Anthony Talks About Libraries!
In two weeks I will be attending the American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim and am really looking forward to it. It will my first time there and, in addition to having a table all weekend to talk about Kill Shakespeare I will also be giving a presentation about Kill Shakespeare and how we created our project.In anticipation of this, I did an interview with the ALA's Megan McFarlane at C2E2 in Chicago in April to talk about my earliest library experiences...
Congrats to Andy (and Becky)!
Last week I was able to post a couple photos from the wedding of my business partner and co-creator Conor, who was married last Saturday (May 26th) to Crystal Luxmore.This week I'm overjoyed the announce that our artist Andy Belanger is now engaged!
Andy proposed to his girlfriend, the equally talented comic book artist Becky Cloonan two weeks ago while they were spending time in Paris (how romantic!). Becky is a fantastic woman - incredibly talented and incredibly fun - and I'm so happy for the two of them! I look forward to seeing them work together (they have relocated to Montreal) and hang out with them for many, many years into the future!
Live Stage Reading to return to Toronto in 2013!
The Shakespeare Association of America has just released their semi-annual Bulletin (June 2012) and in it they announce that at next year's annual conference/meeting, to be held in Toronto, the Kill Shakespeare: Live Stage Reading will be performed! This will be the first performance of the Live Stage Reading since its debut at the Young Centre for the Arts last November (with performances by actors from Soulpepper Theatre) and we're happy to return to the city in which everything began.We will have some additional news regarding other productions of the stage version in the coming months so look for them moving forward...
And for those in Toronto mark off Friday, March 28th in your calendar as the show may be open to the general public.
Fourth printing of Volume 1!
A piece of news that we announced two weeks ago in the midst of traveling through the UK, but haven't been able to post it here yet, is that earlier this month IDW Publishing processed a fourth printing of our Volume 1: A Sea of Troubles! This is a great accomplishment for us and another feather to put in our cap.
Thanks to everyone who has helped make this first volume a success - everyone at IDW, the retailers, the readers, the libraries, the organizations, everyone.
Congrats to Conor and Crystal!
This past weekend was a really busy one for us. No, it wasn't another convention or a weekend full of writing and artwork, working towards a deadline...It was the wedding weekend for Conor McCreery!
On Saturday Conor married the love of his life, Crystal Luxmore. It was a great service and then an absolutely fun reception held at a circus school in eastern Toronto. Everyone that attended had a blast, including the key members of the KS team.Crystal has been along for the entire Kill Shakespeare ride since the beginning so she's been a great foundation and rock of support for Conor - and the project - during that time. I'm incredibly happy for the both of them and honoured to have attended the event.
The photos here were taken by Michelle Graham of Imagine My Photo, a good friend of Conor's from university. Thanks for providing these for us for our website!
Blogging Shakespeare!
One of the highlights of our trip to England for two weeks this month was meeting with some of the world's top minds on Shakespeare. One such individual is Dr. Rev. Paul Edmondson, who is currently the Head of Research and Knowledge of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Dr. Edmondson is also the General Editor for Blogging Shakespeare, which is the top website devoted to Shakespeare in the world.
We sat down with Dr. Edmondson to record a short interview which went live on the site. You can listen to it by clicking on the photo of us with Dr. Edmondson below.
Conor and Anthony analyzing this summer's comic book films
Conor and I appeared this morning on Global TV's The Morning Show, one of Canada's top AM talk shows.
We were there again in our role of "pop culture vultures" to analyze and discuss the upcoming summer film season and focus on some of the comic book adaptations being released. This is our third time on the show and it's always a treat to joke around and have fun with the hosts.Enjoy the clip below or go directly the show's website for the footage from our by clicking on the photo above...
Vloging from Stratford-upon-Avon
Conor and I visited Stratford-upon-Avon earlier today and had some great meetings with a number of top Shakespearean scholars, movers and shakers. The rain-and-then-sunny-then-rain-again couldn't keep our spirits down as the day began with a trip to the Shakespeare Birthplace - the house that the Bard was born and raised in (and then took over and converted into a pub when he returned to Stratford as a successful playwright).Here is a brief video that I took while there... and look for a cameo from Conor (along with an educational insight)...
Anarchy in the U.K. - Kill Shakespeare style!
Hey all,We've been busy beavering ourselves across the U.K. as the latest stop of our cross the world comic tour. So far we've seen London, Bristol and Oxford with Stratford-Upon-Avon, Manchester and Leeds still to come.
We haven't had as much of a chance to see the country as we'd have liked. The shows and meetings have kept us pinned down (as well as a bit of jet lag those first couple of days) but we have managed to see Big Ben and the Parliment buildings and Anthony did a nice long walk one evening where he took in some of the sights of one of the great cities of the world.
We also were treated to a tour of Orbital Comics which is an amazing shop in the heart of London where we were interviewed by Chris for the store's podcast. We then went out with one of the other manager's Kyle where we sipped pints and chatted comics for hours -- eventually deciding that Reid Fleming - the World's Toughest Milk Man, American Flagg, and Power Man and Iron Fist are all well overdue to have cool movies.
The Bristol Comic Expo was a smaller show but was enthusiastically attended by all involved, despite the fact that the biggest soccer match in arguably 22 years was going down at the same time as the Sunday show.
We were a little bummed when we found out that the copies of Kill Shakespeare Volume 1 were not going to make it to the show in Bristol but the fans shocked us by still clamboring to buy the series even though they could only get Volume 2.We were also blown away by the number of amazing artists we met at the show. It seemed like everyone was landing a deal with Disney, or D.C., or image, or Random House. Clearly the U.K. is still churning out some of the best comic talent in the world.
After Bristol we've been fortunate enough to go to Oxford where we gave a talk at one of the local schools and then were treated to a great tour of the city by the amazing Katie Musgrave. Anthony also did his best master of disguise impression as he impersonated an Oxford student to sneak into C.S. Lewis' old college so he could take in the atmosphere that inspired one of the all time great fantasy series - The Chronicles of Narnia.Tonight we grab a few hours sleep and then we're off to the den of Shakespeare itself -- Stratford-Upon-Avon. We'll be meeting with reps from the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as people from the Shakespeare Birthright Trust -- both of them being excellent opportunities to win people over in helping us with our little plot of Bardicide (or they'll kick us out of the Bard's birthplace so fast our heads will spin... GRIN).
Until our next update - keep flying'em in the crates they ship'em in (as we've been told British World War I pilots liked to cheers each other -- apparently because the "crates" were more aerodynamic than the actual planes...).
Nominated for Joe Shuster Award (Best Writing)!
Just announced this morning is the news that we (Conor and Anthony) have been nominated for a 2012 Joe Shuster Award for Best Writing! This is the second-year in a row in which we have received a nod and we're quite pleased and touched by the nomination. We were nommed for our work on Issues 9 - 12 of the series, all of which were released in the first-half of 2011. Thanks to Kevin Boyd, who does a fantastic job organizing the entire process, the nominating committee, and everyone else associated (even Robert Haines... Boo...). And congrats to all of the nominees.A full list of the nominees can be found by clicking on the logo.
We'd be remiss for not expressing our disappointment that artist Andy Belanger failed to receive a nomination for his artwork for the series. Andy has done a superb job on the series (especially the last four issues - see sample below) and it pains us that he's not recognized. He definitely deserves to be - his layout and art is on the cutting edge and much stronger than most comic creators today.
Heading to the U.K.!
Conor and I are in the midst of final preparation for our trip to the home country of the Bard himself, Great Britain! We fly out tomorrow to London so before we go we'd like to make official our signing dates whilst in the country!
They are:Sat, May 12 - Sun, May 13 - Bristol Comic ExpoWed, May 15 - Travelling Man ManchesterThu, May 16 - Travelling Man LeedsFri, May 17 - Forbidden Planet London MegastoreSat, May 19 - Sun, May 20 - Kapow! Comic Convention (London)For the shows in Bristol, Manchester and Leeds it will be Anthony and Conor signing, while for Forbidden Planet and Kapow! it will be all three creatives (Andy joins us for these shows!).We will, of course, be meeting with many Shakespeare scholars and actors while in the city so we're quite chuffed to spread the word overseas.Spread the word - we're bringing the Bard back to his home country!
Photos from Dubai!
I apologize that these photos are so late - I had hoped to post them earlier this week but things have been quite busy with creative work as well as preparation for our U.K. trip (we head out on Tuesday for two weeks of conventions, signings, meetings, and inspiration in the home of Shakespeare!).
I've posted a number of things about our trip to the Middle East Film and Comic-Con, and a full summary of my time can be found here. But here are some additional photos I haven't posted yet...
Getting Ready to Visit England...
Conor and I are currently in the midst of finalizing our trip to England and will have details in the next day or two...We're going to attend the Bristol Comic Expo on Sat, May 12th and Sun, May 13th and then the Kapow! Comic Convention in London on Sat, May 19th and Sun, May 20th.
We have a couple of other appearances that will be finalized in the next couple of days and will post a complete listing on Monday.We're really looking forward to spreading our take on the Bard's characters! So stay tuned.
Here come the Aussies to pillage TCAF, Viking-style!
TCAF is always one of our favourite events in the comic's calendar.(and if you haven't gone before then get yourself down to the Toronto Reference Library at Bloor and Yonge this weekend).It is one of the rare places where you can delve deeply into a host of creator owned books as well as read illustrated stories in pretty well any genre under the sun.Organizer Chris Butcher also does an amazing job of bringing in the sort of guests you won't find anywhere else. Guests from all over the world.
One of those exotic guests happens to come from Australia and he happens to know my soon to be sister-in-law, Allison, and so I'm super excited to get to shill for his arrival in Canada.Matt Taylor works in advertising back in Oz (so if you need to hire an amazing concept design firm go here), but he's also a rabid comics fan and creator.He's been crisis-crossing North America as part of the Caravan of Comics, an invasion of sorts of like-minded Aussies with keen wits and pens to match.Matt is a pretty funny dude and he's been kind enough to give the Kill Shakespeare universe a sneak-peak at his book, Lars the Viking.Lars is a perturbed lil' fellow who speaks entirely in verse and mostly is pretty ticked that all the good plundering days seem to have come to an end. It turns out that the Vikings may not be long for this world, and Lars isn't QUITE ready to accept sliding into the dustbin of history.(Oh, and Lars has a pet pig? Did I mention that? A pig who also goes on raids? Yep, a raiding-pig... sweet!)So please enjoy this little gift through K.S. and we hope all of you who are coming to TCAF this weekend will check out our Australian friends as well!Cheers,Conor
C2E2 Camera Connection!
I know that it's been two weeks since C2E2 in Chicago but I'm only now getting around to posting some photos from the trip. I apologize for this - the last two weeks have been quite busy with the Middle East Film & Comic-Con trip, then catching up on everything. I'll also post the Dubai photos later this week.My trip to Chicago was fantastic. It's a great theatre town so obviously there were already a lot of Kill Shakespeare fans there - and we were able to make so many more! My only regret is that our book stock is pretty low so we sold out early Sunday morning.I have a LOT of people to thank for making Chicago so great. I'd like to thank my booth helper for Saturday and Sunday - the fantastic Sarah Hunter. I'd also like to thank Christina Hall and Diego, who helped out for a few hours on Friday evening. I'd like to thank the amazing team at the ALA - especially Tina Coleman - for including us in their scavenger hunt (I'll see you in June at the conference in Anaheim!). Lys Fulda for helping me out with accomodations in the city (go Chinatown!). Jenny and Chris from ReedPop who helped us secure our spot at the show. Everyone who came out to my STANDING ROOM ONLY workshop on pitching and marketing your comic. And finally, the amazing Kate Kotler for helping out through the weekend and serving as a city tour guide (from a remote distance - she was 'M' to my James Bond through the city)...Next year will be even better! I look forward to visiting the city again.Here are some pictures:
A Dubai Diary
I got earlier today from a fantastic experience at the Middle East Film and Comic-Con. I have lots of photos to add to the site but in the meantime I was able to compose a brief diary of my overall experience at the show and Heidi Macdonald at The Comics Beat published it earlier today. You can read it here.
More photos and experiences to come this week!
A view from Dubai...
It's really late at night here in Dubai but I thought I'd take a moment to post a quick image from earlier tonight... This is the balcony outside the Marina where the Middle East Film & Comic-Con is being held. It's been a GREAT first day and we've been winning over lots of new fans and readers. And hell, the view can't be beat...
On our way to Dubai!
After a very busy weekend where Conor represented Kill Shakespeare at the Toronto Wizard World Con, and I was in Chicago at C2E2 (photos to be posted in the next day or two), we again split up duties this week.Artist Andy Belanger will be appearing at the Boston Comic-Con. He will have a limited number of books and t-shirts available for sale and signing so make sure you visit him early - and often!Meanwhile, Conor and I fly off tomorrow (I'm currently at a hotel in Newark writing this) to Dubai to take part in the first-ever Middle East Film & Comic-Con. Yes, Dubai. We're taking our bashing of the Bard to a whole new continent and it should be a blast.
We are currently slated to sit in on a panel entitled "The Art of Telling the Story" on Friday afternoon from 2:15 - 3pm and will also be doing signings both afternoons at the IDW Publishing panel. We will have a limited number of books for sale at the show (our stock is almost completely sold out) so make sure that you swing by early to pick it up.
We look forward to posting more highlights from our trip over the next few days. This will be my second time in Dubai (I visited for a few days back in 2009) and the first time for Conor. It'll be great to see how much of an influence Shakespeare has in the Middle East - it's a fact-finding mission for us!
I'm sure we'll post much about it later but in advance we'd like to thank Kuo Liang, Sohaib Awan, Ben Caddy and Arafaat Ali Khan for their early help in making this big trip possible!
More to follow!
We guest blog on Reading With Pictures
Reading With Pictures is a fantastic site and resource for those who want to learn more about the medium of comics and especially for those who are looking to, or already to, teach comics in class.The two of us were honoured then when RWP asked us to contribute some guest blogs to the site.The first blog "Hamlet to Ham Sandwich" is up here. We hope you think it is an interesting take on why the comic medium deserves to be studied, why comics and Shakespeare are a great fit, as well as as why students of all ages respond so well to Shakespeare when he is presented in an accessible way (say, a certain graphic noel you may be familiar with?)Stay tuned as we should have more blogs up for RWP soon.Also we'd love it if you checked out the Kickstarter campaign for a fantastic new textbook that RWP is developing to help make teaching comics easier, and more rewarding than ever.(and some of the rewards for this campaign have GOT to be seen to be believed!)See you all in Dubai!
For Your Consideration: Harvey Awards
I just realized that the deadline for the 2012 Harvey Awards nominations are due this upcoming Monday (April 16th). If you are a comic book professional and have not submitted a form yet, you can do so by clicking on the image below. Please consider us in the following categories:
BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES
BEST ARTIST (Andy Belanger)
BEST WRITER (Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col)
BEST COLORIST (Ian Herring)
BEST LETTERER (Chris Mowry)
BEST COVER ARTIST (Kagan McLeod)
Last year we were nominated for BEST NEW SERIES and it was an incredible honour (we sat two tables away from Stan Lee!) . Hopefully we can return to the awards show this year again.