Christmas in June

I wrote a short Huntress story for last year's DC Holiday Special. J. Bone was originally the artist but, by no fault of his own, was unable to complete the job. The first draft of the script only had four lines of dialogue, "Merry Christmas" said different ways by different people (happily, sarcastically, etc.), and it was up to the artist to tell the story visually. Bone's third page in particular (which I'm using as a graphic here) had a clever layout and some expert storytelling. Visit his blog to see the other pages and some pretty stellar cartooning here. 

Double Blog Dare Tour

As I've mentioned here before, Tundra Books will be hosting an Alison Dare blog tour June 7-11 and June 14-18. They've recruited a pretty awesome line-up of contributors and tour hosts to help us celebrate the recent release of Alison Dare, Little Miss Adventures and Alison Dare and the Heart of the Maiden.

Blogging for us are some new friends like Colleen McKie from Lavendar Lines and Carrie Anne from Another Day, Another Thought (who's already posted a teaser!) as well as some old friends like Johanna Draper Carlson from Comics Worth Reading and my buddy Sean Galloway from Got Cheeks? who's doing a "variant cover" for us! And those are just four of the close to forty fine folks conducting interviews, writing reviews, posting fan art, and taking pictures of Alison Dare in different exciting locations as part of the tour. You can check out the posting schedule and the entire impressive line-up here.

I think this is going to be a blast so don't dare miss it!

Asian Heritage Month

"Thoughout the month of May, you'll experience wonderful opportunities to explore Asian music, literature, art and dance at the Toronto Public Library."

And comic books! As part of Asian Heritage Month, I've been invited to do a couple of talks about my graphic novels Alison Dare and Lola: A Ghost Story.

Saturday, May 15
11 AM - Noon
Woodside Square Branch, 1571 Sandhurst Circle

Thursday, May 20
5 PM - 6 PM
Centennial Branch, 578 Finch Avenue West

Apparently, you need a ticket for Woodside and tickets will be handed out 30 minutes prior to the event. So you better start camping out now! And in attempt to make things more interesting, I'll be giving away some comics as well as Alison Dare swag such as bookmarks, buttons, and stickers - but only while supplies last!

WHAZAMO!

Whazamo! is a feature on the Open Book Toronto website that celebrates "the talented graphic novelists and illustrators published by Ontario publishers, as well as draw attention to the new stars of the Canadian graphic novel and comic book scene."

See who they're profiling first as part of "Ontario Graphic Novel Month" here.

OK, it's me.

In case you missed it, there's also an Alison Dare giveaway going on over there right about now.

Great Graphic Novels for Teens

Earlier this week the Young Adult Library Services (YALSA) of the American Library Association posted the nominees for their annual booklists and awards, including titles in the "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" category. Two books I worked on got the nod: Lola: A Ghost Story, illustrated by Elbert Or and published by Oni Press; and Time & Again published by Yen Press, a Korean manhwa my wife translated and I adaptated.

My graphic novel Days Like This, illustrated by Scott Chantler and also published by Oni, was listed by YALSA way back in 2004. But this is the first time a title that my wife Young and I have worked on together has been recognized. It's also nice to see a handful of our friends' books get listed as well.

One thing that I found a little curious is that two graphic novels about Odysseus and Zeus are listed under non-fiction while biographies about John Wilkes Booth and Vlad the Impaler are in the fiction section. Anyway, to see the entire list of nominees, please go here.

Toronto Comic Arts Festival

TCAF takes over the Toronto Reference Library this weekend! Check out the impressive guest list, cool programming and panel schedule, plus everything you need to know about this FREE event here.

And this where you can find me at the show...

Saturday, May 8
10:00-11:00
Signing @ Boom Studios
11:00-12:00 
"Assemblyline Comics" Panel (The Pilot)
1:00-2:00
Tundra Books
2:00-3:00
Signing with J. Bone @ Tundra Books

Sunday, May 9
11:30-12:15
"Spotlight: Alison Dare" (Novella Room)
1:00-2:00
Signing @ Boom Studios
2:00-3:00
Signing with J. Bone @ Tundra Books
3:00-4:00
Tundra Books

Boom Studios will be selling my WALL-E comics. I'll also probably bring some of my DC and Oni books for sale. Tundra will have copies of "Heart of the Maiden" and "Little Miss Adventures," plus we'll be giving away Alison Dare bookmarks, buttons, and stickers - but only while supplies last! Lastly, J. Bone will be doing some live drawing at "Spotlight: Alison Dare" and will need some models so we hope to see you there!

Open Book Quiz

Win a copy of Alison Dare, Little Miss Adventures or Alison Dare and The Heart of the Maiden! Open Book and Tundra Books are giving away ten (10) copies of the graphic novels written by yours truly and illustrated by J. Bone. All you have to do is read Alison's answers to the Proust questionnaire found here.

Then, send an email to clelia@openbooktoronto.com with the subject line "DARE" and the answer to the question: In Alison Dare's responses to the Proust Questionnaire, what does she say she wants to be?

The contest closes on May 31st. Good luck!