Sure, back near the beginning of the month you had your fancy pants Academy awards ceremonies – but that’s not what I’m  referring to here.  Although I was pretty darn enthused about Jeff Bridges winning his first Oscar, and OMG did you see what Jennifer Lopez was wearing? Oh no she didn’t…

Ahem.

March has been a big month specifically for awards recognizing Canadian comic creators. Back on March 12th,  the Doug Wright Awards posted their finalists for the three categories of Best Book, Best Emerging Talent, and the Pigskin Peters Award (which recognizes “unconventional, ‘nominally-narrative’ comics”).

The contenders for these titles, touted as representing the “finest, most thought-provoking work produced by Canada’s vibrant comics community,” (a statement I would not disagree with) are as follows:

Best Book:

* Back + Forth by Marta Chudolinska (The Porcupine’s Quill)
* George Sprott: (1894-1975) by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly)
* Hot Potatoe by Marc Bell (Drawn and Quarterly)
* Kaspar by Diane Obomsawin (Drawn and Quarterly)
* Red: A Haida Manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Douglas and McIntyre)

Best Emerging Talent:

* Adam Bourret I’m Crazy
* Michael DeForge Lose #1 (Koyama Press), Cold Heat Special #7 (Picturebox)
* Pascal Girard Nicolas (Drawn and Quarterly)
* John Martz It’s Snowing Outside. We Should Go For a Walk.
* Sully The Hipless Boy (Conundrum Press)

Pigskin Peters Award:

* Bébête Simon Bossé (L’Oie de Cravan)
* Dirty Dishes by Amy Lockhart (Drawn and Quarterly)
* Hot Potatoes by Marc Bell (Drawn and Quarterly)
* Never Learn Anything From History by Kate Beaton
* The Collected Doug Wright Volume One by Doug Wright (Drawn and Quarterly)

As diverse a selection of Canadian talent as ever there were – though a few of the finalists definitely came as no surprise (*cough* Seth, Marc Bell, Kate Beaton *cough*).

Then last Wednesday came the 2010 Shuster Award Nominees.

For those of you unfamiliar with the awards, they’re sort of like the American Eisner Awards, only with more bacon. (insert sound clip of a tumbleweed rolling down a deserted street)

Actually, that’s nothing like what they are. Named after Canadian-born Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, the Shuster Awards were founded in 2005 by the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association.  The idea was to create a national awards program that would celebrate outstanding achievements by comic book creators, publishers, and retailers.

This year marks the 6th annual Joe Shuster Awards.

The 2010 nominees are as follows (with bonus Fabler commentary!):

SHUSTER AWARD NOMINEES for Work Published in 2009

Artist

* Chris Bachalo
* Darwyn Cooke
* Marc Delafontaine
* Djief  Bergeron
* Dale Eaglesham
* Stuart Immonen
* Francis Manapul
* Cameron Stewart

Thoughts: I’m going to come right out and say it: I’m a huge fan of Stuart Immonen’s collaborative efforts with Brian Michael Bendis. Immonen’s work on Ultimate-Spider-Man and New Avengers really has been top notch, and I consider it some of the best art Marvel can boast on any of its recent titles. Not to mention, Immonen has been recognized for this before – he just hasn’t quite made the leap from nominee to award recipient just yet.

He’s certainly up against some Shuster award veterans here: both Dale Eaglesham and Darwyn Cooke have won in this category before, and Cameron Stewart is a long-entrenched name in comic book art.

Alternately, Marc Delafontaine (Delaf) could be a real contender for this distinction. He’s certainly one of the most creatively idiosyncratic artists on the list of nominees.

Cartoonist

* Darwyn Cooke
* Jeff Lemire
* Bryan Lee O’Malley
* Philippe Girard
* Michel Rabagliati
* Simon Roy
* Seth
* Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

Thoughts: Holy heavy-hitters, Batman! The Cartoonist category is typically where most of the current “It” names in Canadian comics reside. Case in point: Bryan Lee O’Malley, Jeff Lemire, Darwyn Cooke, and Seth.

I think it’s pretty nifty that they included relative newcomer to the industry Simon Roy here, since while Jan’s Atomic Heart marked his freshman expedition into published comics, it really was an astoundingly well told tale.

Honestly, I’m thinking that Seth is the top contender here with his book George Sprott 1894-1975. George Sprott – which was originally serialized in the New York Times – has received wild amounts of critical acclaim, entrenching Seth’s status as a modern icon in comics.

Mind you, the Shuster Awards aren’t decided by public vote any more, which means it isn’t a popularity contest. Each creator stands an equal chance here, regardless of critical fanfare.

Colourist

* Brad Anderson
* Chris Chuckry
* Maryse Dubuc
* Nathan Fairbairn
* Lovern Kindzierski
* Francois Lapierre
* Dave McCaig
* Ronda Pattison

Thoughts: I’m a little biased in this department in that I’m a big fan of Dave McCaig’s work. His work on Northlanders, Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk, and New Avengers really sealed the deal for me, but I also especially dug the two issues he coloured on Star Wars: Dark Times.

That being said, Chris Chuckry has done some pretty swell stuff on Air and The Unwritten, and Ronda Pattison’s simple-but-playful range has worked very well on both We Kill Monsters as well as Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time.

Writer

* Kelley Armstrong
* Ian Boothby
* Hervé Bouchard
* Maryse Dubuc
* Kathryn Immonen
* Dean Motter
* Ty Templeton
* J. Torres

Thoughts: I can’t speak fully on all of the nominees in this category, since I haven’t read all of the works they’ve each been nominated for (such as Kelley Armstrong’s run on Angel issues 18-22, or Maryse Dubuc’s Les nombrils, tome 04: Duels de belles).

I can, however attest to the skill that Kathryn Immonen crafts her stories with. Especially where Runaways is concerned – which is a tricky title to helm, since it has been the stomping grounds of such celebrated talent as Joss Whedon, Brian K Vaughan, and Terry Moore.

Ty Templeton has also been receiving solid praise for his work on Star Trek: Mission’s End. An important entry in the Star Trek mythos, it follows the original crew of the Enterprise on their final mission.

An interesting fact to note regarding the Writer category: Ian Boothby, Ty Templeton, and J. Torres have been nominees every year that this Award has been in existence, save 2009 – in which only Ty Templeton’s name was absent. Of those three, Ian Boothby (known for his work on Futurama and the Simpsons) is the only one to have yet to win. Perhaps this is Boothby’s year?

Cover

* Kaare Andrews – The Immortal Iron Fist 27
* Paul Bordeleau – Faüne, tome 2: La maison du Faüne
* Darwyn Cooke – Jonah Hex 50 (DC Comics)
* Darwyn Cooke – Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter
* Marc Delafontaine – Les nombrils, tome 04: Duels de belles
* Dale Eaglesham – Miss America Comics 70th Anniversary Special 1
* Dale Keown – The Astounding Wolf-Man 16 Variant
* Igor Kordey – Unknown Soldier 5

Thoughts: If there were an award for sheer cover badassery, it would doubtlessly go to Dale Keown for his Astounding Wolf-Man issue 16 Variant cover. It doesn’t get more badass than that. Or more pointy, for that matter. Pointy claws, pointy teeth, pointy brambles, even pointy fur!

As it is, the award (almost regrettably) isn’t for sheer badassery, and so Keown is faced with some stiff competition. If I were the entire panel of jury responsible for making award decisions, I imagine I’d be hard-pressed between Kaare Andrews’ zen-esque depiction of Iron Fist, and Dale Eaglesham’s tastefully nostalgic depiction of Miss America.

Webcomics

* Attila Adorjany – Metaphysical Neuroma
* Kate Beaton – Hark! A Vagrant
* Andy Belanger – Bottle of Awesome and Raising Hell
* Rene Engström – Anders Loves Maria
* Karl Kerschl – The Abominable Charles Christopher
* Gisèle Lagacé and David Lumsdon – Eerie Cuties and Ménage à 3
* Tara Tallan – Galaxion
* Steve Wolfhard – Cat Rackham

Thoughts: A few nominees from the 2009 Shuster Webcomics Award resurfaced this year – namely, Kate Beaton, Karl Kerschl, and Gisèle Lagacé and David Lumsdon.

Last year’s read like a who’s who of Transmission X artists – aside from Kerschl, the nominees also included Michael Cho, Ramon K. Perez, and Cameron Stewart (who won the award for his work on Sin Titulo).  While I’m the last to knock TX artists, as I am of the opinion that they produce some of the finest Canadian webcomics out there, it is good to see a little more variety.

Attila Adorjany, Andy Belanger, Tara Tallan and Steve Wolfhard are all new names to the category. Curiously, this also marks Rene Engström’s first nomination. I say curious because her comic, Anders Loves Maria, has been making pretty huge waves for a few years now. While the competition is pretty stiff in this category, it feels like now – with Anders and Maria finally finished – just might be the right time for Engström to take home the award.

It should also be noted that the above is actually not a complete list of nominees – in April we’ll see the nominees for the categories of Publisher,  Comics for Kids, and the Harry Kremer Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Retailer.

Subsequently, submissions are to be accepted up until May 10th for the Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing. Jesse Jacobs won the first-ever Gene Day Award last year for his book Blue Winter, Shapes in the Snow.

The winners of the 2010 Joe Shuster Awards will be announced at a presentation ceremony coinciding with the 6th annual Toronto ComicCON  Fan Appreciation Event on June 5th and 6th.

You won’t have to wait nearly that long to find out who will take home top honors at this year’s Doug Wright Awards – the winners for that awards program will be announced at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival on May 8th.

Hot butter.

Kevin@thefabler, signing out.

-Written by Kevin de Vlaming

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

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?

Kate Beaton is in the business of making history funny.

Well – history, MS Paint, mermaids, her younger self, and a handful of beloved fictional characters. (Among other things.)

Kate is the creator/writer/illustrator of Hark! A Vagrant, a webcomic series that caters to those with a more… shall we say… refined taste in cartooning.

If you haven’t heard of Hark! A Vagrant, not only are you missing out on something ridiculously awesome, but you’re fast becoming part of a dwindling minority. Hark! A Vagrant has been making waves in webcomics since its debut back in 2007, earning much-deserved praise from news sources as diverse as Maclean’s, Wired, Comic Book Resources, and (most recently) Halifax weekly newspaper The Coast.

As the above comic would suggest, Beaton’s trademark style of humour largely involves pitting well-known characters from history and fiction into unlikely and almost always snicker-worthy situations.

Armed with a history degree herself (earned at New Brunswick’s Mount Allison University) as well as a sharp, sardonic wit and a knack for finding the silliness in pretty well anything, Beaton draws comics that anyone could find entertaining.

Her comics are also rich with Canadian content;  many of the historical figures who cameo in Hark! A Vagrant are borrowed from the annals of the Great White North – a fact that, surprisingly, doesn’t adversely affect her American readership at all.

Beaton’s familiarity with Canadian identity goes significantly beyond what she’s learned from history books. The self-identified Maritimer has lived in five provinces across the nation – she grew up in Nova Scotia, went to school in New Brunswick, worked in both Alberta and BC, and drew her webcomic full time in Ontario.

She recently moved back from Ontario to Halifax, where she’s presently working an administrative job in a museum  in addition to keeping her comic regularly updated.

Kate caught up with The Fabler Blog from her home in Halifax to chat about her early inspirations, how success has changed her life, and what she did to make her grade 6 teacher cry.

The interview is below:

KD: Hi Kate! So, you’re back in Halifax, working at a museum again – what can you tell me about the new job?

KB: Well,  I wanted to take something on because I’d been doing just cartooning for over a year and there comes a point where you miss the routine of having a regular job where somebody sets your hours and you have something to set your watch by. And also a workplace where you can talk to other people – to feel like you’re part of the real world, I suppose.

KD: As I understand it, you’ve been doing comics for a long time now – since substantially farther back than when you first started publishing Hark! A Vagrant online back in 2007.

What was the earliest comic you can remember drawing?

KB: When we were in grade 6, a friend and I drew comics about our teacher and made her cry. They were pretty mean. Well, they were made by someone in grade six, so they were idiotic for one thing, but also probably unnecessarily cruel. When you don’t know how to tell a joke yet you just call someone stupid and belittle them in a way that’s really base because that’s all you know.

We would draw her like, farting, or things like that. Solid gold elementary school.

KD: What kind of comics did you read, growing up?

KB: We only had newspaper comics, so Calvin and Hobbes, Foxtrot, that sort of thing. The library had older Peanuts and Garfield collections, which were actually pretty funny.

KD: Addressing Hark! A Vagrant more directly, I’d guess one of the reasons behind how popular it’s gotten is just how creative and original the content is.

Take, for example, your historical comics – a lot of people wouldn’t have seen a comic that puts that kind of spin on history before.

What do you think it is that appeals to people about a webcomic that mixes history and humour?

KB: Well, I’m certainly not the first to mix history and humour. Things like Black Adder and Larry Gonick’s A Cartoon History of the Universe have been around for a really long time.

I think that people who like history definitely get something extra out of reading the history comics. It’s almost like an in-joke, how it can be rewarding when there’s something that speaks to you and what you’re especially interested in.

Then there’s a lot of people who tell me, “I don’t get all of the references, but I like (the comics) anyway”. Sometimes you get people who look it up when they’re not familiar with the subject, and wind up appreciating it more. There are also people who don’t like doing that, and they sometimes don’t like the comic.

I really like doing them, and I think it shows when you enjoy something – I think it comes through to the reader, even if it is a little esoteric.

KD: If you could have your readers take one thing away from your webcomic, what would that one thing be? I guess I could also ask this question as, ‘what is the Kate Beaton agenda?’

KB: (laughs) Well that’s funny, because I never started making comics with a large audience in mind. I started making them for myself and my friends, just because they were something I wanted to do. I just hoped other people would also like them, and that’s all it ever was. I don’t really have an agenda.

KD: What are the biggest ways that you feel your life has changed since finding success with Hark! A Vagrant?

KB: Oh, it’s changed in a lot of ways. I’m not really sure what I would be doing now if I didn’t have the comics thing going on. I planned on going farther with the museum work in the long run, but now I probably won’t because the job opportunities aren’t dazzling. Comics have given me a new trajectory.

Also, I’ve met a lot of amazing people, and like-minded people that are really great pleasures to be around.

I used to draw all the time, and basically quit when I finished University. I started doing it again for fun a few years later, and now that I’m doing it all the time, it really feels comfortable.

KD: Everyone has a vice that they distract themselves with when there’s something they know they should be working on. For some people it’s Twitter, or Wikipedia, while others might turn to gaming as a tool to procrastinate.

Do you have a time-wasting vice of your own?

KB: Oh yeah, sure – the internet. Definitely Wikipedia, but I’m also one of those people who’ll compulsively read through snippets of books on Google Books. Though they don’t let you read more than just the stupid snippets, and it’s really annoying when you just get to the good part and it tells you ‘pages 38-50 are not available in this book preview’.

If I find something interesting in a Google book, I’ll go and look for other resources on the subject. Once you get on a tangent, it’s awful – unless you’re very focused, the internet can be a terrible place for that.

KD: What webcomics by other artists have you been reading lately?

KB: Oh some regulars for sure. Octopus Pie, Anders Loves Maria, A Softer World, Dinosaur Comics, Pictures for Sad Children… I could go on and on – there’s lots. Scott Campbell’s work on Double Fine Action Comics. Oh, and Loyalty and Liberty – a webcomic about the American Revolution starring cats! I think it’s great, because it’s insane. Whoever’s drawing it knows everything about the outfits and puts the right hats on the right people in insane detail, but they’re all cats. Look it up.

For more from Kate Beaton, check out Hark! A Vagrant and Kate’s Livejournal. She also has a book published collecting some of her best comics from 2007 to early 2009 that you can buy from TopatoCo.

“Social Media” is an overhyped, misunderstood, and often loaded term that has become THE generic buzzword of the past five years. The overarching term could be used to describe MySpace, Twitter, Blogging, Facebook, Bebo, and countless other digital technologies built around the idea of online two-or-more-way communication.

It is an abstract concept; a poorly defined, multi-faceted idea that many have yet to fully grasp, and even fewer have been able to master.

All the same, as it turns out, the comic community has been among those industries to embrace social media the most wholeheartedly.

Which is why I’m going to use this post to write about how useful social media can be for writers and artists looking to build a career, or even just a grassroots following, in comics (and in doing so, redundantly add my voice to the hype).

A social-media-focused post was inevitable, really. Not only does the phrase keep popping up in any sort of dialogue regarding the current state of the industry, (see Michael Cho on how comic artists are ‘internet hoes’) but it’s the most logical subject to segue into from my last Random Bits post on Community in Comics.

Since we’re dealing with an abstract concept here, let’s break it down to the basics. Assuming you have some grasp on what social media entails, (or you could get an idea what it’s about here, here and here) the aspects of social media we’re concerned with here are pretty well threefold:

Channels that allow individuals to showcase and obtain feedback on their work.

Tools that enhance your online presence by familiarizing the public with who you are.

-and-

Sites or services which provide an opportunity to network with  peers in the industry

Obviously these three aspects of social media often overlap, but for the purpose of this post, we’ll distinguish them for their separate functions.

Who’s using social media?

Everyone. Okay, maybe not everyone, but an impressively large number of the creative minds in comics today have some form of online manifestation capable of interacting with the general public.

For example, a partial list of some of the bigger industry names who tweet would include:

Neil Gaiman, Joe Quesada, Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, Mark Waid, Dave McKean, Robert Kirkman, Darick Robertson, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Steve Niles, and Marv Wolfman.

To bring it home, there are also plenty of Canadian comic book all-stars dwelling in the twitosphere, such as:

Fiona Staples, Steve Rolston, Karl Kerschl, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Michael Cho, Lar deSouza, Jeff Lemire, Ramon Perez, and Kathryn Immonen.

There are even more Canadian comic book personalities that may not have twitter, but keep an active blog or some other form of web-presence. The Joe Shuster Awards blog keeps a pretty nifty list of links to many such sites right here.

MySpace is something of a dying venue for comic book workers, and Facebook Fan pages – now a staple for many indie musicians – has yet to catch on within the comic book industry. The industry does, however, have some alternate social media channels which at least a few artists have learned to use effectively. But I’ll get to that in the next section -

How are they making the most out of social media?

If you browse through any of the Twitter feeds from the names listed above, you’ll find a pretty similar, fairly simple formula. Take equal parts of industry-related updates, (ie., new art up at xyz.bit.ly!) quirky personal news, (just made the best chawanmushi! Yum!) dialogue with peers, (@joeQuesada had enough Disney/Marvel mashup musical suggestions for the next decade yet?) and response to fan feedback (@kushyloafer thanks for the kind words, next time I promise the ogre’s shoes will be earth-shatteringly huge!).

The point is to build yourself as a real person while networking, build a loyal fanbase who feel like they have an open connection with you, and give people a real-time channel to find out what’s new with whatever you’re working on.  Plus developing a fanbase you can interact with is a two-way street; not only do they get to feel like you’re more than just an unreachable name on a comic they like, but you also get to be privy to some (hopefully) helpful feedback about your work.

Blogs kept by artists and writers work a little differently. Everyone has their own approach to blog content  – Michael Cho keeps a sketchblog showcasing his recent illustration, while Jeff Lemire exclusively publishes news regarding recent releases, and Kate Beaton alternates between providing general life updates and giving between-the-panels insights into her webcomics.

As long as you write about something connected in some way to whatever you’re trying to promote, your blog is accomplishing its goal: connecting the web-browsing masses with your work, and bridging together whatever multiple projects or social media outlets you have through a sort of ‘hub’.

Then you have the multimedia side of social media outlets. Sites like illoz, illustrationmundo.com, and even Flickr have been effectively utilized by comic artists looking to showcase and get feedback on their work.  The Fabler would fall into this category as a site that seeks to assist creators in showcasing their sequentially presented comic art.

Looking for Group artist Lar deSouza notably uses Ustream as a way to communicate with his fans while providing a window  into his creative process.

All of this might seem redundant to you if you’re already among the growing ranks of the web-2.0-savvy online comic community. If so, that’s great, you’ve probably already benefited in one way or another from  keeping a presence on the inter-webs. Alternately, you might be among those who find that even uttering the phrase ’social media’ leaves a bad taste in your mouth, or you could simply be a little intimidated by the directions that self-promotion within the industry is taking.

If the latter is the case, what you need to know is -

Why you should (or shouldn’t) hop on the bandwagon

I think I’ve given a half-decent overview as to most of the benefits social media affords to creators (and aspiring creators) in the comic industry. Those three points I mentioned before tie-in here nicely:

By building an online presence, you make it easier for your work to be ‘discovered’ and you make yourself significantly more ‘reachable’ by anyone interested in talking to you about it.

By showcasing your work online, you allow yourself to grow creatively from the feedback you receive while also having a handy way to display items from your portfolio to anyone even remotely curious about what you do.

By networking through means like commenting on blogs, posting @replies on Twitter, and engaging in dialogues on sites like Ustream, you expand your contacts within the industry and thus increase your likelihood of success within the medium.

All this is straightforward stuff, and comes with a lot of bonus benefits. Following other comic fans/creators in the industry on Twitter can be handy in giving you a good idea what’s going on in the industry, as can hopping around some of the more regularly updated creator blogs out there. Checking out the posted illustrations of other comic artists can often trigger a spark of inspiration for your own material.

I admit that I don’t really have a counter-argument to this. You really should hop on the bandwagon, if you haven’t already. If you’re still a little intimidated, just remember – it doesn’t have to be as big as a revolution in the comic industry, at its essence social media is just another toolkit to help build your name as an artist, a writer, or whatever else you’re aiming for.