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.

At least I think that’s how I think the adage goes. I’m not very good with adages. It might alternately be, ‘forget the past and the future, live in the now’. But that works less with what I’m going for here.
Let’s start by taking a brief glance at the Canadian comic landscape in 2009.

Jeff Lemire had a fantastic year. Hey, that rhymes! 2009 saw the release of Jeff’s original graphic novel The Nobody, as well as the launch of his own Vertigo series, Sweet Tooth. As if that wasn’t enough, he also released the collected version of his much acclaimed Essex County Trilogy.

Mariko Tamaki pulled in double honours, winning the Doug Wright Award for Best Book with Skim as well as the Shuster Award for Best Writer for her work on Skim and Emiko Superstar.

Jesse Jacobs and Kate Beaton each also ‘double-dipped’ from the Canadian recognition pool, both earning accolades from each of Canada’s two top comic award organizations. Jacobs won the Gene Day Award for Canadian Self-Publishing at the Shuster Awards, and saw his book Small Victories nominated for a Doug Wright Award earlier in the year. Beaton, the more-internet-famous-every-year creator of Hark! A Vagrant, was nominated for a Best Webcomic Shuster Award and won the Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent.

While new series’ featuring Canadian talent emerged regularly throughout the year, there were three in particular that I feel were especially worthy of mention.

The first was North 40, featuring art by Calgary-based Fiona Staples. This limited series launched in July and concluded in December, and featured a midwestern town overrun by supernatural forces. Aaron Williams wrote a clever story of Cowboy-Western meets Lovecraftian Horror, and Fiona did a fantastic job of bringing those elements to action-packed, panel popping life.

Second would be James Turner’s Warlord of Io. Originally slated for print by Slave Labor Graphics, Warlord of Io wound up as a digital exclusive. You can pick up the first two issues of this uniquely conceptualized space adventure via Comixology, among other places.

Third is, naturally, Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth. As one of the most hyped titles of 2009, the Vertigo-published tale of a young human/deer hybrid in a post-apocalyptic landscape certainly hasn’t disappointed. But then, Lemire isn’t an artist prone to disappointing his fans.

Unlike Jeph Loeb. But that’s another, completely unrelated conversation.

But of course, all of this just barely skims the surface of what 2009 held for the Canadian comics industry.

For all of you non-Canuck Fablers, 2009 has seen its fare share of news in the wider comic industry in general.

The year kicked off with a major announcement from Diamond Comics that some would deem controversial; they were raising their minimum purchase threshold, which would force some of the smaller-name titles out of distribution. The aforementioned Warlord of Io was one of the first comics cut as a result of this action.

Another of the year’s biggest headlines (if not the biggest headline) was Disney’s acquisition of Marvel. Certainly it was one of the most blogged about, with industry commentators putting forth banter as to whether the move would seriously impact the Marvel U, or merely improve distribution options while allowing Marvel complete creative control over its properties. Proponents of the second opinion pointed to Disney’s treatment of Pixar after it bought out the award-winning animation studio as an indicator of how Marvel would also likely be left to its own creative devices.

Both Marvel and DC ramped up the competitive status quo this year as well, each conspiring to use more event titles and ‘major title’ launches to enhance its own share of the comic market.

Marvel re-launched its fan favorite Ultimate Universe, in wake of the cataclysmic events of Ultimatum, while its 616 universe titles spent a year slowly (almost casually) dealing with Norman Osborne’s rise to power with the Dark Reign Event.

DC segued from Final Crisis into its inspired (and highly financially successful) Blackest Night crossover, and while a new Batman emerged in the form of Dick Grayson, Marvel brought the original Captain America back from the dead.

Bringing it closer to home, The Fabler launched at the Calgary Comic Convention in April of this last year. Since its launch as a service geared to help independent comic creators get their work seen on the web, it has built a small (but dedicated) community of initial artists, seen its share of major revamps, and started to find its footing as a long-term platform.

The Blog side of things attempted to establish itself as a news source for interviews with Canadian comic talent, while also providing unique perspectives into the industry and spotlighting the members of its own community whenever possible.

In case you missed any Fabler Blog interviews from the past year, collected for your handy reference below is a list of all of the artists/writers/creators/industry insiders we’ve spoken with to date:

Andrew Johnson (Kingdom, Golem: Small Town Massacre)

Eben Burgoon (Eben 007)

Alison Acton (Bear Nuts, The Faerie Path)

Jesse Jacobs (Small Victories, Blue Winter, Shapes in the Snow)

Joey Comeau (A Softer World, Overqualified)

Simon Roy (Jan’s Atomic Heart)

Jake Ekiss (of Indy Comic Book Week)

Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics)

Jordyn Bochon (The Day After V-Day)

Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant)

Jason Turner (True Loves)

Michael Cho (Papercut)

Steve Rolston (Emiko Superstar, Ghost Projekt)

Doug Wheatley (Star Wars: Dark Times)

James Turner (Nil, Warlord of Io)

Lar deSouza (Looking for Group, Least I Could Do)

Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Essex County Trilogy)

Jay Bardyla (Owner of Happy Harbor Comics in Edmonton)

Fiona Staples (North 40, Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor)

Troy Little (Chiaroscuro, Angora Napkin)

Gareth Gaudin (Perogy Cat, Owner of Legends Comics in Victoria)

Richard Grzela (14u Comics)

Chris Johnston (Jet Pack Mike)

Vicious Ambitious (Calgary Indie Comic Company)

Stay tuned to the Fabler Blog for more 2010 comic goodness! (And more jabs at Boise, Idaho!)

-Written 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.

This is where Ottawa-based illustrator Alison Acton comes in, with her weekly webcomic Bear Nuts.

Bear Nuts follows an assortment of dysfunctional cartoon bears as they attempt to eke out an existence in front of hordes of gawking youngsters at the Discount Zoo.

Gone are Friend Bear, Tenderheart and the rest -  in their place would be the sadistic Evil Bear, the self-medicated Prozac Bear, and the flamboyant Gay Bear. Alison draws these unique personalities (alongside a handful of their other similarly ‘unique’ bear peers) with a polished, lively art style that bounces off the panels and sticks in your head for days.

The high quality of art on Bear Nuts should come as no surprise – Acton, who has been drawing as long as she can remember, started drawing the strip after completing post-secondary studies in traditional animation and working for several Ottawa-based studios.

She founded the website Dooomcat Studios with her husband, artist Jim Charalampidis, and created Bear Nuts under the Dooomcat banner. Bear Nuts is, artistically, a collaborative effort between the two – Alison draws, and Jim colors.

Outside of Dooomcat and the webcomic, Acton is a part-time Jiu Jitsu teacher, and a professional animator/illustrator with an impressive array of completed projects under her belt. The most notable of which would likely be her work on Tokyopop’s The Faerie Path, a manga adaptation of the British series of young adult novels by the same name.

Topping off her busy schedule is Acton’s role as a new full-time Mom.

I talked to Alison about balancing illustration with mom-hood, the origins of Dooomcat, and why her next Faerie Path book might not see the light of day (despite the illustration being fully complete).

The interview is below:

KD: What does a typical day in the life of Alison Acton look like?

AA: A typical day now is a lot different than before the baby arrived and something we’re still adjusting to.  I’m lucky that Jim, my husband, also works at home so I have a lot of help.

Right now, I’m not really working on anything but the webcomic, Bear Nuts, and that’s only when Sammy lets me.  I can see routine starting to establish itself as he’s almost 6 weeks now, but I still have way less time than I used to and it did surprise me how much time he needs.  I have lots of ambitious plans of other comics and things I’d like to start but right now it’s all I can do to keep to my update schedule on Bear Nuts.

KD: It mentions on your Dooomcat profile that you work (or worked, since I imagine the whole ‘childbirth’ thing affected this) evenings at a Jiu Jitsu Dojo. Can you tell me a little about that?

AA: I am on mat leave now but I’ve worked part time teaching and doing admin stuff at two local schools for almost 10 years now I guess, holy I’m getting old…

The dojo is great as it gets me out of the house for a bit and gets me some physical activity, all pretty important when you work at home and wouldn’t otherwise get away from the computer or the drawing table!  I also love teaching kids; they can be so much fun and I’ve learned a lot I can put into raising my own little boy.  I also can’t wait until he’s old enough to get in a gi himself.  And I can’t wait to get back into that routine as I haven’t thrown anyone or been thrown in over 9 months and childbirth destroyed my abs.

KD: What was the original logic behind founding Dooomcat with Jim?

AA: Studio Dooomcat was originally a three artist team but plans fell through somewhat.  Jim and I use it as our online portfolio gallery/web site and we list at conventions under that name as we mainly sell art that we create together.  We have a series of prints called “Melees” that’s supposed to be ongoing but baby stopped that too.  I will eventually get back to them as I have grand plans to print some kind of art book some day.  You can see them at dooomcat.com in my gallery.

I’d like to have multiple web comics running at some point, all tied into the studio banner.

KD: Why Dooomcat? Why not Happpycat, or Dooomcow?

AA: I really like Dooomcow, I’ll have to draw that sometime!  I’ve always been good at drawing cute stuff, though there needs to be some kind of edge so it’s not boring.   Plus we like cats so it just fit.  I also have a comic idea for Dooom, but that’s on the pile of stuff I likely won’t get to for a long, long time.

KD: Could you draw correlations between any of the bears and personalities of people you know in real life?

I can definitely see bits of people I know in the various bears.  Inevitably, people at cons will say they know someone who’s just like such and such bear, or they’ll be able to match people to each bear.  I always wonder a little when they say they know someone just like Gimp or Tanked…

KD: Have you toyed much with the idea of adding any new bear regulars to the motley assortment you have already?

AA: There are three more fleshed out characters to be added.  I’m hoping to bring the 10th male out in the next book and then book three will introduce the last two.  I get asked all the time why there aren’t any females but really, what girls would want to live with those idiots?

KD: How did the idea of Bear Nuts evolve from a perverse parody of Care Bears to the ongoing, character-driven collection of stories you’ve built and shared online?

AA: I was working at an animation studio that wanted to do a “My Little Pony” short spoof.  We got laid off shortly after but we knew it wouldn’t be a long break.  Since I had some free time I figured “Care Bears” would be the next logical step.  Unfortunately, the studio eventually closed and nothing happened with the concepts we’d made.  I did have a lot of fun coming up with the bear designs and a friend of ours encouraged me to do something with them.  The comic slowly emerged and my friend, Jason from DMF Comics, eventually helped us out with publishing the first book.

KD: Based on fan response, are any of the bears more popular with readers than the others?

AA: Death bear is overwhelmingly the favorite and I don’t really know why as he’s had the smallest role so far. He’s the only one with “powers” and a natural need to fly solo so I don’t tend to use him too much.  This apparently made him mysterious and intriguing, and led to lots of complaints that I didn’t use him enough!

KD: How did you end up getting involved with the Faerie Path? Was manga an area you previously had a desire to work within?

AA: When the animation jobs in Ottawa all went Flash I submitted some comic pitches to Tokyopop, back when they were still looking for great original manga ideas.  My first editor there contacted me because he liked my art and we went through a couple of tests for other books before I got Faerie Path.

I went the manga route as it was a style that seemed closest to mine and Tokyopop was hiring.  I often get told my art is too cartoony for more serious stories and I can see that.  It doesn’t stop me from making my own cartoony stuff as gory as I can at times.

KD: Are you presently working on the second volume of the Faerie Path, or have you completed illustration on the project?

AA: Volume 2 was finished off at the end of the summer but unfortunately I don’t know if it will ever get published.  I had the great misfortune of having my first published work come out during a recession when publishers and distributers were going under or severely cutting their catalogues back.  I don’t think sales on vol 1 were good enough to warrant a vol 3 and thus vol 2 is in the air.  Perhaps it will come out online some day on Harper Collins’ site or on TP, I just don’t know.  Unfortunately that leaves me out of work.  Fortunately, it’s perfect timing for the baby.

KD: How has your experience working on the second volume differed from your experience with the first?

AA: I changed editors twice with all the upheaval in the industry which was disorienting and disappointing.  I did really like everyone I worked with but the overall attitude in the publishing industry was definitely negative and cast a pall over the whole process.  Vol 2 went faster since I knew what I was doing, but I had way more fun on the first one.  It’s still a great feeling of accomplishment when it’s done: 150 pages pencilled, inked, and toned!  Even if no one ever sees it.

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.

Presented for your X-mas shopping convenience, we’ve compiled a shortlist of some easily recommendable titles and miscellany, complete with links to their respective websites for online ordering.

I’ve arbitrarily chosen five categories to organize the following suggestions within, and – for bonus convenience – alliterated each of the category titles.

Canadian Comic Holiday Shopping Ideas

Humour

Hark! A Vagrant: Never Learn Anything from History

It is regularly unanimously agreed upon that Kate Beaton is hilarious. Her webcomic Hark! A Vagrant, which irreverently pokes fun at great moments (and people) in history, is validly difficult to read without chuckling. Try it, I dare you. Buying this collection of some of Kate’s best strips for someone as an introduction to her work has to be among the best things you could do for a person (providing they have any sense of humor at all).

Bear Nuts: Volume 1

Alison Acton writes a funny webcomic about a group of cute cartoon bears that live together in the zoo. Only the bears have personality disorders. Some have addictions, some dabble in sadomasochism, and still others regularly self-medicate. Oh, and there are actually bears named Gay Bear, Crack Bear, and Tanked Bear. I guarantee you know someone who will find Acton’s perverse imaginings a riot.

Least I Could Do: I Am Not a Credible Source

Ryan Sohmer and Lar de Souza are known for not one, but two famous webcomics. WoW fans might know them best for Looking for Group,  but Least I Could Do has to be their most consistently funny collaborative work. Whether you have a self-aware narcissist on your x-mas list that you’d like to spitefully mock, or if you just know someone who likes sex  jokes often embedded with pop cultural commentary, this collection of LICD’s sixth year of strips is a no-brainer.

Horror/Sci-Fi

Jan’s Atomic Heart

Robots, revolutionaries, and conspiracy plots abound in this future thriller set in Germany. Artist/writer Simon Roy might be new to comics, but his debut effort is a radtastic romp through an impressively fleshed-out alternate universe.  You don’t have to think robot terrorists plot are sweet to be able to appreciate receiving this book as a gift, but it probably helps.

The Nobody

Jeff Lemire appears twice on this list, and for good reason. The Nobody, a modern retelling of Orson Welles’ the Invisible Man, is a contemporary work of genius. Both poignant and faithful in tone to the original, the Nobody successfully transplants the mythos created by Welles to modern small town North America. With art perfectly matched to the book’s somber tone of isolation, the Nobody would make a swell gift for anyone with a love for classic thrillers, small town mysteries, or David Lynch films.

Heartfelt

The Complete Essex County

The second Lemire title that I mentioned, this trilogy collects all of Jeff’s individual Essex County tales (Tales from the Farm, Ghost Stories, and The Country Nurse) into one indispensable volume. Jeff has a talent for using his imagery an artfully sparse dialogue to tap into some of the most powerful emotions of the human experience; loss, loneliness, and ultimately, the sense of unspoken kinship that universally keeps families together.  I highly recommend this book for pretty well anyone, though hockey fans or individuals who grew up in rural surroundings might get a little something extra out of it.

True Loves (Vol. 2)

Jason Turner, together with his wife Manien Bothma, conspired to create the first volume of True Loves in 2006.  What resulted was an intriguing, genuine look at the beginnings of a relationship between two young residents of Vancouver, BC. Funny at times, while other times introspective and thoughtful, True Loves highlighted the ups and downs of an honest romance out on Canada’s West Coast. They released the second volume this past year, exploring the trials of the pair from the first volume as they endure the very real trials of a long-term relationship once the ‘puppy love’ phase has long since passed. Just a few panels of this comic are all it takes to be hooked. Also check out Turner’s website for samples of the fantastic art.

Hip titles for younger readers

Emiko Superstar

Written by Mariko Tamaki (of the provocatively well-worded graphic novel Skim) and illustrated by Steve Rolston, Emiko Superstar takes on teenage identity transition and self-discovery with a fresh sense of realism rarely present in young adult fiction. I don’t mean this book is filled with sex, drugs, and violence, for those reading into my previous statement – just that it doesn’t reek of the same dishonesty you might see in, say, a coming-of-age film starring some former mouseketeer (or something along those lines). More importantly though, Emiko Superstar really is a fun read.

Jellaby: Monster in the City

The second Jellaby book by Kean Soo is probably best bought together alongside the first, as Soo originally intended them to be a single, 300 page story. This Shuster Award-winning-story spins the tale of Portia, a ten year old girl who just recently moved to a new school, and her friendship with the titular character – a six foot tall purple monster named Jellaby. The story is undeniably charming, the artwork distinctive and eye-catching; really, what Jellaby represents is an instant children’s classic.

Hey, it’s a miscellaneous category!

Overqualified

The least directly comic-related item on my gift suggestion list, Overqualified qualifies as a great gift idea for fans of the webcomic A Softer World. Joey Comeau, who writes ASW, penned this collection of cringe-inducing cover letters as a project that originally started with several fake cover letters he actually made and mailed out. Through a series of these cover letters, Overqualified tells a story of a protagonist rife with human flaws as he candidly spills his guts out to strangers in desperate bids for employment.  Fans of A Softer World will immediately recognize Joey’s trademark dark witticism present in the letters.

Topatoco’s Collection of Holiday Greeting Cards

While Topatoco is an international purveyor of webcomic-related goodies and not a dedicated source of Canadian content, I would be remiss not to point out the excellent selection of Holiday Greeting Cards they have available for order. Be sure to check out card designs by Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics and Kate Beaton of Hark! A Vagrant.

Abominable Charles Christopher Signed Prints

Karl Kerschl’s epic weekly webcomic has earned him a healthy helping of accolades for its skilful narration and beautiful art. While technically this isn’t something exclusively released in 2009, you can place orders for recent strips to be printed, signed, and delivered for a very reasonable price.  Who wouldn’t love an artfully illustrated print of the large, furry, loveable (and easily confused) Charles Christopher?