Assassin's Creed Released to Great Acclaim!
Thanks SO MUCH to everyone in the last week that has purchased, read, reviewed, enjoyed, commented on ASSASSIN'S CREED #1, released last Wednesday. We were so happy to hear about how great the pre-orders were and the early reviews. Some reviews are here, here and here. We, along with Ubisoft and Titan Comics are thrilled with the response. Thanks so much!
We have some great story coming up for you so keep following us and keep reading Assassin's Creed!If you haven't read it yet, you can find a preview of the first issue here.
Issue #3 is released today!
The day has arrived! Issue #3 of The Tide of Blood is in comic book shops around the world today!
We're quite excited about this issue. The continuation of the saga of Juliet, Romeo, Hamlet, Miranda and Prospero continues in this issue and not only are we happy with the story but Andy Belanger's artwork is amazing. He has a great take on the look of Prospero but also the mad wizard's setting.The early reviews are quite positive as well.Keith Silva from Comics Bulletin writes: "As aesthetics go, Kill Shakespeare: Tide of Blood comes as close to perfection -- to some sort of golden ratio of comic books -- as any art aspires to achieve. "Lyzard from AintitCoolNews.com writes: "What Belanger chooses to do with Prospero’s “study” works as both an homage to the source material and a giant leap from anything put to paper, canvas, stage, or film."Samantha Roehrig from Comic Bastards writes: "I love how raw the pictures are in this comic. It draws me into the play and I can’t stop thinking I should drink poison or stab myself with a dagger in order to fit in. I can’t wait for the big fight scene. I love Shakespeare and I am wondering why it took me so long to pick up this comic. So don’t miss out on this newest installment."
First full review is a positive one!
The first review is in... and it's a positive one! The comics blog Part-Time Fanboy, overseen by a former Aint It Cool News reviewer, posted a review of the first issue of The Tide of Blood earlier this week and praises it for how we've been able to take our characters in new directions. What is really cool is this section:"I want to give major kudos to Andy Belanger as he continues to do a fantastic job on the illustration chores. Belanger has changed his style somewhat from the art of the original series. I don’t know what it is…it seems as if the art in Tide of Blood is a bit rawer and less refined. I actually like this sort of newfound revision to Belanger’s technique. It adds to the feel of a rag-tag group of characters trying to pull a new society together. It gives the whole thing a sort of a “survivalist Shakespeare” vibe that I loved. Also different is the palette of the whole book. From what I remember of the original series it consisted of a lot of reds and browns that added a nice warmth to the book. The colors in this first issue of Tide of Blood are decidedly different. The hues and shades are somewhat brighter than the previous series and that gives TOB very much a feeling of being an all-new chapter in an ongoing saga. It’d be very easy for colorist Shari Chankhamma to stick to the look of the first series since it was such a success. This very slight change in the visuals of the book struck me as a bit of a bold move on her part which made me feel that the people behind Kill Shakespeare were going to be as courageous with their choices in this mini-series as they were with their first outing."Click on the image below to read the entire review.
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.
A fan has fun going through Kill Shakespeare in this video
Shea, a voracious comic book reader, has done a number of extensive reviews of books over the last few years. She recently stepped up and did a full review (and full synopsis of Kill Shakespeare) on her website video section, Spoilerific!.SPOILER ALERT! Shea goes through the entire comic book story here so if you haven't read it, perhaps you shouldn't go through all of it with her.Overall she does like our series. She makes a number of funny remarks - and doesn't like every element about the series - but I did enjoy her enthusiasm about it. There are a few mis-interpretations but she does raise a couple really good questions about specific elements. I found it quite enjoyable.(And her friends that did cameos are also pretty fun.)Here's the video:
AintItCool News @$$IE Awards: Best Writer!
We've received a number of positive reviews for our series on AintItCool News, which is still one of the top comic review websites. But yesterday we received a further plaudit from them: Conor and I were listed as one of the top comic writers of 2011 in their 8th annual @$$ie Awards!
It's a very distinguished list that includes fellow Canadians Jeff Lemire (Animal Man) and Ray Fawkes (One Soul), as well as industry stalwarts like Scott Snyder (American Vampire) and Mark Waid (Daredevil). We're honoured to be included with these other talents, and for the recognition for the series!You can read the write-up on us by Lyz "Lizard" Reblin by clicking on the trophy image above or clicking here.
What's the best beer to drink while reading Kill Shakespeare?
It's generally not my policy to post every review we find on Kill Shakespeare - there simply wouldn't be enough space and time for me to post everything. However, there was one posted yesterday that I thought quite funny...
The great iFanboy site has a regular column called Comic Shots. They describe is as such: Each week the iFanStaff passes along a tasty drink recipe and an even tastier comic book recommendation. The cocktail (or beer, or wine, or booze) and the comic can both be enjoyed independently, but they have a common theme and when served together they can make for the perfect reading experience.And this week it was Kill Shakespeare.And the drink? Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout by Rogue.Reviewer Ryan Haupt describes the drink and then gives it a good review. As for the book? As he says, "it... serves as a fine example of what can be accomplished with basic ingredients used in the right way."I'll let you enjoy the article - and perhaps the drink sometime...(Click on the image to read the review of the book and drink.)
Help Review us on Amazon!
Have you heard either of our first two graphic novels? Did you like either of them ? Did you not like them? (If you didn't, I'm not really sure why you're checking out this site...) In either case, we'd like to request your help and help post a review on Amazon.com!
It's quite simple - head onto any of the chief Amazon sites and quickly post a quick note on whether you liked the book(s) or not. It'll probably take a couple minutes but would be an IMMENSE help to us!For Volume 2, you can access the site the titles here: United States, Canada and U.K.For Volume 1, you can access the specific title sites here: United States, Canada and U.K.
All positive reviews for Issue #11 (round-up)
With the launch of our 11th issue came a wide range of reviews for the issue. And we're happy to see that they are all quite positive - and all look forward to the release of final issue in July!
Starting off, we received a review by David Pepose at Newsarama (click on the image to go to the review). The site, of course, is one of the top out there for news and reviews in the comic and geek worlds and I must admit that I felt a little slighted that we had only received one review from them for the entire duration of our series. However, David has stepped up to the plate and put together a great review, with mainly positive and some slightly negative and constructive thoughts on our issue (and series). My favourite: "But for what is essentially a war comic that hits the literary fanboy button, this is an issue that will be appreciated by diehards and new readers alike."
Secondly, top comic website, ComicBookResources, posted another review of one of our issues last week (after having missed Issue #10). This is another positive - however, writer Ryan K. Lindsay also wonders if, with one of our plot points (that of a new side of Puck) we have "jumped the shark" ("There have been some creepy and imaginative visuals in the past, but Shakespeare’s multi-eyed soldier takes this book in a sudden and jarring direction. It’s a twist, and one not all will like, but it certainly provides a rich backdrop on which to paint this finale."). But overall he likes the issue and especially enjoys a scene with Hamlet and Juliet (one of my favourite moments in the entire series).
A small comic blog, Paradox Comics Blog, did a mini-review of our issue. Review Matt C gave us an 8/10 and said that "the whole thing sets the pulse racing through pure excitement as the denouement appears upon the horizon."
Perhaps our most loyal reviewer and interview, ComicBookDaily's Andrew Ardizzi, posted another very positive take on our series, stating, "The series has been tremendously well done up to this issue and barring an unfathomable gaffe in the final installment I would dare call it a comic book masterpiece."And finally, we love to shine the spotlight on new blogs and writers. One of which is Shaun Daniels of Horror Haven Reviews. He posted his first review of our series and stated that he really enjoyed it, stating, "Put down The Merchant of Venice or A Midsummer’s Dream and pick up Kill Shakespeare…it is Shakespeare for the 21st century."
Another great Aint It Cool News review!
Earlier this week comics reviewer Liz Reblin from Aint It Cool News wrote up a review of Issue #9. Lyz had listed IDW Publishing as her favourite publisher of the year and also stated that she was looking forward to reading through Kill Shakespeare. We were able to make copies available to her - and she liked it!
Perhaps the best quote of the piece: "Do whatever you can to get your hands on these because this is probably one of the strongest series out there, for many reasons."Read the entire review by clicking on the cover art.
Reviews for Issue #9 Are In!
The early reviews for Issue #9 (Is That a Dagger I See Before Me) are now in... and they are all positive!"This issue features what is hands down one of my favorite moments in comics this year. I turned the page and literally gasped as Hamlet falls under the water to be attacked by monsters made of pages Shakespeare has discarded." - ComicBookResources
"Overall the issue was a great read. Del Col and McCreery’s writing has definitively improved throughout the run and it’s showing in the revelations of this issue and the overall pacing of it. Their scripts feel very detailed, and with Belanger’s artwork, acts as the perfect complement to each other. Together they have created one of the best books in comics, that after nine issues, has not let up in either its quality or presentation." - Comic Book Daily"Issues 1 through 9 have been solid all the way through, being almost perfect. I can only assume that there are only three more issues remaining for this particular arc. How in the world this is going to wrap up in three more issues I have no idea. But I’m excited to see what happens!" - The Heretics Blog
Photos from Our Folger Talk
As mentioned in earlier posts, Conor and I gave a talk at the Folger Shakespeare Library this past Tuesday, February 15th. We were invited by the Library to talk about our interpretation of the Bard's characters and stories on our comic book series.The Folger contains the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works and contains an immense amount of resources and artifacts from Shakespeare's time. It was a treat to visit the location - I myself found it really inspiring that so much effort was put together to catalogue his works.Our talk went very well - you can access a review of the evening by writer comicsgirl.com's Eden Miller at this link. It was great to talk to a crowd of comic and Shakespeare fans, evenly split. We then signed a number of books and sold out everything that evening.Thanks to Joe Ross for serving as our moderator, to Garland Scott and Teri Cross Davis for helping to coordinate the event, and everyone at the Folger for making it a great event. In addition, thanks to Vanessa King, Lesley Pike and Pietro Filipponi for taking the photos below. We hope to have some video footage up sometime soon.
Reactions on the Shuster noms (and a glaring non-nom)
It was absolutely fantastic to get nominated for a Shuster Award for writing earlier this week. Conor and I are still on cloud nine for that distinction. What is also cool is to have read a couple blogs/sites that comment on our nominations.The first was The Fabler Blog, a "web comics portal", which ran through some of the nominees. Kevin de Vlaming, the writer, goes through some of that categories and also points out some nominations he's excited about. The top of the list is Kill Shakespeare, and he says: "They’re up against some big names in the Outstanding Comic Book Writer category, such as Lemire, J. Torres, and Kathryn Immonen, but I think they can hold their own.... It’s clever, well-written, and ultimately filled with nuanced originality that sets it apart from a lot of what’s out there at the moment." You can read the full blog post here.And over at ComicBookDaily, two writers (Andrew Ardizzi - who has done a few reviews of our work - and Pete DeCourcy) comment on some of the nominees. Andrew approves of our writing nomination but adds, "I do think however that’s it’s a colossal mistake to have omitted Andy Belanger’s contributions to Kill Shakespeare. He has consistently offered some of the most dynamic, creative and altogether violent I’ve seen in the last year. It’s truly beautiful, and a crime that he’s not on there anywhere."Pete also comments on this, stating, "Yeah, I totally agree – Kill Shakespeare wouldn’t work half as well without Belanger’s very distinct art style, he lends an air of distinct menace to some of the scenes that rewards multiple readings."You can read the whole article here or by clicking on the link below.
I'm really glad that some people recognize that Andy should have been nominated. Andy's doing some really original and incredibly dense things in this series - especially his work on Issue #7 (check out some of the incredible pages here - and below). I know that the artist category is very competitive and applaud Kevin and Robert and everyone at the Shusters for doing a very good job on making the process transparent. It's just too bad that Andy didn't make the final list for some reason.
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...)!
iFanboy: "Comics worthy of a showing at the Globe!"
We have received a lot of positive coverage from most comic book websites since the launch of our first issue in April. Yesterday we received a great deal of love from one of our favourite sites, iFanboy.com. It's a great site for devoted fans of comics that not only posts news but great insights as well as a very active comments sections. If you don't read the site regularly I would highly recommend it. Of course, we would be remiss to not mention that our book has been debated heavily amongst those placing comments, some heavily praising our series and some attacking us (check out some of the comments from a podcast back in April).Reviewer Ryan Haupt read through our graphic novel - and really likes it, comparing it favourably to Fables. He says some of the following:
"Every time I sat down to read a bit more I was engrossed by the experience and couldn’t believe I still had more left to read from a single trade...""Belanger is who makes this book have action movie level stunts while the writing keeps it from feeling action movie level dumb...""I can’t wait to see where things go from here and am definitely in it for the long haul. So don’t be intimidated, just trust the Canadians and enjoy some comics worthy of a showing at the Globe!"You can read the full review by clicking on the iFanboy logo.
Profile in Maclean's Magazine
When I was a teenager growing up in northern Canada (Timmins, to be precise) I wanted to get a better understanding of the world around me - both nationally and internationally. To get this I signed up for a subscription to Maclean's magazine, Canada's general interest weekly magazine exploring news, culture, politics, science and everything else. For a span of almost three years I read every single issue cover to cover.And now, many years later, we are profiled in Maclean's (click the cover image to go to the article)!
An issue hitting newstands this past Friday featured a full-page article by Claire Ward analyzing the project - its origins, present triumphs, and its possible future. It's a very well-researched piece in which Ms. Ward contacted Shakespeare scholars James Shapiro and Stephen Greenblatt to comment on it (spoiler: one likes us, one doesn't). It's a great piece and I recommend that you check it out if you're in Canada (it's on the issue featured above, page 58).
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.
A round-up of reviews for Issue #8!
Although Issue #8 (Journeys End in Lovers Meeting) has only been out for three days we've already received a number of reviews for the issue, all of them positive! Here is a sampling of them:
"This week’s issue features an awesome twist with Hamlet and Juliet that has me chomping at the bit for next issue in addition to more solid craftsmanship from all involved. You really should not miss this comic!" - Weekly Crisis"Kill Shakespeare" #8 introduced a big surprise on its last page after building up the romance of two literary protagonists and turning allies into enemies. Very interesting stuff here, and if you're well versed in the characters, this is wonderful and vital material. Those less immersed in the Bard's intrigues might find this less compelling." - The BuyPile"“Kill Shakespeare” is a smart comic that knows how to be fun, and vice versa. Here we get plenty of preparation for the coming troubles but our characters are given a last moment to breathe and enjoy the company of one another." - ComicBookResources"This issue proves more than any seen so far that these characters actually could co-exist and interact and indeed that they SHOULD do so. In showing this type of interaction, I think this series has finally found its voice and I could not be happier with it. Plus, WHAT a cliffhanger!" - Multiversity Comics"I can’t stress enough how bad of an idea it is NOT to read this series. It’s enticing and exciting, shining better than any other series in the world of comics. The only series I would say meets Kill Shakespeare’s level of quality, it would be the Secret Six." - The Heretics Blog
Another Top Grade from Best Comics for Kids List!
Earlier this summer we were named on the 2010 Summer Reading List by Good Comics for Kids (hosted by the School Library Journal website). Just hours ago we discovered that we have now been named on the 2010 Best Comics for Kids list! This is a great honour for us and something we are incredibly proud of - we have loved it when teachers, librarians and students approach us and tell us how much they've enjoyed the series. It makes the memories of so many boring high school classes for us just disappear...You can check out the complete list (we're in the Teen category) by clicking on the image.
Andy's Dream Comes True
We found out earlier this week that Andy's dream came true as Kill Shakespeare was reviewed by Fangoria magazine! Andy has been a reader of this publication for the last 20+ years and it was great to see that not only did they review us but they REALLY LIKED the book! A review of four skulls is pretty good and they describe Andy's artwork as:"Andy Belanger’s artwork is vibrantly exaggerated, and unflinching in the violence department; Belanger does not hold back when Richard III savagely gouges a soldier’s eyes out. You’ll be covering your face after you see Juliet hurl a spear through a man’s nose."Click on the logo to read the full review.
