Appearing in London, ON February 12th!
It's been a couple months since we've done a signing but we'll be shaking the rust off of our pens and microphones later this month with a couple appearance in Canada and the U.S. First stop... London, ON!The good folks at L.A. Moods Comics and Games in London, ON reached out to us months ago about setting up a signing there. London has a thriving comic book scene so Conor, Andy and I are really looking forward to checking out the store and meeting with some fans/making new ones. We are also appearing on Friday the 11th at H.W. Beal Secondary School to do a workshop for some of the students.
It's great to be able to visit London as Andy Belanger got his education in London - not only from Fanshawe College but also meeting and becoming friends with Stuart and Kathryn Immonen.As Andy says:"I spent my college years busting my tail to get the highest marks possible at Fanshawe College's Fine Art Program. Funny enough I was told that if I wanted to excel in the program I was absolutely not allowed to spend my time drawing guys in tights. No drawing, no painting, try your hand at sculpting. As a comic lover then, it was an understatement to say the least I was a little frustrated by this."Little did I know my profs were giving me some of the best advice when it came to the creative process, kind of like the way Mr. Miyagi told Danielson to paint the fence or wax on wax off.I came away with things like work on the entire piece as a whole, start rough and don't be afraid to kill your darlings. My Profs were top notch.London is also where I met Stuart and Kathryn Immonen. Arguably the most talented couple in comics, Marvel superstars. They were running a comic jam that I became a part of and we quickly became friends."Stuart has been a huge influence and inspiration to my work but Kathryn actually taught me everything I know about breaking down and writing a comic script. The roots that I have in London are surely the reason my career grew to what it's become. I also gotta give a shout out to Call the Office, my home away from home!"
The Best Fan Mail Yet!
Yesterday I received a card in the mail from Holly Fleming of St. John's, Newfoundland. The card had been forwarded by her aunt and uncle, Sharon and Ted Fleming, good friends of ours and key members of the Kill Shakespeare team. They had bought a copy of our graphic novel for Holly for Christmas, and this is what she wrote to me (I had met Holly at Sharon and Ted's wedding just over two years ago when I had served as the MC):(Read the right side of the card first, then the left)
This made my day as this is EXACTLY one of the reasons we wanted to do this project! The fact that someone is now excited about Shakespeare and will want to read more and take part in class is fantastic. We've heard this from teachers all over but to get a card from Holly makes our day.I'm glad that you liked the first graphic novel, Holly, and we look forward to continue to making Shakespeare exciting for you!
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...)!
CBR: What Are You Reading?
ComicBookResources.com has a segment in their popular Robot 6 column regularly where they ask current comic creators what books and series they are currently reading and/or collecting. On Sunday they posed the question to Johnny Zito and Tony Trov of South Fellini Studios, creators of Zuda Comics' Black Cherry Bombshells and the recent series Carnivale De Robotique.
Johnny Zito says that the series he likes to read is Kill Shakespeare, saying the following:"I read Kill Shakespeare month to month. However, it’s new so it didn’t immediately spring to mind. It fills the void that Fables and X-Men used to, full of drama and romance and fighting. Comics are at their best when they aspire to be Shakespearean. Men and women running around the night, wearing masks, fighting for love or revenge or whatever. Kill Shakespeare has all of that for obvious reasons and capitalizes with clever twists on old standards. The art lends a real gravity to the source material, it feels real. Or better yet it feels like a play, a world built out of set pieces and cardboard trees. It’s a surreal brain treat that I can’t recommend enough."It's always great when other comics creators read your stuff and give you a shout-out and we really appreciate it! We urge everyone to check out Carnivale - it's a fantastic series!
iFanboy: "Comics worthy of a showing at the Globe!"
We have received a lot of positive coverage from most comic book websites since the launch of our first issue in April. Yesterday we received a great deal of love from one of our favourite sites, iFanboy.com. It's a great site for devoted fans of comics that not only posts news but great insights as well as a very active comments sections. If you don't read the site regularly I would highly recommend it. Of course, we would be remiss to not mention that our book has been debated heavily amongst those placing comments, some heavily praising our series and some attacking us (check out some of the comments from a podcast back in April).Reviewer Ryan Haupt read through our graphic novel - and really likes it, comparing it favourably to Fables. He says some of the following:
"Every time I sat down to read a bit more I was engrossed by the experience and couldn’t believe I still had more left to read from a single trade...""Belanger is who makes this book have action movie level stunts while the writing keeps it from feeling action movie level dumb...""I can’t wait to see where things go from here and am definitely in it for the long haul. So don’t be intimidated, just trust the Canadians and enjoy some comics worthy of a showing at the Globe!"You can read the full review by clicking on the iFanboy logo.
Vote Shakespeare for 'Best New Villain'!
We received an email from Peter at ComicGeekSpeak podcast a few days ago letting us know that they have come out with their nominations for Best New in a number of categories, and they have placed Shakespeare in their "Villain" category. As Peter described to us in an email: "We described it less as a villain and more as Shakespeare's presence over the entire book and how the character effects everyone else in the book."The full nomination list includes:BEST NEW VILLAIN:- White Canary (Birds of Prey)- John Steele (Secret Avengers)- the Absence (Batman and Robin)- Oberon Sexton (Batman and Robin)- Skinner Sweet (American Vampire, Vertigo)- Sir Isaac Newton (S.H.I.E.L.D.)- Shakespeare (Kill Shakespeare)Voting is now on so please get out the vote! To vote for Shakespeare as the Best New Villain simply email Peter at peter@comicgeekspeak.com and tell him where to place the Bard!
To check out the full list of categories and nominations click on the logo above.
Profile in Maclean's Magazine
When I was a teenager growing up in northern Canada (Timmins, to be precise) I wanted to get a better understanding of the world around me - both nationally and internationally. To get this I signed up for a subscription to Maclean's magazine, Canada's general interest weekly magazine exploring news, culture, politics, science and everything else. For a span of almost three years I read every single issue cover to cover.And now, many years later, we are profiled in Maclean's (click the cover image to go to the article)!
An issue hitting newstands this past Friday featured a full-page article by Claire Ward analyzing the project - its origins, present triumphs, and its possible future. It's a very well-researched piece in which Ms. Ward contacted Shakespeare scholars James Shapiro and Stephen Greenblatt to comment on it (spoiler: one likes us, one doesn't). It's a great piece and I recommend that you check it out if you're in Canada (it's on the issue featured above, page 58).
BBC: "A Controversial New Comic"
We were profiled on BBC World Service's The Strand yesterday. The Strand is a daily arts and culture radio show that goes out worldwide with a HUGE listenership (is that a word?...). It was a fun interview (conducted at the CBC studios back in December) that discusses the creation of the project, our interpretation of the characters, the response from academics and scholars, and some fun things about the project.You can listen to the interview by clicking on The Strand logo (it's the fourth chapter of the show).
The BBC website has also posted a number of photos from the comic book. You can check out their slide show (with interesting captions) by clicking on the BBC World Service logo below. I'm not really sure where they got the Ryan Gosling bit from, though - perhaps they saw the Stephen Holt interview earlier this month?
We've made the Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2011 List!
Every year YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association) put together a list of the top graphic novels that are suitable for teenagers (between the ages of 12 - 18). This is a prestigious list that always has some top titles from the major publishers as well as a wide range from indie publishers and self-published authors.Just an hour ago Kill Shakespeare was officially named as a finalist for the 2011 List!
This is a great accomplishment and validation that what we're doing with this project is bearing fruit. We've heard from so many teachers, librarians and students that tell us that they're really enjoying the series and making this list will hopefully allow more people to check us out.Thanks to everyone on the committee - and kudos to other friends of ours that were on the list, including Jamar Nicholas for Fist Stick Knife Gun, Mike Carey for The Unwritten, Vol 1., Jeff Lemire for Sweet Tooth, Vol. 1 and John Layman for Chew, Vol. 1. All great selections and we're honoured to be on the list with them.You can see the entire list by clicking on the YALSA logo above.
And the Deadliest Shakespearean Warrior is...
PROSPERO!
After a month of voting through four rounds (starting off with sixteen Shakespearean characters), late last week the wizard Prospero bested the mischievous faerie Puck to win our first DEADLIEST SHAKESPEAREAN WARRIOR contest.
It was a great tournament with a great number of people chiming in and debating on Facebook, Twitter and online. Thanks to everyone who voted and entered the debate. I have a feeling that this battle isn't complete...
Deadliest Shakespearean Warrior: Finals!
And with the holiday season completed we are now back... for the finals of the Shakespearean Deadliest Warrior contest!The semis were quite tough and an upset took place in the final match-up. Most oddsmakers and bookies had the Bear (from Winter's Tale) taking its square-off against Puck... but the faerie won with a decent lead! And now the finals...Today and tomorrow (Friday) you can vote on Facebook, Twitter and this website as to who would win in a battle between... Puck... and Prospero!
And the bracket has been...
Kill Shakespeare on CBC Radio's Q
Yesterday, Conor and I sat down for an interview on CBC Radio's "Q", an arts, entertainment and culture show on Canada's public broadcaster. The show is always informative and it was great to chat about the series and get people excited about it.The regular host, Jion Ghomeshi, was on vacation so filling in for him was Zaib Shaikh, best known in Canada for his role on the popular Little Mosque on the Prairie. This was actually a welcome change as Zaib is himself an actor and a huge fan of Shakespeare who also directed a television production of Othello a few years ago, and it also spared the world Conor's Billy Bob Thornton impersonation...To listen to the interview, you can click on the link and go the January 4th episode. Our interview starts at the 53 minute mark of the episode.
One thing that I'd like to mention is that the interview focused mainly on Shakespeare and the Kill Shakespeare story and thus we weren't able to have a discussion on the artwork and our excellent artist team (of Andy, Ian and Kagan), which we always like to do.
Shania Twain and... Anthony Del Col?...
I was born and raised in Timmins, Ontario, a small mining community in Northern Ontario, Canada. Well, technically I lived in Porcupine, Ontario, which is a sort-of suburb of Timmins. The first newspaper I read was the Timmins Daily Press (which was the first newspaper created by future media mogul Roy Thomson) so last week I received a thrill when I was listed as a front page story subject!
Entitled "The Bard Faces Danger", the article talks about Kill Shakespeare, my upbringing in Timmins, and plans for the future. Thanks to writer Kate McLaren for the profile and her interest in the story. You can read the article by clicking in the Daily Press logo.
As Conor said, I'm now in the running to become one of the most popular entertainers to emerge from Timmins. I'm running a very, very, very far distance behind someone else, though... Shania Twain...
Ryan Gosling learns about Kill Shakespeare
A couple of weeks ago our friend Stephen Holt, journalist and blogger (check out his excellent Oscar season analysis, Oscar Messenger) called us up and let us know about an interview that he he just finished with Ryan Gosling. Gosling was promoting his Golden Globe-nominated film Blue Valentine and Stephen, halfway through the interview, decided to talk about Kill Shakespeare with the thespian. You can see the complete interview here:Thanks to Stephen for being such a big fan of the comic series and for continuing the spread the word!
A round-up of reviews for Issue #8!
Although Issue #8 (Journeys End in Lovers Meeting) has only been out for three days we've already received a number of reviews for the issue, all of them positive! Here is a sampling of them:
"This week’s issue features an awesome twist with Hamlet and Juliet that has me chomping at the bit for next issue in addition to more solid craftsmanship from all involved. You really should not miss this comic!" - Weekly Crisis"Kill Shakespeare" #8 introduced a big surprise on its last page after building up the romance of two literary protagonists and turning allies into enemies. Very interesting stuff here, and if you're well versed in the characters, this is wonderful and vital material. Those less immersed in the Bard's intrigues might find this less compelling." - The BuyPile"“Kill Shakespeare” is a smart comic that knows how to be fun, and vice versa. Here we get plenty of preparation for the coming troubles but our characters are given a last moment to breathe and enjoy the company of one another." - ComicBookResources"This issue proves more than any seen so far that these characters actually could co-exist and interact and indeed that they SHOULD do so. In showing this type of interaction, I think this series has finally found its voice and I could not be happier with it. Plus, WHAT a cliffhanger!" - Multiversity Comics"I can’t stress enough how bad of an idea it is NOT to read this series. It’s enticing and exciting, shining better than any other series in the world of comics. The only series I would say meets Kill Shakespeare’s level of quality, it would be the Secret Six." - The Heretics Blog
Lovable Badass - Ian Herring!
Many of you probably have no idea that on the Kill Shakespeare team there are several passionate basketball fans (though we're die-often being Raps fans). Perhaps the most passionate is our colourist Ian Herring.Ian is an exceptional artist in his own right (fans have seen his work in the bonus gallery of the trade paperback -- his is the awesome King Richard/Hamlet mash-up), and he was recently invited to be part of a phenomenal event organized by another Kill Shakespeare friend, Steve Manale.The event, "Lovable Badass, Artists on Artest" was a multi-media ode to Ron Artest one of the most unusual and candid athletes of our generation.
Ian's piece looks into the future; showing Artest relaxing during his post-playing days and eating his favourite cereal (Froot Loops). Apparently Ron-Ron is interested in buying Ian's work -- so huge kudos to one of the oft under-appreciated members of Kill Shakespeare.We love ya Ian!POSTSCRIPT: The event was a huge success -- you can read one of the MANY pieces of coverage here. And to me, what was even more interesting is that many of the artists who took place had no idea who Ron Artest was before they were invited to join the project.But "Tru Warrier" is such an interesting figure that after a few minutes of Googling him everybody wanted in. So, for those of you who are saying "Ron, who?" look him up, he's fascinating. OR for a primer check out Manale's work here. (it's the last of 23 photos from the event, so scroll left to see the rest).And the sharp eyed readers will notice another member of the Kill Shakespeare team featured in one of those links. I offer as a bounty a signed copy of #8 for the first person who tells us who it is, and what they made for the exhibition!Keep taking those open jumpers everyone!
Semi-Final 2: Puck vs. Bear
And in the second semi-final matchup, we have the grand fairy of mischief himself, Puck, against the creature that knows how to make an exit... The Bear (from Winter's Tale). The Bear has trounced his first two rounds - does he have a chance against Puck? Vote here, on email, Facebook or Twitter today!
Semi-Final 1: Prospero vs. Richard III
In the first of two semi-final matchups, today we have the grand old wizard Prospero squaring off against the warrior Richard III. Who would/should win? Vote here, over email, Twitter or Facebook.
SHAKESPEAREAN DEADLIEST WARRIOR: FINAL FOUR!
Well, Friday's final quarter-final matchup pitted Falstaff against The Bear (from Midwinter's Tale). Though the Twitter vote was neck-and-neck, the Facebook vote was overwhelming in favour of The Bear so the winner was... The Bear!The semi-finals begin tomorrow with the first of two battles - Prospero vs. Richard III! Tuesday's match-up will pit Puck against The Bear... And the finals will be on Wednesday!The current tournament bracket is:
Issue #8 Artwork Samples
Issue #8 (Journeys End in Lover Meetings) cranks up the momentum of our story and features some great artwork by Andy Belanger and colours by Ian Herring. The description of the Issue is:As word of the Prodigals' victory spreads a rebel army masses in Shrewsbury. Against this backdrop Othello and Iago cross swords, Richard and Lady Macbeth lock horns and Hamlet and Juliet's love blossoms. But will the Dane live long enough to enjoy Cupid's fruit? Not if a ghost from Juliet's past has anything to say about it.Check out the art (click on the image for the hi-res image):
