Andy will be at Comic-Con this week!

This year's version of Comic-Con starts this week (from Wednesday night - Sunday evening), the world's largest pop culture convention.  It's the mecca for all things geek and cool these days and the convention centre in San Diego will be filled to the brim with the latest in film, comics, television, video games, anime, manga and anything else you can think of.Conor and I will not be attending this year (we've done pretty much every other convention possible thus far - and will hit all of the major ones in the fall) as we'll be busy hitting some deadlines for scripts (more details to be announced in the coming months...).However, artist Andy Belanger will be at the show the entire weekend so if you'd like to meet up with him and get him sign a copy of Kill Shakespeare, check out his new series Black Church, or just find out what he's really like (he's as fun as the Pillsbury Cookie Dough guy...) you can find him at the following spots:

Table #1320 - He will be there every day at this spot;

IDW Booth #2643 - Friday morning from 10am - 11am

To pick up copies of Kill Shakespeare at the show Andy will have some copies on him but you will also be able to pick up copies at the IDW booth (they will have both Volumes for sale).And colourist Ian Herring, who is nominated this year for an Eisner Award, will also be attending the show so you may be able to see him while you're there.I highly recommend that you check out the IDW booth while you're there - they've got some great new Con Exclusive releases (including Darwyn Cooke's next Parker book) and you'll have the chance to check out new series like Smoke & Mirrors (I highly recommend it).

Fourth printing of Volume 1!

A piece of news that we announced two weeks ago in the midst of traveling through the UK, but haven't been able to post it here yet, is that earlier this month IDW Publishing processed a fourth printing of our Volume 1: A Sea of Troubles! This is a great accomplishment for us and another feather to put in our cap.

Thanks to everyone who has helped make this first volume a success - everyone at IDW, the retailers, the readers, the libraries, the organizations, everyone.

Conor and Anthony analyzing this summer's comic book films

Conor and I appeared this morning on Global TV's The Morning Show, one of Canada's top AM talk shows.

We were there again in our role of "pop culture vultures" to analyze and discuss the upcoming summer film season and focus on some of the comic book adaptations being released.  This is our third time on the show and it's always a treat to joke around and have fun with the hosts.Enjoy the clip below or go directly the show's website for the footage from our by clicking on the photo above...

Anarchy in the U.K. - Kill Shakespeare style!

Hey all,We've been busy beavering ourselves across the U.K. as the latest stop of our cross the world comic tour. So far we've seen London, Bristol and Oxford with Stratford-Upon-Avon, Manchester and Leeds still to come.We haven't had as much of a chance to see the country as we'd have liked. The shows and meetings have kept us pinned down (as well as a bit of jet lag those first couple of days) but we have managed to see Big Ben and the Parliment buildings and Anthony did a nice long walk one evening where he took in some of the sights of one of the great cities of the world.We also were treated to a tour of Orbital Comics which is an amazing shop in the heart of London where we were interviewed by Chris for the store's podcast. We then went out with one of the other manager's Kyle where we sipped pints and chatted comics for hours -- eventually deciding that Reid Fleming - the World's Toughest Milk Man, American Flagg, and Power Man and Iron Fist are all well overdue to have cool movies.The Bristol Comic Expo was a smaller show but was enthusiastically attended by all involved, despite the fact that the biggest soccer match in arguably 22 years was going down at the same time as the Sunday show.We were a little bummed when we found out that the copies of Kill Shakespeare Volume 1 were not going to make it to the show in Bristol but the fans shocked us by still clamboring to buy the series even though they could only get Volume 2.We were also blown away by the number of amazing artists we met at the show. It seemed like everyone was landing a deal with Disney, or D.C., or image, or Random House. Clearly the U.K. is still churning out some of the best comic talent in the world.

After Bristol we've been fortunate enough to go to Oxford where we gave a talk at one of the local schools and then were treated to a great tour of the city by the amazing Katie Musgrave. Anthony also did his best master of disguise impression as he impersonated an Oxford student to sneak into C.S. Lewis' old college so he could take in the atmosphere that inspired one of the all time great fantasy series - The Chronicles of Narnia.Tonight we grab a few hours sleep and then we're off to the den of Shakespeare itself -- Stratford-Upon-Avon. We'll be meeting with reps from the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as people from the Shakespeare Birthright Trust -- both of them being excellent opportunities to win people over in helping us with our little plot of Bardicide (or they'll kick us out of the Bard's birthplace so fast our heads will spin... GRIN).Until our next update - keep flying'em in the crates they ship'em in (as we've been told British World War I pilots liked to cheers each other -- apparently because the "crates" were more aerodynamic than the actual planes...).

Nominated for Joe Shuster Award (Best Writing)!

Just announced this morning is the news that we (Conor and Anthony) have been nominated for a 2012 Joe Shuster Award for Best Writing!  This is the second-year in a row in which we have received a nod and we're quite pleased and touched by the nomination.  We were nommed for our work on Issues 9 - 12 of the series, all of which were released in the first-half of 2011.  Thanks to Kevin Boyd, who does a fantastic job organizing the entire process, the nominating committee, and everyone else associated (even Robert Haines... Boo...).  And congrats to all of the nominees.A full list of the nominees can be found by clicking on the logo.

We'd be remiss for not expressing our disappointment that artist Andy Belanger failed to receive a nomination for his artwork for the series.  Andy has done a superb job on the series (especially the last four issues - see sample below) and it pains us that he's not recognized.  He definitely deserves to be - his layout and art is on the cutting edge and much stronger than most comic creators today.

Photos from Dubai!

I apologize that these photos are so late - I had hoped to post them earlier this week but things have been quite busy with creative work  as well as preparation for our U.K. trip (we head out on Tuesday for two weeks of conventions, signings, meetings, and inspiration in the home of Shakespeare!).

I've posted a number of things about our trip to the Middle East Film and Comic-Con, and a full summary of my time can be found here.  But here are some additional photos I haven't posted yet...

Here come the Aussies to pillage TCAF, Viking-style!

The amazing TCAF 2012 is going to be even better than it looks! (This poster is drawn by the incomparable Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon).

TCAF is always one of our favourite events in the comic's calendar.(and if you haven't gone before then get yourself down to the Toronto Reference Library at Bloor and Yonge this weekend).It is one of the rare places where you can delve deeply into a host of creator owned books as well as read illustrated stories in pretty well any genre under the sun.Organizer Chris Butcher also does an amazing job of bringing in the sort of guests you won't find anywhere else. Guests from all over the world.One of those exotic guests happens to come from Australia and he happens to know my soon to be sister-in-law, Allison, and so I'm super excited to get to shill for his arrival in Canada.Matt Taylor works in advertising back in Oz (so if you need to hire an amazing concept design firm go here), but he's also a rabid comics fan and creator.He's been crisis-crossing North America as part of the Caravan of Comics, an invasion of sorts of like-minded Aussies with keen wits and pens to match.Matt is a pretty funny dude and he's been kind enough to give the Kill Shakespeare universe a sneak-peak at his book, Lars the Viking.Lars is a perturbed lil' fellow who speaks entirely in verse and mostly is pretty ticked that all the good plundering days seem to have come to an end. It turns out that the Vikings may not be long for this world, and Lars isn't QUITE ready to accept sliding into the dustbin of history.(Oh, and Lars has a pet pig? Did I mention that? A pig who also goes on raids? Yep, a raiding-pig... sweet!)So please enjoy this little gift through K.S. and we hope all of you who are coming to TCAF this weekend will check out our Australian friends as well!Cheers,Conor

A Dubai Diary

I got earlier today from a fantastic experience at the Middle East Film and Comic-Con.  I have lots of photos to add to the site but in the meantime I was able to compose a brief diary of my overall experience at the show and Heidi Macdonald at The Comics Beat published it earlier today.  You can read it here.

More photos and experiences to come this week!

A view from Dubai...

It's really late at night here in Dubai but I thought I'd take a moment to post a quick image from earlier tonight... This is the balcony outside the Marina where the Middle East Film & Comic-Con is being held.  It's been a GREAT first day and we've been winning over lots of new fans and readers.  And hell, the view can't be beat...

On our way to Dubai!

After a very busy weekend where Conor represented Kill Shakespeare at the Toronto Wizard World Con, and I was in Chicago at C2E2 (photos to be posted in the next day or two), we again split up duties this week.Artist Andy Belanger will be appearing at the Boston Comic-Con.  He will have a limited number of books and t-shirts available for sale and signing so make sure you visit him early - and often!Meanwhile, Conor and I fly off tomorrow (I'm currently at a hotel in Newark writing this) to Dubai to take part in the first-ever Middle East Film & Comic-Con.  Yes, Dubai.  We're taking our bashing of the Bard to a whole new continent and it should be a blast.

We are currently slated to sit in on a panel entitled "The Art of Telling the Story" on Friday afternoon from 2:15 - 3pm and will also be doing signings both afternoons at the IDW Publishing panel.  We will have a limited number of books for sale at the show (our stock is almost completely sold out) so make sure that you swing by early to pick it up.

We look forward to posting more highlights from our trip over the next few days.  This will be my second time in Dubai (I visited for a few days back in 2009) and the first time for Conor.  It'll be great to see how much of an influence Shakespeare has in the Middle East - it's a fact-finding mission for us!

I'm sure we'll post much about it later but in advance we'd like to thank Kuo Liang, Sohaib Awan, Ben Caddy and Arafaat Ali Khan for their early help in making this big trip possible!

More to follow!

For Your Consideration: Harvey Awards

I just realized that the deadline for the 2012 Harvey Awards nominations are due this upcoming Monday (April 16th).  If you are a comic book professional and have not submitted a form yet, you can do so by clicking on the image below.  Please consider us in the following categories:

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES

BEST ARTIST (Andy Belanger)

BEST WRITER (Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col)

BEST COLORIST (Ian Herring)

BEST LETTERER (Chris Mowry)

BEST COVER ARTIST (Kagan McLeod)

Last year we were nominated for BEST NEW SERIES and it was an incredible honour (we sat two tables away from Stan Lee!) .  Hopefully we can return to the awards show this year again.

Rounding up stormtroopers in Dubai

The next two weeks will find the Kill Shakespeare team splitting up conventions.  This weekend (Apr 13 - 15th) will find Anthony in Chicago to attend C2E2 while Conor and Andy are in Toronto for the Wizard World show.Next weekend will find Andy in Boston for the Boston Comic-Con while Anthony and Conor fly to Dubai to attend the first-annual Middle East Film & Comic-Con.  More on that in the next day or two...In the meantime, check out this amazing spot for the show in Dubai. As someone who has been to Dubai before I've been to a few of the spots highlighted in this commercial - and am looking forward to going again!

Blowing winds take us to C2E2 this weekend!

The past few weeks have been an absolute blur - and blast - which have found me in Anaheim/LA (WonderCon and meetings), Seattle (Emerald City), Boston (SAA) and, in a few days, Chicago.  Which, of course, will be very promptly followed by Dubai (but more on that tomorrow...).

I'm heading to Chicago later this week to take part in C2E2, one of the largest (and fastest growing) cons in the U.S.  It should be a great time - it's a city with a great theatre crowd and I know that we've sold well in Chi-town stores.  I look forward to meeting with existing readers, convincing more to check us out, and hanging out in the city (it's my first time there).  Amongst other things I'll be checking out the Improvised Shakespeare Company on Friday night - they are a talented troupe the improvises a Shakespeare production on the spot - should be a good time.If you're in the Chicago and surrounding area (or a surrounding state) come by and check us out!  I'll be located at Booth 703 the entire weekend.  Also helping me out with be the amazing Sarah Hunter as well as Christina Hall.

Congrats to IAN HERRING on his Eisner Nomination!

A big kudos to our colourist Ian Herring on his Eisner Award nomination, announced today, for Best Colouring on the Archaia Entertainment's JIM HENSON'S TALE OF SAND (sharing the nomination with Ramon Perez).  It's a great honour (one of the top awards in the comic industry) and we all send out big props to Ian for this recognition.

The awards will be handed out at this year's San Diego International Comic-Con in July.

Pretty in Purple

With Anthony and Conor splitting up to do cross-country coverage of comic-con's (say that five times fast), the press has started to come trickling in.

For those fans newer to the whole Kill Shakespeare "thing" these interviews are a great way to get caught up on what the project is about, what we have done and where we are going for it.In Toronto, at the Fan Appreciation Show, Conor chatted with Adam Donaldson of Press+1 a new, and very slick site that delves into geek culture with reviews, interviews and commentary (they're also going to cover the Junos - Canada's music awards - which I think is pretty cool and innovative).You can check out the interview with Conor here (and leave comments on that snaZZY purple sweater below....).Next stop for the dynamic duo is the Shakespeare Association of America's meeting in Bahstahn, so if anyone has any advice on what to do and where to go this weekend let us know!As Don Draper's wife would say -- Bissous (or is that Zou be Zou be Zou?)

To all our Teacher friends, 'sup!

While Anthony was away in Seattle converting the masses to the joys of Bardicide, Conor was beavering away back in K.S. HQ on a new project that we've hinted at but will be announcing "for realsies" very soon.And while he was procrastinating by checking e-mail a really cool message came in.As many of you know we've got dreams that Kill Shakespeare will be picked up by school systems around the world as either a way to introduce people to the Bard's tropes and tricks or as a tool for deeper analysis of the plays.

So far we've been making steady headway (And later this week Anthony and Conor will both be in Boston for the annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America) but the little e-mail we got was from noted academic reviewer Chris Wilson.

Chris is the top dog behind the awesome The Graphic Classroom --  a well-read site chock full of reviews and tools for teachers looking to bring graphic novels into the classroom.

Chris gave Kill Shakespeare a REALLY solid review and called it "highly recommended" for school classrooms.

For our teacher fans we hope this is something you can use to help justify bringing K.S. to your class, and for those of you who have teacher friends this is a fantastic link to help them discover our series, but more importantly graphic novels in general.

Thanks Chris!

Three Great Days at the Emerald City!

This weekend (Mar 30 - Apr 1) I will be attending Emerald City Comic-Con (in Seattle) for the first time.  I'm pretty excited as I've heard a LOT of great things about it and they've put together a who's-who collection of comic book writers and artists (including people like Bill Willingham, Robert Kirkman, Tony Harris, fellow Canadians Bryan Lee O'Malley and Ray Fawkes, and talented young writers like Nathan Edmondson).

I will be at Table E-18 (floor map here) all weekend.  The hours of the show are Fri (2-8pm), Sat (10 - 7) and Sun (10 - 5) at the Washington State Convention Centre.

I will also be conducting a workshop while at the show.  The details are:How to Market Your Own ComicRoom: 201Time: Saturday, 5:00 - 6:00Kill Shakespeare co-creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery discuss the creative entrepreneurship side of creating your own comic book. A sold-out workshop at numerous other comic conventions, they discuss how to court publishers, raise funding, generate publicity, and get your books into the hands of stores and readers. This workshop will allow you to turn your creative idea into a creative business.So if you're in the Seattle area please come on out to check it out - it'll be a great show for everyone!(Note: Kudos to those that knew that the title of this post is a reference of a song from the musical "Wicked"...)

Appearing at WonderCon this weekend (Mar 16 - 18)

Two years ago we officially launched the first issue of Kill Shakespeare at WonderCon in San Francisco (check out this early interview from that time).  Yes, two years ago (Apr/10).   To celebrate this, I will be returning to WonderCon this upcoming weekend to take part in the festivities - this time with a full series and merch accompanying me.

I'm really excited about the weekend.  WonderCon is one of the biggest conventions on the continent and normally has great crowds.  The show is normally held in San Francisco but is located in Anaheim this year as the Moscone Centre in S.F. is under renovation.  So we're that much closer to Los Angeles, which doesn't have its own large convention.  I know that we're quite popular in the L.A. region so I'm sure it'll give us a chance to meet existing readers - and convert more over to our take on the Bard.If you're in the area please come out and visit.  I - along with fantastic volunteers Liz Reblin and Alexander Renshaw - will be there all three days and look forward to meeting you!

Photos from Toronto Comic-Con

We took part in the Toronto Comic-Con this past weekend and it was a great time for all.  Though not as large as FanExpo (held here in late-August), it was a good show run by the same organizers.   Thanks to Kevin and everyone else that invited us and helped us out over the weekend.Highlights included our workshop on Sunday (run amazingly well by Conor and Andy), getting new fans, talking to Shakespeare buffs about its works, being visited by two women who came all the way from Buffalo to see us, and running into old friends.  Thanks to Bob, Spencer, Keith and Ben for helping us out over the course of the weekend.Here are some pics from the show:

Toronto Comic-Con this weekend!

We will be updating our convention schedule in the next couple of days but in the meantime we will be attending the Toronto Hobbystar Comic-Con this upcoming weekend (Sat, Mar 10 - Sun, Mar 11th).  It's going to be a crazy convention season for us as we take part in at least nine conventions in the span of 11 weeks so it's great to start the race in our hometown.

It's shaping up to be a good show with some good guests.  It's run by the same guys that handle FanExpo in August so we enjoy working with them.  All three of myself, Conor and Andy will be attendance over the weekend so if you haven't had a chance to pick up any of our books, t-shirts, buttons or anything else we're there to sign - and sell - all weekend.  We are located in Artist Alley at Table A74.On Sunday Conor will also be overseeing a reprise of our popular panel "How to Create and Market Your Own Indie Comic".  I presented this back at FanExpo in August and it was a standing-room only event.  If you missed it come out and learn the tricks of the trade.  The panel will be taking place on Sunday, March 11th at 1pm in Room 803.We hope to see you there!  And check back for announcements of other upcoming shows for us - there will be many of them!