CommandN loves them some Kill Shakespeare AND Hal-Con
As many of you have read Kill Shakespeare had a GREAT time at Hal-Con:
The people were amazing, and the event was as much fun as I have had at any convention in my life.In fact I bet a lot of you are thinking "man, I'm sorry I missed that".Well... the people at CommandN thought so too, so they have put together a FANTASTIC special on the event -- which you can check out right here!We're scattered throughout the special -- but the whole thing is well worth your watching while.And, if you haven't had your fill of Kill Shakespeare, Halifax and Conor -- then check out Haligonian.ca where Conor was interviewed by a gentlemen who had an English accent - for no discernable reason...Click on interview #27.
KilL Shakespeare Love Match?
Well it seems like we had a possible love match at the Kill Shakespeare launch the other night.Now this is NOT meant to embarrass anyone but meant to maybe connect two people who would like to be connected.The following as appeared on Craigslist "Missed Connections" page.It's from a Man to a woman. The guy is 31.I saw you at the Kill Shakespeare Comicbook signing from across the room last night, we locked eyes quite a few times and smiled - yet neither of uswanted to say hello. We were with our own friends.You're tall, asian, with a beautiful smile. Write me if you read this! I'd love to meet you.The link to the ad is here.Hopefully this is the start of something beautiful!
WE'RE NEW YORK TIMES-WORTHY!
We received a VERY pleasant surprise in our Google Alerts folder the other day, a notice that the New York Times had mentioned the series.
"Hmm," we thought. "Perhaps some intrepid reporter has found out about the series and tossed us in a larger story about the Bard and his relevance in today's society. Maybe someone in NYC is mounting an 'edgy' staging' of one of Shakey's plays?"But no, it was even better than that -- we're a NEW YORK FREAKIN' TIMES GIFT GUIDE recommendation.Click here to see what has us all hot and bothered... and again thanks to all of our supporters for buying the comics and now the trades which have given us the legitimacy to get people like the Times interested!
EATSLEEPGEEK says: "Kill Shakespeare: 'All the Goodness of the Bard, none of the suck'"
With the first trade starting to proliferate across stores (comic shops have had it for one or two Wednesdays depending on their locale, and bookstores join in the fun this Tuesday), we're starting to see reviews that come from areas that are less comic-focused.While EATSLEEPGEEK certainly knows their comics they are more of a general pop-culture site - so it is great to see that they too think there is a little bit of awesome to be had within the comics pages.It's also one of the better critiques of the art -- and Andy and Ian both come through with flying colours (appropriate for Ian, no?)So click here for the review, and pass it on to some friends you know who may still be on the fence on the series.
More Photos from the Gallery
For those of you who couldn't make it we continue our photo essay from the gallery show we had here in NY at the Chair and the Maiden gallery.
These photos were taken by the lovely and talented George Goss, a local photo-journalist who just so happened to be covering another event down the road.
It's always rewarding when we get to meet new people through this adventure and George was a fantastic example of that. I mean how many people would just poke their head in, say hi, and start snapping pics for us?
All in all this is just another example of why we have been having SO much fun with this project and why we are looking forward to our Toronto Book Launch where we can rub elbows with family and fans from the T-dot (and also friends who hate what we are up to but are too polite to say so....).
So see you all on the 16th at 918 Bathurst - doors open at 6:00 PM and the fun and food will last until 8:30 or so.
I (heart) Hal-Con.
Well, Hal-Con was a blast!I've had the good fortune to get to attend comic conventions this year in San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Toronto and book events in NY (and soon Miami) and I can't imagine a more lovely group of people than the ones at the Halifax Convention.
Friendly people, passionate about their loves, a good mix of sci-fi, fantasy, comics, gaming and other fun geek-y pastimes and truly interested fans. I had one amazing conversation after another.I also wanted to give a shout out to the organizers of Hal-Con who took on the enromous task of resurrecting a long-dead convention (the last one was 15 years ago). They did it with style, with astonishingly few misteps for their first time out of the gate and with grace, humour and a real enjoyment for all the genres they were featuring.And they also raised over $2,500 for local causes at a chairty auction - including a MIND-blowing $300 for a signed poster of Nathan Fillion (Serenity, Castle). Fillion also called in to the show to help win one of the Geeks vs Nerds debates....
Wait, what IS Geeks vs Nerds you ask? Well I am happy you did.This fantastic live show pits panels of "Geeks" vs "Nerds" against each other, arguing topics like "whose the least effective military force? Stormtroopers, or Star-Trek redshirts?" Or "Who is the best smuggler in the universe? Han Solo or Mal Reynolds?" Or even the more business case orientated -- "Who is the better second in command? Vader or Spock?"I got to argue on behalf of the Stormtroopers arguoing that while yes, they have a tragic targeting issue, they were still way better to have then the redshirts, who after all, spend all their on-screen time dying as soon as they materialze on to whatever planet or ship they've been sent to. I'd call them cannon-fodder, but that'd be an insult to cannon-fodder.I'm trying to get the show out to Fan-Expo next year, so Toronto fans -- you NEED to check this out! I'mhoping for a Donald vs Daffy Duck debate as well as a Man in Black(Dread Pirate Roberts) vs Zorro... but that's just me...There were also some INCREDIBLE fan efforts, from the dozens upon dozens of brilliant costumes to a massive replica of the Alexei Leonov - the main ship from 2010. This was done by Robert LePine and it was crazy-good!
Enjoy these photos from the show -- and make sure you check out the Hal-Con site for more. And if you are looking for an excuse to travel to Canada's Ocean Playground -- this is a good one.I'll post some more on this soon, with a few links to some new talents I met who I hope you might be interested in.
SEE THE VICTORY!
Its finally up!You can now watch Conor and Anthony's award winning Pitch This! presentation. This is what won us the big, fake, novelty cheque!Also, there are several other great pitches on the video, especially The Fringe, Brobots and 50 Proof (which I found really funny, but maybe I was in the minority).So click here to watch the whole thing. Or jump straight ahead to the 32 minute mark to see us do our stuff (use the full screen version, because the pop-up window isn't cropped too well).They also had to edit out a bit where our video didn't run (which is too bad because we had a couple of good awkward one-liners as we waited in growing horror).Anyway tell us what you think, and tell us which PITCH you would have voted for -- aside from us of course...
Kill Shakespeare invades Hal-Con!
Make your Halloween EXTRA spooky by seeing Kill Shakespeare co-creator Conor McCreery in the flesh in Halifax.While Andy and Anthony dazzle'em in Guelph at The Dragon, Conor will be at The Lord Nelson Hotel (1515 South Park Street, Halifax, NS) as part of the Halifax Comic-Con, Canada's largest comics convention East of MontrealConor will be at the show all three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). On Saturday he will host two panels in the Regency Ballroom at 9:00 and 11:30 AM and a special Q&A singing at 3:45 PM in the Georgian Lounge.Conor will also be available throughout Sunday for signings in the Lounge.We hope to see all the East Coast Prodigals out in force!
Kill Shakespeare fan art!
The supremely talented Jibola Fagbamiye is a Nigerian-Canadian artist who blends traditional art from his childhood in Africa with iconic hip-hop and 70's soul images.He also loves comics and, fortunately for us, is a Kill Shakespeare fan. So that led Jibola to whip up the AMAZING fan art that you can see below.
For more of his work, and a chance to find out about his next Toronto shows swing by his web-site.Thanks Jibola, we here at Kill Shakespeare salute you (and will soon be fighting it out for the right to hang this on our walls!).We always love seeing fan art, so please send it off to us at lendmeyourears@killshakespeare.com
Going comic shopping in Van-City
The Kill Shakespeare team had a chance to hit the left coast recently and while the trip had us talking to mobile-ap developers, catching films at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and of course eating at White Spot, we also found time to meet some of the local comics merchants and talk to them about Kill Shakespeare.
First, we stopped off at Gotham Collectibles (2676 W 4th Ave - love those evil Cats!) in the ever trendier Kitsilano neighbourhood. Gotham is run by the "she-looks-way-too-young-to-be-running-her-own-business-Monique".Monique is passionate about bringing more women and girls into comics and has big plans to support Kill Shakespeare when the trade debuts on November 9th.Gotham is a small store but jam packed with comics, toys, collectibles, general goth-y fun and my (Conor's) favourite BEARBRICKS!For those of you who don't know these tiny little Japanese toys are designed by some of the top graf artists in the world and also include cute little bears based on some of the horror worlds most notorious characters. So I decided to pick up one that looked like Gizmo from Gremlins.
Gotham is a new store, but with the passionate staff there and the tons and tons of cool stuff you can tell its going to be a great place to buy your favourite stuff.So if you live in Vancouver make sure you head down to this gem and get to know Monique and support her store.
Then I headed over to downtown Vancouver to check out one of the classic Vancouver shops for comics, Golden Age Collectibles (852 Granville Ave). Golden Age is right in the heart of the theatre district, we actually checked out the store while we were waiting to see an Italian film at VIFF.Golden Age is a big, two-level store that is filled to the brim with comics, graphic novels and indie titles from across B.C. and the country.I chatted with Misty and Hank who both told me they were looking forward to checking out Kill Shakespeare when it becomes a trade and said that they have several customers who have the title as part of their pull list.
For those of you who like an open, airy, clean comics shopping experience then Golden Age is going to be your new favourite shop (if it isn't already). And Hank and Misty really know their stuff so they'll be able to find you your next favourite title - so don't be afraid to ask.
As you can see they also pay proper homage to my fave Canadian comic (aside from perhaps Essex County) with a gigantic Scott Pilgrim mural, so they already had my attention when I walked in the door.So there you have it, two totally different, but equally awesome comic shops that you need to search out if you live in Vancouver or if you are a comics fan who finds yourself visting this world class city.And if you haven't been to Vancouver you really want to get out there - between the mountains, the ocean and the amazing night life you can't do much better.
TIGHTS ALERT! TIGHTS ALERT!
Alright, this is a TOTAL look "behind the curtain", but here is a sneak peek at the Cover for issue #8.
The only reason I put this out there is because HAMLET IS WEARING TIGHTS! This breaks EVERY rule Anthony has set down. I have it on good authority thast Anthony and his "anti-tight" squad of loose pants wearing Ninjas are going to stage a dawn raid at Casa Mcleod and force Hamlet into a pair of breeches and boots. But I wanted you, the loving Kill Shakespeare public to have a chance to see this rare occurance.(oh, and this may be the only time you see those cool pennants and spears in the background in the clouds. Do you like'em? Should they stay? Let us know!)UPDATE: Uh, yeah well sure you can't actually SEE the pennants ans spears because this is just a thumbnail, but if you COULD would you want them to stay or go, you know, conceptually speaking...
M.C. Del Col, Yo!
No, it isn't the latest white-rap superstar (that would actually be Kill Shakespeare's cover artist Kagan McLeod who has won more than his fair share of accolades at Hip-Hop Karaoke), it is the role Anthony Del Col will be taking on this Monday.
Anthony will be serving as the Master of Ceremony's at a book launch in Toronto at the Lula Lounge. Anthony will be leading the launch festivities for the Toronto debut of Chris Benjamin's first novel Drive By Saviours.The book has already garned RAVE reviews and if you are a fan of intelligent literature (and of course you are, you read Kill Shakespeare) and you live in the Toronto area head to the event for a fantastic night of readings, music, performances and DEL COL!(oh and give Chris a hard time -- he's a Habs fan).WHAT: Drive By Saviours Book launchWHEN: October 4th, 2010WHERE: Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas St. W)TIME: 8:00-11:30 PM
Stephen Holt Strikes Again!
Our brand-new best friend Stephen Holt has added to his collection of Kill Shakespeare media. This time its in the form of two videos he has posted on his YouTube channel.
Stephen is a passionate cinephile and blogs foir AwardsDaily.com (the site Anthony uses to get the egde on the competition in his Hollywood movie league). We met him at TIFF and he very kindly (and correctly as it turned out) said he thought we would win PITCH THIS! He also does a popular public access show in NYC and agreed to chat with us!You can surf into his channel (unless you get to see his show nin NYC) to watch the first part of the video here and the second part here!We had a great time and we talked about things in this interview that we have NEVER been asked!
Word!
Your fave Bardolaters are taking it to the mean streets of Toronto this weekend.Swing by The Word on the Street Festival on Sunday at 2:00 PM to check out Conor as a panelist on the Digital Drive stage. He'll be chatting with other "literature luminaries" about the future of books, magazines and comics in this the digital age.Plus, his photo on their webpage makes him look so darn professional - like a burly, red-headed Perry Mason!And for more info on the festival a link to the great blog post from which the image above was "borrowed".(Like how I wrote this whole thing in the third person as if you couldn't see I was the one responsible for the post?)
STICK FIGURE HAMLET
Yes, this site has the ENTIRE tragedy drawn entirely in stick figures.Now we ask, can you really have ANY more fun with the Bard than a stick-ginger Hamlet? (yes, correct the answer WAS Kill Shakespeare, but this is a close second).ENJOY!
Chatting with the boys.
Us, do media? No....Ok, yes... we sat down with the lovely Andrew Ardizzi at FanExpo in Toronto last weekend. Andrew is a general all-around renaissance man and both a senior reporter at Humber college as well as a reporter for COMIC BOOK DAILY!So it was our good fortune to get to sit down with him and chat about FanExpo, drawing horses, and Kill Shakespeare.Listen here! (Yep, that's an order...)
WHAT? Another shameless plug for a talented guy we know?
As you know, we here at the Kill Shakespeare team are shameless self-promoters, but as you are hopefully starting to learn we are also working at shamelessly promoting other SUPER-DUPER talented people that we get to meet in this wonderful world of comics.
Enter Nimit Malavia. A good friend of our cover artist Kagan Mcleod, and in some ways a kindrid creative spirit.
Nimit is one of the most talented illustrators we have had the privielege of meeting and he's also an A-1 guy. I mean, who else would take oodles of photos of US (although, lets face it, we are pretty handsome).
You've seen a few examples of his work in the post but to get more check out his website here or his flicker account here.And next show you're at make sure you stop by and see him, say the Kill Shakespeare boys say "hello". It probably won't get you a discount on that print of his you love, but hey, it can't hurt...
KILL SHAKESPEARE GETS SOME LOVE ON "NATIONAL READ A COMIC IN PUBLIC DAY"
We here on the Kill Shakespeare team are big fans of comics. Not just the super-hero books (tho' we love those too) but the notion that there is a comic for EVERYONE .And one of the ways to show that to people is to read comics -- in public.
I know, I know -- its a scary idea. And, I''ll admit that occasionally the Wednesday books stay in my bag on the TTC in favour of the latest issue of WIRED or a "proper" book -- but the time has come to stand up and unite.Or rather, unknown to me until the day OF, the time ALREADY came.Yes it was National Read A Comic In Public Day on August 28th, and by all accounts it was a screaming success. Some very cool people we have met before in San Francisco were part of the event, and it was spearheaded by Brian Hibbs the accomplished author of Tilting at Windmills (one of the best collections of comic-related essays ever) and owner of the very excellent Comix Experience.So a tip of the hat to Brian, and to everyone AROUND THE GLOBE who went out and read a comic in public, and hopefully inspired someone new to try out this awesome medium of ours.
Graphic Novel Reporter Grills us!
We've always hoped that Kill Shakespeare becomes the sort of comic that people who don't usually read comics can pick up and enjoy. And part of that is getting educators and librarians to see both the value of Kill Shakespeare AND the value of comics as a unique medium that not only spans both literature and art, but also introduces a level of complexity in forcing the reader to work out how those two pieces inform each other.John Hogan is the editor of the very excellent Graphic Novel Reporter who, as part of Bookreporter.com, has an audience that spills nicely into those teachers and librarians.So enjoy our little chat with John, learn about who Anthony DESPERATELY wants to play Hamlet, and watch me use words that I probably don't actually understand ('contextualization?', really Conor?).All the reporter-y goodness can be found here.
An addition to the Kill Shakespeare family!
It takes a lot of people to make Kill Shakespeare a success. Some are obvious, Andy B. for art, Ian for colours, Kagan on covers... but that only touches the tip of the ice-berg. There are literally dozens of people who are helping to support Kill Shakespeare and recently one of our faves experienced a pretty fantastic milestone.Jethro Bushenbaum is the KSE accountant - he's talented, he's super cool (the coolest accountant EVER) and now -- he's a DAD!
So, it is our honour to officially welcome the SUPER-cute Henin Bushenbaum to the Kill Shakespeare world ('cause her folks already did a fine job of doing the OFFICIAL-official introduction to the WHOLE world a little while back).As you can see from the pics below she's already ridiculously adorable (erasing Papa's fears of perhaps having an "ugly baby" -- cause we all know how much THOSE suck!)
And as a little aside did you know that a Hennin (extra 'n') was a popular conical-style hat worn in medeival times and also in early colonial America?No you did not, and neither did I until Henin came along... see she's teaching us already!