and their parents at Free Comics For Kids Day)

Are you in Toronto? Know people who are? The Beguiling/TCAF have put together two pretty-amazing Free Comic Book Day events. For one we partnered with the Toronto Public Library and a number of other organizations to do book launches for three Toronto authors who have new material for kids, and we’re tying that into kid-oriented FCBD activities. For the other, we’re doing some solid outreach efforts featuring Toronto comics creators.

Hope to see you there!

More at: http://www.beguiling.com/2008/04/reminder-free-comics-for-kids-day-this.html

More at http://www.beguiling.com

- Chris

Alright, I totally need a little help here.

I’m pretty up on the manga, I do my best to research the market, talk to fans, all that stuff. I’m spectacular at doing this within my field (comics retailers) but still at least pretty decent when compared to the legions of die-hard manga fans that populate the interwebs. But I totally need a hand with this, because the upcoming Anime North convention in Toronto at the end of the month? It manages at least one big surprise every time.

We do a massive set-up for this show, 18 tables in an island, something like 180 feet of frontage the way we set it all up. We try and bring every manga you can think of, because a lot of fans save up for months to come to AN and pick up the manga they love, that they’ve only read about on the internet (or in scaaaaaaaaaaaans) and they want to own it and love it and squee all over it. And we want to have it for them.

Every year we get blindsided by one major title, and it always pisses me RIGHT OFF.

2005: “Do you have Chrono Crusade?” Sure, we had like maybe 3-5 copies of each volume. That lasted about half way through the first day, and then the next 22 hours of convention were “I heard you guys have Chrono Crusade!? PLEASE! I NEEEEEED IT!” and I’m all “oh noes.”

2006: “I NEED OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB! O! M! G!” and I’m like are you kidding? We sell like 2 copies of that at the store. But yeah, getting asked 20 or 25 times a day for that book for 3 days? I can guarantee you we totally stock deep on that one now. It did us no good at the show, however.

2007: “Vampire Knight Vampire Knight Vampire Knight Vampire Knight” and I didn’t even know what that was. Seriously. Either like 1, or maaaaaaaaaybe 2 volumes had come out, and I figured it was some ultra-rare Infinity Studios title or something. No, Shoujo Beat again, we were barely selling it at the store, and it was the book we got the most requests for (of course, we ended up selling like a case of each volume of Death Note and Naruto at that show, we didn’t do too badly…)

So the 2008 Anime North show is coming up May 23-25, and I think I’ve done my homework this time and I’m trying to stock up on fan-fav series, but I’m sure that we’re forgetting something.

Soooo, if you’re going to Anime North, or if you just want to promote your favourite manga series (and it looks like I’m a little weaker at predicting the Shoujo/Crossover-appeal series than the Shonen) then I’d love to hear from you in the comments. I’m totally aware that this is asking you to do my work as a retailer for me, and I apologize for that, but I’m asking because I want to satisfy as many customers at the show as possible. Hopefully that counts for something!

Thanks in advance,

- Christopher

I don’t usually just post press releases, but this is amazing! Christophe Blain will be touring west coast comic stores starting this weekend! If you’re in the area I absolutely insist you go. Blain’s work is incredible, and his Isaac The Pirate series is a wonderful cartooning achievement. Publisher NBM is hosting the tour, so pick up a bunch of their books while you’re at it. If I could be there, I would…

–

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
‘Super-Creator’ Comes to USA
French embassy hosts Christophe Blain; critics compare him to Vonnegut & Daumier
“Christophe Blain is one of those super-creators in France that very few English-speaking people have heard of.” — Read About Comics

“[Blain’s] styles of figuration and lighting marry Daumier and Munch.” — Booklist

“Like Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut.” — School Library Journal

Blain is the writer and artist behind Isaac the Pirate, the best-selling graphic-novel series about an artist who accidentally turns buccaneer and falls through a series of hilarious adventures. The book won the prestigious Angoulême International Comics festival’s highest award. Blain has also written and drawn graphic novels such as the critically lauded The Speed Abater and contributed to Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar’s popular Dungeon books. The French embassy’s Cultural Services Department is bringing Blain to the United States as part of its French Authors on Tour program (www.frenchculture.org/spip.php?article50&tout=ok). NBM, the publisher of Dungeon, Speed Abater, and Isaac the Pirate in the United States, is delighted to work with the Embassy on Blain’s tour.

At this writing, Blain is scheduled for the following events (and more may be added soon).

Saturday, April 26, 7 p.m.
Secret Headquarters
3817 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026
323-666-2228
www.thesecretheadquarters.com
Sunday, April 27
12 noon: Booth 318 (Hi De Ho Comics)
2 p.m.: Booth 732 (French Cultural Services)
4 p.m.: Royce Hall, Room 306 (lecture followed by wine reception)
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
UCLA
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90095
213-237-6552 or 800-728-4638 x72665
www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks
www.hidehocomics.com

Monday, April 28, 7 p.m.
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
310-659-3110 or 800-764-BOOK
www.booksoup.com

Thursday, May 1, 6 p.m.
Floating World Comics
20 Northwest 5th Avenue
Portland, OR 97209
503-241-0227
www.floatingworldcomics.com

–

- Christopher

+ Flight contributor and graphic novelist Neil Babra recently completed an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet for the “No Fear Shakespeare” line of graphic novels published by an arm of B&N. The “No Fear” line basically “translates” Shakespearian English into more direct or contemporary English, to make the stories more approachable for young readers. I have a complex array of feelings on the idea of changing the language of Shakespeare without a full modernization, particularly because I don’t think the plot of Shakespeare is as important as the actual language… But that said, I think there’s still value to this approach, both as a study guide and additional learning tool for readers who need a way “into” the works. Luckily Neil has lots of ideas on adaptation, translation, and Shakespeare’s language as well, and he addresses them all on the just completed information page on the No Fear: Shakespeare graphic novel adaptation of Hamlet. It’s really wonderful reading.

Also, I have included a more literal adaptation of my own to My reading of the classic; Neil draws Horatio hot all the way through the book.

+ Has anyone noticed that the new colours on the remastered hardcover edition of Batman: The Killing Joke are kind of boring? Check out this side-by-side comparison of the original colours and the new edition over at PopCultureShock. I think my problem with it is that while artist Brian Boland brings a high degree of craft to the new colouring, he’s drained all of the emotion and… art… out of the work. Little touches like the cast-shadows on the cuffs of the Joker’s sleeves, for example, added more personality and depth to the art than all of the soft airbrush modelling in the world could hope to accomplish. At work my opinion is in the minority, with the majority of customers loving the hell out of the new look. Enh.

+ I’m really glad that Johanna Draper-Carlson put the leg-work in to try and peel away some of the secrecy surrounding comics’ only national holiday (or outreach event…), Free Comic Book Day. I’ve never understood the lack of transparency or accountability that surrounds this event, and I find it incredibly frustrating every single time it rolls around. This time out? The organisation mandated that all books had to be all-ages appropriate, thus reflecting a vision of the industry that doesn’t actually exist. They disallowed the participation of a publisher and then apparently lied about the reasoning (see the comments section). Getting answers is like pulling teeth. They stopped answering. And then somewhat mysteriously retailer Joe Field, the founder of FCBD (before turning it over whole-hog to Diamond), a man who has made very specific mention in the past of his arm’s-length from FCBD, ends up responding to questions that were sent to Diamond.

I’m not one to critisize without putting the work in myself; I do lots of comics outreach. But I think you can do it without the secrecy and misdirection, and a damn site better than what’s gone on. And if Mr. Field wants to ask me for suggestions that generally aren’t followed up on, again, here’s one: Name the people and organizations on the FCBD comittee. Who’s making the decisions, specifically? I’d feel better about the organization and more inclined to support it if decisions weren’t being made behind closed doors, and without any more general consultation of the direct market.

+ My friend Mr. Bryan Lee O’Malley was interviewed on NPR’s “Fair Game” last week about Scott Pilgrim. It’s a fun little interview and it’s the last segment, so fast-forward until there’s about 10 minutes left in the program.

+ The New York Times’ “Papercuts” blog offers up The 7 Deadly Sins of Book Reviewing. In keeping with the form, the 7 sins are particular words that are overused by reviewers and critics to the point of uselessness… Are the standards in comics criticism high enough that something like over-use of word “poignant” is something we have to worry about? I mean, how often are we likely to see the word “lyrical” in the latest plot-recap of last week’s Avengers? Or am I just being a bitch? Or both?

+ At Gay Pop Culture Website AfterElton.com, prominent gay comics fan/writer Lyle Masaki has been covering comics and geek culture turning on the broader gay audience to all that’s gay in comics (though mostly the superhero and Buffy set). “Six Gay Geeks Who’ve Improved Popular Culture” is a recent piece from Lyle that tags comics mainstays like Phil Jimmenez and Andy Mangels for their comics-centric contributions to geek culture. It’s a solid read.

+ I found myself needing to write a short history of comics in North America recently, and found the website The History of Romance Comics to be a really useful compendium of knowledge on some of the most popular and bestselling comics North America has ever seen. Who knew that they also feature a great collection of romance comics reprints as well? Check out their fantastic collection of pre-code romance comics and history articles.

+ Thank you John Jakala for pointing out that Paul Levitz isn’t so hot at the math. Unfortunately, the platform for Mr. Levitz’ creative accounting is the blog & Newsarama, and the comments section there is such a fucking pit that any legitimate criticism of the facts presented in the column is likely to get drowned out by mouth-breathers still angry that every DC comic doesn’t come with bound-in $50 bills. Le Sigh.

+ Finally, though it isn’t specifically about comics I wanted to talk a little bit about bookstore culture… Here in Toronto the bookstore landscape is a-changing. Our neighbors at Ballenford Books on Architecture will be closing their doors in the next few months. They’re currently working to liquidate inventory which means some nice sales on some beautiful books… I really like this store and bookstores in general. It’s always sad when one decides to close their doors.

Meanwhile, one of my favourite indy bookshops is closing as well, but with a happier ending. “This Ain’t The Rosedale Library” will be closing their 22 year old spot in Toronto’s Gay Village, and moving to a smaller (and likely much cheaper) space in Kensington Market. They’re also having a pretty amazing sale right now, with 50% off of the already low prices on remaindered books. I’m going to try to get over there first thing tomorrow…

And that’s it for this post. Thanks for reading!

- Christopher

For the third year in a row I’ll be at the New York Comic Con, April 18-20. Actually, I’ll be in New York from the 17th to the 21st, which should be fun and a little less _intense_. I do so ♥ New York.

I think I’m going to be participating in a few panels while I’m at the show, but so far as I can tell the programming isn’t live yet so maybe I’ll just shut my gob… Anyone who wants me for a panel or anything, let me know through the usual channels, chances are I’m up for it.

Oh, and I got pillaged ($$) for a hotel room, and if I weren’t splitting it it would suck. If you’re looking to book, book soon, a lot of places near the convention were selling out as I was booking today.

- Chris

Just a quick note that Michel Rabagliati got a very nice interview in The National Post today, in advance of his appearance in Toronto this weekend:

It must be cathartic, however, for Rabagliati to tackle some of the issues he does: For instance, Paul Goes Fishing follows Paul and his partner, Lucie, as they try to start a family. The book deals with the multiple miscarriages they faced, but Rabagliati says his partner was OK with him discussing such matters in a public forum.

“It was tough,” he says. “When you start drawing it, and you start drawing the blood … it really puts you back in this particular context. It’s pretty sad sometimes. I must confess, sometimes I get a little bit depressed or I cry a bit when I [draw] that.

“I like drawing these stories about real life. [But] that’s the problem with it: I have to deal with that.”

I heard the event got a nice little mention in Xtra Magazine here in Toronto as well (Xtra.ca) but it’s not online, so you’ll have to go out and pick up a copy if you’re in the Toronto area. Thanks for putting up with my constant pimping of this event by the by, I’m quite excited about it and the books are among my favourites published by D&Q.
- Christopher

Art from Top: Paul in the Metro, French edition cover for Paul Goes Fishing, a musical panel from Paul Moves Out, and a moment of regret from Paul Moves Out. He looks so cute in his Y-Fronts. 

The Toronto event with Michel Rabagliati is coming up this weekend (Saturday March 15th at 5pm at the Lillian H. Smith Library). Rabagliati is the author of the ‘Paul’ series of graphic novels, the newest of which is Paul Goes Fishing published by Drawn + Quarterly (and it’s much more interesting than it sounds). In a lovely bit of confluence (which is to say the hard work of D+Q’s publicity director Jamie Quail) there are a couple of good articles on Rabagliati that have shown up in the past couple of days.

First up, Newsarama has an interview with Rabagliati, mostly just introducing the readership to the work of Rabagliati, although the discussion does bring to mind the recent publishing industry scandal about fake memoir in an interesting way:

NRAMA: When you started creating comics, what made you create a fictional alter-ego, Paul, through which to tell your stories rather than using real names?

MR: I did it to keep a certain distance. And Paul isn’t 100% autobiographical. The books are works of “auto-fiction” to various degrees. There’s plenty of fiction in them, but it’s fiction that draws on everyday life and isn’t necessarily visible to the reader. And so the reader thinks everything is true, when in fact what it is, is plausible.

Next up, The Toronto Star’s Raju Mudhar offers up an interview and profile of Rabagliati which touches on the artist’s move from illustration and graphic design to being a full-time graphic novelist.

“I kind of forgot about comics for about 25 years … I starting doing comics around when I turned 40 and stopped doing graphic design and illustration work. I’m that kind of guy and I do these kinds of moves in my life and they’re pretty hazardous sometimes. Now it’s paying off a little,” he says. “I’m 47 years old, I’m not supposed to do that. I’m supposed to have RRSPs at the bank, because I have a family and a house, it’s pretty perilous. It’s a career change you don’t usually do at that age.” - Michel Rabagliati

Edit: Thanks to Torontoist.com for their little primer on Michel and their plug for the event this weekend!  

Closer to home, we sent out the official press release for the event and I’ve included behind the cut below.

See you at the event this weekend!

- Chris
Read the rest of this entry »

+ Michael Cho just got out of the hospital after a fairly serious bout of illness. Cho is known around town for some great comics, but is probably more familiar to my international readers for his inks on this week’s New Frontier Special. Speedy recovery sir! There are comics to draw.

+ Doug Wright has been in the comics news as of late. First up, Drawn + Quarterly have been publishing previews (one, two) of their forthcoming biography of this Canadian cartoonist little known outside of Canada. Then, just this week a fellow named John Adcock found a number of his comics on microfilm, and decided to post them to his blog.

+ Sequential is a Canadian comics news and linkblog that, for whatever reason, I hadn’t yet added to my blogroll. I’ve rectified that now, go visit today.

Toronto Comics Events Coming Up:

March 15th: Michel Rabagliati in Toronto, http://www.beguiling.com/2008/03/reminder-michel-rabagliati-in-toronto.html

March 26th: Skim Book Launch, with Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, http://pagesbooks.ca/events.php?type=event&id=165

April 3rd: Art Spiegelman in Toronto, http://www.uofttix.ca/view.php?id=326

Finally, here’s a little bit ‘a Stompin’ Tom Connors, courtesy of Kate Beaton’s Awesome Canadian History Comics.

- Christopher