Help Review us on Amazon!
Have you heard either of our first two graphic novels? Did you like either of them ? Did you not like them? (If you didn't, I'm not really sure why you're checking out this site...) In either case, we'd like to request your help and help post a review on Amazon.com!
It's quite simple - head onto any of the chief Amazon sites and quickly post a quick note on whether you liked the book(s) or not. It'll probably take a couple minutes but would be an IMMENSE help to us!For Volume 2, you can access the site the titles here: United States, Canada and U.K.For Volume 1, you can access the specific title sites here: United States, Canada and U.K.
PW loves ANDY B.
Publishers Weekly has long been a big supporter of Kill Shakespeare so it is a real pleasure to see them review the second trade collection - THE BLAST OF WAR.The review isn't a stroke job by any measure, but it does single out Andy B. for the fantastic work he put into the trade.Click here to read it.So cheers to Andy B. as he continues to receive the recognition he deserves!
KILL SHAKESPEARE CRACKS WASHINGTON POST'S "MUST BE MADE INTO A MOVIE" LIST
As many of you know Anthony and I have been working hard at translating our baby to other mediums. Notably we've cast a longing glance at the film and TV industries.Well imagine our happy surprise when the Washington Post's Mike Cavna came knocking on our door and told us we'd made his list of the top 5 comics that need to move to the big (or little) screen.Mike's very fun article can be read here. I think he nailed five pretty amazing books that all of us would want to see on the air one day. Hey, who knows, maybe Anthony and I will show-run Sandman one day?
WORD!
The sun was shining, fans of the written word were laughing and comparing notes on their favourite authors, exotic meats and vegetables were grilling... it was definitely a great Sunday to be at Word on the Street.
And so the Kill Shakespeare team braved this paradise (though we somehow forgot to grab any Tiny Tom donuts -- for shame, what we're we thinking?) to do our second presentation at WOTS - which is a huge honour for us. We love getting the chance to mingle with so many readers and we especially appreciate the chance to try to open people's eyes to the humble comic book.In fact for next year I'm hoping to convince WOTS to give us and a few other creators a panel with some sort of provocative title ("You're dumb if you're not reading comics" ?) in order to really shake up the notion that comics are for kids.But that's enough of my little sideline passion.This post is really about thanking Nicola at WOTS for organizing the event and getting the K.S. boys a panel. And it is about thanking the people who came to hear us speak (standing room only!), and it is about appreciating the passion and energy the entire festival brought to the day. For those of you have not been to a WOTS it is getting bigger and bigger all the time, and the one in Toronto was easily the busiest I'd ever seen. And you don't even have to be in Toronto to enjoy the fun. The Toronto WOTS is held in conjunction with events across the country, including one in Halifax where our dear friend Chris Benjamin was a guest of honour.
It's a great venue for hearing readings, picking up cool books, getting discounted magazine subscriptions (as my fiancee may have done) and mingling. It's also a great venue for kids so we invite all our fans to come down next year to join the party at Queen's Park - and come support the "comics are literature too" movement we'll be trying to drum up.As for the panel itself? Well, first off, we were scheduled to present at the "This is Not the Shakespeare Stage" -- perhaps the greatest literary omen since the 'Ides of March' (although I think our day worked out a LITTLE better than Caesar's). Once we got there we were greeted by a large and enthusiastic crowd and received a wonderful intro from the festival organizers.Then Anthony and I spent an hour going through the "ins and outs" of writing and drawing comics (poor Andy was in NYC and couldn't join us) and providing tips about how to become a creative entrepreneur. As I mentioned above the crowd was fantastic, especially Scott who graciously volunteered to be a guinea pig and talk through a comic book he was working on that had stalled.
We also found time to plug the excellent Kate Beaton and her work Hark, A Vagrant!, to do a little high-fashion runway modelling, and to be COMPLETELY charmed by two adorable moppets in the front row who answered more questions than all the adults in the tent combined.At the end there was nothing left to do but treat the crowd to a brief sneak-preview of "Kill Shakespeare: The Musical" (starring the Bear from 'A Winter's Tale', naturally). We were told it was the first time that someone had ended a WOTS presentation with a soft-shoe routine.We hope that all of you who attended ended up gaining some value from our presentation, and please we'd love to hear feedback so that we can continue to improve our talks. We'd be honoured if something we said or did inspired your own creative spirits.All the best, and thanks again Toronto for the best Word on the Street yet!A smattering of the many photos the lovely Crystal Luxmore, the aforementioned fiancee, took of the day are below.
- Anthony preparing to launch into "Kill Shakespeare: The Musical"
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
Kill Shakespeare Profiled on CBC's The National
We just got back yesterday from a fantastic convention in Calgary where we made a ton of new fans and friends and sold out our books by mid-day Saturday! One of the reasons for our sell-out was the profile on us that ran on CBC's The National with Peter Mansbridge. It was a great almost-four-minute segment that featured interviews with us, Bayside Secondary School teacher Kent Allin, Bayside student Catherine Chokly and Soulpepper Theatre's artistic director Albert Schultz.To watch the clip, click on any of the images below (all taken from the segment) 0r here.
CBC National & The World at Six Profiles!
We have been fortunate to receive a great deal of media attention since the launch of our series last year. However, one of our biggest hits will be on air later this week.
The major Canadian television network CBC will be doing a profile of Kill Shakespeare on their flagship nightly news and current affairs show The National. It is scheduled to air this Friday (the 17th at 10pm) in a run-up to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo and the Joe Shuster Awards (for which we are nominated for Outstanding Comic Book Writing). The news team, led by reporter Arisa Cox and producer Nigel Hunt, followed us as we did talks at Barbara Frum Library (Toronto) and Bayside Secondary School (Belleville). They also interview teacher Kent Allin and Soulpepper Artistic Director Albert Schultz.The profile will also be aired on CBC Radio's program The World at Six with Alison Smith. This program is schedule to air the same day - Friday the 17th at 6pm.
Please keep in mind that these dates and time are all subject to change, depending upon the events of the day. But if you're in Canada and around the television or radio tune in and find out more about Kill Shakespeare! We will also post links once everything goes live online.
All positive reviews for Issue #11 (round-up)
With the launch of our 11th issue came a wide range of reviews for the issue. And we're happy to see that they are all quite positive - and all look forward to the release of final issue in July!
Starting off, we received a review by David Pepose at Newsarama (click on the image to go to the review). The site, of course, is one of the top out there for news and reviews in the comic and geek worlds and I must admit that I felt a little slighted that we had only received one review from them for the entire duration of our series. However, David has stepped up to the plate and put together a great review, with mainly positive and some slightly negative and constructive thoughts on our issue (and series). My favourite: "But for what is essentially a war comic that hits the literary fanboy button, this is an issue that will be appreciated by diehards and new readers alike."
Secondly, top comic website, ComicBookResources, posted another review of one of our issues last week (after having missed Issue #10). This is another positive - however, writer Ryan K. Lindsay also wonders if, with one of our plot points (that of a new side of Puck) we have "jumped the shark" ("There have been some creepy and imaginative visuals in the past, but Shakespeare’s multi-eyed soldier takes this book in a sudden and jarring direction. It’s a twist, and one not all will like, but it certainly provides a rich backdrop on which to paint this finale."). But overall he likes the issue and especially enjoys a scene with Hamlet and Juliet (one of my favourite moments in the entire series).
A small comic blog, Paradox Comics Blog, did a mini-review of our issue. Review Matt C gave us an 8/10 and said that "the whole thing sets the pulse racing through pure excitement as the denouement appears upon the horizon."
Perhaps our most loyal reviewer and interview, ComicBookDaily's Andrew Ardizzi, posted another very positive take on our series, stating, "The series has been tremendously well done up to this issue and barring an unfathomable gaffe in the final installment I would dare call it a comic book masterpiece."And finally, we love to shine the spotlight on new blogs and writers. One of which is Shaun Daniels of Horror Haven Reviews. He posted his first review of our series and stated that he really enjoyed it, stating, "Put down The Merchant of Venice or A Midsummer’s Dream and pick up Kill Shakespeare…it is Shakespeare for the 21st century."
The comic cover contest imbroligio
First of all let me apologize, and take responsibility, for the ill-will being felt here. I was the one who set up the contest and I was the one who screwed up.I need to make a mea culpa as we had two posts on our site that said opposite things. As several of you have pointed out in the original post we did say the comic cover contest would be "decided by the vote of the fans".In the post that accompanied the announcement of the five finalists (BEFORE VOTING OPENED) the language was changed to: "and we want you, the fan, to HELP us choose who gets the coveted win."I get why you guys and gals are pissed - if you vote for something and feel your vote doesn't matter then "why on earth did these a$$wipes hold a vote?"It didn't occur to me (and I wish it had) to set up a SEPARATE POST to make sure people saw the contest rules had changed BEFORE VOTING OPENED. At least then you could have chosen not to vote if you felt the voting system was unfair.So again, I made a mistake, and I want to apologize.Now I want to explain WHY the change was made - it was for two reasons:1) Because our social marketing advisor told us that, sadly, FB and Twitter contests are often "gamed". Instead of the contest being decided by a group of critical feedback it becomes about spamming, bots or other tactics.This held a lot of weight with us because we feel we LOST a contest like this (to get tens of thousands in financing from a Canadian entrepreneurship foundation) after a rival's vote totals soared by a couple of thousand in just a minute or so. Clearly bots were involved and while the award was given, the organizers had told us they were going to be scrapping the format.Now, I'm not saying that is what happened here, I think we had a fair contest, I don't think we saw any bots being used or anything like that -- but we were worried we might.2) The SECOND reason was more business concerned. Our publisher wanted a say in what went on the front of the cover. They didn't make the final decision, but they wanted to have their input.I realize had I made sure this was explained earlier none of this would have happened. So, again, my apologies.We did make sure that the vote was weighted towards the votes (and in fact the two covers that had the most support finished 1-2). As I mentioned on FB once I saw this huge gap between two of the covers and the remaining three I asked IDW if we could perhaps do TWO alternate covers and declare the contest a tie. But, because retailers had already made their orders on a two-cover issue IDW said no.I do want to remind everyone that ALL the work will be published in issue #11. I have also contacted our runner-up, Allyssa Pirone, about a future cover or pin-up when the second series is launched.Again, I want to apologize if this contest left fans of Kill Shakespeare and Allyssa feeling disempowered and/or lied to.Conor(And just to show that this wasn't a "What the creators say, went" decision - I organized the contest and the cover I voted for finished a distant third.)
Our first cover profile!
Conor and I were interviewed back in November for the Wilfrid Laurier University Alumni magazine. As proud alumni of WLU (based in Waterloo, Canada) we were pleased to not only receive a glowing profile but also... our first magazine cover profile!
The excellent article by Mallory O'Brien can be found at this link. The photo shoot was done by Dean Palmer (based in Guelph) and the layout by Erin Steed. We will (hopefully) have other photos from our photo shoot (done at Toronto's Silver Snail) on our site in the next week or so.
We X'D in public!
Recently the Kill Shakespeare lads headed to London Ontario to support a great event - Comic Book Literacy Day.While we were there we were fortunate enough to be interviewed by Jaynel White from 106.9 "The X".Click here to head to The X where you can listen to the interview.Thanks to Jaynel, and the whole London Library crew for putting together a day that was beyond fantastic.
Riffing on Kill Shakespeare in the Washington Post
One of the top mainstream comic journalists is Michael Cavna, who writes the Comic Riffs section at the esteemed Washington Post. Last month while in Washington for our talk at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Conor and I sat down with Michael for an interview. Michael is a fan of the series and we had a great time chatting with him about comics, Shakespeare, music, and acting talent (and non-talent).
The final article appeared yesterday, and it's one of the best we've had published thus far! You can read the article by clicking on Michael's self-portrait above.As a fan of journalism, and aware of the prestige of the Washington Post, this is one of the media hits that I'm most excited about thus far!
Another great Aint It Cool News review!
Earlier this week comics reviewer Liz Reblin from Aint It Cool News wrote up a review of Issue #9. Lyz had listed IDW Publishing as her favourite publisher of the year and also stated that she was looking forward to reading through Kill Shakespeare. We were able to make copies available to her - and she liked it!
Perhaps the best quote of the piece: "Do whatever you can to get your hands on these because this is probably one of the strongest series out there, for many reasons."Read the entire review by clicking on the cover art.
Kill Shakespeare helping to slay illiteracy!
The Kill Shakespeare team is heading back to London!
The Kill Shakespeare boys are on the move again - this time for a GREAT cause. We're going to be part of a FANTASTIC comic line-up for Comic Book Literacy Dayat the London Central Library (251 Dundas Street).The whole event goes down on March 16th, 2011.Andy, Anthony and Conor will be part of a panel between 7 and 8 PM to discuss why comics are not just for kids. We'll be joined by SUPER librarian Scott Robins, and long-time comics enthusiast Mathew Foy.You can also catch us at HEROES (186 Dundas) where we will be signing from 5-6:30 PM.Some of the other great guests at the event include J.Bone (who you know for tons of different work with D.C., but love best for his back-up story in the first Kill Shakespeare trade), Scott Chantler (creator of the excellent Two Generals), cartoonist extraordinaire Diana Tamblyn, and heavyweight main-stream rock stars Stuart and Kathryn Immonen.So please take some time during your March Break to come out and have fun at this fantastic event!
Reviews for Issue #9 Are In!
The early reviews for Issue #9 (Is That a Dagger I See Before Me) are now in... and they are all positive!"This issue features what is hands down one of my favorite moments in comics this year. I turned the page and literally gasped as Hamlet falls under the water to be attacked by monsters made of pages Shakespeare has discarded." - ComicBookResources
"Overall the issue was a great read. Del Col and McCreery’s writing has definitively improved throughout the run and it’s showing in the revelations of this issue and the overall pacing of it. Their scripts feel very detailed, and with Belanger’s artwork, acts as the perfect complement to each other. Together they have created one of the best books in comics, that after nine issues, has not let up in either its quality or presentation." - Comic Book Daily"Issues 1 through 9 have been solid all the way through, being almost perfect. I can only assume that there are only three more issues remaining for this particular arc. How in the world this is going to wrap up in three more issues I have no idea. But I’m excited to see what happens!" - The Heretics Blog
Kill Shakespeare wants you to get your first break in comics!
Anthony and I are often a little humbled by how friendly the comic world has been to us - two neophytes.Whether it's the incomparable Arvid Nelson giving us story tips, the brilliant Mike Carey, John Layman or Bryan Glass writing us great blurbs or Ty Templeton and Darwyn Cooke serving as mentors we have constantly been made to feel "just as worthy" as the men and women who have been doing this MUCH longer than we have.And so we want to pay it forward.We want YOU to get your first break in comics!It's the FIRST KILL SHAKESPEARE COVER CONTEST! 
WHAT: We want YOUR ART to grace the cover of Kill Shakespeare #11. And we're teaming up with some of the greatest comic shops in North America to make it happen.The winner's design will be the alternate cover for Kill Shakespeare #11, while four runners-up will be featured in print. All other finalists will get some on-line love.WHO: Anyone who does not already have a professional comic credit can win (although anyone can enter).WHEN: What we need from you is a completed cover design by the "Ides of March" (March 15th) by 9:00 PM EST (6:00 PM PST).WHERE & HOW: You can enter at any of the following awesome comic shops.
The Silver Snail (Toronto)Paradise Comics (Toronto)Midtown Comics (New York - Times Square location)Forbidden Planet (New York)Isotope - The Comic Book Lounge (San Francisco)Mission Comics and Art (San Francisco)Atomic City Comics (Philadelphia)Brave New Worlds (Philadelphia)Fat Jack's Comicrypt (Philadelphia)Golden Apple Comics (L.A.)Meltdown Comics (L.A.)Enter in person by giving them a copy of your work or by sending them your work (but please DO NOT mail, or e-mail your work without getting the o.k. from the store first). While you can submit a physical copy, the winners will need to have the designs digitally as high-res (300 DPI) JPEG's as well.But for submission purposes a low-res JPEG is fine as well.The store that submits the winner will also get their logo on the cover. So make sure you represent for your fave city, state, country, or store!WHAT DO I DRAW?: Here is the PREVIEW blurb for issue #11 to give you some inspiration.
With one trusted friend dead and the Prodigal army in pieces, Hamlet must plunge back into the Globe Woods. But even if he survives this second trip into the mouth of madness, can Shakespeare’s fabled quill stop the horrific combined might of Richard III, the Black Guard, and Lady Macbeth’s foul magic?
SOME OTHER RULES STUFF:
- The Contest ends at 9 PM EST March 15th, 2011.
- No purchase is required to enter.
- Only entrants without professional comic credits are eligible to win the contest.
- Each store will select up to three finalists.
- The final five finalists will be decided by the Kill Shakespeare creative team.
- The winner will be decided by a poll of Kill Shakespeare fans.
- The winner needs to be able to provide their design as a 300 DPI quality JPEG.
- All entries are property of Kill Shakespeare Entertainment.
- The sky is the limit. We'll be judging entries by how well they tell a story on the cover, how well the cover captures the "feel" of Kill Shakespeare and by how innovative and interesting the design is.
Good luck, and happy designing and drawing -- if you have any questions about how to enter drop me a line at muachado@killshakespeare.com
ANDY B. SET FREE
Yep, Andy B. escaped the chains of the drawing desk to do some media promo work. The always quote worthy Andy B. carries a big part of the Kill Shakespeare crew's latest podcast appearance.Andy and Conor chatted with the "All Your Basecast" folks about the series, the team's upcoming visit to London AND Andy's love of the city.Of course it wouldn't be a Belanger interview if he didn't stir it up a little -- so if you write or draw a "touchy-feely" indie comic.... you might want to hide.So, without further ado, click here to hear Andy B. let loose on the lovely Vanessa!(And for those of you who don't get the reference in the title of the Podcast, enjoy!)
"I don’t know whether it’s the title’s hook, savvy PR work or both"
Kevin Melrose this morning, in his Comics A.M. column on ComicBookResources.com, wrote the following:"I don’t know whether it’s the title’s hook, savvy PR work or both, but the creators of the IDW miniseries Kill Shakespeare receive a steady stream of mainstream press coverage. Here’s the latest, an interview with collaborators Anthony Del Col, Conor McCreery and Andy Belanger ahead of a weekend appearance in London, Ontario. [London Free Press]"
Dan Brown, a fan of ours = and other great comics - from London, ON, wrote one of the best articles about us thus far. It was an astute look at the series, its conception, and its future. It's also featured in today's print edition of the London Free Press, so we're excited to see a physical copy - and to meet Dan at our signing at L.A. Moods Comics on Saturday afternoon (the 12th)!
Reactions on the Shuster noms (and a glaring non-nom)
It was absolutely fantastic to get nominated for a Shuster Award for writing earlier this week. Conor and I are still on cloud nine for that distinction. What is also cool is to have read a couple blogs/sites that comment on our nominations.The first was The Fabler Blog, a "web comics portal", which ran through some of the nominees. Kevin de Vlaming, the writer, goes through some of that categories and also points out some nominations he's excited about. The top of the list is Kill Shakespeare, and he says: "They’re up against some big names in the Outstanding Comic Book Writer category, such as Lemire, J. Torres, and Kathryn Immonen, but I think they can hold their own.... It’s clever, well-written, and ultimately filled with nuanced originality that sets it apart from a lot of what’s out there at the moment." You can read the full blog post here.And over at ComicBookDaily, two writers (Andrew Ardizzi - who has done a few reviews of our work - and Pete DeCourcy) comment on some of the nominees. Andrew approves of our writing nomination but adds, "I do think however that’s it’s a colossal mistake to have omitted Andy Belanger’s contributions to Kill Shakespeare. He has consistently offered some of the most dynamic, creative and altogether violent I’ve seen in the last year. It’s truly beautiful, and a crime that he’s not on there anywhere."Pete also comments on this, stating, "Yeah, I totally agree – Kill Shakespeare wouldn’t work half as well without Belanger’s very distinct art style, he lends an air of distinct menace to some of the scenes that rewards multiple readings."You can read the whole article here or by clicking on the link below.
I'm really glad that some people recognize that Andy should have been nominated. Andy's doing some really original and incredibly dense things in this series - especially his work on Issue #7 (check out some of the incredible pages here - and below). I know that the artist category is very competitive and applaud Kevin and Robert and everyone at the Shusters for doing a very good job on making the process transparent. It's just too bad that Andy didn't make the final list for some reason.
Nominated for a Joe Shuster Award!
Fresh Off the Presses!It was announced earlier today that Conor and I have been nominated for a Joe Shuster Award in the category of Outstanding Comic Book Writer(s)! The Shusters are the Canadian comic book creator awards. We are very happy for the nomination, especially since we're in the same category as great pros such as Kathryn Immonen (one of Andy Belanger's mentors), Jeff Lemire, J. Torres and Jim Zubkavich (for the excellent and highly-recommended Image series Skullkickers).You can click on the logo below to go to the official press release.I'd like to say, though, that I'm disappointed that our artistic team failed to receive any nominations. Ian Herring has been doing great work as our colourist and Kagan McLeod as our cover artist. However, the work that Andy Belanger has been doing is phenomenal and really should have been recognized by the nominating committee. He has received glowing reviews from so many comic and mainstream pres, especially for an indie title like ours. He deserves a nomination FAR more than Conor and I do.The awards will be announced at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo on Saturday, June 18th. So let's get the campaigning to begin (I'm going to try to out-do Harvey Weinstein with this one...)!
