This is our country. These are our comics.
Item! The colourized version of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series is set to hit stands and the publisher has all sorts of incentives, limited editions and contests lined up to promote the updated comics, including something called Scott Pilgrim Volume 1 Evil Edition, part of an alternate cover series featuring the villains of the individual volumes. Contest details, including several free give-aways of the first volume scheduled for August 8, are here.
Item! Young First Nations women learn about pregnancy through comics. Titles include On the Turn and Kiss Me Deadly: “The Healthy Aboriginal Network is a non-profit organization that creates comic books on health and social issues for youth. We’ve enjoyed a great deal of community support by telling relatable stories, which we’ve ensured by using First Nation writers and Indigenous illustrators,” outlines Healthy Aboriginal Network Director Sean Muir.
Item! An awesome collection of early-20th Century cartoon depictions of brains, from Canadian comics historian John Adcock.
Item! Jeff Lemire’s new original graphic novel Underwater Welder debuted last week with a booklaunch at the Beguiling in Toronto and his publisher would like you to know that the book is a hit (or at least has received some favourable reviews). Haven’t seen a copy myself, but I did enjoy his previous, Essex County.
Item! Dave Sim has often remarked on the paucity of mainstream, non-comics-fan attention paid to his massive graphic novel series Cerebus. Now there is a collection of academic essays available from McFarland Press to add to the slim bookshelf of Cerebus writings. Cerebus the Barbarian Messiah: Essays on the Epic Graphic Satire of Dave Sim and Gerhard is edited by Eric Hoffman and contains such timeless pieces of academic writing as “Anti-Feminist Aardvark? Gender, Subjectivity and Authorship” and “YHWH’s Story, or, How to Laugh While Reading “Chasing YHWH” and Still Have Enough Stamina for The Last Day”. Table of Contents.