Holy snap, ladies and gents.
The other digital shoe has finally dropped. Or… digitized?
I need to stop getting hung up on creative figurative language use.
Marvel Comics has announced Same Day Digital comic releases. For those unfamiliar with the term, historically (as far as the short history of digital purchasable comics goes ) there has been a delay between the time that comic issues release in stores and when you can purchase them online.
Preview night for the San Diego Comic Con – that massive vortex of nerd entertainment where comic book geeks and media lovers collide in a frenzied orgy of press announcements and celebrity guest appearances – is tonight. The Convention proper begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday, and you can bet some of the biggest entertainment news of the year will be heard/posted/tweeted/reposted all over the interwebs over the next half week.
Are you pumped, stoked, or (whatever the kids are saying these days) yet for SDCC?
If not, gather, ye huddled masses, and I will relate some of the stuff to be excited for at this year’s San Diego Comic Con.
All the world’s a page (of sequential art) to Andy Belanger, Conor McCreery, and Anthony Del Col, creators of the runaway hit comic series Kill Shakespeare.
Kill Shakespeare is a twelve-issue comic book series published by IDW which follows the conceit that Shakespeare’s characters all exist in the same universe, and further to that, they are aware of the Bard and his ability to alter their stories.
Several weeks back, I was fortunate enough to catch up with Anthony, Conor, and Andy at the 2011 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.
It’s an interesting age we live in for creative types working in the North American comic book industry.
As Calgary Comic Expo spokesperson and co-organizer Steven Hodges points out, “The comic industry these days has made it so that you can pretty much live and work wherever you want to.”
He further goes on to say that, “It’s important to recognize those Canadian comic creators that choose to stay to work and live in Canada. From Fiona Staples, to Cary Nord, to Riley Rossmo, we have some fantastic talent that are making names for themselves in the industry and I’m very happy that they are still in our own backyard. When we found out that the Shuster’s were coming to the Calgary Expo we were very excited, because of that strong contingent of Canadian creator talent here in Western Canada.”
To bring you up to speed, The Joe Shuster Awards for Canadian Comic Book Creators just held their 7th annual awards ceremony here in Calgary at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.
We’re two days in to the 2011 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, and I feel at this point I can safely report that it has been a hectic mess (of awesome).
The Calgary Comic Expo, which has steadily been growing in both size and attendance since its birth in 2006, was this year extended from a two day Saturday/Sunday event to a full three days. Friday being an ‘advance sneak preview’ day, before some of the larger media guests (read: William Shatner) arrived at the Con. The hectic nature of the con can be seen as growing pains as Calgary adjusts to its largest pop culture expo taking on a life of its own. As it has grown in size, so too has its recognition spread as one of the larger North American Comic and Entertainment conventions.
It’s been a big year for The Anthology Project.
Volume One of their comic book collection came out just over a year ago, and it was met with some of the highest praise I’ve seen for an anthology in a long while. In fact, it even earned them an Eisner nomination. Riding on this praise for Volume 1, Nick Thornborrow and co-editors Joy Ang and Sam Bradley set their sights on making a second Volume. While their first release was, at its core, a collaboration between a group of acquaintances and friends, Volume 2 would expand their circle of collaborators to include artists they follow and admire.
Last week I mentioned a groovy new webseries featuring artwork by Francis Manapul (The Flash, Superman Batman, Witchblade) that would be launching on June 7th. Which is yesterday, for the calendar deprived.
The webseries, titled Murdoch Mysteries: Curse of the Lost Pharaohs, struck me as an innovative blend of live action and a sort of animation that is very motion-comic-esque. I talked to Francis Manapul (The Flash, Superman Batman) about his experience making the Murdoch Mysteries webseries, how he ended up working as a ‘comic artist for TV shows’, and how he manages to juggle his time between this sort of thing and his work for DC Comics.
Welcome to June, Fabler-followers and comic loyalists! (We are also inclusive to comic patriots, revolutionaries, and dabblers. Comic charlatans need not apply. Unless you want to. In which case, please do.) What does Canadian television series The Murdoch Mysteries have to do with comic books?
Totally glad you asked. Canadian comic artist Francis Manapul, who is well known for his work on Witchblade, Legion of Superheroes, and (most recently) The Flash , is heavily involved with a new Murdoch Mysteries webseries that ties into the show.
Oh hey guys, thanks for dropping by the Fabler. We hope you enjoyed the last month or so worth of comic creator profiles and interviews, and this week we’re coming at you with a more news-y post.
Coming atcha. Coming at-cha. Yeaahhh.
There are a few cool things worthy of note in this week’s comics round-ups found around the web, but before I get to those, I wanted to mention how unbelievably rad it is that Adriana Blake (of the webcomic Fall On Me) took the time to translate my entire interview with her into Spanish!