Free Comic Book Day 2013

Sending My Love From FCBD

At the start of 2013 I remember thinking to myself, "this year is going to be really good for me, but only I can make that happen." While that still stands true, the company I keep is also a huge factor in why I'm enjoying my time in comics, and I'll be damned if I don't know some truly remarkable people, creators and lovers of the medium alike.

So another year, another day of free comics; this one being by far the most fun for me personally purely because I was surrounded by really, really cool people. To everyone there--my fellow creators, the good blokes at Stadium Comics and all their kick-ass volunteers, and everyone who stopped by to drop coin and otherwise show support--I thank you all.

Comics As A Participation Sport

Most people don't realize that comic books is a participation sport and everyone involved is important in evolving the medium and keeping the industry vital. Seriously. There's a interesting circle of life that everyone from the creators, publishers, retailers, and consumers co-habit, and they are each in turn affecting and affected by each other.

For instance, as someone pointed out to me earlier this week, the Free in FCBD isn't free for everyone. The retailers giving away their free comics actually paid roughly twenty-five cents per copy for the privilege of having hordes of consumers enter their store with the hopes punters will purchase something. Yesterday Stadium Comics unloaded a whole pallet's worth of free comics to what looked like a locomotive's length of people. I can't calculate what the event must cost, nor do I want to, but Stadium Comics and every retailer participating in FCBD did so not only to generate business but to keep readers invested in the medium as well as offering new readers, young and old, a an entry level opportunity to discover something new. They do this at great cost and even great risk because they know the future of the comics medium depends on a growing, diverse readership.

With that said, I'm truly very grateful to Stadium Comics for always putting on a great time for their customers and guests. Kevin and Rob are great fellows and their staff and volunteers are rad people. The stress is over and I hope it was worth it. It certainly was for me. Thank you!

For more on just how instrumental the role consumers play in what comics get made and sold, I highly recommend this thought provoking article by Devan Faraci on Badass Digest here.

Highlights 

As I said above, the day was made great because I was in great company. Easily the coolest thing about yesterday was seeing the new books my friends created. How fucking awesome is it to have a bunch of pals team up on different projects together?

THE BLACK HOLE HUNTER'S CLUB

One such book was The Black Hole Hunter's Club, written by Ricky Lima and illustrated Shane Heron, and a cover designed and coloured by David Bishop to boot!

BHHC is a 12-page, black and white sci-fi comedy that bleeds the twisted, slapstick humor Lima and Heron are known for. When reading your friends' work it can sometimes pull you out of the story when it feels too much like the person you know. In this case, it feels like a fun hangout with hilarious buds--in space!

The book is one of two projects spun out of the recent 12-Hour Comic Marathon hosted by The Comic Book Lounge and organized by Keiren Smith.

SQUIRRELS

The second of which is D.A. Bishop's SQUIRRELS. On my brief visit to The Lounge on 12-Hour Comic I got to see this in the making, and I knew right away that Bishop had something special on his hands.

It was the same feeling I had when I checked out his zombie book, Stranger, and later again when he produced Deep Sea with the aforementioned Ricky Lima. It's official: anyone should be excited for what Bishop creates.

In the case of Squirrels, he offers a short tale that's dark, imaginative and brutal, echoing Watership Down yet attaining a wholly original quality. Since it's creation a few weeks ago it's been getting love and attention from blogs and sites like Bleeding Cool. Deservedly so, as it's exactly the kind of material that perfectly displays what exciting, unconventional things can come from pure, unadulterated comics mayehm.

Kudos, boys!

TEUTON Trailer

In a recent podcast with Fred Kennedy, Gibson Quarter, Ricky Lima and myself, Fred begged Ricky to cut a trailer for our graphic novel, Teuton.

What you see is the result of that conversation.

Thanks so much to Ricky for the support and his efforts!

This Week In Drawing... 002

It's Friday, which means it's time for my second installment of This Week In Drawing...

DEEP SEA

Last Saturday Stadium Comics hosted the first ever Halloween Comic Fest at Shopper's World, Brampton, which I attended along with many of my comic pals. It was a hoot. As always, I had an excellent time and was sorry I couldn't enjoy the company of pals like Ty Templeton, Shane Heron, Brian Evinou, Phil McClorey, Agnes Garbowska and Vince Sunico for a longer stretch of time. You can check out all the photos here at Stadium's Facebook page.

The very seriously cool thing about Halloween Comic Fest was the debut of Deep Sea, a self-published indie book by two very rad dudes, Ricky Lima (writer) and David Bishop (artist). I've known Ricky a while as a super funny chum but had never read anything he wrote. For shame! What Dave and Ricky serve up in their 8-page tale is seriously eerie and cool. David Bishop's been on my radar for a little while now as a self-made storyteller who is truly practicing the medium for the love of it. From his first issue of Stranger--his own twisted take on a zombie uprising--to the stylistic pages of Deep Sea, he's a promising artist who shows every sign of growth in the craft. The book is not without it's flaws--little things that hamper almost any indie book--but the strong, simple plot and clear storytelling show that both writer and artist have a firm grasp on spinning a yarn. For me, it's exciting to see two cool people make good music together. I'm super happy Rick and Dave's first effort came out so well, and I'm excited for what both these two creators will do in the future.

Be sure to hit up either Ricky or Dave to see how you can get your mitts on a copy!

THE JOKER

While at the event I sketched several things for nice folks, but my goal for the afternoon was to ink my portrait of the Joker in his New 52 incarnation. I boasted earlier on here that it was to be my Halloween card. Boy was it. Have a look at the process...

THE SHINING

This week at Spitballin' Comics we celebrated some of our favourite horror movie icons from the 1980's. I chose The Shining because it still gives me the creeps and I, like many other creators working from home I'm sure, can relate to the state of cabin fever Jack Torrance is eventually driven mad by. Well, the ghosts played a part too, but I as of yet have no experience with the super natural. Anyway, I had two different finals for my Spitballin' piece, but I chose one over the other because I felt the character needed to show strongly. Although I've come to like the second version better...

HALLOWEEN

I didn't dress up this year, but fellow illustrator Becka Kinzie paid me the great compliment of dressing as my pin-up character from Horror In The West. What's more, her make-up job is pretty fucking good...

TEUTON Vol.3

I've been working on the next long chapter of Teuton, starting with page layouts and thumbnails. Here's a smattering of what this week yielded...

DRAWINGS & UPCOMING

Here's a quick look at things to come from me in the coming weeks, including a peek at next week's entry to Spitballin' Comics...

Episode 100 Shenanigans

Last night Stadium Comics taped their one hundredth episode of their web series, Unboxing Wednesdays. I was in attendance, and for the record I had a great time.

Courtesy of David Bishop's phone.

Inside the Irish football club where it was held, it was fantastic seeing so many friendly and familiar faces from the GTA comic scene. Shaun Hatton greeted me warmly with hugs and kisses; Alice Quinn very kindly kept my courage up before climbing the stage; David Bishop shared with me his exciting new comic, Deep Sea. The night was filled with small, enjoyable interactions with people I genuinely like.

That's really what makes Stadium Comics and the guys who run it especially great--they've cultivated a community of comic creators and comic lovers who all want to see each other do well. A network of support and appreciation exists between creators, bloggers, video hosts, readers, fans, collectors; and it exists because Stadium likes bringing people together.

So it was fun getting together with everyone. It was a pleasure being given some time under the spotlight in a very off the cuff talking panel. It was nice having a few words with almost everyone in a inebriated state. I can't wait to do it again for Episode 200.

Thanks, everyone!

Big Sexy Interview With Ricky Lima / TEUTON Vol.2 News

Back on Free Comic Book Day @ Stadium Comics, Fred and I spoke with intrepid web-reporter Ricky Lima about TEUTON Vol. 2; namely how the wonderfully talented Agnes Garbowska will illustrate a back-up story for the new book! I thought this addition to the book was meant to be a surprise, but I totally forgot we spilled the beans on camera.

The story Agnes is illustrating pertains to the actual Lithuanian folklore behind some of the key players in Volume Two. Agnes' trademark style serves as a great contrast to my heavy inks, and from what I've seen of her early drafts she really drives it home. I'm truly excited!

It's surreal to see another artist render your creations and bring them to life. In a strange way, Agnes' pages substantiate the book as a real thing in my mind. As Kramer said when J. Peterman published his life stories, "I've broken through--I'm part of popular culture now!"

I'm on the home stretch with TEUTON Vol.2 with just a few pages left to go, then the cover, and then... I can't think that far ahead. The ending of this one packs a wallop and I'm eager for people to read it all in one go!