4/17/13 4/17/13

Cover for Issue #3 (to be released next Wednesday)!

We have just received word from IDW Publishing (our publisher, obviously) and Diamond Comics (our distributor) that Issue #3 of The Tide of Blood (titled "Darkness Which the Blind Do See") is being released next Wednesday (the 24th of April). It's a fitting release day as it's the day after the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth/death (April 23rd).Here is the cover for Issue #3, created by our series artist Andy Belanger:

The write-up for Previews magazine for the issue is the following:"With Hamlet in the clutches of Lady Macbeth, Juliet and Romeo grapple with the island’s powers - and their past - to save him and themselves. But another, even greater, threat has entered the stage: Prospero, the mad wizard whose dominion over the island promises a deadly end for our heroes."Look for it next week at all comic book shops and online!

4/16/13 4/16/13

Boston Comic-Con is still on (and we will be there)

Like everyone else, I was quite shocked and upset by the bombing yesterday at the Boston Marathon. As someone who used to take part in many road races the idea of someone attacking at a moment/place like that is completely reprehensible.The incident also put into question whether this weekend's Boston Comic-Con will still be taking place. They just earlier today announced that it will be, and as they are looking to use the event as a shine of light in a dark time I will indeed attend the event (as had previously been planned).So for those attending the convention, I will be at Table #AA333 the entire weekend. I will also be doing a workshop ("How to Pitch Your Comic to Publishers") on Saturday from 3 - 3:45 in Panel Room 110 (a mash-up of sold-out workshops we've done in the past).

4/15/13 4/15/13

A one-minute summary of The Tide of Blood #1

Vlogger Shea Koshan often puts together one-minute summaries of comics that she likes (she did one for the first issue of our original series three years ago) and she's back with a video synopsis of the first issue of The Tide of Blood.What do you think of her summary? Feel free to post comments on her YouTube page or her Twitter site and let her know.

4/10/13 4/10/13

See Kill Shakespeare in Dubai this weekend!

Another dispatch from Cairo...Backstage Dubai is presenting Kill Shakespeare: Live Graphic Novel this weekend starting tonight! The shows are being held at The Fridge, and showtimes are:Fri, Apr 11/13 - 8pmSat, Apr 12/13 - 8pmSun, Apr 13/13 - 8pm

For more information check out this link.

4/10/13 4/10/13

Shouting KS on the rooftops (of Cairo)

I'm just heading off to bed after another busy day in Cairo (thanks to my amazing tour guide - and Sundance fellow - Yasmin Elayat) but I wanted to post this photo. The artist known as Ganzeer organized a rooftop talk for me this evening to discuss Kill Shakespeare with comic and art fans so here's a photo from this evening...

4/5/13 4/5/13

Stage debut in Dubai!

I'm heading off to the second day of the Middle East Film & Comic-Con today but wanted to post this cast photo from yesterday's performance of KILL SHAKESPEARE: LIVE GRAPHIC NOVEL, which took place at the comic-con yesterday to strong audience reaction. Below are Conor and myself with the cast immediately after the show! More information to come.

4/2/13 4/2/13

Conor on stage with Neil Gaiman (Video)

As mentioned last weekend I had an amazing time out in Orlando where I got to be part of the International Association for the Fantastic Arts' annual conference.One of the real treats was getting to be IN a play with Neil Gaiman. The play was called "The Sum of Your Experience" and the lovely dirtectrix, Carrie J. Cole, sent me a link to a video of the show.Bill Clementine, a noble IAFA member, shot the video and edited it for this clip and the narration is provided by Brett Cox.(And if you don't know which one is me and which one is Mr. Gaiman? I'm the handsome one - GRIN)We did this after just one hour of rehearsal - so I think it's pretty amazing we didn't screw up too many lines (I combined two lines once but Neil covered like a champ -- see if you can spot my screw-up).Enjoy!

3/30/13 3/30/13

Kill Shakespeare goes to school -- in Dubai!

With all the cons going on sometimes it gets tough to look ahead at what's coming next so it was nice to find an e-mail in our in-boxes from Melanie Guidera who is part of the Backstage Dubai team helps Ben Caddy and the rest of the MEFCC team with education programs at the Con as well as teaches English and Film at the Emirates International School - Meadows.Melanie sent us some great pictures from the school of Backstage Dubai's team of actors running a shortened version of the Kill Shakespeare reading they will be performing at the Middle East Film and Comic Con.The kids at the Emirates International School- Meadows seemed pretty taken with the performance and we hope to see many of them at the show -- and then maybe again when Backstage puts Kill Shakespeare on for a two-week run in the Emirate.

3/30/13 3/30/13

Happy Birthday to Andy Belanger!

Just a quick note whilst in Anaheim for WonderCon (booth #608!)... Today I take a moment to celebrate the birthday of the heart and soul of Kill Shakespeare... artist Andy Belanger!

I wish I was in Montreal right now to celebrate with him (and perhaps recount our amazing April Fool's Day joke of three years ago...) but I know that he's having a great time today - probably doing some work, having a beverage or two, having a great time with his fiancee Becky Cloonan, and enjoying life.Happy birthday, man! Here's to another great year of accomplishments and achievements!

3/28/13 3/28/13

Spinning Tales at FableTown and Beyond

Safely entrenched in Anaheim after a busy few days in Los Angeles, and prepping for WonderCon, I've now finally be able to catch up on the events of last weekend.Last Fri - Sun saw the first-ever FableTown and Beyond convention in Rochester, MN. Not just a convention for the hit Vertigo series Fables, it was an exploration and celebration of "mythic fiction" in comics today. In addition to Fables and Kill Shakespeare, the show also featured titles like The Unwritten, Mouse Guard, Mice Templar and others.It was a fantastic convention and we made a lot of new friends, hung out with some great people and artists, sold a lot of books and t-shirts, and survived the cold weather of Rochester. I hope that there's a convention next year because this was one of the most high-spirited event I've attended and enjoyed it immensely.Here are some photos from the weekend:

3/28/13 3/28/13

Dream a little Dream with Neil.

Every once in awhile in the course of promoting Kill Shakespeare opportunities come by that see us starstruck. This past weekend was just such an occasion.While Anthony started the weekend holding down the fort in Rochester Minnesota (and rubbing shoulders with comci superstars like Bill Willingham), I was in Orlando after being invited to the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.The IAFA is an academic conference that focuses on sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Attending the conference is like going to the very smartest corner of a ComicCon, except with a swim-up bar, and no furries.The 34th edition of the conference had five papers on The Walking Dead, two on semi-obscure Swedish Vampire flick Let the Right One In and a paper entitled Do Linguists Dream of Electric Sheep? A Study of Constructed Languages in Speculative Fiction.I even sat in on one paper that linked changing Renaissance Fairs to Stephen Colbert's notion of "truthiness" and what it called a growing problem in American Politics of ignoring what is true for what we want to be true (as always, blame the trolls people).So, for a geek like me this was heaven.But I was talking about being starstruck, and while being around so many smart interesting people was dizzying enough what REALLY made me need the shades was the chance to rub elbows not once, but twice, with a certain gentleman named...... Neil Gaiman.Yeah, him.As part of the deal the IAFA offered us they said they'd pay for a night in a hotel and make sure that whichever of us came down would sit on a panel with Neil and other scholars and talk about adaptations of Shakespeare.(the fact I got to go to this one explains why Anthony is currently sunning himself in SoCal while I hang out in lovely, but much colder, Toronto.)But if that wasn't enough the amazingly talented Carrie Cole, who helped put together the Kill Shakespeare stageshow when it was in Arizona had a surprise in store for me.You see every year at the IAFA they perform three, one-act plays that were chosen as winners of a competition. This year Carrie was directing them, and knowing what a ham-bone I am she asked if I would be willing to be in one of the plays. I agreed, but because the play would be a day after I was scheduled to go to FablesCon from Orlando I was ready to beg off."Oh, but don't you want to know who will be acting opposite you in the play?" she asked."Wellll, I guess....""It might be someone named... Neil Gaiman."So, about 45 minutes later I had my plane changed and was staying an extra day in Orlando which is how I ended up on stage on Friday night looking at one of the greatest writers of our time as he pulled a gun on me.The play was a taut two-hander called The Sum of Your Experience and was written Trace Crawford. It involves the strange case of a man who gets robbed and the mugger who steals all his stories.Appropriately Neil got to be the tale thief while I was the sorry son-of-a-gun who loses everything -- including the memories of his children.While I didn't get a great chance to hang-out with Neil afterwards (he had been on his feet for three straight days) I was able to chat a little bit and passed on a couple of Kill Shakespeare t-shirts to him and his wife Amanda. He was as gracious and polite as everyone said he would be and is one of the smartest people I've ever meant.Below are a few pictures from Orlando (and there may be one or two of a certain comics genius).

3/28/13 3/28/13

Issue #2 Delayed Until Next Week

We were excited that the release of our Issue #2 was scheduled and expected to be yesterday (Wed, Mar 27th). However, upon announcing it on our Facebook page we discovered from some retailers and readers that it hadn't arrived in stores yet.We have just found out that the release has been delayed until next week - Wed, Apr 3/13. The official notice from our distributor Diamond Comics is: "KILL SHAKESPEARE TIDE OF BLOOD #2 (OF 5) will be out on 4/3 due to a duplicate bar code issue."We apologize to those readers (and retailers) that were expecting the issue out yesterday and we look forward to hearing what you think about it when it is released.

3/27/13 3/27/13

Appearing at WonderCon this weekend!

It's been a really busy few days for me, with our appearance at FableTown and Beyond in Rochester and now in L.A. for meetings. I'll be posting some photos from FableTown in the next couple days (and more video footage of us!).

The real reason for me being in L.A, though, is to attend WonderCon this weekend in Anaheim. I'm quite excited to attend the show; one major reason is that it was WonderCon in San Francisco three years ago that we launched our series, premiering the first issue of Kill Shakespeare there.

We will be located at Table #608 all weekend. A map of the convention centre is here. Swing by and say hello, pick up copies of our books/issues and enjoy the weekend!

3/19/13 3/19/13

Issue #2 Artwork

Here are four pages of art from The Tide of Blood #2 ("To Hold Up a Mirror to Nature"). All artwork is by Andy Belanger, with colouring duties by Shari Chankhamma. The issue is released next Wednesday - March 27th, 2013.

3/18/13 3/18/13

Mirrors galore! Galore Mirrors! (Issue #2 Cover)

On Friday (the Ides of March) I posted the first page of Issue #2 of The Tide of Blood. Allow me to take a step back and feature another piece of art from the issue - the cover image!Created by Andy Belanger, it's a cover that nicely hints at the peril that the characters will undertake on Prospero's Island in this issue. And it also gives the reader a clue of the story point in the reflection created throughout.

Props to Andy for this awesome cover, and for the team at IDW (namely Chris Mowry) for also adding to the mirror effect with the logo and blurb.Look for Issue #2 at comic book shops next week - Wed, Mar 27th!And here is the original art piece.

3/15/13 3/15/13

Beware the Ides of March (preview of first page of Issue #2)

Soothsayer:Beware the ides of March.

Caesar:What man is that?

Brutus:A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

So goes one of Shakespeare's most popular lines. And yes, today is The Ides of March (the 15th of March). To recognize this day, I am posting a preview of the first page of our The Tide of Blood Issue #2 ("To Hold the Mirror Up to Nature"), which will be released in comic book shops March 27th. The art is, of course, by Andy Belanger, and features Miranda leading the group (Juliet and Romeo on this page) onto Prospero's Island.

3/14/13 3/14/13

Profile of KS on Canada's InnerSPACE

The preparation for our Toronto The Tide of Blood Launch Party just over two weeks ago was covered by Canada's top "geek" program, InnerSPACE. The producer, the incredibly talented and knowledgeable Mark Askwith, visited us as we set up for the gallery show and interviewed Andy as well as myself (Conor was in Seattle that day for Emerald City Comic-Con).You can watched the segment by clicking on the photo below.

3/12/13 3/12/13

Photos from Toronto Comic-Con

This past weekend Conor and I took part in Toronto Comic-Con (formerly known as Toronto Fan Appreciation, I believe). Held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, it was much bigger than the usual spring show mainly because it was attended by most of the main cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Alas, we did not find Patrick Stewart and force him to read our book on the spot...The event was a great way for me, specifically, to warm up for the soon-to-begin convention world tour - it feels like just yesterday that I attended my last convention yet it was back in October.Here are some pictures from the show. You can also see more at our Facebook page.

3/11/13 3/11/13

Toronto Launch Party Photos

Last Friday (March 1st) the incredible folks from The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery here in Toronto hosted our launch party for Kill Shakespeare: The Tide of Blood. Working with the team from The Dragon (in Guelph) they brought Andy and Becky Cloonan back to Toronto to celebrate, sign books, display their art, and have a fun time.We packed the place and from what we understand it may have been the most people that have been to an event in the space. The only sad part was the fact that Conor couldn't attend as he was in Seattle that weekend for the Emerald City Comic-Con.A HUGE thanks to everyone involved - Kevin Boyd and Joe Kilmartin from The Comic Book Lounge, Jenn and Tyler from The Dragon, Andy and Becky for coming from Montreal, and everyone that came to the event!Here are a number of photos from the event, most taken by Kuntal Variya, a very good friend and talented photographer! We have some additional photos available on our Facebook page.

3/7/13 3/7/13

Kill Shakespeare hits the stage in Seattle tonight!

Today is the day Seattle!The Kill Shakespeare Dramatic Reading starts its two night run this evening at 8 PM at the Balagan Theatre (1524 Harvard Ave)Tickets are available through the Balagan website and as a special gift to fans of Kill Shakespeare you can use the code 'ECCC' to get a $5 discount.Or, if you were at Emerald City Comic Con, you can use your badge, or the yellow flyer we were handing out at the booth, to get your discount as well.Enjoy the show, and let us know what you think!Conor