Here are some links to exciting news stories and blog posts about Canadian comics. Personally, I find the news about a collected Captain Canuck, issues of which are still littering the dollar bins of comic stores across Canada, less exciting than the news about the complete Family Circus, but definitely several rungs above any hype about the Watchmen movie.

  • Sheridan students need donations to help print their annual art book, which usually has some comics.
  • British Beano artist turned Canadian resident David Parsons teaches cartooning class for the kids on during March Break
  • Darwin Lee, a painter, cartoonist and graphic designer/illustrator, has died in Chilliwack, BC, age 65.
  • At the Walrus blog, Sean Rogers provides a corrective to Watchmania, a well-argued list of comics that are critical of superheroes.
  • In a trio of posts, the critic Jeet Heer makes a few points about the Watchmen comic: Heer trashes New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane’s misapprehension of comics as art form, then gives the nod to Carter Scholz’s 20-year-old critique of Watchmen‘s crappiness, but then links to Frank Santoro’s defense of the book, which basically says that you have to be a true believer (ie, superhero lover) to “get” how radical Alan Moore’s comic is.
  • For good measure, I’ll add this link of a history of the Watchmen, illustrated by Steve Murray for the National Post.
  • The Shuster Awards blog features an interview with Terrace, B.C. comics retailer Gerry Matson of Comic Encounters.
  • Laurier prof writes book about comics, is “totally looking forward” to Watchmen movie.
  • The same writer conducts a retailer roundtable with several Canadian comic book shops.
  • IDW to reprint Captain Canuck in hardcover format.
  • Seth is interviewed at Toro magazine –the same magazine that partly serialized his still-unfinished graphic novel a few years ago (a message to the wise: track down those rare back issues!).
  • Young cartoonist Sara Mayhew speaks at tech conference.
  • Quill and Quire examines the jury for the upcoming Wright Awards (full disclosure: I am a Wright Awards organizer)