Parodies and homages of Conor McCreery...
Conor will be visiting the Warp Zone Tuesday evening (the 11th) for a chat with the hosts of the show. Unlike most of the interviews that we've done, this one will be an extended one... Rather than a quick hit he will be on air for most of an hour-plus.
You can check out the interview from 10pm - midnight (Central time) by checking out 88.3fm or kxua.uark.edu (or clicking on the KXUA logo).
Anthony on The Stuph File
Earlier this week I recorded a segment for The Stuph File, run by Peter Anthony Holder, based in Montreal. It's a program that features discussions on pop culture, books, television, and anything else that interests Peter. A fun interview that is available on iTunes as a free download and will also appear Monday on CyberStationUSA.com...
You can listen to the segment by checking out the website (click on the logo above), or by going directly to it here.
"It's going to be a great read" - AICN
I remember when we first started to work on Kill Shakespeare and I started to do research into the comic industry and become familiar with what other titles are out there, one of the resources I always turned to was Aint It Cool News.Similarly, I've been reading Aint It Cool News for years and years now for film news, back at the turn of the century, I imagine. I don't always agree with their opinions, and some of the sneak peeks seem to be plants from studios, but it's always a great place to do some film browsing.
So this week was a BIG one for us when we got a very positive review on AICN. We were ecstatic and our publisher even forwarded it onto us. This made our day and our week!Click on the image to go to the review.
"Get Thee to a Comic Shop!"
We're huge in the Philly suburbs!...We had a fun interview with Andy Vineberg earlier this week and the result is a good article with a great layout.Page one...
And page 2...
"A book that makes me feel that I’m not smart enough."
One of the comic book reviewers that we really like - and respect his opinion - is Graeme McMillan, who has written for a number of publications and knows story quite well. On the weekend Graeme posted a review of Kill Shakespeare #1 that is quite balanced and raises some good points and some things to watch out for (which we feel we address as the series moves on). Click on the link for the review...
"Who knows, all the world may one day be their stage..."
A someone who has read Canada's Globe & Mail for years and years (I remember waiting until they were delivered to the corner store in Timmins, Ontario everyday at 4pm, a full 10 hours after people in the rest of the country would get it), I'm quite excited to see a profile of Kill Shakespeare in today's paper (click on the image to link to the article)...
Profiled by John Barber, the article features an interview with Conor and I, but more importantly features the artwork of Andy B, including his character designs. We've also had some great comments on the page, ranging from people who think that this is a blasphemy and that we're driven by greed (?), while others think that it sounds pretty cool.Please forward on this article to everyone you know - let's spread the word and get people talking!
We're famous (in the subway)...
This past Thursday (the 15th) Conor and I were profiled in the Toronto 24 Metro newspaper. A great profile (on page 4, ahead of the Middle East story 'cause, as Conor points out, there's a better chance of us turning Kill Shakespeare into a huge franchise than the Middle East crisis being solved...), I think that it's great because a woman in my building stopped me and said that she read it and now understands what I do... I guess she had no idea before?...Click on the link to read the article in JPEG format.
Two Reviews - One Good, One Bad
The reviews continue to pile in... We have two noteworthy reviews this morning - one a really positive one, one a really negative one.
I think that some people would prefer to hide bad reviews but I'm of the opinion that it gets people talking, allows us to re-examine some aspects of our story, and also gives perspective. We would feel as though something was wrong if EVERYONE loved our stuff!The positive review is by Noel Bartocci from Broken Frontier (a really cool comic website). He really enjoyed the first issue and he says:"Kill Shakespeare #1 is a fun and thoughtful romp through the landscape of one of history's greatest storytellers. I for one cannot wait for the story to unfold... Within these pages is a genuine crossover appeal that many of us look for when trying to show nonbelievers the joy of comics."The negative review is from Tim Callahan at ComicBookResources (a top comic book website). Although he enjoyed Andy B's art, he believes that our interpretations of Hamlet and the other characters are wrong, stating that the characters, "don't act like themselves, and they speak like second-rate Stan Lee Asgardians."
"A perfect comic book"!
Yesterday a review was posted that may be, as Conor mentioned, the "best review we'll ever get in our lives." A really cool website, Panels on Pages, which takes a look at one comic book every week, reviewed Kill Shakespeare. The review was amazing (click on the image to read the full review) and my favourite line is this:
"The first issue of Kill Shakespeare not only makes me want to keep reading, it makes me want to read other things... This is the sort of comic we need more of - a book that dares to push the boundaries of the medium and of the reader alike, almost daring us to broaden our horizons and truly engage ourselves in what we read; bold, imaginative storytelling paying homage to the great works which made it possible."
Controversy!
It appears as though a Shakespearean scholar has not taken kindly to Kill Shakespeare and our concept... Kimberly Cox, a New York-based scholar (and coincidentally enough the girlfriend of artist/writer Frank Miller) has blasted our concept. She has posted a long letter on BleedingCool.com, which you can check out by clicking on the link.
Random quotes:
"And now a BAD comic book?"
"I just threw up in my mouth."
"Oh, they think they are so clever. They must, because otherwise, this comic book would not exist. IDW would never have even considered the proposal. But no one at IDW knew a thing about Shakespeare, that much is clear, because I doubt that they want to publish a giant stinking turd of a comic book on purpose."
Also of note is that two other scholars are interviewed and their opinions differ from that of Ms. Cox. They call the project "enjoyable", "hard to fault" and "it's a great idea."We've been asked quite a bit in the last few hours what we think of it and we're okay with the criticism - in fact, we welcome a nice, healthy debate. That's one of the goals of our project - to get people talking about Shakespeare and interpretations of his works. It just proves that he - who we believe is the greatest entertainer of all-time - is still relevant in today's world.
Rave Review for Kill Shakespeare #1!
It's always fun to start a week with a rave review...CraveOnline is a really cool entertainment website that serves as a portal for a lot of entertainment sites dealing with film, game, comics, sports and video. We did a fun chat interview with Joey Esposito yesterday and he has posted the interview as well as the review on the site.
The review is quite nice and features some really great thoughts on the first issue, including..."Be it sonnets, tragedies, comedies or anything in between, The Bard will forever be worshiped as perhaps the greatest storyteller of all time. That's why, when some two-bit comic book creators want to come along and shake things up, thespians and literature geeks might cringe at first mention. Except they shouldn't.""The writers have struck a nice balance to satisfy both Shakespeare junkies and those just looking to read the next big thing.""What really stands out in issue #1 of Kill Shakespeare is Belanger's visceral layouts. Every page feels different and dynamic, drawing the eye wherever it needs to go regardless of the panel layout. Belanger is sure to be a staple of the industry in the next decade, and Kill Shakespeare just might be the book to get him there."
The Geek Girls Will Love Us...
One of the best interviews we had at WonderCon was with Kate Kotler from Geek Girl on the Street, a really fun and informative website skewed towards, of course, females. Kate (and her team) were a lot of fun to hang out with and exchange jokes and barbs. There's gotta be a way we can design a character in our story after her...
Click on the photo for the second part of our interview (you can read the first part here).
A Preview on aintitcool.com!
As someone who reads up as much information about film and television (non-reality, of course), aintitcool.com has been a big source for me over the years. Since starting the project I have started to rely on the site more for comic news and previews - they always run a preview page on Mondays and then do reviews / critiques on Thursdays. They also put together a pretty good "Best of the Decade" section in December/January, with some titles I have subsequently read because of it.
Kill Shakespeare received a preview posting yesterday (Monday), which is a BIG thing for us! Especially for our artist Andy, who has wanted to have one of his titles on the site for years. So we're all pretty happy with this preview!
"Bard in a Blender"
Conor and I are both HUGE fans of Wired magazine so we were quite pleased this past weekend at WonderCon when a profile on us was posted on Wired.com. Written by Scott Thill, it's an excellent piece that discusses the project, our views on pop culture, and everything in-between. Click on the Wired logo to read the article.
My favourite quote of the article is this:"It’s the type of compelling, character-driven convergence you find in acclaimed television series like Lost. Which is no accident, if you ask McCreery. 'If Shakespeare were alive today, he’d be J.J. Abrams,' he said."
Very interesting comments!
We are currently in San Francisco to attend the WonderCon this weekend. We've reached out to some media and one who picked up the story was Topless Robot, a great site discussing pop culture. Click on the logo to go to the site.
Entitled "The Justice League of Stratford-upon-Avon, it's a great article. But what's even better are the comments posted with the article! A small sampling:
"I was completely sold on the mention of Falstaff."
"This sounds just ludicrous enough to be excellent."
"A plague on the houses of those that didn't call this KILL WILL!!!"
"Well played, IDW. Well played."
Our editor doubles as PR rep
Just found an online video interview with our editor at IDW Publishing, Tom Waltz. It's a brief clip in which he's asked about the upcoming series "Kill Shakespeare"...
I unfortunately can't imbed the video file onto this site but you can check out the video by clicking on the Comics Continuum logo...
MASTER Media Links
PRESS:"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Bard?" - Comic Book Resources, February 8th, 2010."A Comic Treatment for the Bard" - The Irish Times, January 6th, 2010."Why Are Two Canadians Out To Kill Shakespeare?" - Publishers Weekly, July 28th, 2009BLOGS:"Speculator's Corner - What's Hot to Trot" - Bleedingcool.com"New Comic Series - Kill Shakespeare" - The Shakespeare Post."Kill Shakespeare" - Lodestar Theatre Company."Kill Shakespeare: A Comic Jab and Literary Punch" - OneMetal.com"Kill Shakespeare: A Comic Jab and Literary Punch" - What Is Techno Again?"Kill Shakespeare in 2010" - Sequential: Canada's comix news and culture."Preview: Kill Shakespeare" - Bleeding Cool"Kill Shakespeare" - All Things All Things"Kill Bill: Willy D. Shakes to Get Graphic Novel Treatment with a Twist!" - EN/SANE"Kill Shakespeare" - Superpouvoir (for all our French fans)"What's New" - Graphic Novel Reporter (we're about half-way down)
We're not only a good read, we might make you some ducats!
Bleedingcool.com tells everyone that "Kill Shakespeare" #1 is more than just an "unfailable" concept, it also might be a great book to buy if you're hoping for a title that will increase in value as it sits in its mylar jacket.
A very nice vote of confidence if we do say so ourselves (and we do....)
Read all about our "speculative value" here.
"Very cool or be a total bust"
We've been getting some mentions by bloggers who have been flipping through this month's Preview magazine and highlighting some interesting choices. It's always encouraging to see Kill Shakespeare as one of the titles noted. A very interesting discussion about us took place on the Comics and... Other Imaginary Tales blog (you can check out the link by clicking on the logo). Their discussion points were:
Jim: This will either be very cool or be a total bust. The premise sounds good enough for me to sign up to check it out. I would love to see a preview of this series.Lee: Since we both liked Helen Killer, I’m betting we’ll like this too. But you’re right, it’s either going to be great or suck. Really really suck! There isn’t a lot of middle ground for this type of book.
That seems to be the overall theme - we will either be great, or suck. At least it's generating that sort of discussion. We're slightly nervous to see what the reaction will be but for the most part confident that we've created as strong a story and series as possible. Here's hoping that people don't think we "really really suck"!...
Official Previews Ad is Released
The official Previews ad for the first issue of KILL SHAKESPEARE, which is released to comic book retailers throughout North America, has been released this past week. Featuring artwork by Andy Belanger and cover artist Kagan McLeod, the ad displays the two covers available for the first issue as well two pages from the book.
When I first received this artwork I got an immediate call from artist Andy B, telling us how excited he was to see it. Even Conor, who will admit that he often doesn't take the time to celebrate milestones properly, became super-excited about the upcoming release when he first looked at it.
The logo is a temporary one - we've just finished work on a revised version that is exciting everyone in Andy B's studio. The design of the ad was created by the inhouse team at IDW Publishing. Thanks to our editor Tom Waltz and IDW E-I-C Chris Ryall for overseeing this. (And for those that might catch them, I'm not sure who to blame for the punctuation errors... normally I blame Conor but I'm not sure about it this time...)
For those that don't know, Previews is the monthly catalogue/listing of all titles that are available to be stocked. The February issue highlights those that will be released in April.
For retailers, the ad is on Page 263 and the Ordering Code is #FEB10 0959.