Oh yeah, always playing catchup. Ment to do this over a week ago to keep it regular but just got too busy. Hey yeah remeber how we’re looking for more contributors? Hint hint. Said it before but would really love to have someone regularly posting stuff based in both the west and east coast, and a third somewhere in the midwest. That would help us keep Sequential a lot more representative of things across Canada, and make it much easier to keep the updates regular like!

First, ON the first, Doug Savage wrote us to share the news of his 12th anniversary of the Savage Chickens comics series on the First of Feb! Right around when I ment to update last but did not!  Happy belated anniversary Doug! He announced that there’s a sequel coming to Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy, more info on that here!

Ok ok, let’s get on with catching up with the rest of it all! Here’s the last near two weeks of things!

Item: Just after our last update, cartoonist Jay Stephens launched a Patreon page for his current and future comic book efforts! Check it out.

Item: Joe Ollmann’s 3 part series on the creation of The Abominable Mr. Seabrook in The Paris Review is all up now! Read ’em all!

Item: More love for Joe’s new book! This from the Globe and mail.

Item: Ottawa doctor Dr. Kumanan Wilson teamed with graphic design students to make a comic book encouraging people to get kids vaccinated! We like this!

Item: The D+Q newsletter, Michael DeForge on tour with Sadie Dupuis!

Item: Brendan Montgomery launches the Canada Independent Comic Book Wiki! Go fill in any missing entries you can find!

Item: A new comic posted to tumblr by Betty Liang (of Adventure Time fame)

Item: On January 26 The Globe and Mail covered the closing of The Beguiling Books & Art’s Markham st location and the opening of the new store on College here.

Item: Toronto Comics Anthology is hosting another social @ The Sidekick, this 19th!. The Facebook event page for that is here!

Item:  The Dragon’s (Premier comics shop based in Guelph, Canada) bestselling graphic novels of 2016!

“We once again see Saga topping the list, with another Vaughn series coming right behind. And we also see the decline of the popularity of Walking Dead, which has been either 1 or 2 for the last few years, but now drops to #6. And as always, the list is full of Canadians and for the first time, we’re seeing a strong effect of movies on tpb sales, as seen at #5 and #15.”

Item: A retrograde move by the The New York Times, was removing graphic novels from their best sellers lists!

Item: And to round out notes on best of lists, a week ago, Jamie Coville posted the results of his efforts to tabulate a list of ‘The Combined Best Graphic Novels of 2016!‘ based on all the best of 2016 lists published that he’s tracked down [over a hundred he says and listed in the footnotes!].

The books that got the most nods max out at 36 mentions and the lowest score is at least 5. Looks like a good list of what caught people’s eye last year.

The spread for publishers out of his 5 mentions and up list is….
[ezcol_1half] DC/Vertigo 16 titles.
Image with 13 titles.
Marvel with 12 titles.
Drawn+Quarterly with 9
Fantagraphics with 8 titles.
Dark Horse with 4 titles.
First Second with 4
Retrofit/Big Planet Comics with 3
Pantheon with 2
BOOM! with 2
Nobrow with 2
New York Review Comics with 2
[/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] Top Shelf, St. Martin’s, Graphix, Pigeon Press, Valiant Entertainment, Kilgore Books, Little-Brown, Avatar Press, 2dCloud, Conundrum Press, Metropolitan Books, Youth In Decline, Viz Media, Black Mask Studios, Seven Seas Entertainment, Aftershock Comics, and two web comics – – all come in with 1 each, in that order for how many times they got a nod.
[/ezcol_1half_end]

Item: Mark Shainblum posted: “In honour of yet another former Montreal mayor being convicted of corruption, here’s an old Angloman comic strip originally published in The Montreal Gazette circa 1997. Written by yours truly, illustrated by Gabriel Morrissette, lettering by Jeff LeBlanc!”

Item: Something I’ve seen done a few times now, using a go fund me patronage page to finance travel and other costs for convention appearances, here’s one in support of Elaine Will and Mark Armstrong Allard, & Cuckoo’s Nest Press.

Item: Here’s a trailer for Radical Sheep Productions’ ‘Bagel and Becky’, by Dave Cooper!

Item: Cartoonist Daniel Shelton and his syndicated comic strip “Ben” profiled by the CBC ici! Shelton is one of several Quebec cartoonists that are part of a year-long exhibit at the Musée québecois de culture populaire in Trois-Rivières.

Item: DC and Marvel claim they co-own the word “superhero” and their most recent target is a Vancouver realtor Ian Brett, who markets himself with a version of the Superman crest.

Item: Nina Bunjevac has shifted her web presence to pull back from social media, if you’re looking for her on Facebook she has a fan page here, and she just gave her website an overhaul to bring it up to date.

Item: Jason Turner posted the Vancouver comics jam pages from their January gathering, it was prolific!

Item: Also posted, the October 2016 Toronto comics Jam book! Care of ‎Thomas John King‎ .

Item:  Co James Lloyd: “Thought I should start getting the word out that Seth will be in town early April at the Richmond Art Gallery, as part of an exhibit focusing on his work, George Sprott, and a new collaboration with a local musician, Mark Haney. There’s a talk and performance set for Saturday the 8th, so mark it down! My studiomate, Kathy Tycholis, is part of the crew arranging this, and there will be more comic related events to come throughout April & May.”

Item: Canadian comics researcher John Adcock digs up what is surely one of the first pieces of comics criticism in North America, from 1842.

Item: Ivan Kocmarek writes about some Canadian non-fiction historical comics on the occasion of the Sesquicentennial year. and includes rarely-seen pages from some 1940s comic books.

Item: Kazoo! Print expo applications now open. The comix, zine and art show companion even to the Kazoo! music festival in Guelph, ON.

Item: Ty’s turtle bat…!

Item: François Vigneault announced that a 200 page french Pow Pow edition of his series ‘Titan’ will be appearing in stores in May!  There is a preview of the book on his Patreon page, showcasing the translation work of Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau.

Item: Ron Asher’s retro canadian hero, Leaf Patroller, look for posts on his FB page.

Item:  Heroes Manufactured – a new doc about Canadian Comic Artists. Screening Feb 14 at 10pm @ Cinecycle. 129 Spadina Ave (Behind the building) Tickets $12 at www.geekfesttoronto.com. We have a review coming up care of new contributor David Bragdon.

Item:  Qc cartoonist Zviane was announced as the honorary President of the 29th salon du livre de trois-Rivières.

Item: Aislin’s tribute in the Montreal Gazette in the wake of the Quebec City shootings.

Item: Pia Guerra got some epic traction with her cartoon mocking Trump as Bannon’s puppet!

Item: Inkstuds talked to Brian Stelfreeze from a live panel in November, who’s probably most recognized for his work on Black Panther with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Item: 24 panels per second podcast Episode #91: ATTACK ON TITAN: THE MOVIE and ATTACK ON TITAN: END OF THE WORLD.

Item: Comics Alternative Interviews Miriam Libicki, Andy and Derek talk with Miriam Libicki about her latest book, Toward a Hot Jew!
“This is a collection of various graphic essays that Miriam has written over the years, a style of writing she describes as a comics form of gonzo journalism. The guys talk with her about these various pieces and their mix of reportage, autobiography, and expository analysis. They also discuss Miriam’s autobiographical series Jobnik!, which concerns her experiences serving in the Israeli army.”

Item: Tower of the Comic Book Freaks by Ron Kasman chronicles early 1970s Canadian comic fans’ road trip. A self-described “graphic novel that taps into the pulse of the male comic book reader,” published by Caliber Comics.
“This work however is truly novelistic. It’s ambitious in terms of setting, rich characterization and it says something about life. He is in heady company. Kubert, Eisner and Miller spring to mind.” – R.G.Taylor, Co-creator Wordsmith, Artist Sandman Mystery Theater

Item: New study reveals 36% of comic book creators in France live below the poverty line. Probably more like, 75% in Canada?
Item: Something Conor McCreery & Keith Grachow are working on…

Item: “Skating” by Theo Moudakis

Item: Mississauga political cartoonist Steve Nease profiled by his home paper: “The 61-year-old, who also writes the family-panel known as Pud, began his career with the Oakville Journal Record and Mississauga Times in 1979. He’s won scads of trophies from newspaper associations and been published in papers across Canada. But cartooning, like journalism, is seriously challenged. Every paper once had a cartoonist. Now they’re rare as linotype.”
Item: Alan Bunce’s Morning Doodle of Feb 3: pen & ink on bond, ‘digital evil’.

Item: Michael de Adder’s Cartoon for February 8

Item: Michael de Adder’s Cartoon on Kevin O’Leary for February 7

Item: Michael de Adder’s Cartoon for February 1

That’s all for now!