Here on Forbidden Planet International and Broken Frontier.

Also in the good news pile Nelson the book I co-ordinated when I worked for Blank Slate last year has been nominated for an Eisner for Best Anthology. I am the most excited. THE MOST. For those of you not familiar with the Eisners it’s essentially the top honour in the comics industry. It is the Oscar of comics. I am so proud and happy and elated. Ahhhhh!

Also I appear in the most recent Buzz Magazine put together by the Edinburgh Napier University journalism students. You can pick it up around town here at local cafes and pubs. :D

K

Better late than never yes? Yes.

For 5 months last year I had the absolute privilege of working with Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix on the incredible and extremely challenging project: Nelson.

54 Artists came together to tell the story of Nel Baker and I got a front row seat. The work that I did co-ordinating the book was not easy, it ate up my time like a delicious pastry- but it was most definitely worth it and very rewarding. When I recently had the time to read the whole thing cover to cover I couldn’t help but shed a tear knowing how bloody hard everyone worked to make this book happen- to tell this story.

Emailing, chatting and generally getting to know so much more of the UK comics community was a delight. I just needed to put it down on paper how proud I am of this book. I am floored that I had any part in its creation.

Many a learning curve were overcome and so many rant berries grown- but it was all for this book. This lovely, lovely book.

K

If you head here you’ll find the following:

7.4″x9.7″ (Crown Quatro)- 100 pages- perfect bound- B&W

This is the entire collection of Galavant.
The comic itself is 90 pages with some photos at the end.

All come signed

A5- 52 pages- B&W

This is the first Galavant collection.
It includes the entire month of January and some photos at the end.

All copies are signed on the cover – I like my DIY.

4 badges – B&W

Four stylish badges from Galavant-

Including Kayla eating a sandwich, Julia eating a sandwich, Adam and Kayla lounging on a couch in the Royal Albert Pub and the logo.

Sorry it took me 12 years, but I would like to think it’s worth the wait ;)

K

I’ve been really bad at keeping track of articles, interviews, podcasts- that kind of thing. So here’s a roundup of some of the press-related items that I’ve done or spotted over the last 7 months or so.

I was included in the Graphic Ladies tumblr which is pretty neat.

Before TCAF the National Post sent out questionnaires to artists here’s mine.

At TCAF I had the pleasure of getting interviewed with Adam Cadwell by Jimmy Aquino for The Comic News Insider. You can listen to that podcast here.
(We’re past the middle not quite at the end)

Timonthy Swann reviewed both Galavant and The Everyday for MOMBcast #95 back in July. You can have a listen here- we’re an hour into the show.

More recently I did an interview with Andy for “I Live Sweat”- a wonderful webzine. I think this was probably my favourite interview. Really nice dude- I like how it turned out. You can read it here.

Annnd I ended up in the following photo and review from Richard for the Forbidden Planet blog for this year’s Thought Bubble.

I like how Andrew and I are all serious business.

(Andrew Tunney, Me, The Cadwell)

I’m gonna try my best not to leave these suckers for so long next time around. heh.

K

This is a little bit late coming but heading to Thought Bubble this weekend and I think anyone who is in or around Leeds should come and say hello!

As usual the festival will be bloody fantastic. I will have 100 copies of the collected Galavant book, 5 or so copies of the January collected zine, some badges and stickers and a smiley face. I’m like McDonalds. Smiles are free!

I will be located next to Mr. Cadwell as seen below on the handy map he made:

I am the most excited. This will be the funnest of all the weekends.

See you there? Yes. Yes I will.

K

I wanted to write something a while back but other things became a priority and poor poor blogging got shoved onto the back burner for months.

TCAF is one of my favorite things ever.  I think anyone who enjoys art, literature, comics … art in general really, should at least make the trek out to the show once.  I was so bloody excited to be invited to exhibit- it felt so surreal being on the other side of the table after working the event so many times.

Adam and I got in a day or so prior to the show so here we are enjoying breakfast at Fran’s on the Friday morning.

Adam with his morning milkshake:

Arthur with his fake smile:

Philippa with her Canadian water:

We had a bit of an adventure around the city that afternoon- exploring Kensington market and china town. We saw these cakes with their gloopy horses.

The following morning of course was TCAF.  Here are some shots of my table. I think I made it quite attractive. Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of lime?

I was very, very, lucky and sold out of all of my copies of the Galavant collection before the show even closed on Sunday. I personally don’t even own a copy of the book. So, so kind of everyone who bought it- I will have more copies for Thought Bubble this November. I can’t wait to actually own one of those bad boys!

You can see Adam in this photo as well on our shared table :D

Adam’s table:

Adam!

They had a slide show of all the books debuting at TCAF behind me and I kept trying to keep an eye out for Galavant to make an appearance and I was lucky enough to snap this shot. Proud moment-

I drank my weight in Tim Hortons hot chocolate while I was there. I love and miss the small takeaway cups-

Busy, busy show…

I love this shot that Paul Hillier took of me holding up the January collection. Sheer excitement. (frightening?)

On the Saturday night Adam and I attended the Doug Wright Awards. I’d persuaded him to go with me last year and we’d really enjoyed ourselves- I think it’s a must-do when in town for TCAF. I look forward to them every year.

They also had Don McKellar as an MC again. Total bonus! All Canadian film students learn to love the man.

Amusing Jack Layton joke illustrated by John Martz.

David Boswell was inducted into the Giants of the North-

Discussion with Seth:

Afterwards Adam and I roamed through part of the University of Toronto towards an after party to celebrate the first day.

Of course we ended up doing some karaoke- it didn’t feel as silly-good-times as it normally does but Becky Cloonan sure does throw down. Respect.

After the show on Sunday getting food with friends turned into a bit of a shenanigan (as it always does at a convention) so Adam and I ended up solo at this lovely Italian restaurant on Baldwin St. One of the best food streets. Mmm food street.

Afterwards we walked through china town – past amazingly named buildings to The Dakota Tavern where Jeffrey Lewis was playing a gig. I have to admit that all intelligent thoughts left my head while chatting with him for a bit. He bought a copy of Galavant which is slightly troubling as it’s my first comic-related dabbling… ramble ramble ramble

I love the Dakota. Great place for great music.

Swooooon

And there we have it- that was my TCAF experience… the coles notes.

Afterwards I went to visit my folks and ate home cooked meals (and BBQ)- went for a bike ride and showed Adam where I grew up. Relaxed- then back to Manchester I flew.

K

Ages ago I participated in Timothy Winchester’s Jessica Fletcher Week- you can see my contribution below:

I also helped out my friend Lizz Lunney’s boyfriend create a very unique Christmas present for her. You can read a bit more about that here and see my contribution to that project below:

I also discussed my favorite things from 2010 on We Are Words + Pictures radio earlier this year. Please have a listen. It also includes Mr. Adam Cadwell and Mr. Joe List.

Finally, as most of you know- I completed my webcomic Galavant a few months ago and since have received high praise via Matthew Sheret. Really chuffed about this. *blush*

But this all leads me to remind you that I will be attending TCAF this weekend :D and there I will be releasing the very first 50 copies of the 100 page printed collection of Galavant.

I haven’t even held this beauty in my hands yet as it’s currently waiting for me in Canada- but these are a few photos that my friend Arthur took for me- it looks like it turned out alright

I will be selling it for $10 CAD

I’ll also have about 20 copies of the first Galavant collection for January- this is a 52 page zine. This sucker will go for $5.

And of course I’ll have other bits and bobs- My badge collection

Galavant stickers

annnd Isolated Moments stickers

Sunday I’ll also be part of a panel- here’s the scoop:

Sunday, Learning Center 1, Toronto Reference Library, first floor

U11: Her Majesty’s Comics
Panelists: Adam Cadwell, Joe Decie, Kayla Hiller, Tom Humberstone, Phillipa Rice, and Sam Arthur
Moderated by Box Brown
Location: Learning Center 1
Time: 11:15 – 12:00

There’s an explosion of comics talent that’s been coming out of the UK lately; new artists, new formats, and new publishers. We’ll get you up to speed with the landscape of the changing UK comics scene.

This will be my very first comics panel so I’m pretty excited about it. I’ll be giving a bit of a different perspective as I’m a Canadian creating comics in the UK scene while working for a UK publisher.

I’m also really happy about the Q&A I did with the National Post about my first time exhibiting at TCAF. You can read the whole thing here.

And finally, in case you’re wondering- I will be really easy to find at the festival itself- Just walk straight through the doors when you get there- I’m sandwiched between Jamie McKelvie and Blank Slate Books- and of course I’ll be sharing my table with Adam Cadwell.

Hope to see you there!

xx
K

There we have it.

The end. We are finished here.

Stay tuned for information on how to get the book and some goodies in May. But the comic- is complete.

I am going to be making more comics. I have a load of stuff in mind… that’s on my to-do list actually- Making a list of comic ideas that I’ve had over the last year or so and prioritizing them…

I’m hoping to have something new to offer for Thought Bubble in November of this year. No promises. But I will put all my future projects online as well. Just… once they’re finished vs. as I’m making them.

I really hope you enjoyed the last year of my comic-y updates. This has been an interesting experience.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

K

One more post!

It’s been so sunny the last few days here… It is LOVELY.

K

With my folks- my dad goes bowling throughout the week, I tagged along.

Their dogs Myth and Fable on the back porch

I got back to Toronto in time to spend a day or two with Mr. Chris Madden Read more on this adventure.

I also got to see the view from the CN Tower for the first time- when you live in a city I think it’s rare that you take in the tourist attractions-

And then I had to hire movers and get all of my stuff out of storage…

It was nice during the tricky first few weeks to take breaks now and again and visit friends- This is from my friend Rosie’s 40th Birthday Party

But then of course I started to purge… while setting up my apartment so it’d be decent for the 5 people coming from England for TCAF.
You can read a post about my unpacking process here.
Bye, bye concerned horse towel…

Bye bye university notes… well what I could actually part with without crying…

Probably one of the easier things to say good-bye to- but still sad to see my awesome shades go…

I made sure to eat as many of these cupcakes as I could- from the Danish bakery down the street.

Then finally my apartment looked like a place that people could visit-

I started to help out at the Beguiling again too- this allowed me to spend loads of time with some of my favorite Toronto folks before leaving.

On the day that Adam flew in for TCAF- we got to meet Jeffrey Brown :D

And of course spend a week or so together before the show-

I showed him all the important things like Cold Stone Creamery in Tim Hortons

The AMAZING nachos at Sneaky Dee’s

Poutine from Utopia

And Niagara Falls with Marc Ellerby and Anna.

Then it was TCAF…

I ensured that Adam left with a good sense of the enjoyment that karaoke provides. You can see more of a re-cap of this time here.

After everyone left I applied for my visa and I started to tear down my furniture and sell it. I started giving away things … because they’re just that- things.
I tried to check out concerts with Arthur.
While working with the Beguiling I or course attended my … 4th? anime north. IT IS MADNESS… but in a good way. I think I’ll actually miss it this year… no joke. You can see more from that event here.

Then I chopped all my hair off… well a stylist did- my parents came and picked up the dozen small boxes that now contained all of my possessions- and that was it….

The final Monday post.

We’re almost done here. But please stop by for tea some time.

K