Appearance at Toronto's Word on the Street Festival
Conor, Andy and I will be taking part in this year's THE WORD ON THE STREET festival in Toronto this Sunday. An annual festival held through five major Canadian cities, it is a day that celebrates literature and includes author readings, workshops, signings and retailers. I've attended a number of years and quite enjoy it.We will be conducting a one-hour seminar called HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN COMIC, which will be held from 2:30 - 3:30pm in the This is Not the Shakespeare Stage. Yes, that's the name of the stage. It's a stage for teen-oriented events and activities. The description reads:Kill Shakespeare co-creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery, as well as series artist Andy Belanger, demonstrate how a comic is put together from the earliest stages of writing (the beat sheet) through the art process (penciling, inking, colouring) to the final production elements (lettering).The three entrepreneurs will also give tips on how to launch your own entertainment project. Come out and check us - and the Word on the Street Festival - out this weekend!
Kill Shakespeare in Montreal!
Conor and I will be appearing at the 2011 Montreal Comic-Con this upcoming weekend - Sat, Sept 17th and Sun, Sept 18th. Appearing both days, we will be attending to do signings, sell books and tshirts, and talk to fans and readers. We will also be doing panels on both days:Sat 2 - 3pm (Mezzanine 1) - The How-To of Comic CreationSun 1 - 1:45pm (Mezzanine 1) - The Business of Comic Creation
We're looking forward to the show - we haven't been to the show before (and I myself haven't been to Montreal in about eight years). If you're in the city - or know anyone that is - please swing by and say hello!
Happy Birthday to Paradise!
Once someone finds a local comic shop they like, they want to stay loyal to them. For me, living in Toronto's midtown area, the closest is Paradise Comics. Even before Kill Shakespeare was published they were great to me, giving me advice on the publishing industry and things to watch for as I dipped my toe - and then dove into - the world of comics. We're so incredibly fortunate here in Toronto to have three stores (The Beguiling and The Silver Snail are the two others) that have really supported us over the last two year and that's why, in our second volume, we made a point to thank all three in our Special Thanks page.
Yesterday Peter, Doug, Andrew and everyone at Paradise Comics celebrated their 20th anniversary. Conor and I were able to stop by for a bit to visit, have some cake, take a few photos, and celebrate making it to 20 years. The store has really grown over the years and it's great to see how they've been able to adapt to the trends in the industry.
Happy birthday and congrats to everyone at Paradise!
How to Create and Market Indie Comics
This past Friday we put together a workshop on how to create and market your own independent comic book. The one-hour session went extremely well - it was packed and standing room only! - and we're now looking to do this at a number of other conventions and events moving forward.
We have received a couple of glowing media reactions to it. ComicBookDaily put together an in-depth summary of the workshop, which can be read by clicking on the image. Dan Brown from the London Free Press also listed it as one of the highlights of the entire FanExpo (article link is here).
Thanks to the Toronto Comics Workshop for allowing us the opportunity to speak and we will hopefully be able to put together a session near you sometime soon!
Happy Birthday to Kagan!
Today is cover artist Kagan McLeod's birthday. For those that don't know, Kagan is one of the top illustrators in North America and in addition to doing the covers for Kill Shakespeare also works for publications like The National Post, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, Men's Health and a wide range of others.
Kagan will be appearing at this weekend's FanExpo (on Saturday and Sunday) with us to promote the release of his just-released book, Infinite Kung Fu. If you haven't checked it out yet you should.
And please swing by to wish him a happy birthday!
Fight the Bear in Toronto!
Off the heels of a very successful Baltimore Comic-Con, we will be appearing at this upcoming weekend's FanExpo Canada. We had a great time last year and this year should be even better! We will be selling our trade, our issues (including the just-released Issue #12), original artwork, and our new ShakesGeare merchandise (photos to be loaded to the site in the next day or two).The show runs from Thursday to Sunday (check out exact times here) and Andy, Conor and I will be at BOOTH 112, sharing space with cover artist Kagan McLeod and the other talented artists from Andy's studio.
We will also be taking part in two panels."The WGC Presents: Respecting the Fanbase" - Thu, Aug 25 - 8-9pm (room 714): A look into the process of adapting successful properties, we will be sitting on the panel along with our story editor Howie Wiseman and the creators of The Murdoch Mysteries. More info here."Kill Shakespeare Presents: Creating and Marketing Your Own Comic" - Fri, Aug 26 - 5-6pm (room 717): This workshop will feature advice, lessons and tips on how to create your own comic book series, from idea generation through to securing financing, publishing deals, retailer awareness, marketing, advertising and everything else in-between.
Thanks to Baltimore!
Conor and I returned from Baltimore first thing this morning (I'm so sleep-deprived at the moment - it was an uber-early morning flight). We'll be posting some photos from the show in the next day or two but before that I'd like to thank everyone at the Baltimore show, including:The new readers and fans of the series (thanks for checking us out).The current readers who came by to chat with us.The organizers of the show - a fantastic event.The organizers of the Harvey Awards - a great night and it truly was an honour just to be nominated.The city of Baltimore - a wild place with some great spots and some truly scary spots.More in the near future!
Truck Problems
We've just heard from our publisher, IDW Publishing. Apparently the truck from our distribution company, Diamond Book Distributors, broke down so all of their titles this week are delayed until next.Again, sorry for an inconvenience in not getting our issue out onto the stands today.
Issue #12 Release - Next Week (Aug 24th)
We have just discovered that our Issue #12, originally scheduled for release today, will not be out until next week (Wed, Aug 24th). We apologize for this confusion. We're not sure what the problem is an are investigating.In advance of this, Wired.com today ran a preview of the first eight pages of the issue. Entitled "Kill Shakespeare's Final Showdown Is Just the Start", it talks about our final issue, future plans for the series, and how we are looking to make our concept interactive. You can check out the profile and pages by clicking the logo.
Kill Shakespeare in Baltimore!
Conor and I will be attending next weekend's Baltimore Comic-Con and are busy in the midst of preparing for our trip. It's our first time to this show and we've heard some great things about it. We look forward to meeting more readers and converting more people to fans of the series.We will be at Booth 2201 on Saturday (Aug 20th) from 10 - 6pm and then Sunday (Aug 21st) from 10 - 5pm. Stop by to say hello, get an autograph, pick up a book or issue, and check out our newest things - tshirts! We will be debuting the designs on this site in the next week or so but should have prepared for sale in Baltimore.
Celebrate the (Imminent) Release of Issue #12 with Andy B!
Though our Issue #12 is released August 17th, the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop is celebrating its release a week before it. This upcoming Friday evening (the 12th) in Toronto both Andy as well as J.Bone (who did our five-page "Et Tu, Hecate?" story in our first trade) will be feted. J.Bone just recently released DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The '70's #1 and copies and art will be available at the show. In addition to Andy's original art from Issue #12 we may have exclusive early copies available (depending upon when we get our shipment).
If you're in Toronto come up and celebrate the release of our issue with us!
Just a test
So I'm trying something out here people. Do me a favour and those of you with QR readers help us make sure this code actually takes you to the first issue's online home.
Harvey Award Voters: For Your Consideration
To all comic industry professionals,The Harvey Awards are coming up later this month and voting for this year's recipients is open until August 6th. If you have not voted yet, please consider KILL SHAKESPEARE for Best New Series.
We are so incredibly honoured to be a nominee this year (especially amongst such great titles) and it has already helped us out with recognition. As you are probably aware, it is incredibly challenging to launch a new title in today's marketplace and we're quite happy with the early success that we've received.We have been thrilled to receive profiles in the New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, BBC, CBC, NPR, Fangoria, Aint it Cool News, Newsarama, ComicBookResources, BookList, and a range of other spots.We've been thrilled to be nominated for a Shuster Award and be listed on YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens List and Great Comics for Kids.We were thrilled that our first two issues sold out and that we're onto a second printing of our first trade collection.We're thrilled that a series of new comic readers are entering the comics space because they were first exposed to the medium with KILL SHAKESPEARE.Topping all of it off with a victory at the Harvey Awards would be fantastic.If you have not had an opportunity to read KILL SHAKESPEARE yet please let us know and we will ensure you can do so this week prior to voting. You can email us at tobeornot@killshakespeare.com (our contact info is here). We guarantee that you will be entertained by our take on the Bard.To vote, simply click on this link and follow the directions to do so.
Again, please consider us, and spread the word to anyone else you may know.Thanks!
A little product placement for our little book
San Diego Comic-Con becomes a bigger and bigger deal for the "mainstream" media all the time.Earlier this week CTV did a story on San Diego and the record crowds that gathered to attend that Geek-a-palooza. But part of the story focused on an event that's we'll be attending this fall - the Halifax Comic Con!Jen Lambe, who heads up the organizing committee for HalCon, was interviewed by CTV to comment on the rise of Geek culture. And Jen, a big fan of our work, got them to shoot the lead-in to the interview with her reading our book.It made enough of an impression that my fiancee's mother e-mailed us to say she had seen it -- and right now she's living in Dryden, Ontario which is a couple of hours north of Thunder Bay (so it looks like we're going regional, baby!)A big thanks to Jen for giving us another great plug on National T.V.! It means a lot to us that our fans support the book the way you do. So thanks to all of you.Click on the link below to see the lovely Ms. Lambe!CTV Live at 5
A sneak peak at the second trade.
We've been working hard to get an awesome second collection out to you and we're pleased to announce that a new creative team has come on board to put together a back-up story for the second trade.
We won't spoil anything for you but the sketch above was part of the pitch that our guest artist brought to us, and I am sure you'll agree that he (or she) did a FANTASTIC job.Stay tuned for more announcements about this cool new expansion to the Kill Shakespeare universe.
Issue #12 released August 17th!
We've had a number of people inquire about the release date of our final issue, #12. The original release date was to be yesterday (July 27th) but due to some problems beyond our control the release date has been pushed to August 17th. We apologize to anyone - readers, fans, retailers - that were expecting to pick it up yesterday.The August 17th release date is perfect as it will be just before the Baltimore Comic-Con where we are nominated for Best New Series.
We are currently reviewing the preview PDF copy and are quite proud of the issue. It's definitely something worth the wait!
Andy and Kagan at Comic-Con!
The pop culture smorgasbord known as the Comic-Con International begins this evening and goes through until Sunday in sunny San Diego. While Conor and I stay behind to take care of some script writing duties, Kill Shakespeare artists Andy Belanger and Kagan McLeod will both be at the Con and representing our series throughout!
Andy will be signing copies of Kill Shakespeare at the IDW Booth (booth #2643) on Saturday (the 23rd) from 10 - 11am and Sunday (the 24th) from 10 11am. Swing by the booth to catch up on the series, get some books signed, and share a laugh with him. (Seeing as how they are morning signings I'm sure Andy will have interesting stories from the previous night.)
Kagan is launching his new graphic novel collection Infinite Kung Fu and will be signing at various times at the Top Shelf booth (booth #1721). We'll profile the book closer to its release date (in early September) but he will be selling advance convention copies at the booth, as well as original art (including some art) at the Drawn & Quarterly booth (#1629). Swing by to
Issue #12 is off to the presses!
Just a couple of hours ago we officially signed off on the twelfth issue of our series. Yes, Issue #12. Our final one. It's off to those magical people in Korea who will now put the issue together for us and ship it out later this month for arrival in comic book stores in the first week in August.
It's an amazing feeling to see the issue complete... yet at the same time a bit of sadness as it's the end of this run. I can't say anything at this point but this won't be the last issue of Kill Shakespeare, potentially, maybe, hopefully...There are so many awesome people to thank for completing this issue, especially Andy Belanger and Ian Herring, who have put together an amazing finale. However, I'd like to take the time to thank Chris Mowry, who went above-and-beyond the call of duty on this issue to get it done. Chris has been the letterer for a majority of the issues in the series and he's really done a great job. I really wish the Harvey Awards voters could have recognized him earlier this week with their nominations. For this issue he practically pulled all-nighters to get it done and we owe him a big thanks for this.And so we wait to see the final product in our hands...
We're nominated for a Harvey Award!
Just released today is the nominees list for the 2011 Harvey Awards, which celebrate outstanding work in comics and sequential art and are voted on by industry professionals. And we are nominated! We are up for BEST NEW SERIES.
Click on the Harvey Awards logo above to see the full list of nominees.The awards will be handed out August 20th at the Baltimore Comic-Con. We have already been making plans to attend the show based solely on how popular the convention is according to people we talk to. This nomination will just add to the Baltimore experience.Thanks to everyone that put our name forward for consideration. Seeing as how this is voted on by industry professionals - and not a small committee of a few people - this is so much more special for us. We will, of course, begin preparing our For Your Consideration campaign for the award...And, of course, thanks to everyone on our team that made this nomination possible - my co-creator Conor, the fantastic artist Andy Belanger (who really deserved a nomination in the Best New Talent or Best Artist category), similarly-deserving colourist Ian Herring, cover artist Kagan McLeod, our published IDW, and every other member of the team. And, most importantly, to every reader of the series - thanks for following us as a new series!
Pics from Calgary Expo
We had a simply amazing time in Calgary last year. We've been to many Cons over the last two years and Calgary is definitely, if not the best, then right up there. We organizers were absolutely fantastic, the crowds amazing, and people were super-excited to see us there. So much so, in fact, that sold out of trade paperbacks by Saturday at 2pm and after that only had artwork and individual issues to sign (the latter of which sold out Sunday at 1pm).Thanks to everyone associated with the event for a great time. Thanks to the organizers, to the fellow artists and creators, to the organizers of the Joe Shuster Awards (which I missed as I was at our table but Conor attended), to the CBC for running our profile that very weekend, and for everyone who stopped by to chat with us. I've said it many time already but I'll say it again - one of the best parts of our time with Kill Shakespeare thus far has been being able to chat with fans and readers at conventions. We look forward to our next one - Baltimore in August!Here are various photos taken over the weekend.
