Category Archives: Comic News and Interviews

Murdoch Mysteries Webseries, DC Launches 52 New (Old) Comics, and The Shuster Awards at Calgary’s Comic Expo

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.

Hugo and Harry Kremer Awards, The End of New Reliable and a Milestone for Action Comics

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!

Seven Questionably Cast Heroic Movie Mentors I’d Like to See on the Big Screen

By now, it’s likely you’ve heard the big news that Waterworld’s Kevin Costner has been confirmed for the role of Jonathan Kent in the Superman reboot. In each of the various origin stories surrounding Superman’s journey from a Smallville schoolboy with severe pubescent growing pains to the world-famous Man of Steel, Jonathan ‘Pa’ Kent plays a seminal role in Clark’s development. To any and all who may be skeptical of Kevin Costner playing Clark Kent’s human Dad, I say this: It could be worse. Here are seven examples of mentor figures in classic hero movies that could have been cast differently, to varyingly entertaining affect:

What If: Gravity Prisoners Bono and MODOK met in the Gutters

Welcome to March.

Here in Calgary, this translates to: “Hope you like -28 degrees Celsius, b*tches.” (For you backwards American types, this equates to -18.4 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Just a quick update this week – ostensibly to show you that we care, but in actuality because there is a bomb wired to the underside of my desk and if we miss a weekly Fabler Blog post it WILL go off. Sort of like Speed meets Newsies, but with all of the musical numbers written by Sting and performed as duets by Dennis Hopper and a young Christian Bale.

Godzilla wreaks havoc on comic shops, Spider-Man Musical just a wreck (and more news of this nature)

Dear internet,

Today we are a comic book news aggregator. Oh what? We can do that?

That’s right, internet. When we’re not interviewing crazy talented comic book writers and artists, talking up the current Fabler content, or ‘critically analyzing’ social web outlets like Formspring and Kickstarter, we reserve the right to arbitrarily talk about new stuff that interests us.

We can say we choose our own adventure ’round here at the Fabler Blog. Can you?

Fabler Blog Update for the week of February 16th

Hey Fabler friends, guess what’s on the menu for this post?

If you guessed an entree of more savoury Formspring goodness, pat yourself on the back, grab some utensils, and pull up a chair.

Oh, but I kid. Please, contain your raucous laughter so we can move on to topics of substance. So this week I thought we’d take a look at some of the content our fabulous users have updated to The Fabler. If the term fabulous is too effeminate or grandiose for some, you could substitute ‘creatively talented but rough around the edges’. Sort of like Jeff Bridges.

A selection of comic artists and writers who Formspring (or, interviews without interviewers)

Hey guys, you know what’s sweet? Formspring. As more comic artists and writers embrace its Q & A approach to direct interactions with fans, it virtually eliminates any work associated with my role as an interviewer/blogger. Those comic artists and writers use it as a method to answer relevant, compelling, or as the case often is, utterly ridiculous questions posed to them directly by their fans. Here are some comic-related Formspring accounts that you might find worth a perusal.

Commenting on the 2011 Joe Shuster Award Nominees

The Joe Shuster Awards are presented annually to talented comic artists and writers from the Northern Wastes we affectionately refer to as ‘Canada’. Named after some artist guy who co-created a superhero or something, they celebrate outstanding achievements by Canadians in the fields of comic books, graphic novels, and webcomics. As of yesterday, the official nominees for the 2011 Shuster Awards have been published online at the Joe Shuster Awards home page. Take a gander for yourself if you’d like, but I’ll break it down for you anyway.

Crowdfunding comic book anthologies: making self-publishing just a little more financially viable

Making your own indie self-published comic books isn’t a cheap endeavor. Getting involved with a comic collective and participating in the creation of an anthology has long been a preferred alternative for indie creators looking to maximize their exposure while minimizing cost, but the fact is, it’s still certainly far from free. Luckily the rise of crowd-sourced fundraising seems to be providing comic creators with entirely new avenues to build enough capital to print a high quality anthology.

The Fabler’s 2010 Yearbook : Our Sophomore Year, Plus the 2010 Interview Catalogue

In keeping with tradition, we’re ringing in the new year by looking at some of the stuff that’s impacted our little corner of the interweb over the past twelve months. This includes some of the news bits the Fabler Blog has reported on, some of the changes and landmarks the main site has experienced, and of course, a Coles Notes list of the interviewees we’ve featured on the site throughout 2010.