Scenes from an Exhibit
Last night was the opening night of The Art of Kill Shakespeare, a gallery showing at New York's Chair and the Maiden. The opening night was a smash success with a large number of guests (so many that the place was packed and people spilled out onto the street). The highlights included us grabbing Michael Moore, who was passing by on the street, to come and check out the art (he and Andy ended up singing the Canadian national anthem), hanging out with our publicist Lonnie McCullough, appearances from a number of top New York artists and musicians, and, of course, a stranger that stayed the entire night and ended up getting drunk and almost passing out...For those that missed this event, we are having a signing/showing at the gallery on Tuesday night from 6-8pm. Don't miss it!Special thanks for last night go to J.Bone, Crystal Luxmore and Jen Heath for coming down from Toronto for the event, Vanessa King for connecting us to the gallery, and most importantly, John and David from Chair and the Maiden for organizing such a great time!Some photos here...
Babies Love Kill Shakespeare!
It turns out that some of our posts of babies with Kill Shakespeare get some of the biggest hits, so how could I resist putting another one here. I'd like to present little Jude Dowd, aka Elwood P. Isn't he so cute?
How to Train the Dragon!
This past weekend Andy and I made our way to Guelph, Ontario to take part in a signing at The Dragon Comics. It was great to share some space with some great Canadian artists such as Eric Kim, Richard Pace, Ray Fawkes, Ross Campbell and Dale Keown. It was also great to make some new fans and hang out with some friends from the Guelph region.The Dragon is a great comic book store with a great staff - from Jenn (the big boss) to Amy (the manager) to Teresa to Robert to Calum (hereafter referred to as Shia)... We also did separate podcasts (which will be posted online sometime soon) and I flipped the format by interviewing Jenn and then Shia...Another highlight was meeting Andy's dad, who came by to present us our shiny new banner. It looks fantastic! Special thanks to Ian Herring for helping with the design of this.Thanks to everyone that turned out - I hope you enjoy our photos!...
The Art of Kill Shakespeare in New York!
Officially announced today via press releases is our art show in New York beginning just over a week from today. Running from November 5th - 9th at Chair and the Maiden in New York is The Art of Kill Shakespeare, an exhibition of the work by Andy Belanger and Kagan McLeod for our series.
You can read the press release here.This gallery showing is the hub for our book launch efforts in two weeks' time and we will be having a reception on Friday the 5th and then again on Tuesday the 9th. The latter will actually feature copies of the book available for sale.Andy has been doing such a fantastic job on this series and we're proud to see him receive this, his first gallery showing. He's quite excited about the venture and anyone that takes a look at the art work will really be impressed.Chair and the Maiden is a great new gallery on New York's trendy Christopher Street. Run by John D'Abu and David Zelikovsky, it has featured a wide range of shows and is currently finishing off a run by Shari Belafonte. They also run the great organization Fund Art Now, which is a foundation created to promote global discourse on important issues through art. I highly recommend you check out the organization by clicking the image below.We've thoroughly enjoyed working with them thus far and look forward to the show! More details will be announced in the next week or so leading up to the event!
Our supporting players: CYBF
Earlier today I did a video session for the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, a great organization that supported us early with funding and mentorship. They wanted to film me talking about mentorship and how the CYBF has helped us out. Our mentor, Josh Howard, unfortunately was unable to join us but I talked about how he helped us out early on and how Sarah Hashem, our liaison, has also been an indispensable source of assistance.Below is a photo of Sarah Hashem, before I forced her to teach me salsa...
Conor Speaks at Word on the Street
On Sunday Conor sat on the panel about digital publishing at the Word on the Street panel. Entitled "The Big Issue: Magazines and Comic Books in the Digital Age", it was a lively discussion about the future of journalism, short stories and comic books moving forward. Moderated by Stuart Woods of Quill & Quire Magazine (Canada's top book review and news journal), it featured the editors of online publications TorontoLife.com and Joyland.The most interesting topic/question? Fonts.Thanks to everyone from Word on the Street as well as Sarah from MDG & Associates who made this happen (by 'pulling some strings'...).
Behind the Scenes of our CTV News Interview (with link!)
Our first live television spot! Conor and I today made an appearance on CTV News Channel in Canada, interviewed by Jacqueline Milczarek about our experiences at the Telefilm Canada Pitch This! event and the success of our comic book series. It was the first time we've done an interview in a separate room (I wasn't sure where to look half the time - at the camera? At Conor? Somewhere else?). UPDATE!!! You can check out the video clip here!!!We're trying to find a direct link to the interview or to get the video to put on the site - we'll do so as soon as we can.In the meantime, check out these two behind-the-scenes photos taken from today...
How does one cash a novelty cheque?...
A number of people have been asking us about the novelty cheque that we received at the Pitch This! contest two days ago... Were we able to keep it?... How does one bring it home?... Can we cash it?... The answers are:1. Yes, we were able to keep the novelty cheque. When I won back in '06 for Outsourced, I turned around and the cheque was gone. So I made a point this year to ensure that the cheque remained right by us the entire time.2. Conor and I fought over who could bring it home (see photo below) and Conor, being Irish, fought dirty and was able to beat me in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors... So he took it home on his bike. Yes, his bike. See photo further below. He apparently was almost killed (he forgot to account for the wind resistance) and also passed some people on the street that were, at that exact moment, declaring that they had seen a lot of crazy things in the city (but this topped them all)...
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.
What should the caption be?
This is one of the funniest photos I've ever taken... I hope that you agree. But we're having problems - we'd like to come up with the best caption possible. We are now holding a Caption Contest - submit your ideas for the caption for this photo and you can win an autographed copy of Issue #5 (to be released Sept 8th)!
Scenes from a FanExpo
We had our first full day at FanExpo Canada today. It was a really, really busy day with lots of people stopping by our table - some brought copies for us to sign, some came to buy copies they couldn't find at stores, some found out about us today. We love attending conventions like these that allow us to chat with readers, Shakespeare fans, and everyone else.Conor and I also moderated an interesting panel regarding the current state of comics and where they are going. We had Scott Chandler, Willow Dawson, Ramon Perez, Cameron Stewart and Andy Belanger on the panel, which also saw some interaction with the audience. Thanks to everyone that came out.We look forward to one final day here - hopefully we'll have a chance to get away from the table and check out everything else at the convention. In the meantime, enjoy these photos that we were able to take today...
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!
An EPIC, EPIC of KILL SHAKESPEAREAN EPICNESS - in four parts (To borrow from Scott Pilgrim) .
The ENTIRE Kill Shakespeare team (including that 'wascally wabbit' Andy) take part in a mammoth interview with Joe Wilcox at Oddly Together.Joe is a great journalist with year's of experience - it may be the first time we've been questioned by a guy who also cover's Microsoft's earnings.There are four parts to the awesomeness -- each one bite-sized and tasty.
Act 1 -- Enjoy as Andy gets to be the pitchman for the first time in a live interview. Thrill to how he says the series is about Shakespeare's characters playing with themselves. Gasp as Anthony and Conor reveal themselves to be Bert and Ernie on acid (those aren't two pillows....)
Act II -- Anthony gets us on track and explains what the heck this series is actually about. And he explains how Kimberly Cox may still be trying to kill us.
Act III - This was a real, real treat -- a WORLD-EXCLUSIVE sneak preview of art for issues #5, 6 and beyond. If you are a Kill Shakespeare devotee (as we know you are) you wanna check this clip out for sure!Act IV - We get philosophical here and ask a big question for Bardolators: Was Hamlet a suicide-case? Did he actually LET himself be killed in the play? And does that make him one big fat coward???All told we had a great time chatting with Joe, and we really hope you enjoy the interviews as much as we did making them!
SDCC Day 1: The next Twilight?
Our first full day has come and gone... We did a signing, chatted with a whole bunch of people, had a couple interviews... and then capped off the night with a group of cool geeks at the Hyatt...The most interesting thing to come out the day is the realization that perhaps our biggest growing fan base are teenage girls. We knew that females gravitate towards Shakespeare more than males do but we've found that so many of them at conventions get excited about our premise - and enjoy not only the emergence of Juliet (and her new interpretation) but also the action and comedy in our series. My dream has come true - perhaps we have the next Twilight in our hands...Some photos:
SDCC Day 0.5: Reunions with two mentors
Today was Preview Night at Comic-Con in San Diego... Andy, Conor and I had a chance to pick up our passes (after cutting in the line... shhh!...), check out some of the early sights. The biggest items being pushed this year - thus far, at least - are Scott Pilgrim, Thor and The Walking Dead. I'm sure that more will be discovered tomorrow, which will be the first full day... (And we will also provide a whole whack of photos as well!)...We were able to run into two individuals who both helped us out at a very early stage of the project. That is what's proving to be a great part of attending these conventions - running into old friends along the way.
Ku Liang from Diamond Comics Distributors was one of the first people who gave us advice as we moved forward. He has been a great advocate of our project, talking to everyone at Diamond, librarians, retailers, sales reps, etc. He has given us sales and marketing advice, and become a real brand evangelist for Kill Shakespeare. For this assistance, much thanks!
Arvid Nelson was one of the first creators that we met (back at the New York Comic-Con in February, 2009 while we were pitching the project). Both Conor and I (especially Conor!) were fans of his Rex Mundi series and in the next few months he gave us advice about the industry, read through our first script to give us notes, and generally become a friend. He's working on some really cool projects at the moment, including one with Radical Publishing.Thanks to both Ku and Arvid for everything they've done for us thus far - and will continue to do!
Shakespeare, Ontario
Conor and I were invited to attend the opening night of "The Tempest" at the Stratford Festival two weeks ago. The show, directed by Des McAnuff and starring Christopher Plummer, was quite good (a very unique interpretation of Ariel with great casting).Along the way we stopped in a small town called Shakespeare, Ontario, and couldn't resist taking a photo by the sign...
Issue #3 is released today!
Get thee to a comic book store today... Kill Shakespeare #3 is released today (July 7th) across North America - and tomorrow (July 8th) in the U.K. and Europe. We're really pleased with this issue - it's the introduction of Falstaff, who has already become a fan favourite of readers! You'll enjoy his antics. Andy certainly did - he couldn't stop laughing while drawing the issue...
Happy Birthday to our own Adam Savage!
Today is not only Canada Day here in our home and native land, it's also Kill Shakespeare co-creator Conor McCreery's birthday! Being the discreet individual that he is, he annually fails to acknowledge that some of the fireworks that people throw shoot off into the sky every year is the celebration of his birth...
If you've never met Conor, he looks like... well, he looks like Adam Savage, the host from the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters. Eerily so. In fact, he is stopped every now and then and asked if this is the case. When Conor and I attended Comic-Con in San Diego last year four people stopped him over the course of the convention to ask for a photo. He told two of the people (quite politely) that he wasn't him, the third person he pretended that he was, and the fourth he said that he was a stunt double for Savage. The third stunt double over the course of the show, mind you("Did you really think that he would do his own stunts?..."). The photo below is of a woman taking a photo of Conor, believing him to be the stunt double...
In all seriousness, happy birthday, Adam Savage - er, I mean Conor. You are a great friend and a great business partner and I hope that we'll be able to track down Adam Savage this year at Comic-Con and have the two of you meet. Worlds will collide.
Comic Shopping in Philly? Hit Atomic City!
So two weeks ago I had the great pleasure of seeing one of the really cool comic shops in the North Eastern U.S.Myself and three buddies were in Philly to catch some baseball, eat some cheesesteaks and perhaps drink a wee bit too much at one of the many fine bars on South Street and the Old Towne.
Now while I knew there were likely fine comic-shops in Philly I did not expect to find Atomic City -- one of the coolest temples to sequential art this side of San Francisco.
Atomic City is run by the appropriately named Good Guy Joe and has one of the best organized set-ups I have ever seen. Plus the store has oodles of personality -- all springing forward from Joe and the staff who are crazy passionate about comics and all sorts of Geek Culture. Joe actually used to be a customer of the store and is now living out the dream of so many of us comic-kids -- running his "home" store. It's not all Beer and Skittles though, but even with Philly being hit by the economic downturn the same way the rest of us were Joe has managed to guide the store to a new and bigger location.
Joe is an interesting cat in his own right. We had a great conversation about everything from "Elephantmen", to "Blacksad" to Alternative Energy -stopping in to chat Kung-Fu movies and urban planning as we went.They have a great collection of comics, trades, fright-masks(!) and even some awesome old school arcade machines that hide away along the aisles.I like my comic stores to be open and feel inviting and Atomic City totally manages to do that. So, if you are ever in Philly and looking for some comic action to wash down that Ishkabible cheesesteak then make sure you drop in on Joe and his Atomic City team!
