TIGHTS ALERT! TIGHTS ALERT!
Alright, this is a TOTAL look "behind the curtain", but here is a sneak peek at the Cover for issue #8.
The only reason I put this out there is because HAMLET IS WEARING TIGHTS! This breaks EVERY rule Anthony has set down. I have it on good authority thast Anthony and his "anti-tight" squad of loose pants wearing Ninjas are going to stage a dawn raid at Casa Mcleod and force Hamlet into a pair of breeches and boots. But I wanted you, the loving Kill Shakespeare public to have a chance to see this rare occurance.(oh, and this may be the only time you see those cool pennants and spears in the background in the clouds. Do you like'em? Should they stay? Let us know!)UPDATE: Uh, yeah well sure you can't actually SEE the pennants ans spears because this is just a thumbnail, but if you COULD would you want them to stay or go, you know, conceptually speaking...
M.C. Del Col, Yo!
No, it isn't the latest white-rap superstar (that would actually be Kill Shakespeare's cover artist Kagan McLeod who has won more than his fair share of accolades at Hip-Hop Karaoke), it is the role Anthony Del Col will be taking on this Monday.
Anthony will be serving as the Master of Ceremony's at a book launch in Toronto at the Lula Lounge. Anthony will be leading the launch festivities for the Toronto debut of Chris Benjamin's first novel Drive By Saviours.The book has already garned RAVE reviews and if you are a fan of intelligent literature (and of course you are, you read Kill Shakespeare) and you live in the Toronto area head to the event for a fantastic night of readings, music, performances and DEL COL!(oh and give Chris a hard time -- he's a Habs fan).WHAT: Drive By Saviours Book launchWHEN: October 4th, 2010WHERE: Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas St. W)TIME: 8:00-11:30 PM
Stephen Holt Strikes Again!
Our brand-new best friend Stephen Holt has added to his collection of Kill Shakespeare media. This time its in the form of two videos he has posted on his YouTube channel.
Stephen is a passionate cinephile and blogs foir AwardsDaily.com (the site Anthony uses to get the egde on the competition in his Hollywood movie league). We met him at TIFF and he very kindly (and correctly as it turned out) said he thought we would win PITCH THIS! He also does a popular public access show in NYC and agreed to chat with us!You can surf into his channel (unless you get to see his show nin NYC) to watch the first part of the video here and the second part here!We had a great time and we talked about things in this interview that we have NEVER been asked!
Word!
Your fave Bardolaters are taking it to the mean streets of Toronto this weekend.Swing by The Word on the Street Festival on Sunday at 2:00 PM to check out Conor as a panelist on the Digital Drive stage. He'll be chatting with other "literature luminaries" about the future of books, magazines and comics in this the digital age.Plus, his photo on their webpage makes him look so darn professional - like a burly, red-headed Perry Mason!And for more info on the festival a link to the great blog post from which the image above was "borrowed".(Like how I wrote this whole thing in the third person as if you couldn't see I was the one responsible for the post?)
STICK FIGURE HAMLET
Yes, this site has the ENTIRE tragedy drawn entirely in stick figures.Now we ask, can you really have ANY more fun with the Bard than a stick-ginger Hamlet? (yes, correct the answer WAS Kill Shakespeare, but this is a close second).ENJOY!
Chatting with the boys.
Us, do media? No....Ok, yes... we sat down with the lovely Andrew Ardizzi at FanExpo in Toronto last weekend. Andrew is a general all-around renaissance man and both a senior reporter at Humber college as well as a reporter for COMIC BOOK DAILY!So it was our good fortune to get to sit down with him and chat about FanExpo, drawing horses, and Kill Shakespeare.Listen here! (Yep, that's an order...)
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...
Graphic Novel Reporter Grills us!
We've always hoped that Kill Shakespeare becomes the sort of comic that people who don't usually read comics can pick up and enjoy. And part of that is getting educators and librarians to see both the value of Kill Shakespeare AND the value of comics as a unique medium that not only spans both literature and art, but also introduces a level of complexity in forcing the reader to work out how those two pieces inform each other.John Hogan is the editor of the very excellent Graphic Novel Reporter who, as part of Bookreporter.com, has an audience that spills nicely into those teachers and librarians.So enjoy our little chat with John, learn about who Anthony DESPERATELY wants to play Hamlet, and watch me use words that I probably don't actually understand ('contextualization?', really Conor?).All the reporter-y goodness can be found here.
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!
Another shameless plug for local cartoonists
Because we like spreading the word about the weird and wonderful things that local T-dot cartoonists are getting up to we bring you s0omething that qualifies on all accounts -- MILLER & MULLET.If you love vaudeville humour mixed with a certain amount of human suffering, terrifying imagery, pratfalls, and are not afraid of clowns then this may be your next fave web-comic.There is also a web-series but I haven't been watching that yet - although I'm gonna guess it'll be kinda surreal.ENJOY - this link will get you started with the comic.
A Shamleless plug for a new friend!
The Kill Shakespeare boys love the sense of community in the comic world and so we're going to make a more concerted effort of introducing you to some of the young hungry creators we're meeting.
Richard Fairgray is an incredibly cool guy and a neat story. When we met him he was busy shoving a pen into his eye-socket... no, he isn't a Jim Rose devotee but a comics creator. It just so happens that Richard is almost 100-percent blind.Has he let that stop him? Hell no. In his native New Zealand he's a well-regarded comics writer AND artist (yeah, I feel humbled. Richard can't see and he's ten-times the artist I am). And he also has a cool new project called Blastosaurus that is getting some Hollywood love. It's sorta TMNT but with dinosaurs, a young idealistic boys and, well, blasters...Anyway his personal story makes him stand-out even more, but checking out his work I'm sure you'll agree his work succeeds on its own merit. Besides who can't like a dude who has a graphic-novel based on one of film's most famous legends - the Wilhelm Scream!
Proof that we have "Ambition" (we told ya')
The Kill Shakespeare boys were honoured to be part of a campaign run by IMPACT and the Canadian Youth Business Foundation called "I am My Ambition". It's designed to help young entrepreneurs (lie us!) inspire other Canadians to take a risk and start their own business.
Unfortunately for us the audio on Anthony's mic wasn't working well so the video is short on his very excellent observations, but still you get to see how fast Conor talks in meetings -- Woah! Slow down Speed Racer!Click here to see the video and here to check out this excellent organization that might be able to help you with your first (or next) business.
Profile: Jason Chan & Spencer Rysdale
Last week I introduced some of the key members of our team - our PR reps from MDG & Associates and Smith Publicity. This week I wanted to shine a spotlight on two individuals that have made just as big an impact on the early success of Kill Shakespeare - our two marketing interns, Jason Chan and Spencer Rysdale.What can I say about these two? They have gone above and beyond the call of duty for Kill Shakespeare for the last five-plus months. Both are current business students at Ryerson and based on the work they've done with us I expect big things in the future. They've done everything from making phone calls to retailers across North America to doing research for us to posting stuff on Facebook to hanging out with us at signings and conventions. They have been godsends for us.
Jason is our tech go-to guy. Whenever we get proposals or ideas for online or game concepts he's the one that we turn into. He's got a fantastic entrepreneurial drive and is always looking for small niches for his own potential start-ups (he's currently working on a pretty cool idea at the moment through Ryerson's start-up incubator).
Spencer is our pitbull. He's always getting in our faces pushing us to get him more stuff to do. He's even reached to potential academic distributors to make them aware of our series (and they are very interested in it).
These are both players you want on your team. But don't get any ideas - we don't want to lose them...
Sold Out!
We were informed yesterday by our publisher IDW Publishing that the first two issues of Kill Shakespeare are now sold out! What this means is that there are still copies available in stores but the back-stock is now depleted! Not bad for a new title. Thanks to everyone that has purchased copies and also those that have told others about it!IDW is currently coming up with some cool plans on re-printing the first two issues. Once we get more information on this we will let everyone know. I know that a lot of people - customers, fans and retailers - have been inquiring about getting their hands on copies and hopefully the new ones will be at stores soon.
Toronto Comic Arts Festival
We will be making an appearance at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) this upcoming weekend (May 8-9th) and are looking forward to it. TCAF is a great spot for the indie comic scene and will feature a lot of Canadian-based comic creators, both mainstream and indie. Chris Butcher, who runs The Beguiling, has done a great job putting this event together the last few years. I attended last year and enjoyed it, meeting a lot of people. It was last year that we were in the midst of discussions with publishers and I recall asking people what they thought of the various companies. We heard a lot of great things about IDW and that was one of the reasons we signed with them.
We will be conducting a panel on Saturday from 4-5 (in the Learning Centre 1 room), discussing comics and Shakespeare (and whether the twain shall meet). On the panel will be ourselves, artist Andy B, artist Jason Bone, teacher Kent Allin, and actors Janet Green and Carlos Diaz. We've done two of these panels already and are looking forward to debating the merits of Shakespeare again.TCAF takes place at the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street) on Saturday and Sunday. To find out more you can click here.
Paradise Comics (Toronto) Signing!
We will be visiting Paradise Comics (3278 Yonge Street just north of Lawrence) on Wednesday, April 14th to celebrate the release of the Kill Shakespeare #1! If you're in the area come out to visit us (myself, Conor, Andy B) and raise a toast to the release of the first issue earlier that day!
We are now less than a week away from the release and we're getting excited!...
All hail Andy B!
There is some glorious news on the Kill Shakespeare front. Artist Andy Belanger (Andy B. to his friends and enemies) has been nominated for a Joe Shuster Award.For those of you who are unaware the Shuster awards are the top level of recognition for Canadian comic talent. Andy is in the running for "Best Webcomic" for his incredible strips "Bottle of Awesome" and "Raising Hell".We also want to give a shout out to K.S. friends Cameron Stewart (up for "Best Artist"), Francis Manapul (also "Best Artist"), Ty Templeton (nominated as "Best Writer") and Karl Kerschel ("Best Webcomic").The Shuster awards are given out June 5th in Toronto. Next year we'll be there to grab a few of our own!
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)
Shakespeare is alive - and emailing
Earlier this morning comic book retailers in North America received an email from an individual they long thought dead... William Shakespeare.
In promoting Kill Shakespeare we have come up with some pretty cool ideas and hooks and we figured that rather than sending out a boring, bland email letting retailers know about our title that we would make it a bit more interesting. Hell, if I received an email from William Shakespeare it would make me interested in opening it up.
Thus far we've had some pretty good feedback. Thanks to our web wizard Michael Ball for Initiate Marketing for helping us put this email together.
All the world's a stage...
Oh, the things you'll do to get people excited about your story...
Earlier this week Conor and I were sitting down with an individual interested in helping us out with promoting our comic book series. We did the meet-and-greet and then he offhandedly joked about the fact that he thought we would perform some of the book for him. Conor and I looked at one-another, unsure of what to do. So we did what any two budding showmen would do...
We acted out the first issue for him...
I quickly jumped onto the ground, pretending to be Hamlet washed up on the beach, while Conor became a bird, then a witch, then an emperor, and we promptly led him through the first act of our story. I think that the waitress at the posh hotel bar was thrown off a bit but I believe we won over the crowd. In fact, I believe that Conor should be eligible for a support actor nomination for his performance, especially that of the witches...
And our review the next day? "I didn't think you would actually act out some of the first issue like you did - HYSTERICAL!"
Oh, the things you'll do to sell a comic book...