The Fabler Blog

Antecedents and Archetypes of Modern Comics: Props Where Props Is Due.

February 3, 2010 – 4:29 am

Antecedent [an-tuh-seed-nt] – noun: formal someone or something existing or happening before, especially as the cause or origin of something existing or happening later.

Archetype [ahr-ki-tahyp] – noun: a typical example of something; the original model of something from which others are copied.

Doc Savage

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about Jack Kirby that touched on some his contributions to the Marvel Universe of comics, and it got me thinking. Jack was a visionary thinker, and many of his creations grew into modern-day icons – destined to be emulated, satirized, and reinterpreted in countless ways.

By Kevin | Posted in The Artists with Kevin DV | Tagged American Comic Strips, Archetypes, Batman, Buck Rogers, Conan the Barbarian, Doc Savage, Flash Gordon, Heracles, Jack Kirby, Kull, Mandrake the Magician, Pulp Magazines, Solomon Kane, The Phanton Detective, The Shadow, The Spider, Zorro | Comments (0)

Profiling Gibson Twist, creator of Pictures of You and Our Time in Eden

January 27, 2010 – 12:46 am

We at the Fabler Blog would like to humbly present you, the esteemed reader, with our first new profile of 2010. The man of the hour is a gentleman who goes by the handle of Gibson Twist, purveyor extraordinaire of online graphic novels (largely through the Smack Jeeves webcomic network).

Twist (not his real name, though it is the handle through which all of his creative content is released) is a New Brunswicker who has been active in webcomics for several years. In February of this year, he will be celebrating the three year anniversary of his primary ongoing series, Pictures of You.

By Kevin | Posted in The Artists with Kevin DV | Tagged Artists, Ben Steeves, Gibson Twist, Our Time in Eden, Pictures of You, Profile, Smack Jeeves, Webcomics, Writers | Comments (0)

Leave it to Marvel to kick off the new decade with a high-profile lawsuit.

January 13, 2010 – 6:00 am

In this latest case of comic artist versus entertainment corporation, we find, at one end, the juggernaut comic label that brought such fan-adored characters as Captain America, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, and The X-Men.

At the other end of the lawsuit, we find… the artist responsible for creating the original likenesses of all of the above properties.

Okay, okay – so as we all know, legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby has been dead and gone for over a decade and a half now. The man who (alongside Stan Lee, Joe Simon, Steve Ditko, and several others) helped build Marvel as a major player in the comic industry is not in fact the direct catalyst behind this latest nugget of comic book conflict.

By Kevin | Posted in The Artists with Kevin DV | Tagged Artists, Boise Sucks, Captain America, Creator's Bill Of Rights, Fantastic Four, Image Comics, Incredible Hulk, Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Lawsuit, Legal, Marvel, Superman, X-Men | Comments (0)

The Fabler’s 2009 Yearbook : Notable Canadian Comics and the Fabler’s First Year Online.

January 6, 2010 – 11:36 am

Happy 2010 from the Fabler Blog!

2009 was an eventful year of Canadian comic releases, major label crossover events, and comic industry developments that will have huge ramifications for years to come.

It was also the year that The Fabler, founded by Bruno Steppuhn, was birthed into existence. Which, if you were paying any attention, also meant the launch of the Fabler Blog last May.

Since, as the old adage goes, ‘to know where you’re going, you have to know where you’ve been’, I think it’d be an ideal time to look back at the past year in review.
Read More »

By Kevin | Posted in The Artists with Kevin DV | Tagged 2010, Alison Acton, Andrew Johnson, Chris Johnston, Doug Wheatley, Eben Burgoon, Fiona Staples, Gareth Gaudin, Jake Ekiss, James Turner, Jason Turner, Jay Bardyla, Jeff Lemire, Jesse Jacobs, Joey Comeau, Jordyn Bochon, Kate Beaton, Lar deSouza, Mariko Tamaki, Michael Cho, New Year, Richard Grzela, Ryan North, Simon Roy, Steve Rolston, Troy Little, Vicious Ambitious | Comments (0)

Profiling The Fabler’s Andrew Johnson, artist/writer of Kingdom and Golem: Small Town Massacre

December 23, 2009 – 10:11 am

-Written by Kevin de Vlaming

Andrew Johnson’s art, like his subject matter, is pretty dark and compelling stuff. Johnson has a knack for utilizing high contrast, shadow-filled imagery and tense, often anxious dialogue to create a tone that epitomizes ‘ominous’.

The resident of Auckland, New Zealand, has made a home for himself on the Fabler with his ongoing web-based comic, Kingdom.

By Kevin | Posted in The Artists with Kevin DV | Tagged Andrew Johnson, Artists, Fabler Contributor, Golem, Independent Comic Creator, Interview, Kingdom, Profile, The Black Gates, Webcomics | Comments (0)

Profiling The Fabler’s Eben Burgoon, writer and co-creator of the Comic Eben07

December 16, 2009 – 9:32 am

-Written by Kevin de Vlaming

‘Janitorial espionage’ may initially strike you as an odd niche to write a comic about.

I mean, who wants to read about lowly cleaners, when everyone knows that full-fledged spies are the proverbial meat and potatoes of the covert action world?

This is, sadly, a misconception that many individuals share. Individuals not familiar with the Intelligence Cleaner Agency (I.C.A.), and everything that it stands for. Individuals who have yet to read about the adventures of one Eben07.

By Kevin | Posted in The Artists with Kevin DV | Tagged Dan Bethel, Eben Burgoon, Eben07, Fabler Contributor, I.C.A., Independent Comic Creator, Interview, Ninja Dan, Spy Fiction, Webomics, Writers | Comments (1)

Creator Interview: Alison Acton of Bear Nuts and The Faerie Path

December 9, 2009 – 1:43 am

-interview by Kevin de Vlaming

Remember Care Bears? Those disgustingly cute, fuzzy furballs of moral fibre from the eighties that took the merchandising world by storm?

Chances are, you not only remember the Care Bears but also what they represented to kids; drearily wholesome examples of those values considered essential to a healthy mindset. The likes of Tenderheart Bear, Friend Bear, and Share Bear taught us that with a little compassion, we could overcome anything.

At its root, Care Bears is a concept that is begging to be satirized.

Alison Acton
Read More »

By Kevin | Posted in The Artists with Kevin DV | Tagged Alison Acton, Artists, Bear Nuts, Dooomcat, Interview, Jim Charalampidis, The Faerie Path, Tokyopop, Webcomics, Writers | Comments (1)

The Fabler Blog Presents: Canadian Comic Holiday Shopping Ideas

December 1, 2009 – 11:11 pm

The festive season has descended! (Along with, for those of us in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a thick and unholy blanket of snow).

The gladiator arena of a shopping event known as Black Friday has also come to pass, marking another herald of the soon-to-be-frantic X-mas buying season.

If you’re like me and you don’t start buying your holiday gifts in June, there’s a good chance you’re still scratching your head over what to buy your rolling crew. That’s a crew that you roll with. Like friends, only with more rep. Nevermind.

Anyway, point is, if you have some presents left to buy for individuals even mildly interested in comics – don’t sweat it! The Fabler is here to help.

By Kevin | Posted in The Artists with Kevin DV | Tagged Abominable Charles Christopher, Alison Acton, Bear Nuts, Canadian Comics, comics, Emiko Superstar, Essex County, Hark! A Vagrant, Holiday Shopping, Holidays, Jan's Atomic Heart, Jason Turner, Jeff Lemire, Jellaby, Joey Comeau, Karl Kerschl, Kate Beaton, Kean Soo, Lar de Souza, Least I Could Do, Manien Bothma, Mariko Tamaki, Overqualified, Ryan Sohmer, Simon Roy, Steve Rolston, The Nobody, Topatoco, True Loves, Webcomics, X-Mas | Comments (0)

Developer Roadmap – What’s Coming @ The Fabler!?

November 26, 2009 – 4:39 am

Hi Everyone! It’s me again. I’d like to take a few minutes to give everyone an update on what’s in store for our little comics community. As I’ve iterated a few times in my previous blog posts, we are working on building more than a web comics social portal. So I’m here to let you all in on a few little secrets, but not all, that we’ve been working on diligently. Understanding of course that in the forth-mentioned, we’re not trying to promise farm but rather goals that we’re committed to achieving.

It’s been a few months since we launched TheFabler v1.5 and admittedly so, we’re never going to get it right the first time every time. That’s where you come in!

First I would like to thank all those who have helped us with your feedback, submissions, and participation. Your opinions, thoughts and ideas are firepower to our cause! To summarize some of what we’ve heard so far…

– I registered for the site but have not received my activation email.
– Comics can be created by more than one person.
– The Flash Viewer is slow and doesn’t always work properly.
– I don’t understand what TheFabler.com is when I first visit the site.
– Updating comic submissions is clunky.
– I’d like to submit more than just 10 pages of a comic.

We’ve heard you and are continuing to listen to you. Between now until the end of December, we are working on fixing some of the above mentioned based on your feedback as well as committed to completing our 2009 roadmap goals. So over the course of the coming weeks, expect updates to the site with some radical changes! With your help we can continue to improve on the existing features of the site as well as add new features that will benefit you.

By Bruno @ The Fabler | Posted in Developer Roadmap, Fabler News | Tagged Comic Community, Comic Fans, comic industry, fabler, Social Media, Webcomics | Comments (0)

Oh hey, how are you? (Another 100 days of the Fabler Blog)

November 25, 2009 – 3:00 am

Hello ladies, gents, and gender ambiguous followers of the Fabler!

This week we don’t have a grand amount of news kicking around the site, and we’re between interviews with a few choice comic creators and artists that we’ll be featuring in the coming weeks.

So in this lull, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank those of you who’ve been following us to date, and give you a little update on where we’re at, both as a site and a blog.

If you’re experiencing a nagging sensation of deja vu, it’s probably because I posted something similar roughly 100 days into the Fabler Blog. Since it’s been another hundred and some-odd days since that, this is somewhat appropriate.

Though we’ve been around since last April, in a lot of ways the Fabler is still just getting its bearings. Like a newborn in its first year of life, we’re still all puky and uncomfortably soft on the back of our head. That is to say, we’re working on building a solid direction.

By Kevin | Posted in The Artists with Kevin DV | Tagged A Softer World, Boise, Fabler Blog, Indy Comic Book Week, Jake Ekiss, Jesse Jacobs, Joey Comeau, Opinion, Simon Roy | Comments (0)

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