Issue #1 of Tide of Blood has very early positive review!
We were able to get a very early sneak preview of our Issue #1 of The Tide of Blood series to the folks at Diamond's Previews World magazine a couple weeks ago... and they liked it so much that they named it a Staff Pick for the month of February!
Kate Henning writes: "If you’re looking for a solid story with complex characters and a little bit of magic, believe me when I say you’d do well to join them." (Click on the image to read the preview.)
We're excited to see what others think of the issue (and series) when it's released in February. Stay tuned for more information on the new series over the next little while.
CBC National & The World at Six Profiles!
We have been fortunate to receive a great deal of media attention since the launch of our series last year. However, one of our biggest hits will be on air later this week.
The major Canadian television network CBC will be doing a profile of Kill Shakespeare on their flagship nightly news and current affairs show The National. It is scheduled to air this Friday (the 17th at 10pm) in a run-up to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo and the Joe Shuster Awards (for which we are nominated for Outstanding Comic Book Writing). The news team, led by reporter Arisa Cox and producer Nigel Hunt, followed us as we did talks at Barbara Frum Library (Toronto) and Bayside Secondary School (Belleville). They also interview teacher Kent Allin and Soulpepper Artistic Director Albert Schultz.The profile will also be aired on CBC Radio's program The World at Six with Alison Smith. This program is schedule to air the same day - Friday the 17th at 6pm.
Please keep in mind that these dates and time are all subject to change, depending upon the events of the day. But if you're in Canada and around the television or radio tune in and find out more about Kill Shakespeare! We will also post links once everything goes live online.
Nominated for a Joe Shuster Award!
Fresh Off the Presses!It was announced earlier today that Conor and I have been nominated for a Joe Shuster Award in the category of Outstanding Comic Book Writer(s)! The Shusters are the Canadian comic book creator awards. We are very happy for the nomination, especially since we're in the same category as great pros such as Kathryn Immonen (one of Andy Belanger's mentors), Jeff Lemire, J. Torres and Jim Zubkavich (for the excellent and highly-recommended Image series Skullkickers).You can click on the logo below to go to the official press release.I'd like to say, though, that I'm disappointed that our artistic team failed to receive any nominations. Ian Herring has been doing great work as our colourist and Kagan McLeod as our cover artist. However, the work that Andy Belanger has been doing is phenomenal and really should have been recognized by the nominating committee. He has received glowing reviews from so many comic and mainstream pres, especially for an indie title like ours. He deserves a nomination FAR more than Conor and I do.The awards will be announced at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo on Saturday, June 18th. So let's get the campaigning to begin (I'm going to try to out-do Harvey Weinstein with this one...)!
BBC: "A Controversial New Comic"
We were profiled on BBC World Service's The Strand yesterday. The Strand is a daily arts and culture radio show that goes out worldwide with a HUGE listenership (is that a word?...). It was a fun interview (conducted at the CBC studios back in December) that discusses the creation of the project, our interpretation of the characters, the response from academics and scholars, and some fun things about the project.You can listen to the interview by clicking on The Strand logo (it's the fourth chapter of the show).
The BBC website has also posted a number of photos from the comic book. You can check out their slide show (with interesting captions) by clicking on the BBC World Service logo below. I'm not really sure where they got the Ryan Gosling bit from, though - perhaps they saw the Stephen Holt interview earlier this month?
We've made the Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2011 List!
Every year YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association) put together a list of the top graphic novels that are suitable for teenagers (between the ages of 12 - 18). This is a prestigious list that always has some top titles from the major publishers as well as a wide range from indie publishers and self-published authors.Just an hour ago Kill Shakespeare was officially named as a finalist for the 2011 List!
This is a great accomplishment and validation that what we're doing with this project is bearing fruit. We've heard from so many teachers, librarians and students that tell us that they're really enjoying the series and making this list will hopefully allow more people to check us out.Thanks to everyone on the committee - and kudos to other friends of ours that were on the list, including Jamar Nicholas for Fist Stick Knife Gun, Mike Carey for The Unwritten, Vol 1., Jeff Lemire for Sweet Tooth, Vol. 1 and John Layman for Chew, Vol. 1. All great selections and we're honoured to be on the list with them.You can see the entire list by clicking on the YALSA logo above.
Toronto Launch Party!
As we prepare to head out to New York later this week for our gallery show and a couple signings, we are also prepping for the launch of the trade paperback here in our hometown of Toronto. To celebrate everything that we've been able to accomplish, and to thank all of those that have assisted us along the way, we'd like to throw a party here in Toronto!The Toronto launch party for Kill Shakespeare Volume 1: A Sea of Troubles will be on the evening of Tuesday, November 16th from 6-10pm at 918 Bathurst Centre. An old Buddhist temple, it has now been converted to an arts and media centre, run by some old friends of mine, Sean Lehane and Jeff Wright.
(Click on the photo for a closer look at the invitation.)Details for the event are TBA but it will involve a gallery of the original art work from the series, food, beverages, books available for sale and a great theatrical event - we're going to host a Shakespearean Tournament of Champions which will have all of the Bard's greatest characters battling each other - and the audience will play a role in deciding who fights! More information on this will come in the next week or so but this should be a great event.So all friends, Romans and countrymen in the Toronto area are invited to attend and celebrate all of our success thus far - and more to come!
Perhaps the most valuable members of our team...
One of the things that came out of our meetings two weeks ago at Book Expo America was how impressed everyone (sales reps, retailers, librarians) was with the media coverage that we've been receiving. Yes, we have a very interesting story that media can quickly pick up on - a unique spin on Shakespeare in a different medium, the story of two Canadian entrepreneurs putting this together, etc. However, we would not have been able to get the amount of PR that we have thus far without the great publicity teams that we're working with.
Representing us in Canada is MDG & Associates, a PR firm based in Toronto that specializes in the publishing industry. Working directly with the super-talented Sarah Stevens and Debby de Groot, we've been able to land national media hits in the National Post, the Globe & Mail and CBC Radio 3 (in addition to some other great radio spots). These two wunderkinds are already planning a major media push for us leading up the release of our first trade in November and we look forward to seeing what rabbits they pull out of their hats.Thanks to Sarah and Deb for their great work thus far - and we look forward to some major media hits in the fall!
Very interesting comments!
We are currently in San Francisco to attend the WonderCon this weekend. We've reached out to some media and one who picked up the story was Topless Robot, a great site discussing pop culture. Click on the logo to go to the site.
Entitled "The Justice League of Stratford-upon-Avon, it's a great article. But what's even better are the comments posted with the article! A small sampling:
"I was completely sold on the mention of Falstaff."
"This sounds just ludicrous enough to be excellent."
"A plague on the houses of those that didn't call this KILL WILL!!!"
"Well played, IDW. Well played."
Our first radio interview together...
Earlier today Conor and I were interviewed on Toronto's CIUT 89.5FM, talking about Kill Shakespeare as well as the upcoming Toronto Wizard Comic-Con. Take 5, hosted by Dave Peterson, it was a fun twenty minutes of conversation about the Kill Shakespeare concept, the comic book industry in general, anticipated academic reaction to the comic book series, the upcoming Wizard Con, and our panel on Friday afternoon.
Thanks to Dave Peterson, who was a very skilled and polished host (asked us some very good questions that kept the conversation alive). Thanks to Crystal Luxmore, who helped to co-ordinate the interview. And thanks to everyone who listened - my email and Facebook boxes were filled with well-wishes from the interview.It was a great warm-up for future media interviews!
MASTER Media Links
PRESS:"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Bard?" - Comic Book Resources, February 8th, 2010."A Comic Treatment for the Bard" - The Irish Times, January 6th, 2010."Why Are Two Canadians Out To Kill Shakespeare?" - Publishers Weekly, July 28th, 2009BLOGS:"Speculator's Corner - What's Hot to Trot" - Bleedingcool.com"New Comic Series - Kill Shakespeare" - The Shakespeare Post."Kill Shakespeare" - Lodestar Theatre Company."Kill Shakespeare: A Comic Jab and Literary Punch" - OneMetal.com"Kill Shakespeare: A Comic Jab and Literary Punch" - What Is Techno Again?"Kill Shakespeare in 2010" - Sequential: Canada's comix news and culture."Preview: Kill Shakespeare" - Bleeding Cool"Kill Shakespeare" - All Things All Things"Kill Bill: Willy D. Shakes to Get Graphic Novel Treatment with a Twist!" - EN/SANE"Kill Shakespeare" - Superpouvoir (for all our French fans)"What's New" - Graphic Novel Reporter (we're about half-way down)