Check this out: Fabletown and Beyond!
In addition to prepping the upcoming issues of our Tide of Blood comic mini-series, we are also preparing for a very busy spring convention season (just as busy as last year's world tour - if not busier!). We're going to attend all of our favourite shows - Emerald City, WonderCon, the Shakespeare Association of American annual conference, C2E2, Calgary, etc. but one new entry in our schedule is an exciting gathering of mythic fiction fan and creators - FABLETOWN AND BEYOND.Hosted by Fables creator Bill Willingham (and his amazing assistant, Stephanie Cooke), Fabletown and Beyond is a celebration of mythic fiction storytelling, defined by the website itself as, "that magic-bound alliance of fairytales, folklore, myth, legend, talking animals and characters from literature, given new life, new challenges to face and new adventures to chronicle. And it’s also the strongest, most vital, movement in comics since superheroes moved in, took over and eventually dominated the comics marketplace for half a century."
The show, taking place from March 22nd - 24th in Rochester, Minnesota, will not only feature Conor and I as guests but also featured The Kill Shakespeare Bar, a local pub that has been turned into an Elizabethan treat for the entire convention (or, at least a cool place to hang out and drink the entire time). The guests are top-notch - Bill Willingham (of course), Mark Buckingham (Sandman, Fables), Kurt Busiek (Marvels, Astro City), Adam Hughes (Batgirl), Mike Carey (The Unwritten, X-Men), Chris Roberson (iZombie) and many others. You can see the full list of special guests here.If you're a fan of any of these artists/creators, or mythic fiction, I recommend the show. It's going to be a small, intimate event where you'll be able to hang out with us the entire time and discuss comics, literature, entertainment, anything.
The Tide of Blood Issue #1 now available for pre-order!
Now that December is here it is now time for comic shop retailers to order their stock for the month of February, 2013. And what specific comic title is being released in February? Kill Shakespeare: The Tide of Blood, of course!
For those that don't know, comic retailers place all of their orders through Diamond Comic Distributors, which list all of the titles being released in a specific month in a magazine/catalogue called Previews. Everything is ordered two months in advance and retailers will order based on how many copies they think they will be able to sell when it comes out.Conor, myself, Keith Morris and the rest of our team will be doing an extended marketing campaign to retailers this month to make them aware of the new 5-issue arc The Tide of Blood. But we need help from you! Tell your comic retailer that they need to stock lots of copies of our series. Our first issue (back in April, 2010) was sold out immediately and when a 100 Penny Edition of the first issue was released back in 2011 it also sold out immediately. Those facts, combined with the knowledge that we are now entering a fifth printing of Volume 1 (and sales of Volume 2 increasing quickly) means that retailers can play a big role in ensuring the success of our series.So pre-order a copy (or copies) of Issue #1 this month from your retailer!The creative team is back - myself and Conor are writing the issues and Andy Belanger is doing the art. And he's doing some amazing stuff! He gets to play with a lot of fun elements - mystical creatures, cannibals, wizards and, of course, our main heroes that are returning to deal with the magical Prospero.We will be releasing more information about the new The Tide of Blood arc over the course of the month but make sure to let your retailers know - in person, over email, through Twitter and Facebook - that you want a copy!
Official IDW Announcement of new Kill Shakespeare Series!
Hot off the Presses!
Award-winning comic Mash-up Kill Shakespeare Returns to IDW with New Limited Series
Thursday, Oct 11th, 2012
San Diego, CA (October 11, 2012) – IDW Publishing is proud to announce the return of the acclaimed comic series Kill Shakespeare to comic shelves! The first issue of the new five-issue limited series, entitled The Tide of Blood, will hit comic shops across North America and Europe in February of 2013.Series co-creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery returned to pen the five issues and original artist Andy Belanger is back as the series artist (and also adds cover artist duties). All three are at this week’s New York Comic Con to officially launch the new arc as well as present a special live stage reading based on the first twelve issues of the series that The New York Times called: “gripping, violent, dark, fun.”The five-issue series – a continuation from the first two books – will follow Hamlet, Juliet, Othello and Romeo as they face their biggest threat – Prospero, a rogue wizard who plans to destroy all of creation. Hamlet must embark on a perilous journey to a remote island whose inhabitants have gone mad and want the Dane’s blood – if a love triangle and Cupid’s poisoned bow doesn’t kill Hamlet first.“It is a dream come true for us to be back at the New York Comic-Con, where we first pitched Kill Shakespeare to IDW almost four years ago,” says Del Col. “We are incredibly happy that our fans and readers have been asking for more and have put together a new story that takes our characters in an exciting new direction.”To date, Kill Shakespeare has been collected into two trades: A Sea of Troubles and The Blast of War. Both were nominated for numerous awards and lists and Volume 1 is entering a fifth printing.“I had an awesome time working on the first two volumes of Kill Shakespeare,” said series editor Tom Waltz. “Tickling both my literary and action-adventure fancies, Conor, Anthony, and Andy have most definitely given me one of the most satisfying and unique experiences I've had as an editor at IDW Publishing. And, just as the first go round proved it's hard to kill Shakespeare, well, it's hard to kill a fantastic story concept, too, and I truly believe the best is yet to come from the Kill Shakespeare crew!”The series has also been brought to the stage with the creation of the Kill Shakespeare: Live Stage Reading theatrical show. It has been produced in various cities across North America and will be presented at the New York Comic-Con on Saturday October 13th at 11:00 AM on the Variant Stage. Special Kill Shakespeare and IDW prize packs will be given away to lucky attendees at this free show!Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its top-selling books. IDW can also be found at http://www.facebook.com/#!/idwpublishing and http://tumblr.idwpublishing.com/ and on Twitter at @idwpublishing.About the seriesKill Shakespeare is an adventure story that pits all of Shakespeare’s greatest heroes (including Hamlet, Juliet, Falstaff, Othello, Puck) against the Bard’s most menacing villains (including Richard III, Lady Macbeth, Iago, Prospero) in a quest to track down and kill – or save – a reclusive wizard by the name of William Shakespeare. The series was nominated for a 2011 Harvey Award for Best New Comic Series the 2011 and 2012 Joe Shuster Awards for Comic Writing and has been selected to the YALSA and Maverick lists for top graphic novels for teens. The series has been covered by NPR, BBC, The Washington Post, CBC and The New York Times. In October 2011, Kill Shakespeare was chosen by the Sundance Institute as one of six projects for the inaugural New Frontiers Story Lab.“Gripping, violent, dark, fun…” – The New York Times“Bravo! Kill Shakespeare is a tale woven with the wit, magic and myth, worthy of Will himself.” – Des McAnuff (Stratford Festival, Jersey Boys)“Fresh and conceptually inventive… Easily one of the more exciting new projects bouncing around.” – Publisher’s Weekly“It’s a rare thing, indeed, to see such brilliant new talent deliver a series that immediately feels so fully formed and realized.” – The Washington PostAbout IDW PublishingIDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s DOCTOR WHO; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Toho’s Godzilla; Wizards of the Coasts Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons; and the Eisner-Award winning Locke & Key series, created by best-selling author Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints, and Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio.IDW’s critically- and fan-acclaimed series are continually moving into new mediums. Currently, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Disney are creating a feature film based on World War Robot, while Michael Bay‘s Platinum Dunes and Sony are bringing Zombies vs. Robots to film.
Snail Trail!
Last weekend, on Saturday August 18th, Toronto's oldest comic shop - The Silver Snail - moved house.Sorta.
The Snail has been on the cusp of moving for several months as their old digs on 367 Queen West has been sold to be developed as condos (surprise, surprise). But because of slower than expected rennovations at their new home-to-be at 329 Yonge (in Yonge and Dundas Square) the store hasn't been able to move.But that didn't stop the Snail's new owners Mark and George from organizing a very cool
event that saw hundred of volunteers line up, side by side, from the old locale to the new one. Then this human chain moved over a 100 boxes and props from the old store to Yonge and Dundas square.Sure, there wasn't anyplace to PUT these boxes as the workers were still hammering and sawing away BUT that didn't matter because the boxes were actually filled with goodies that were then raffled off to all the helpers.The whole thing was covered by several media outlets giving our comic-friends some great buzz as they prepare to expand the Snail's legacy.
Yours truly got to be a marshall, which basically means I had to carry boxes across intersections... 'cause if a volunteer gets run over that's a tragedy, if a red-head gets whacked that's a Louie CK bit.Hope you're all enjoying the Expo! See you in a couple of hours.Conor
Congrats to our Eisner-winning friends!
This past weekend at the San Diego International Comic-Con a number of our close friends were able to take away some hardware at the 24th annual Eisner Awards. We always joke about the Canadian infiltration of the comics industry but this year proved that to be case!First off, congrats to Ramon Perez for winning two Eisners for his great Jim Henson's Tale of Sand book. For those that don't know Ramon is/was a studio-mate of Andy's and the two have worked together for a number of years. And a big congrats to Darwyn Cooke for his work on Parker: Martini Edition. Darwyn has served as a mentor for all of us (and was great enough to write a forward for us in our first volume).
And the biggest congrats to Jennifer and Robert from The Dragon in Guelph, Ontario, which won the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award! The Dragon has been great to us (despite our boos....) and we're really happy for their success.Congrats to all!
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...
Recommended comic: Conan The Barbarian
This past Saturday Conor and I swung by Paradise Comics in mid-town Toronto to visit the signing by acclaimed artist Becky Cloonan of the first issue of her run on Dark Horse Comics' Conan the Barbarian: Queen of the Black Coast. Becky is a good friend of ours - and especially artist Andy Belanger - and it's great to see her work get so much mainstream comics attention.
I'm about to dive into the first issue and I'm looking forward to it - the illustrations are amazing!
AintItCool News @$$IE Awards: Best Writer!
We've received a number of positive reviews for our series on AintItCool News, which is still one of the top comic review websites. But yesterday we received a further plaudit from them: Conor and I were listed as one of the top comic writers of 2011 in their 8th annual @$$ie Awards!
It's a very distinguished list that includes fellow Canadians Jeff Lemire (Animal Man) and Ray Fawkes (One Soul), as well as industry stalwarts like Scott Snyder (American Vampire) and Mark Waid (Daredevil). We're honoured to be included with these other talents, and for the recognition for the series!You can read the write-up on us by Lyz "Lizard" Reblin by clicking on the trophy image above or clicking here.
What character(s) should we add?
We are currently investigating the possibility of continuing our series based on feedback and support. While we do so, we'd like to pose a question to our followers/fans/readers - what character(s) would you like to see in a continued or future series? We've thrown this question out into the social network sphere but would also like your opinion here. Would it be the wizard Prospero? The battling sweethearts Beatrice and Benedick? A little-known character? A well-known character? We're all ears...
Convention Schedule - First Half of 2012
It seems as though the fall convention season just ended... And here we are planning for the spring convention season to begin already!
We will post more information closer to the dates, but we are currently looking at attending a fair number of conventions over the next six months. Some we will be returning to, others will be our first time setting up. In all cases we're excited to be attending these conventions. I've said this in many interview but perhaps the best part of Kill Shakespeare is attending conventions and talking to readers, fans, those that like Shakespeare, those that hate Shakespeare, and everyone else.Look for us at the following shows (yes, it is a busy March & April for us):Mar 10-11 - FanExpo Toronto Comic-Con (Toronto)Mar 16-18 - WonderCon (Anaheim - normally held in San Francisco)Mar 30 - Apr 1 - Emerald City Comic-Con (Seattle)Apr 5 - 7 - Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference (Boston)Apr 13 - 15 - C2E2 - Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (Chicago)Apr 14 - 15 - Toronto Wizard Comic-Con (Toronto)Apr 21 - 22 - Boston Comic-Con (Boston)Apr 21 - 22 - Vancouver FanExpo (Vancouver) - not confirmed yetApr 27 - 29 - Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo (Calgary) - not confirmed yetMay 5 - 6 - Toronto Comics Arts Festival - TCAF (Toronto)May 19 - 20 - Kapow! Comic Convention (London, UK) - not confirmed yetWe are also exploring other shows to attend so if you have any suggestions please let us know!
Hawaiian Students' Take on Falstaff
A number of months ago I was contacted by Lanaly Cabalo, a teacher from Roosevelt High School in Honolulu. She teaches a number of classes there and introduced some of her students to Kill Shakespeare this past semester and they - along with some other teachers - really took to it and did a number of papers and art projects on the series.
The artwork project above was done by Mehana Verdadero, a junior at the high school. She - quite obviously - really enjoys our take on Falstaff and wrote a paper on him as well. A snippet from her report:"Even though there are many great characters, Falstaff is one of the best. Why? Well, if you love comedy, then you will totally love him. He is the funniest character in all the King Henry plays and The Merry Wives of Windsor... Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col changed him into a man of faith and wisdom, but they didn’t change the fact that he is the funniest character... in their book “Kill Shakespeare.”We love receiving messages and images like this from teachers. So keep up the great work Ms. Cabalo, Mehana, and everyone else in the class. It was a pleasure creating the series and we loved hearing how much your class enjoyed it. And if we find ourselves in that part of the country we'd love to swing by and visit!UPDATE (Jan 4/11): Another student from the class - Simeon Crawford - sent their project to us - it's right here!:
Anthony Appears on T-Dot Comix New Vlog
Earlier this week I sat down with one of the biggest fans of our series, Alice Quinn. She and XXX have started a new web series, Quinntessential Comics, which is a weekly series devoted to discussing comics with fans, experts and creators.It's always great to chat with Alice and we had a lot of fun shooting this episode.
Thanks to Everyone at NYCC!
We arrived back from the New York Comic-Con yesterday and have hit the ground running on a number of things - working out the details (and the script) for our live stage reading next month, prepping for the release of our second trade (also next month), and catching up on sleep (we may have to wait for this until... you guessed it, next month...).The New York Comic-Con was a huge success for us. We sold out of most of our product and (almost) broke our convention record! We met a lot of existing fans and made some new ones. Thanks to everyone who helped out with the show - those that stopped by to say hello, the organizers who did a good job, the artists and business people in our section, and those that put up with us for our times in New York.Here are some various photos from the weekend.
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!
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.
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.
Celebrate the (Imminent) Release of Issue #12 with Andy B!
Though our Issue #12 is released August 17th, the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop is celebrating its release a week before it. This upcoming Friday evening (the 12th) in Toronto both Andy as well as J.Bone (who did our five-page "Et Tu, Hecate?" story in our first trade) will be feted. J.Bone just recently released DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The '70's #1 and copies and art will be available at the show. In addition to Andy's original art from Issue #12 we may have exclusive early copies available (depending upon when we get our shipment).
If you're in Toronto come up and celebrate the release of our issue with us!
Issue #12 released August 17th!
We've had a number of people inquire about the release date of our final issue, #12. The original release date was to be yesterday (July 27th) but due to some problems beyond our control the release date has been pushed to August 17th. We apologize to anyone - readers, fans, retailers - that were expecting to pick it up yesterday.The August 17th release date is perfect as it will be just before the Baltimore Comic-Con where we are nominated for Best New Series.
We are currently reviewing the preview PDF copy and are quite proud of the issue. It's definitely something worth the wait!