Throwing up the "B" for Bayside!...
On Friday afternoon Conor, myself and Andy drove to Belleville, Ontario (two hours east of Toronto) to visit Bayside Secondary School. For a group of about 45 students we conducted seminars on writing, drawing and publishing, using Kill Shakespeare as an example. Considering it was the Friday afternoon before the long weekend the students were great and many have contacted us since, asking for help with their projects.Teacher Kent Allin was the maestro behind this day, putting on the event for everyone. Mr. Allin is one of the coolest teachers we've ever met (other than the lack of proper footwear, of course...) and it was a pleasure for us to help out his classes. Mr. Allin teaches one of the few high school English courses that are based on graphic novels, which we think is fantastic!Thanks to everyone at Bayside for the great event!
The question of Shylock...
We had a great time during our interview with NPR earlier today (May 20th). Unlike most interviews in which we conduct them over the phone, today we were brought into the CBC (which STILL reminds me of Ken Finkleman's amazing comedy series The Newsroom). It felt a lot of WKRP in Cincinatti, actually...
It was fun to chat about the project and we found it great as callers dialed in to ask questions. We love to talk to people about the project, I guess! The best was a question posed about Shylock and whether we would put him in our story - and hopefully not as a villain. As I pointed out in the interview the first Shakespeare play I read was The Merchant of Venice and what made it a great piece for me was that there were two sides to Shylock - he's a villain in one moment, and a victim in the next. We had the character in an earlier draft of our story but we had to cut the scene. My hope and dream is to be able to get him into a future version of our tale.You can listen to the entire interview by clicking on the (obviously posed) photo of Conor and I in the studio...
Kill Shakespeare on NPR...
Conor and I are doing a live interview with NPR's Talk of the Nation show this afternoon. We're on from 2:40pm - 3:00 EST and will be chatting about Kill Shakespeare, comics and everything else with host Neal Conan. We understand that he's a huge comic fan so we're looking forward to the discussion. I believe that we may also be fielding phone calls while on the air so feel free to call in as well!You can listen to the program live by going to the NPR website (click on the photo).
Did we pass the school exam? Yes we did!
Kate Dacey, who writes the Good Comics for Kids review column at School Library Journal, posted a review of our first two issues earlier today (the 18th)... She gives us a passing grade (with colours) and says that she enjoys the art and the fun nature of our story... (Click on the photo for the link)...
Two More Preview Pages from Issue #2...
With the release of Kill Shakespeare #2 tomorrow (May 19th) we wanted to post some more pages online to whet everyone's appetites... These two pages are from a scene in which Hamlet is attacked by an assassin (one page reveals the identity of one of the assassins) and he has to flee. Great artwork by Andy Belanger and colouring by Ian Herring.
Previews of Additional Issue #2 Pages...
Here are previews of four more pages from Issue #2 (released May 19/10)...This first page features a band of rebels called the Prodigals attacking Richard III, Hamlet and Iago...
This next page (page 9) has Richard trying to protect Hamlet from the Prodigals, the rebellious group that are out to fight on behalf of William Shakespeare.
This next page (page 16) features Hamlet and an unnamed figure hiding from an assassin out to kill Hamlet...
And this next page (page 20) features Richard flexing his muscle when one of his soldiers fails him...
Yes, there's a lot of action in this issue.
A sign that we've made it!
On Sunday at TCAF I noticed an ad that had been circulating around the festival for the upcoming Toronto Comic-Con (June 5-6), as well as the Toronto FanExpo (August 27-29). On the back of the flyer I was quite shocked...... The flyer mentioned us (myself, Conor, Andy) as guests...... On the same page as Stan Lee...... We've made it! We're on the same list as Stan Lee! Can you tell that I'm excited?!!...
Introducing Kinson...
This past weekend at TCAF we met a number of aspiring artists. One of the most talented was a young man by the name of Kinson, who stopped by the booth to check out Kill Shakespeare, which he had heard about. I turned the tables on him and rather than having Andy put together a sketch for him, he did a sketch for us. Notice his manga sensibility. Please find it below.
Parodies and homages of Conor McCreery...
Conor will be visiting the Warp Zone Tuesday evening (the 11th) for a chat with the hosts of the show. Unlike most of the interviews that we've done, this one will be an extended one... Rather than a quick hit he will be on air for most of an hour-plus.
You can check out the interview from 10pm - midnight (Central time) by checking out 88.3fm or kxua.uark.edu (or clicking on the KXUA logo).
Preview pages for Issue #2
With the upcoming release of Kill Shakespeare #2 I thought that we would begin to preview pages over the next week-and-a-half leading up the release on May 19th. So, today here are the two covers and the first page.
Anthony on The Stuph File
Earlier this week I recorded a segment for The Stuph File, run by Peter Anthony Holder, based in Montreal. It's a program that features discussions on pop culture, books, television, and anything else that interests Peter. A fun interview that is available on iTunes as a free download and will also appear Monday on CyberStationUSA.com...
You can listen to the segment by checking out the website (click on the logo above), or by going directly to it here.
Kill Shakespeare on EP Daily (G4TV)
We did an interview with EP Daily (Electric Playground) on G4 TV that aired last week (Wed, Apr 28th) here in Canada and the U.S. We had a little difficulty embedding the file on our site but thanks to the web wizardry of our tech consultant Michael Ball we've finally been able to post it.We apologize for the rocky beginning of the clip - for some reason it cuts right into the interview and you miss the snazzy intro. That aside, it's a pretty cool clip and we really enjoyed chatting and goofing around with Jose (the host) and Geoff (the producer).More importantly, they taught us a very important lesson - that anytime you stick a mic in front of anyone they will immediately think that they are being interviewed, even if the mic isn't plugged in or there's no camera in sight. We tried this a few times and it worked!...
Toronto Comic Arts Festival
We will be making an appearance at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) this upcoming weekend (May 8-9th) and are looking forward to it. TCAF is a great spot for the indie comic scene and will feature a lot of Canadian-based comic creators, both mainstream and indie. Chris Butcher, who runs The Beguiling, has done a great job putting this event together the last few years. I attended last year and enjoyed it, meeting a lot of people. It was last year that we were in the midst of discussions with publishers and I recall asking people what they thought of the various companies. We heard a lot of great things about IDW and that was one of the reasons we signed with them.
We will be conducting a panel on Saturday from 4-5 (in the Learning Centre 1 room), discussing comics and Shakespeare (and whether the twain shall meet). On the panel will be ourselves, artist Andy B, artist Jason Bone, teacher Kent Allin, and actors Janet Green and Carlos Diaz. We've done two of these panels already and are looking forward to debating the merits of Shakespeare again.TCAF takes place at the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street) on Saturday and Sunday. To find out more you can click here.
Anthony discussing Shakespeare
We filmed this segment with me talking about my love of Shakespeare and the inspiration behind Kill Shakespeare at the Factory Theatre late last year. It was a good shoot and we'd like to thank the Factory Theatre for allowing us the use of their space. You can check out more about the theatre here.
Signing Snaps from the Snail!
As mentioned last night, we had a great signing at the Silver Snail in downtown Toronto yesterday (May 1st) to celebrate Free Comic Book Day. The best part of the day was the fact that most people that picked up copies were new fans that had wandered into the store and were really intrigued by the concept and artwork.Myself, Conor, Kagan, Andy, Ian and Jason Chan all showed up at various points. Here are some of the photos from the event...
- Anthony with a family of new fans
The next generation of artists
We had a great signing at the Silver Snail in Toronto today to celebrate Free Comics Book Day. I'll post more photos from the event in the next day or two (including a sketch that Andy B did of me, commissioned by a (now-former-) friend.One of the highlights was chatting with a number of children at the event, and some that want to get into cartooning. Rather than having us do a sketch for them, we asked THEM for sketches and got some great ones...This is one of the talented next generation of artists, Ava Morris...
This is a sketch of Andy B, done by Ava... Notice that her name is so big - she's already aware of how important it is to build yourself up as a brand...
We also have a sketch by Jesse, who departed before giving us his full name... He created a new superhero, Catman ("pet by day, hero by night")...
Of course, I'd be remiss to not include a photo of myself with the coolest costumes of the day... Notice that the one on the right is already to pounce upon villains...
Photos from The Beguiling Signing (April 23rd)
Thanks to everyone who came out for our signing this past Friday at The Beguiling... It was great to see old friends, make some new ones, and get more people interested in Shakespeare!
Celebrate Free Comic Book Day by Killing Shakespeare...
After two really successful signings in the last two weeks we go for the Triple Crown with a signing this upcoming Saturday at Toronto's Silver Snail comic book shop (367 Queen Street West). The idea of turning Kill Shakespeare into a comic book was spawned at this store, as it was while Conor was there that we came up with the idea of making the story a comic book. It is thus a grand circle by returning there for a signing.From what we understand Kill Shakespeare #1 is actually sold out at the Silver Snail but copies will be made available that day so show up between the hours of 1-5 to meet with myself, Conor, Andy and perhaps even Kagan!
Issue #2 Previews Ad!
With Issue #2 being released next month we thought that we should post the ad that retailers saw in March, highlighting the cover art for Issue #2 and a brief synopsis. The cover art, by Kagan McLeod, was so great that we incorporated it into a small bookmark run that we had earlier this month.
