Tag: Canada

Comics Lowdown | Texas school district bans ‘The Breakaways’

Plus: Scout Comics launches Latinx imprint, Marvel’s legal battles, New York Comic Con and more!

Cathy G. Johnson’s The Breakaways joins the list of banned graphic novels making headlines over the past few weeks after Spring Branch Independent School District in Texas banned it from school libraries.

Spring Branch Independent School District, which serves part of Houston, told the Houston Chronicle that the graphic novel was removed from schools because it was “not age appropriate nor was it appropriate for its intended educational use.” A committee decided to ban it after receiving a letter from a parent.

The graphic novel is about a diverse 8th-grade soccer team that includes a trans character.

“The book includes kids of all sorts of identities to reflect the world that is around us,” creator Cathy G. Johnson told the Chronicle. “There is a transgender student who comes out in the book. He is just one of many characters who make up my book, as well as one of the identities that make up the world.”

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Nominees announced for the 2021 Doug Wright Awards

Michael DeForge, GG, Walter Scott, Scott Carruthers and more receive nominations; Fred Kelly will join the ‘Giants of the North’ hall of fame.

Nominees for the 2021 Doug Wright Awards, which honor “the best work and most promising talent in Canadian comics,” were announced this week.

Drawn & Quarterly received four nominations, while Renegade Arts Entertainment received two. Self-published books were also very well represented.

This year’s judges include Steven W. Beattie, Claudia Dávila, Jenn Haines, Paul G. Hammond, Brett Lamb, Shauna McCabe, Sylvia Nickerson, Emily Pohl-Weary, Sarah Sawler, Jonathan Valelly and Frank Viva. The 2021 Doug Wright Awards will be broadcast as a pre-recorded livestream on Facebook and YouTube at 8 p.m. Eastern May 8, hosted by Don McKellar. 

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Tamaki, Campbell and more win 2020 Joe Shuster Awards

Seth, Bernie Mireault inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame.

The winners of the 2020 Joe Shuster Awards were announced this weekend, recognizing outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics by Canadian creators.

Joe Shuster, drawn by Tom Grummett

Established in 2004, The Joe Shuster Awards are named in honor of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster. Nominees must be either Canadian citizens or permanent residents in Canada. The winners were chosen by a jury.

Congratulations to this year’s winners, whose names are in bold below:

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2020 Doug Wright Awards nominees announced

Connor Willumsen, Sarah Leavitt, Jay Stephens, Chris Kuzma and more nominated for awards this year.

Nominees for the 2020 Doug Wright Awards, which honor “the best work and most promising talent in Canadian comics,” were announced this week. Conundrum Press leads the pack this year in terms of nominations, with four, while Drawn & Quarterly and Koyama Press each received two nominations.

The Doug Wright Awards also announced that Walter Ball, a longtime cartoonist for the Toronto Star and creator of the strip Rural Route, will be inducted into the “Giants of the North” hall of fame.

You can find the complete list of nominees below.

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Bedside Press to launch mentorship and publishing programs for new comics creators

Innovative small press publisher Hope Nicholson is making big waves to shake up the Canadian comics industry

Bedside Press, the Winnipeg-based small publisher, made a big announcement in the Hollywood Reporter today introducing a collaborative project to boost books and comics that have strong potential but no current access to the market.

Publisher Hope Nicholson formed Bedside Press in 2014 and spent the last five years navigating the comics publishing world and beyond, using already established publishers, Canadian arts grants and internet crowdfunding sites to help bring her books to print. Bedside Press is responsible for many books coming to print, including Margaret Atwood’s Angel Catbird, The Secret Loves of Geek Girls, and two Eisner Award-nominated anthologies: Enough Space for Everyone Else and Trina Robbins’ A Bunch of Jews (and other stuff) with various artists.

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2019 Joe Shuster Award nominees announced

Awards recognize the best in Canadian comics and creators

To celebrate the 105th anniversary of the birth of Joe Shuster, the 2019 Joe Shuster Award nominations were announced on July 10.

The awards celebrate the Canadian comic industry and the creators who work in it. The nominees will be unveiled in two rounds. Later this month, the nominees for the Dragon (Comics for Kids) Prize, Hall of Fame, TM Maple, Webcomics, Cover Artist and the Harry Kremer Retailer will be announced

The date and location of the ceremony have not yet been announced; however, they are expected to be awarded in September 2019.

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‘Pass Me By’ is a beautifully illustrated queer Canadian tragedy on Kickstarter

The risograph-printed series follows an Alberta man dealing with dementia and revisiting his past life with a glam rock band

Although there are only two days left to this Kickstarter project, this gorgeous new comic series is one worth checking out! Newcomer Kyle Simmers dove head first into comic self-publishing. The writer and illustrator, known for their larger than life murals across the city of Calgary, is teaming up with visual artist Ryan Danny Owen, to put out this little gem in Kickstarter called Pass Me By.  The series is an inverted coming of age story about understanding queer identity and what happens to the stories you never tell.

The first book, Pass Me By: Gone Fishin’ is currently available for pledges by backers. The video to promote the Kickstarter is incredibly well constructed. In this eye-catching campaign video, Simmers selectively animated certain panels to bring the story alive.

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Not Safe for Con explores the darker side of comics and fandom

Comics, cosplay, and burlesque comes together for a ‘nerd culture festival’ with an adult twist.

Today is Not Safe For Con, also known as NSFCon, a festival that brings together comics with 18+ nerd culture. The festival’s purpose is to create a space that allows for the greatest freedom of expression that still remains within legal limits. The festival boasts a comfortable and safe atmosphere for vendors and creators of more adult-themed comics and artwork, mixed with workshops, live music and burlesque.

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The 2018 Joe Shuster Award Nominations

Awards celebrate excellence in the Canadian comic creators and publications.

The nominations for the 2018 Joe Shuster Awards have been announced this week.  Commonly nickednamed “The Shusters”, they are Canada’s national comic book awards that honours and raises the awareness of Canadians that create, self-publish and sell comic books, digital comics and graphic novels.

The award winners will be chosen by a jury vote to ensure every nominee is given adequate consideration.

The ceremony will take place at the Montreal Comic Con July 6-8, 2018 at the Palais des congrès, Montreal, QC.

And the nominees are:

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Celebrating local comic creators is the best thing to do today

From Eisner winning heavyweight Fiona Staples to industry newbie H.C. Gislason, Panel One’s Comic Creator Festival spotlights local talent.

In the age of Hollywood-driven mega-cons, the Panel One Comic Creator Festival promises to bring the spotlight of comic conventions back to (gasp!) comics! Now in its third year, the Festival, which is held in Calgary, seems small and humble, but truly packs a punch for local creators, that feel lost and forgotten at the big shows. In its short life, the Panel One Comic Creator Festival has been renowned as “THE” place for creators to sell comics, some noting they have larger sales at this tiny festival as opposed to the 100,000 people attended monolith cons. This isn’t Artist Alley, so you won’t find fanart here, but this is the perfect market for the curious and the diehard comic fan to discover and buy new comic books.

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Templeton, Delisle, Lemire and more take home Shuster Awards

Annual awards recognize outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics by Canadians.

Last night the winners of the 2017 Joe Shuster Awards were announced during a private ceremony in Toronto, with Yanick Paquette, Jeff Lemire, Michael Cho, Guy Delisle and many more Canadians walking away with awards.

Established in 2004, The Joe Shuster Awards are Canada’s national award recognizing outstanding achievement in the creation of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics. Named in honor of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, the awards recognize the best of the Canadian comics world; nominees must be either Canadian citizens or permanent residents in Canada. The nominees are chosen by the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association and the winners by a jury, so there is no public vote.

Winners for 2017 are:

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Comics Lowdown: Trump tweets swiped and altered cartoon

Plus: Tramp’s closing down, submissions open for a feminist critique of Whedon and more!

Indianapolis Star cartoonist Gary Varvel was surprised, and none too pleased, when Donald Trump Tweeted one of his cartoons—with some unauthorized alterations. The original cartoon, which was published in January, was a play on the “Trump train” trope, showing a Trump-branded locomotive with a donkey plastered on the front. (Varvel was careful to note that the donkey is “resisting” the train but not being flattened by it: “No cartoon donkeys were killed in the making of this cartoon,” he said.) Trump retweeted another version that replaced the donkey with a CNN logo, added a line about “fake news,” and cropped out Varvel’s signature.

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