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.
The Tide of Blood is Released Today!
After a year of work and preparation, our new mini-series The Tide of Blood debuts today in comic book shops in the United States, Canada and the U.K.!We've already received a great number of emails, tweets and Facebook messages and posts (from readers, fans and retailers) telling us how excited they are to see the issues on the shelves. And we received these photos earlier today:
We are, of course, celebrating today's release with a signing at Toronto's Paradise Comics this evening from 4-7pm. We are also signing at The Silver Snail on Saturday (the 23rd) from 1-4pm and then our Toronto Launch Party is next Friday from 8-11pm at The Comic Book Lounge and Gallery.
And check out this review of the first issue, which gives the it a 5 out of 5, from Comics Bulletin's Keith Silva, praising the story and the art.Please send us images of the book as you purchase them - we're excited to post as many of them as possible!
We made Boing Boing's 2012 Gift Guide!
For those that don't know, Boing Boing is one of the top websites for geeks and overall culture influencers. They put together late last month the items on their 2012 Gift Guide and we are listed on it!
Their pop culture columnist Jamie Frevele, who we met at New York Comic-Con last month, highlights our series and recommends it, "for the Shakespeare lover in your life."
Check out the complete list by clicking on the Boing Boing logo above.(Thanks to Alison Gibbins for being the first to let us know about this!)
Kill Shakespeare in New York Times twice in one week!
I'm still busy catching up on things after our week in New York for the Comic-Con and wanted to post that we have been mentioned twice in the past five days in the New York Times.
On Friday writer George Gustines mentioned our Saturday Live Stage Reading as one of the things to look for at the convention.Today we were profiled by Ayun Holliday in a piece about books with educational value that were featured at the show!
Kill Shakespeare Heads to Sundance
We can now officially announce this bit of news... Conor and I have been selected to take part in the prestigious Sundance Institute's New Frontiers Storytelling Lab! The lab, taking place later this month (Oct 23 - 28th), in Park City, UT, will allow us to develop Kill Shakespeare into other mediums, namely film, video games and other digital technology.
The official press release can be found here and see who some of the advisors and fellow participants are. It states this about the program:"The New Frontier Story Lab will focus on supporting projects that have original stories and engage audiences in innovative ways, across multiple platforms. Organized as an immersive lab experience, activities will include individualized story sessions, conversations about key artistic, design and technology issues, and case study presentations. Drawing talent and expertise from all of Sundance Institute’s creative programs, including Feature Film, Documentary Film, and the Sundance Film Festival, the Lab has been planned under the supervision of Michelle Satter, Director of the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program."We're really excited about the opportunity to work with some great creative advisers (including Oscar nominees, writers of blockbuster films, documentarians and game designers) as well as meet some other progressive storytellers.We'll include more about this as we get closer but wanted to share the news with you immediately!
Kill Shakespeare Profiled on CBC's The National
We just got back yesterday from a fantastic convention in Calgary where we made a ton of new fans and friends and sold out our books by mid-day Saturday! One of the reasons for our sell-out was the profile on us that ran on CBC's The National with Peter Mansbridge. It was a great almost-four-minute segment that featured interviews with us, Bayside Secondary School teacher Kent Allin, Bayside student Catherine Chokly and Soulpepper Theatre's artistic director Albert Schultz.To watch the clip, click on any of the images below (all taken from the segment) 0r here.
Images from Conor's Sun TV Interview
Conor had a ten-minute segment on Sun TV's Charles Adler Show this evening and it went amazingly well. Charles was quite interested in not only Kill Shakespeare but our successful attempts to introduce the Bard to a new audience as well as the relevance of comics today.The actual interview is not available online at this point but you can check out some of the following images:
Conor on Sun TV tonight!
For those in Canada, Conor will be on the new Sun TV tonight. Featured at around 6:40pm EST (or so), he will be discussing Kill Shakespeare, the Bard in general, and the new Stephen Marche book How Shakespeare Changed Everything. If you're around, check him out - and let us know what you think of the interview!
Riffing on Kill Shakespeare in the Washington Post
One of the top mainstream comic journalists is Michael Cavna, who writes the Comic Riffs section at the esteemed Washington Post. Last month while in Washington for our talk at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Conor and I sat down with Michael for an interview. Michael is a fan of the series and we had a great time chatting with him about comics, Shakespeare, music, and acting talent (and non-talent).
The final article appeared yesterday, and it's one of the best we've had published thus far! You can read the article by clicking on Michael's self-portrait above.As a fan of journalism, and aware of the prestige of the Washington Post, this is one of the media hits that I'm most excited about thus far!
Reviews for Issue #9 Are In!
The early reviews for Issue #9 (Is That a Dagger I See Before Me) are now in... and they are all positive!"This issue features what is hands down one of my favorite moments in comics this year. I turned the page and literally gasped as Hamlet falls under the water to be attacked by monsters made of pages Shakespeare has discarded." - ComicBookResources
"Overall the issue was a great read. Del Col and McCreery’s writing has definitively improved throughout the run and it’s showing in the revelations of this issue and the overall pacing of it. Their scripts feel very detailed, and with Belanger’s artwork, acts as the perfect complement to each other. Together they have created one of the best books in comics, that after nine issues, has not let up in either its quality or presentation." - Comic Book Daily"Issues 1 through 9 have been solid all the way through, being almost perfect. I can only assume that there are only three more issues remaining for this particular arc. How in the world this is going to wrap up in three more issues I have no idea. But I’m excited to see what happens!" - The Heretics Blog
"I don’t know whether it’s the title’s hook, savvy PR work or both"
Kevin Melrose this morning, in his Comics A.M. column on ComicBookResources.com, wrote the following:"I don’t know whether it’s the title’s hook, savvy PR work or both, but the creators of the IDW miniseries Kill Shakespeare receive a steady stream of mainstream press coverage. Here’s the latest, an interview with collaborators Anthony Del Col, Conor McCreery and Andy Belanger ahead of a weekend appearance in London, Ontario. [London Free Press]"
Dan Brown, a fan of ours = and other great comics - from London, ON, wrote one of the best articles about us thus far. It was an astute look at the series, its conception, and its future. It's also featured in today's print edition of the London Free Press, so we're excited to see a physical copy - and to meet Dan at our signing at L.A. Moods Comics on Saturday afternoon (the 12th)!
Nominated for a Joe Shuster Award!
Fresh Off the Presses!It was announced earlier today that Conor and I have been nominated for a Joe Shuster Award in the category of Outstanding Comic Book Writer(s)! The Shusters are the Canadian comic book creator awards. We are very happy for the nomination, especially since we're in the same category as great pros such as Kathryn Immonen (one of Andy Belanger's mentors), Jeff Lemire, J. Torres and Jim Zubkavich (for the excellent and highly-recommended Image series Skullkickers).You can click on the logo below to go to the official press release.I'd like to say, though, that I'm disappointed that our artistic team failed to receive any nominations. Ian Herring has been doing great work as our colourist and Kagan McLeod as our cover artist. However, the work that Andy Belanger has been doing is phenomenal and really should have been recognized by the nominating committee. He has received glowing reviews from so many comic and mainstream pres, especially for an indie title like ours. He deserves a nomination FAR more than Conor and I do.The awards will be announced at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo on Saturday, June 18th. So let's get the campaigning to begin (I'm going to try to out-do Harvey Weinstein with this one...)!
CBR: What Are You Reading?
ComicBookResources.com has a segment in their popular Robot 6 column regularly where they ask current comic creators what books and series they are currently reading and/or collecting. On Sunday they posed the question to Johnny Zito and Tony Trov of South Fellini Studios, creators of Zuda Comics' Black Cherry Bombshells and the recent series Carnivale De Robotique.
Johnny Zito says that the series he likes to read is Kill Shakespeare, saying the following:"I read Kill Shakespeare month to month. However, it’s new so it didn’t immediately spring to mind. It fills the void that Fables and X-Men used to, full of drama and romance and fighting. Comics are at their best when they aspire to be Shakespearean. Men and women running around the night, wearing masks, fighting for love or revenge or whatever. Kill Shakespeare has all of that for obvious reasons and capitalizes with clever twists on old standards. The art lends a real gravity to the source material, it feels real. Or better yet it feels like a play, a world built out of set pieces and cardboard trees. It’s a surreal brain treat that I can’t recommend enough."It's always great when other comics creators read your stuff and give you a shout-out and we really appreciate it! We urge everyone to check out Carnivale - it's a fantastic series!
Profile in Maclean's Magazine
When I was a teenager growing up in northern Canada (Timmins, to be precise) I wanted to get a better understanding of the world around me - both nationally and internationally. To get this I signed up for a subscription to Maclean's magazine, Canada's general interest weekly magazine exploring news, culture, politics, science and everything else. For a span of almost three years I read every single issue cover to cover.And now, many years later, we are profiled in Maclean's (click the cover image to go to the article)!
An issue hitting newstands this past Friday featured a full-page article by Claire Ward analyzing the project - its origins, present triumphs, and its possible future. It's a very well-researched piece in which Ms. Ward contacted Shakespeare scholars James Shapiro and Stephen Greenblatt to comment on it (spoiler: one likes us, one doesn't). It's a great piece and I recommend that you check it out if you're in Canada (it's on the issue featured above, page 58).
BBC: "A Controversial New Comic"
We were profiled on BBC World Service's The Strand yesterday. The Strand is a daily arts and culture radio show that goes out worldwide with a HUGE listenership (is that a word?...). It was a fun interview (conducted at the CBC studios back in December) that discusses the creation of the project, our interpretation of the characters, the response from academics and scholars, and some fun things about the project.You can listen to the interview by clicking on The Strand logo (it's the fourth chapter of the show).
The BBC website has also posted a number of photos from the comic book. You can check out their slide show (with interesting captions) by clicking on the BBC World Service logo below. I'm not really sure where they got the Ryan Gosling bit from, though - perhaps they saw the Stephen Holt interview earlier this month?
We've made the Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2011 List!
Every year YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association) put together a list of the top graphic novels that are suitable for teenagers (between the ages of 12 - 18). This is a prestigious list that always has some top titles from the major publishers as well as a wide range from indie publishers and self-published authors.Just an hour ago Kill Shakespeare was officially named as a finalist for the 2011 List!
This is a great accomplishment and validation that what we're doing with this project is bearing fruit. We've heard from so many teachers, librarians and students that tell us that they're really enjoying the series and making this list will hopefully allow more people to check us out.Thanks to everyone on the committee - and kudos to other friends of ours that were on the list, including Jamar Nicholas for Fist Stick Knife Gun, Mike Carey for The Unwritten, Vol 1., Jeff Lemire for Sweet Tooth, Vol. 1 and John Layman for Chew, Vol. 1. All great selections and we're honoured to be on the list with them.You can see the entire list by clicking on the YALSA logo above.
Shania Twain and... Anthony Del Col?...
I was born and raised in Timmins, Ontario, a small mining community in Northern Ontario, Canada. Well, technically I lived in Porcupine, Ontario, which is a sort-of suburb of Timmins. The first newspaper I read was the Timmins Daily Press (which was the first newspaper created by future media mogul Roy Thomson) so last week I received a thrill when I was listed as a front page story subject!
Entitled "The Bard Faces Danger", the article talks about Kill Shakespeare, my upbringing in Timmins, and plans for the future. Thanks to writer Kate McLaren for the profile and her interest in the story. You can read the article by clicking in the Daily Press logo.
As Conor said, I'm now in the running to become one of the most popular entertainers to emerge from Timmins. I'm running a very, very, very far distance behind someone else, though... Shania Twain...
Another Top Grade from Best Comics for Kids List!
Earlier this summer we were named on the 2010 Summer Reading List by Good Comics for Kids (hosted by the School Library Journal website). Just hours ago we discovered that we have now been named on the 2010 Best Comics for Kids list! This is a great honour for us and something we are incredibly proud of - we have loved it when teachers, librarians and students approach us and tell us how much they've enjoyed the series. It makes the memories of so many boring high school classes for us just disappear...You can check out the complete list (we're in the Teen category) by clicking on the image.
Julie Taymor talks up Kill Shakespeare on The Colbert Report!
The clip from last night's The Colbert Report in which Julie Taymor talks up Kill Shakespeare is now available online!
For American viewers you can see the clip at this link to the ColbertNation website.For Canadian viewers you can check it out on The Comedy Networks' website here.
ComicBookDaily: 'Conventions energize Kill Shakespeare creators"
A good interview of Conor, Andy and I conducted by Andrew Ardizzi from ComicbookDaily... He visited us at two events last week (our signing at The Beguiling and then the Fall Toronto Comic-Con). Andrew is a really smart reporter who is good at getting us to give honest answers (he researches and put together good questions for us) and the article captures both the highs and lows of our recent signings and art gallery tour...You can read the interview by clicking on the image.
