Doug Wright Awards 2013: Michel Rabagliati, David Collier and Nina Bunjevac take home prizes

@comicsreporter Thanks! Full credit goes to Smiley Guy Studios for the video — and @scottthompson_ for the voice and wicked ad libs!

— Doug Wright Awards (@WrightAwards) May 14, 2013

Prepping the big Wright Awards show. Will you be there? ow.ly/i/25QFk 7-9 Marriott hotel. Free!!!!!

— Doug Wright Awards (@WrightAwards) May 11, 2013

@wrightawards tonight at 7 at the Marriott! Looking forward to seeing everyone there and supporting Canadian talent!!

— Rachel Richey (@Rachelpeabody) May 11, 2013

Alright!The 2013 Doug Wright awards are about to begin! #tcaf

— Comic Book Junkie (@comicbookjunk1e) May 11, 2013

Great turnout for this year’s awards #dougwright #tcaf

— Comic Book Junkie (@comicbookjunk1e) May 11, 2013

This year’s nominees (well mostly – a few are hidden at the back) #dougwright #tcaf twitter.com/comicbookjunk1…

— Comic Book Junkie (@comicbookjunk1e) May 11, 2013

Tonight’s MC, Scott Thompson – yes that one – tells of how working on his comic kept him going thru cancer treatment #dougwright #tcaf

— Comic Book Junkie (@comicbookjunk1e) May 12, 2013

David Collier wins the Pigskin award (experimental category) for Hamilton Illustrated. #dougwright #tcaf

— Comic Book Junkie (@comicbookjunk1e) May 12, 2013

David Collier and Scott Thompson #dougwright #tcaf twitter.com/comicbookjunk1…

— Comic Book Junkie (@comicbookjunk1e) May 12, 2013

Scott Thompson & David Collier at the Doug Wright Awards! twitter.com/dtamblyn/statu…

— dtamblyn (@dtamblyn) May 12, 2013

Nina Bunjevac wins the Spotlight (Nipper) award for Heartless #dougwright #tcaf

— Comic Book Junkie (@comicbookjunk1e) May 12, 2013

Michel Rabagliati wins best book award for The Song of Roland #dougwright #tcaf

— Comic Book Junkie (@comicbookjunk1e) May 12, 2013

Congrats to Conundrum Press for publishing 2 of tonight’s 3 #dougwright awards winners #tcaf

— Comic Book Junkie (@comicbookjunk1e) May 12, 2013

@comeauslomeau Thx! We couldn’t have done it without the nominees, @scottthompson_, the crowd and a temporarily insane David Collier.

— Doug Wright Awards (@WrightAwards) May 14, 2013

@comeauslomeau Jack Benny Show updated: with Scott as Benny; Collier as Rochester.

— Brad Mackay (@mackbrad) May 15, 2013

@comeauslomeau I third that nomination. All in favour?

— Doug Wright Awards (@WrightAwards) May 14, 2013

Bowled over by this year’s audience for our annual awards shindig. Humbling and honoured that you all came out. See you next year for #10!

— Doug Wright Awards (@WrightAwards) May 13, 2013

Did You Know? Fresh off his DWA win the inimitable David Collier will be a guest on CBC Radio’s #Wiretap this week! Thx @j_goldstein

— Doug Wright Awards (@WrightAwards) May 16, 2013

Three book debuts worth a look at TCAF 2013

One of my favourite aspects of Toronto Comic Arts Festival, and all other small press and indie comic expos for that matter, are the book debuts by super talented creators.

Here are the books I plan on seeking out when I drop by the event this weekend.

VERY CASUAL by Michael Deforge
(Koyama Press)

I’ve been following Deforge for only a year now. His work is truly original and interesting (and can also be dirty and disturbing. Check out his Ant Comic strip.)

Culled from mini comics, online comics and anthology contributions, Very Casual collects notable short stories from DeForge’s prolific oeuvre. Included are stories about litter gangs, meat-filled snowmen, righteous cops, beagle/human hybrids, and forest-bound drag queens. Very Casual also collects Spotting Deer, which won the Pigskin Peters Award for best non-traditional, non-narrative or avant-garde work at the 2011 Doug Wright Awards.

Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes by Matt Kindt
(First Second)

While technically this arrived in stores on Wednesday, I held off picking up a copy so I could buy one directly from Kindt at his table this weekend.

Welcome to the city of Red Wheelbarrow, where the world’s greatest detective has yet to meet the crime he can’t solve—every criminal in Red Wheelbarrow is caught and convicted thanks to Detective Gould’s brilliant mind and cutting-edge spy technology. But lately there has been a rash of crimes so eccentric and random that even Detective Gould is stumped. Will he discover the connection between the compulsive chair thief, the novelist who uses purloined street signs to write her magnum opus, and the photographer who secretly documents peoples’ most anguished personal moments? Or will Detective Gould finally meet his match?

Operating with wit and perception in the genre of hard-boiled crime fiction, Red Handed owes as much to Paul Auster as Dashiell Hammett, and raises some genuinely sticky questions about human nature.

Destination X by John Martz
(Nobrow Press)

Sam is the grandson of a world-renowned space adventurer. Marvelled by his ailing grandfather’s stories of interstellar travel and alien romance, he models his life after these tales – even though they may be untrue. So focussed is Sam on fulfilling what he thinks is his natural destiny in life that he becomes blind to his own reality.

More TCAF stories:
My top panel picks for TCAF 2013
Hernandez brothers vs Matt Bors – TCAF 2013
5 tips for Toronto Comics Arts Festival newbies
‘Comics are trash’ and other lessons from TCAF 2012

Top panel picks for Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2013

There is lots happening this weekend at TCAF. Programming on both Saturday and Sunday is strong. And there is an entire kids programming stream that looks fantastic if you’re bringing the little ones.

Also: hurray, 10 years!

SATURDAY

The State of Small Press
Small press comics publishers are like mushrooms – over the past five years, more and more of them have been springing up all over the US and Canada.  What does the market look like for these small presses today?  And how is the market changing? Join representatives from Secret Acres, Domino Books, Koyama Press, Grimalken Press, and Rebus Books in answering these and many more questions.

(The Marriott High Park Ballroom – 10-11am)

Blown Covers: The New Yorker and Francoise Mouly
The Blown Covers blog has become a must-visit space for illustrators and illustration aficionados, being a behind-the-scenes peek at the New Yorker covers that you were never meant to see! Join The New Yorker Art Editor Françoise Mouly and cover artist Frank Viva as they discuss what goes into making a cover for The New Yorker.

(The Marriott High Park Ballroom – 11-12pm)

Spotlight: Michel Rabagliati
Michel Rabagliati is known for his thoughtful, true-to-life stories of teenager life; the latest, Paul Joins the Scouts, debuts this year at TCAF.  In this spotlight, Rabagliati will discuss his process, his work, and his newest graphic novel with librarian and journalist Eva Volin.

(The Marriott High Park Ballroom – 12:15-1:15pm)

Moebius, Past and Future
Jean Giraud, also known as Moebius, was a legend in the comics industry – his lush, whimsical art and creative storytelling inspired a generation of cartoonists around the world to take the comics medium to new directions and new heights.  Four cartoonists discuss Moebius’ life, work, and his role in inspiring the industry today – as well as their own books. With Frederik Peeters (Sandcastle), Paul Pope (THB), David B. (Black Paths), Glyn Dillon (The Nao of Brown). Moderated by Xavier Guilbert (du9.org)

(The Marriott Forest Hill Ballroom - 1:30 – 2:30pm)

Comics & Politics
Looking beyond the political cartoon – that humorous, satirical, often exaggerated form of political comics storytelling – to the political graphic novel – a form that approaches those same subjects with a different level of gravity, emotion, and depth.  What makes the difference between the two?  Sarah Glidden (How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less), Rutu Modan (The Property), Matt Bors (Cartoon Movement), and Josh Neufeld (A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge). Moderated by Nicole Marie Burton.

(The Marriott Forest Hill Ballroom, 4 – 5pm)

SUNDAY

I did my best to avoid suggesting two panels in the same time slot, but I can’t avoid it here. I don’t know who designed the programming, but for me, this is torture. The Seth/Spiegelman conversation could be really interesting, but the Comic blog panel is very timely considering AOL shut down Comics Alliance two weeks ago:

Is Comics Blogging Over?
The comics blog: the dominant conversation forum for comics in the late 90s and through the 2000s, is certainly changing, possibly mutating… but is it ‘over’? Social media, new content distribution methods, and a lack of paying outlets may just have changed blogging forever. Join Deb Aoki (Manga.AboutGuide.com), Heidi McDonald (ComicsBeat.com), Tom Spurgeon (ComicsReporter.com), Andrew Wheeler (Freelance/Comics Alliance), and moderator Brigid Alverson (Robot6) in a lively discussion of this contentious topic.

(The Pilot Tavern, 11am-12pm)

Spotlight: Art Spiegelman and Seth, in Conversation
Art Spiegelman is the author of Breakdowns, Maus, In The Shadow of No Towers, Meta Maus, and the editor and subject of TCAF debut CO-MIX, a retrospective of Art’s vast career in comics and illustration, from RAW to The New Yorker. At this special TCAF presentation, Art Spiegelman will sit down with his friend and fellow cartoonist Seth (Palooka-ville, George Sprott) in a wide-ranging interview on Art’s career.

(The Marriott Forest Hill Ballroom, 11-12pm)

TCAF’s Debut Book Spotlight: DeForge, CF, Fink, McEowen, Kindt, & Modan
The TCAF Debut Book Spotlight shines on six of the most exciting books and authors of this year’s show, giving them a chance to talk about their own work, and each other’s. Featuring Michael DeForge for Very Casual; CF for Mere; Jess Fink for We Can Fix It; Matt Kindt for Red Handed; Patrick McEown for Hair Shirt, and Rutu Modan for The Property.

(The Marriott Forest Hill Ballroom, 12:15-1:15pm)

Spotlight: Taiyo Matsumoto
TCAF is proud to welcome one of the most exciting and acclaimed manga creators in the world, Taiyo Matsumoto, as he celebrates his first international art exhibition and the North American debut of his new graphic novel SUNNY. Please join Taiyo Matsumoto in conversation with TCAF Festival Director Christopher Butcher, as they discuss Matsumoto’s career, his forays into new media, and his new graphic novel series.

(The Marriott Forest Hill Ballroom, 1:30-2:30pm)

ADVENTURE TIME!
By popular demand, TCAF’s awesome ADVENTURE TIME panel returns for 2013! Featuring Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, Braden Lamb, and Mike Holmes (Adventure Time: The Comic Book), Meredith Gran (Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens), Danielle Corsetto (Adventure Time: Playing with Fire), and Michael Deforge and Steve Wolfhard (artists on the Adventure Time cartoon).

(The Marriott Forest Hill Ballroom, 4-5 pm)

Comics from an Author’s Perspective
Creator-owned comics have grabbed the imagination of the comic-reading public and publishers are looking for fresh ideas from a new generation of talent. Listen closely as Jim Zub (Skullkickers, Street Fighter, Legends of the Dark Knight) discusses pitching his comic series to publishers and offers advice on how to climb to the top of the treacherous submission mountain, along with comic writing techniques and amusing anecdotes.

(Fortuna Ristorante, 2:45-3:45pm)

(Top, TCAF 10th anniversary poster by Maurice Vellekoop. Right, commemorative TCAF 2013 poster by Taiyo Matsumoto. More poster info.)

More TCAF stories:
Hernandez brothers vs Matt Bors – TCAF 2013
5 tips for Toronto Comics Arts Festival newbies
‘Comics are trash’ and other lessons from TCAF 2012

Hernandez brothers vs Matt Bors – my first TCAF 2013 scheduling dilemma

The 2013 Toronto Comic Arts Festival is still days away and already I’m faced with a scheduling dilemma.

I picked up tickets to the official kick-off event, this year featuring the Hernandez brothers, Gilbert and Jaime. It’s a tradition I share with Derek Evernden, who created the cool banner on this blog. Last year, we heard from Jeff Smith and brothers Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. Comics owe a lot to Gilbert and Jamie for raising the profile of this medium. There will be lots of material and stories to mine in the hour-plus conversation.

But over at The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery is  The Political Cartoons of Matt Bors. I really love me some political cartoons. And while I’m not familiar with Bors, the material on his site is pretty funny. Also it’s being held at The Comic Book Lounge, which I’ve been meaning to check out for some time. We could sip a few beer while we listen to him talk about his work.

So if you like all kinds of comics, here are a couple of events worth checking out on Friday:

The Political Comics of Matt Bors – Reading/Presentation

On the eve of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF 2013), join award-winning, nationally syndicated political cartoonist and comics editor Matt Bors as he cracks open the subject of political comics. From gun control to women’s rights, climate change to the War in Afghanistan (where he traveled as a comics journalist in 2010), Bors shows us how, in a world of controversy, political comics have become a surprisingly effective way to make a point.

Bar Opens at 7PM
Program Begins at 7:30PM

TCAF 10th Kick-off event featuring Gilbert and Jamie Hernandez

Come kick-off the 10th Anniversary of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival with us on the evening of Friday, May 10th! TCAF will welcome to the stage alt-comix legends Gilbert Hernandez and Jamie Hernandez, as they engage in a lively career-spanning conversation with The Comics Reporter’s Tom Spurgeon! Both artists will also sign autographs and meet with fans at the event. Selections from their complete comics library will be available for sale at the event.

Plus! A look back at ten years of TCAF with some very special guests.

Presented by Toronto Reference Library and The Beguiling Books & Art, with support from Drawn & Quarterly Books and Fantagraphics Books.

Please note: Reserved seating with Eventbrite ticket is only valid until 7:20pm. After that time, all tickets admission will be rush-line admission.

–
About the Authors:

Gilbert Hernandez was born in 1957 in Oxnard, California, the middle child in a family of six children. Alongside his brothers Jaime and Mario, Gilbert co-created and contributed to the acclaimed comic book series Love and Rockets, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2012. Gilbert has won numerous awards for his stories, including the Kirby Award, Inkpot Award, Harvey Award, and the 2009 United States Artists Literature Fellowship.

Gilbert Hernandez will be at TCAF in support of his highly-anticipated, semiautobiographical new graphic novel, Marble Season. Marble Season is Gilbert Hernandez’s his first book with D&Q and one of the most anticipated books of 2013. It tells the untold stories from the American comics legends’ youth, but also portrays the reality of life in a large family in suburban 1960s California. Pop-culture references—TV shows, comic books, and music—saturate this evocative story of a young family navigating cultural and neighborhood norms set against the golden age of the American dream and the silver age of comics.

Jaime Hernandez is the co-creator of the independent comic book Love and Rockets (along with his brothers Gilbert and Mario). Jaime’s main contribution to Love and Rockets is the ongoing serial narrative Locas which follows the tangled lives of a group of primarily Latina characters, from their teenage years in the early days of the California punk scene to the present day. The two central characters of Jaime’s cast are Margarita Luisa “Maggie” Chascarrillo and Esperanza Leticia “Hopey” Glass, whose on-again, off-again, open romance is a focus for many Locas storylines.

In addition to his Locas stories, Henandez has also done occasional work for DC Comics and The New Yorker, and he has done many album covers for such artists as Michelle Shocked.

More TCAF stories:
My top panel picks for TCAF 2013
5 tips for Toronto Comics Arts Festival newbies
‘Comics are trash’ and other lessons from TCAF 2012

 

The ‘All-Star, All-Canadian (plus one American) Super-Villain Art Auction’ (Countdown to TCAF 2013)

So the Doug Wright Awards had a super-cool art auction fundraiser and I nearly missed the entire thing.

This is why I keep telling my wife that I should spend more time with comics: reading them, writing about them and reading about them. Otherwise I miss things like the opportunity to own original art by my favourite Canadian artists like Seth, Michael Deforge, John Martz, Michael Cho, Pascal Girard, Chester Brown and so many more. And it’s for a great cause.

Dr Octopus by John Martz

The Crimes of Two-Face by Chester Brown

Medusa by Michael Cho

Venom by Michael Deforge

Check out the entire collection at Brad MacKay’s Flickr stream. And depending on when you read this, whatever is left for sale is available at this eBay link.

The 2013 Doug Wright Awards will be held on Saturday, May 11. While not an official part of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival programming, it honours and celebrates many of the artists whose work is featured at TCAF.

Luke Pearson draws The New Yorker cover

Does this means Luke Pearson has arrived?

The April 22, 2013 edition of The New Yorker magazine features a lovely cover illustration by the British artist.

Beautiful cover of the @newyorker by @thatlukeperson with nods to @nobrowpress on their blog: newyorker.com/online/blogs/c…

— Eirian Chapman (@eirianchapman) April 15, 2013

His work has also appeared in Wired magazine (see right).

I’ve been a fan of Pearson’s comics work since stumbling upon them at TCAF in 2011. That’s where I picked up Hildafolk, published by Nobrow Ltd. under their ’17×23′ line. These books are a bit shorter than your typical comic book floppy format. They are (or at least were) part of Nobrow’s graphic short story project designed to introduce young graphic novellists to a wider audience.

Pearson’s Hilda character evolved and he produced a longer and larger format book, Hilda and The Midnight Giant, which is a fantastic all-ages story. (He’s since published Hilda and The Bird Parade, on my “want” list.)  An earlier book of his that also sits on my bookshelf, Everything We Miss, is interesting as a study in contrasts to his recent books. An interesting read, I don’t love it like I do his later work. You can tell here this is a young artist flexing his muscles, exploring emotional territory. It tries to be “real” while weaving in some fantastical notions. It’s a breakup story. Need I say more?

Pearson spoke with New Yorker for their Cover Story feature. I’m reposting the article here. Visit this link to see a slideshow of Nobrow books.

“People over here [in England] say we’re in a Golden Age of comics. It seems like we’re always on the cusp of breaking into something and there’re so many different kinds of comic artists now,” says Luke Pearson the artist behind the cover of this week’s Journeys issue, “Now Boarding.”

Pearson is a rising star at Nobrow, a nearly five-year-old publisher with a store and gallery in the heart of Shoreditch, a gentrifying neighborhood in Northeast London. (Nobrow’s name was in part inspired by John Seabrook’s 1999 article in this magazine.) Pearson recalls his début at the press with fondness:

“I first submitted something to Nobrow in 2010, in my last year of university, for their twenty-four-page booklet 17×23 series. They had just created that series, especially to give an outlet to people who have never done a comic before. They—Alex Spiro, Sam Arthur—are printmakers, who love art, prints, and books, and all their books revel in the fact that they’re printed objects. Most are printed with a limited palette of UV spot colors, which encourages flat-looking, simplified, vintage-like graphics, as opposed to something more photographic. It gives the work a retro look that I like—but they are flexible, and I always felt like I could do what I wanted. I didn’t create my character Hilda by trying to fit into their style—it was born in my sketchbook. And my books might be the first they did without the spot color process. They’ve been super good to me and it’s a great working relationship.”

Follow the link for more of Pearson’s published comic work.

It’s Wednesday! (May 1, 2013)

Snapshot comes to an end this week. I liked this book. It’s quirky on-the-run fun. Jock’s b&w art really suits this story. I think I would recommend people pick up the TPB. It would be a fun Saturday afternoon read.

Ten Grand is new. The Internet appears to be excited that J. Michael Straczynski is back with a creator-owned book. And, let’s be honest, Rising Stars was a good thing.

Also Suicide Risk arrives. There seem to be a lot of books with similar concepts floating around out there, but I’m going on the strength of Mike Carey’s name on writing credits and have confidence he’ll bring something new to the story. He and Peter Gross have kept The Unwritten interesting for me longer than I had expected. So I’m curious to see him start with a fresh story.

SNAPSHOT #4
Story by: Andy Diggle, Art By: Jock

MINISERIES CONCLUSION!
It all ends here as the awful truth behind a multi-million dollar conspiracy is revealed, with deadly consequences. If young Jake is to survive , what kind of man must he become? And is it worth the price?

TEN GRAND #1
Story by: J. Michael Straczynski, Art By: Ben Templesmith, Cover By: Ben Templesmith, Variant Cover (pictured here) by: Bill Sienkiewicz

Joe Fitzgerald was a mob enforcer until the day he met Laura, who convinced him to leave that world behind. Before quitting, Joe agreed to one last job, little realizing that the man he’d been sent to kill was deeply involved in demonlogy. He survived Joe’s attempt and came after him, fatally wounding Joe and killing Laura. As he lay dying, an angelic force (who may or may not be what she appears) pointed out that where she is going, he can’t follow, and where he is going, he wouldn’t want her to follow. But if he will agree to work for them as a different kind of enforcer, they will bring him to life and keep on bringing him to life every time he is killed in a righteous cause. The reward: for those five minutes of death, he will be with Laura again. Would you endure an eternity of pain and death, dying over and over, to be with the woman you love for just five minutes each time you died? Most people might say no. But Joe Fitzgerald isn’t most people. 

A bold new era begins with the long-anticipated return of Joe’s Comics, the imprint that brought you MIDNIGHT NATION and RISING STARS. All-new stories from J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI (Babylon 5, Jeremiah, Thor, Amazing Spider-Man, Superman: Earth One) return in 2013 with an action packed line up featuring everything from superhero action to supernatural thrillers. Watch this space as a new wave of exciting, challenging and experimental stories begins!

Featured in our ‘Cover vs Cover’ faceoff this week! Click through to see nice big art and vote!

SUICIDE RISK #1

Writer(s): Mike Carey, Artist(s): Elena Casagrande

Super-powered people are inexplicably rising from the streets and there’s a big problem: Too many supervillains, not enough superheroes. Heroes are dying, and cops are dying twofold. Humanity is under-powered and good people are suffering untold tragedies trying to stem the flow. Beat cop Leo Winters is one of those struggling to make a difference. And the answer just might come in the form of two lowlifes with a dark secret.A new ongoing series by award-winning author Mike Carey (X-MEN, THE UNWRITTEN) and fan-favorite artist Elena Casagrande (HULK, HACK/SLASH). SUICIDE RISK is a high octane, mind-bending series created by one of the industry’s greatest storytellers.

DIAL H #12
Written by:  China Miéville, Art by:  Alberto Ponticelli, Dan Green, Cover by: Brian Bolland

Nelson and Roxie are on the run from the Centipede and The Fixer! Their only hope of rescue lies in the hands of Open Window Man! But who is that masked avenger?

This series is so nutty. There is a wonderful scene in a previous issue when Nelson and Roxie wake up in bed together. If you’re a fan of this book you know the one I’m talking about. And how crazy is that Bolland cover? It warms my heart.