Fablerisms: Wherein we Segue from Free Comics to O.J. Simpson

You might consider this week’s blog post to be somewhat ‘newsy’.

Which doesn’t mean we’re a newsblog. If anything, we’re an expositoryblog – or a selectively focused varietyblog. Maybe a comic-centric infoblog.

But what’s in a name anyway? Definitions only detract from the potential of any form of medium. For all intents and purposes, The Fabler Blog is The Fabler Blog. Nothing more and nothing less.

Although, for the record, we’re not a newsblog.

Right-O, with that established, a few things:
____

The Fabler

1.) I would be remiss if I didn’t mention first and foremost the latest aesthetic overhaul to TheFabler.com. That’s right folks,  our home in this here little corner of the internet is evolving.

Click on over to observe the beauty – nay, the majesty – of The Fabler’s latest iteration. I’ll understand if it takes you a few minutes of breathless wonder before you return to peruse the rest of this comparatively humble post.
We even have some sneak peeks into the future of The Fabler posted on our brand-spanking-new About page. Also worthy of mention is the addition of Groups to the site, which you can learn more on at that same link above.

Free Comic Book Day

2.) Free Comic Book Day is right around the corner, and coming up fast! Of course, the figurative ‘corner’ here is actually a measure of roughly two months time, but still – I’m sure May 1st will be here before any of us knows it.

In fact, the day (which I personally believe Canadians should petition for to become a nationally recognized holiday) is so fast approaching, the official Free Comic Book Day website now has previews up for this year’s slate of comics.

Read More »

Artist Interview: Ben Steeves of Zom-Ben and Our Time in Eden

Last month we posted an interview with comic author and artist Gibson Twist, in which I dedicated several paragraphs to talking up the fantastic online graphic novel Our Time in Eden.

Our Time in Eden, which is written entirely by Twist, is an adult-oriented tale of teenage innocence and naivety lost.

This week, we bring you the other side of the proverbial Our Time in Eden Coin; an interview with Ben Steeves, the artist collaborating with Gibson Twist on the  project.

Ben Steeves

Read More »

Artist Interview: Kelly Tindall, Writer/Artist of Archie Snow

I reach Kelly Tindall for an interview as he is in his studio, busily inking his way through the panels of a new project with Alex Grecian (writer and co-creator of Proof).

Tindall is no stranger to collaboration with Grecian. Though Proof predominantly features Riley Rossmo as the series artist, Tindall has himself done colours for the title, illustrated a Proof feature story, and he writes and draws his own regular backup stories (which can be found towards the end of each comic).

He answers his phone and asks me to hold while he turns off his background music – Judas Priest, because he says listening to heavy metal while he illustrates helps keep his mind from wandering. Something about the pacifying voice of Rob Halford.

Kelly has been illustrating since he was a just a kid living in a small town in Northern Saskatchewan. As he describes it, he had a knack for drawing early on, and “as soon as you have a discernible talent in a small town, everybody’s like, oh go be rich and famous so we can all say we knew you.”

Read More »

February 10th Fabler Update: in which the awesome hits the ceiling

Good Wednesday, internet!

Just a brief update today, concerning Fabler interviews as well as (unrelated) the upcoming Convention season.

TCAF

We featured our first interview of the year a couple of weeks back with a profile of Gibson Twist, creator of Pictures of You, but otherwise the blog’s been slow to ramp up with 2010 creator features.

Read More »

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

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.

Read More »

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

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.

Gibson Twist
Read More »

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

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.

Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby
Read More »

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

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 »

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

-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.

Andrew Johnson
Read More »

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

-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.

Eben07
Read More »