Kill Shakespeare Heads to Sundance
We can now officially announce this bit of news... Conor and I have been selected to take part in the prestigious Sundance Institute's New Frontiers Storytelling Lab! The lab, taking place later this month (Oct 23 - 28th), in Park City, UT, will allow us to develop Kill Shakespeare into other mediums, namely film, video games and other digital technology.
The official press release can be found here and see who some of the advisors and fellow participants are. It states this about the program:"The New Frontier Story Lab will focus on supporting projects that have original stories and engage audiences in innovative ways, across multiple platforms. Organized as an immersive lab experience, activities will include individualized story sessions, conversations about key artistic, design and technology issues, and case study presentations. Drawing talent and expertise from all of Sundance Institute’s creative programs, including Feature Film, Documentary Film, and the Sundance Film Festival, the Lab has been planned under the supervision of Michelle Satter, Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program."We're really excited about the opportunity to work with some great creative advisers (including Oscar nominees, writers of blockbuster films, documentarians and game designers) as well as meet some other progressive storytellers.We'll include more about this as we get closer but wanted to share the news with you immediately!
Letters from Germany!
Kill Shakespeare continues to spread around the globe and through schools.We just received this e-mail from a pair of German University students who are studying Kill Shakespeare in one of their seminar courses.Dear Anthony and Conor!Deborah Altenbeck is our teacher in English and we had the topic of Shakespeare.In our English lesson we read your comics and we really enjoyed it! It was so exciting and interesting to see how people deal with Shakespeare in another way.We were surprised how detailed you know each character!In issue four for example we first had problems to understand the complexity but after reading it several times we were very interested how the situation between Othello an Iago is going to develop. And after finding out about Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor we were amused that you also brought the aspects and background information from this play.Best wishes, Antonia and SynaWe love it when we get feedback from our fans, especially international ones - so please if you have any thoughts or comments on the series get a hold of us at lendusyourears@killshakespeare.comAll the best,Conor and Anthony
Kill Shakespeare in the Big Apple (NYCC 2011)
The New York Comic-Con will always hold a special place in my heart. Yes, it's the largest show on the East Coast. Yes, it gives me a chance to visit my favourite city (and some friends, including the great K.S. friend Vanessa King). Yes, we've made a lot of fans there in the past. However, the biggest reason it holds a special place is that it was at NYCC almost three years ago where we first went to pitch Kill Shakespeare and walked away with a lot of interest and buzz on the project.
We are returning this year and since IDW Publishing doesn't have a booth we will having our own. We will be located in the small press publishing area, BOOTH 2844. Conor, myself and Andy will be there the entire weekend, signing copies of our issues and our first graphic novel, selling original artwork, selling our merchandise (t-shirts, pins). Also, there is a chance we may have a SPECIAL PRODUCT that will be available at the show (we'll know more in the next week or so if that will be the case).So make plans to come and visit us at the show - it should be a great one!
Another Kill Shakespeare Appearance in the Digital World
We were approached by Daniel Fischlin, a professor at the University of Guelph and the Director of the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP), earlier this year to be involved in a cool new digital project they were putting together. After a few months of development and beta testing, the product is in!
ROMEO & JULIET: THE SHAKESPEARE APP is now released and available on iTunes for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It is described as such:Simply the most complete, media-rich app. of a Shakespeare play ever created, the InteractiveReaders’ version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet gives you the full play with integrated easy to use notes, facts, critical readings, and multimedia, including videos with well-known Shakespearean experts talking about the play, and all the source texts Shakespeare used to write the play. Read Shakespeare like you’ve never read him before. Use the cleverly designed interface to take notes and search the play. Discover unusual facts about the play. Learn vocabulary. Interact with a variety of media that allow you to explore how Romeo and Juliet has been adapted and remade over the centuries since Shakespeare wrote it. Look up words or phrases you don’t understand. Get act-by-act plot summaries. Get important information about all the characters in the play. Access hard-to-find source materials Shakespeare used to write the play. See how pop culture has adapted the play into graphic novels and movies.There is a section in the App that gives a preview and synopsis of Kill Shakespeare so it's great to see other applications incorporate our tale into theirs.You can go directly to the iTunes page for the App by clicking on the image above or going here.Also, we will be presenting at a Shakespeare Conference that Dr. Fischlin is putting together on November 1st of this year in Guelph so look for more details in the near future.
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"
Appearance at Toronto's Word on the Street Festival
Conor, Andy and I will be taking part in this year's THE WORD ON THE STREET festival in Toronto this Sunday. An annual festival held through five major Canadian cities, it is a day that celebrates literature and includes author readings, workshops, signings and retailers. I've attended a number of years and quite enjoy it.We will be conducting a one-hour seminar called HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN COMIC, which will be held from 2:30 - 3:30pm in the This is Not the Shakespeare Stage. Yes, that's the name of the stage. It's a stage for teen-oriented events and activities. The description reads:Kill Shakespeare co-creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery, as well as series artist Andy Belanger, demonstrate how a comic is put together from the earliest stages of writing (the beat sheet) through the art process (penciling, inking, colouring) to the final production elements (lettering).The three entrepreneurs will also give tips on how to launch your own entertainment project. Come out and check us - and the Word on the Street Festival - out this weekend!
Fuzzy Photos from Montreal
We got back in from Montreal late last night after a really great weekend. The Comic-Con there was really good for us (we sold out of books!) but the Con overall is becoming a really strong one. The numbers increased dramatically from last year, there was a lot of excitement, and I think it's a Con that will continue to grow over the next few years. We definitely would love to attend next year and meet up again with our new fans and readers.Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth - our existing fans (the peeps from Hal-Con, Adam from Kingston, our biggest fan Julie, etc.), those that swung by because they had heard of us, those that checked out our book for the first time (hopefully you're enjoying the read) and those that are only now checking out our website (welcome!). Also, thanks to those who attended our two workshops (the Creation of Comics, the Business and Comics). And finally, thanks to Oscar at the show for inviting us as guests - it was a great experience.I just went through the photos and, unfortunately, a lot of them are out-of-focus. Not sure why. But here are a few shots from the weekend...
Kill Shakespeare in Montreal!
Conor and I will be appearing at the 2011 Montreal Comic-Con this upcoming weekend - Sat, Sept 17th and Sun, Sept 18th. Appearing both days, we will be attending to do signings, sell books and tshirts, and talk to fans and readers. We will also be doing panels on both days:Sat 2 - 3pm (Mezzanine 1) - The How-To of Comic CreationSun 1 - 1:45pm (Mezzanine 1) - The Business of Comic Creation
We're looking forward to the show - we haven't been to the show before (and I myself haven't been to Montreal in about eight years). If you're in the city - or know anyone that is - please swing by and say hello!
Happy Birthday to Paradise!
Once someone finds a local comic shop they like, they want to stay loyal to them. For me, living in Toronto's midtown area, the closest is Paradise Comics. Even before Kill Shakespeare was published they were great to me, giving me advice on the publishing industry and things to watch for as I dipped my toe - and then dove into - the world of comics. We're so incredibly fortunate here in Toronto to have three stores (The Beguiling and The Silver Snail are the two others) that have really supported us over the last two year and that's why, in our second volume, we made a point to thank all three in our Special Thanks page.
Yesterday Peter, Doug, Andrew and everyone at Paradise Comics celebrated their 20th anniversary. Conor and I were able to stop by for a bit to visit, have some cake, take a few photos, and celebrate making it to 20 years. The store has really grown over the years and it's great to see how they've been able to adapt to the trends in the industry.
Happy birthday and congrats to everyone at Paradise!
Pics from Toronto's FanExpo
We had an absolute blast at FanExpo this past weekend. We enjoyed taking part in the WGC adaptation panel on Thursday evening, I enjoyed talking to the packed-crowd for our How to Create and Market Your Indy Comic on Friday, and, of course, we had a great time talking to fans, readers, geeks and everyone else that came by our poorly-placed booth.A few photographic highlights of the weekend...
How to Create and Market Indie Comics
This past Friday we put together a workshop on how to create and market your own independent comic book. The one-hour session went extremely well - it was packed and standing room only! - and we're now looking to do this at a number of other conventions and events moving forward.
We have received a couple of glowing media reactions to it. ComicBookDaily put together an in-depth summary of the workshop, which can be read by clicking on the image. Dan Brown from the London Free Press also listed it as one of the highlights of the entire FanExpo (article link is here).
Thanks to the Toronto Comics Workshop for allowing us the opportunity to speak and we will hopefully be able to put together a session near you sometime soon!
Baltimore Pics!
Things have been extremely busy here over the last two weeks with a lot of screenwriting, FanExpo and other work to be done. I've only recently been able to go through the photos taken from our trip to the Baltimore Comic-Con and prepped them. They are here below.Again, thanks to everyone associated with the Baltimore Con for a fantastic show. We really enjoyed our time there and met some great people over the two days.
Happy Birthday to Kagan!
Today is cover artist Kagan McLeod's birthday. For those that don't know, Kagan is one of the top illustrators in North America and in addition to doing the covers for Kill Shakespeare also works for publications like The National Post, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, Men's Health and a wide range of others.
Kagan will be appearing at this weekend's FanExpo (on Saturday and Sunday) with us to promote the release of his just-released book, Infinite Kung Fu. If you haven't checked it out yet you should.
And please swing by to wish him a happy birthday!
Fight the Bear in Toronto!
Off the heels of a very successful Baltimore Comic-Con, we will be appearing at this upcoming weekend's FanExpo Canada. We had a great time last year and this year should be even better! We will be selling our trade, our issues (including the just-released Issue #12), original artwork, and our new ShakesGeare merchandise (photos to be loaded to the site in the next day or two).The show runs from Thursday to Sunday (check out exact times here) and Andy, Conor and I will be at BOOTH 112, sharing space with cover artist Kagan McLeod and the other talented artists from Andy's studio.
We will also be taking part in two panels."The WGC Presents: Respecting the Fanbase" - Thu, Aug 25 - 8-9pm (room 714): A look into the process of adapting successful properties, we will be sitting on the panel along with our story editor Howie Wiseman and the creators of The Murdoch Mysteries. More info here."Kill Shakespeare Presents: Creating and Marketing Your Own Comic" - Fri, Aug 26 - 5-6pm (room 717): This workshop will feature advice, lessons and tips on how to create your own comic book series, from idea generation through to securing financing, publishing deals, retailer awareness, marketing, advertising and everything else in-between.
Thanks to Baltimore!
Conor and I returned from Baltimore first thing this morning (I'm so sleep-deprived at the moment - it was an uber-early morning flight). We'll be posting some photos from the show in the next day or two but before that I'd like to thank everyone at the Baltimore show, including:The new readers and fans of the series (thanks for checking us out).The current readers who came by to chat with us.The organizers of the show - a fantastic event.The organizers of the Harvey Awards - a great night and it truly was an honour just to be nominated.The city of Baltimore - a wild place with some great spots and some truly scary spots.More in the near future!
Truck Problems
We've just heard from our publisher, IDW Publishing. Apparently the truck from our distribution company, Diamond Book Distributors, broke down so all of their titles this week are delayed until next.Again, sorry for an inconvenience in not getting our issue out onto the stands today.
Issue #12 Release - Next Week (Aug 24th)
We have just discovered that our Issue #12, originally scheduled for release today, will not be out until next week (Wed, Aug 24th). We apologize for this confusion. We're not sure what the problem is an are investigating.In advance of this, Wired.com today ran a preview of the first eight pages of the issue. Entitled "Kill Shakespeare's Final Showdown Is Just the Start", it talks about our final issue, future plans for the series, and how we are looking to make our concept interactive. You can check out the profile and pages by clicking the logo.
Kill Shakespeare in Baltimore!
Conor and I will be attending next weekend's Baltimore Comic-Con and are busy in the midst of preparing for our trip. It's our first time to this show and we've heard some great things about it. We look forward to meeting more readers and converting more people to fans of the series.We will be at Booth 2201 on Saturday (Aug 20th) from 10 - 6pm and then Sunday (Aug 21st) from 10 - 5pm. Stop by to say hello, get an autograph, pick up a book or issue, and check out our newest things - tshirts! We will be debuting the designs on this site in the next week or so but should have prepared for sale in Baltimore.
Art Show for Kill Shakespeare!
Last night the Toronto Comics Workshop hosted an industry night with a gallery showing of Andy Belanger's art from Kill Shakespeare and J.Bone's Retroactive 1970's Wonder Woman #1. It was a fun time with a good turnout. Thanks to the Toronto Comics Workshop for hosting the event and Kevin Boyd for organizing it.A couple of photos:
Your chance to own some AWESOME Kill Shakespeare Art
Many of you have commented on the amazing colouring work in Kill Shakespeare and as most of you know the man behind this key part of the comic is Ian Herring.
What you may NOT know is that Ian is an accomplished artist in his own right. Yes our boy Ian is far more than "just" a colourist.Some of you may have read about the piece he did for "Loveable Badass" the art show dedicated to NBA star Ron Artest (and that Ron-Ron was interested in owning it himself).Well Ian is contributing more art to the Kill Shakespeare cause -- he will have one of the guest pin-ups in our second trade "The Blast of War".
But first you can get a print of his AWESOME piece for the first trade by clicking here.To see more of his work, including his awesome homage to both TMNT and Star Fox click here (also check out his awesome CosmoApe).