Swamp Thing

A recent Swamp Thing sketch ala John Totleben.

TOP SHELF ANNOUNCES THE COMPLETE ESSEX COUNTY

"A quiet, somber, haunting masterpiece... Lemire is writing about loneliness and regret, and I'm at a loss to explain how he manages to illustrate the devastating toll they take on his characters even as he inspires his readers." -- Steve Duin, The Oregonian "This is the comics medium at its best." -- Booklist (from one of three starred reviews)

Where does a young boy turn when his whole world suddenly disappears? What turns two brothers from an unstoppable team into a pair of bitterly estranged loners? How does the simple-hearted care of one middle-aged nurse reveal the scars of an entire community, and can anything heal the wounds caused by a century of deception? Award-winning cartoonist Jeff Lemire pays tribute to his roots with ESSEX COUNTY, an award-winning trilogy of graphic novels set in an imaginary version of his hometown, the eccentric farming community of Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In ESSEX COUNTY, Lemire crafts an intimate study of one community through the years, and a tender meditation on family, memory, grief, secrets, and reconciliation. With the lush, expressive inking of a young artist at the height of his powers, Lemire draws us in and sets us free.

This new edition collects the complete critically-acclaimed trilogy (TALES FROM THE FARM, GHOST STORIES, and THE COUNTRY NURSE) in one deluxe softcover volume! Also included are over 40 pages of previously unpublished material, including two new stories.


SOFTCOVER French Flaps, 512 pages, 6 1/2" x 9"
$29.95 (US)
ISBN 978-1-60309-038-4

Also available, a limited edition HARDCOVER.
$49.95 (US)
ISBN 978-1-60309-046-9

The Strange Sounds of Otis Henry-Lyons

Here's the third installment of the "Bio-graphical" strip I'm doing in DRIVEN Magazine which comes as an insert in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. The previous two strips are included below...

4 Comics I'm Excited About...

1) Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler's "Mysterius The Unfathomable": I've never read anything by Parker, but Tom Fowler is an amazing cartoonist, and totally underrated.

2) Sulk 2: My good friend Jeffrey Brown's take on the Ultimate Fighting craze.

3) Hellblazer 250: It's no secret I'm a huge John Constantine fan, and some amazing talent has been gathered by my Vertigo editors Bob Schreck and Brandon Montclare for this anniversary issue. Among them, originally (and personal favorite) HB writer Jamie Delano, Dave Gibbons. Eddie Campbell and one of my favorite non-comics writers China Mieville. If you haven't read China's "Perdito Street Station" you really should. He is without a doubt the best genre fiction writer working today.

4) Lilli Carre is one of the most talented and visionary cartoonists working today. Her "Woodsman Pete" GN from Top Shelf was sad, hilarious and beautiful, and this new book from Fanragraphics looks to be a poetic masterpiece.

My Wife Is A Wonder!

My wife, Lesley-Anne Green is seven months pregnant, and she's been exhibiting her work at the One Of A Kind Christmas Show for the past ten days. She's a real trooper indeed. Good job sweets!

VISIONS OF AN ICON: SUPERMAN-AUCTION

The following painting is currently being auctioned on ebay along with a bunch of others as part of a fundraising effort for the Joe Shuster Awards. Details below from the Joe Shuster Commitee.


Visions of an Icon Superman art auctions begin tonight on eBay - Sim, McFarlane
Back in June we had a number of different artists submit their version of the Man of Steel in honour of his 70th birthday and to honour his co-creator, Joe Shuster, for whom the Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards have been named.

42 pieces were submitted, and were displayed twice as an art exhibit - once on June 14th on the date of the presentation of the 4th Annual Joe Shuster Awards, and again in early November as part of the Speakeasy Comic Art show in Toronto.

Starting tonight, we will begin auctioning off the pieces on eBay as part of our fundraising efforts for the 2009 Awards.

The 42 pieces can be viewed here: http://comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=66580

11 auctions start tonight (Monday Nov. 24)- artists included are:
Francis Manapul
Scott Chantler
Jeff Lemire
Alexander Perkins
Sam Agro
Eric Kim
Ryan Snook
Colin Upton
Agnes Garbowska
Ed Northcott
Dave Sim

11 auctions start tomorrow night (Tuesday Nov. 25) - artists included are:
Marcus To
Gabriel Morrissette
Fiona Smyth
Dave Ross
Ty Templeton
Michael Cho
Kent Burles
Tom Grummett
Noel Tuazon
Greg Hyland
Todd McFarlane

Except for three pieces, all of the initial offerings are no reserve auctions, with a starting price of $49.99. We'll be doing some more next week as well.

Please note: We have set reserves for the Sim, McFarlane and Grummett contributions that we feel are fair for pieces of this quality.

Please take a look, and hopefully something there will catch your eye.

All monies raised from the sale of these pieces, after fees are paid, goes towards next year's awards.

I will be selling these under my own eBay userid "kevthemev" instead of the low feedback "joe_shuster_awards" id.

Auctions start at 8PM EST (both nights) and finish before 9PM EST.

Here's a link to my store. JSA art will be listed under a new store category "Joe Shuster Awards Art Auctions":

http://Support-the-Collectors-Society.com/Kevthemevs-Comics-and-Comic-Art_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

Mad Max

The Real Essex County

Last week was Top Shelf week at Portland bookstore "Powell's "website. They periodically have guest authors posting on their blog. Nate Powell, Alex Robinson, James Kolchaka, Bill Kelter and Wayne Shellabarger and myself all contributed posts. This was my entry which went up last Thursday...

All of my stories start with the setting, and even more than that, location totally informs how my characters and plots grow and take shape. The Essex County books (Tales From The Farm, Ghost Stories, The Country Nurse), all started when I decided to do a book set in the tiny Canadian farming town where I grew up.
I’ll admit, the rusted old farm equipment, teetering windmills and concrete grain elevators that littered the wide open fields of Essex County meant little to me growing up there. I couldn’t wait to move to the big city. But, ten years after leaving EC, and living in said Big City, the sparse lonely landscaped of my childhood started to evoke a strong, almost guttural pull inside of me. Moreover, they seemed like a natural fit with the jagged, expressive inking style that had become the earmark of my cartooning. And, as soon as I sat down and started scratching out drawings, all of those lonely roadside power-lines, and rickety old farmhouses quickly became equally lonely and rickety old characters. The “rural decay” of southwestern Ontario became the rural decay at the heart of inhabitants of my fictional Essex County. And from there plot and narrative structure sprung up.


To my surprise, location, or more specifically places where I spent significant parts of my childhood, has continued to inform the work I do, well after the completion of the Essex County Trilogy. My next two projects, while quite different in tone, are both set in the Northern Canadian fishing community where my family has vacationed almost every August of my life. The old bait and tackle shops, lakeside diners, aluminum fishing boats, earthworms and walleye, and the smell of gasoline coming of an outboard motor are my new drug. They have provided an equal amount of inspiration for me as I work on The Nobody, an original, two-color graphic novel for DC’s Vertigo imprint. That tale takes The Bandaged Stranger from H.G. Wells’ classic “The Invisible Man”, and recasts him as an oddball drifter taking up residence in a tiny northern lakeside Motel in 1994. And, my next Top Shelf GN (sorry too early to spill the beans on that one) will be equally entrenched in a tiny Canadian fishing village.


For me, as a storyteller, it all starts with the place, once I have that, the characters and story all come easily. Which poses the question: I wonder what I’ll do when I run out of places that I lived as a kid? Probably go back home to Essex County again for another round I suppose.

Friends with Blogs...

My friends, and fellow Canadian ink-slingers Zach Warton andDiana Tamblyn both have blogs that I have yet to link to.

They are both amazing cartoonists, Zach has a book coming next year from Drawn and Quarterly about the Klondike gold rush that will be a beauty.

And Diana is working on a Graphic Novel about Canadian Scientist Gerald Bull. In her own words " Bull was considered by many to be one of the most brilliant scientists of the twentieth century. His research led him across the globe, from Canada, to the Pentagon in the U.S., to Barbados, South Africa and Iraq – where he developed the “Supergun” for Saddam Hussein, and ultimately to Brussels, where he was assassinated in 1990."

Can't wait for both!

Jim Mooney

Thanks to one of my blog readers for pointing out that the Supergirl pose I swiped was from this Jim Mooney pic! Great stuff.

Supergirl and The Doom Patrol

A couple more recent pieces I did, the first was a gift for my new comics pal Sterling Gates, who also happens to be the current writer of DC's monthly Supergirl title. The pose itself was swiped from an awsome bronze-aged pic, but I can't figure out who the original artist was?

Anyways the other is just a fun piece I did as I read The Doom Patrol Archives Vol. 1 this week.

Recent Commissions

Here is a recent commission I did for an attendee at this past weekend's Windy City Comicon. I had a great time at the show, and got to hang out with Jeffrey Brown, which is always a pleasure.

Updates, Bits and Pieces...

1. I will be appearing at the Windy City Comic Con this Saturday, October 25 in Chicago.
Anyone in the area should come check it out. The Convention is being run and sponsored by the Around Comics, 11 O'Clock Comics and Word Balloon crews. The guest list is great and includes my good buddy and fellow Top Shelfer Jeffrey Brown. I am also now accepting pre-orders for sketches and commissions for the show. Just email me with any questions.

2. My first Vertigo work, a 144-page OGN entitled The Nobody, is in the can! I finished up artwork on the book last week, and have sent it off to my editors Bob Schreck and Brandon Montclair at DC. It feels great to be done another book, and now I'm starting on my next two projects, one a new graphic novel for Top Shelf, tentatively scheduled for 2010, and another BIG project which is still TOP SECRET!

3. I've also been busy with a couple of short pieces. One is for a yet to be announced anthology from Dark Horse Comics. The second is a 10-page western written by Joshua Hale Fialkov and illustrated by me, which will be a part of next year's follow up to Image Comic' Outlaw Territory anthology.

4. Last night I did an hour long interview with the COMIC BOOK GEEK SPEAK podcast, which will be online tomorrow (Tuesday Oct 21). We talk about the entire Essex County Trilogy as well as my upcoming Vertigo work.

5. And, finally here is the second installment of the BIO-GRAPHICAL strip I have been doing for DRIVEN magazine, which is a bi-monthly insert in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. Enjoy!

Baltimore Comicon This Weekend!

I will be signing at the Top Shelf booth at the Baltimore Comicon this weekend along with Matt Kindt, Christian Slade and Alex Robinson.

Matt, Christian and I are also nominated for Harvey Awards.

Hope to see you there!

Bio-Graphical #1

I've been comissioned to do six 1-page, full-color comics for DRIVEN MAGAZINE. The magazine comes out bi-monthly as an insert in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper.

The strips, called Bio-Graphical will be found on the last page of each of the next six issues.
My editor is the great Gary Butler, who also writes the "Blood in Four Colors" column for Rue Morgue Magazine.

Here is the first strip which came out in the September issue, the the next is due out in October.

The Nobody-Sneak Peek

Here are a few new preview pages from my upcoming Vertigo GN "The Nobody"

I'm currently about 105 pages into the 140-page book, which will be published as a two-color harcover GN next summer.

TOP SHELF FALL SALE!

My publisher Top Shelf is having a massive sale! Check it out.

Fan Expo Wrap Up

I had a great time at last weekends Fan Expo in Toronto, and had the pleasure of sitting next to the incredibly talented Leonard Kirk all weekend (whose new Captain Britain series with Paul Cornell is HIGHLY recommended by the way).

I was able to get an amazing Animal Man sketch from Brian Bolland which now adorns the wall above my drawing desk...amazing.

Also did a number of sketches for fans, a few of which I have included here...next up Baltimore Comicon in October. I'll be there with Matt Kindt, Christian Slade, Andy Runton and Chris Staros.

FAN EXPO 2008-Toronto

I will be at Fan Expo Canada at the Metro Toronto Convention Center this weekend. I will also have a limited number of advance copies of THE COUNTRY NURSE on hand, and for sale, along with artwork and a few mini-comics.

You can find me in the artists alley area Fri, Sat, Sun and I will be taking part in the "Made in Canada" panel Saturday at 6pm.

I will also be doing B&W commissions all weekend.

John Constantine....

Bits and Pieces...

So, I was lucky enough to win a Doug Wright Award for Emerging Talent on Friday night. The award is gorgoeus, designed by one of my cartooning heroes Seth!

I also have an entry over at Fanboy Fables, Ed Piskor's awesome blog, about one of my key comic book memories. So check it out.

Also, my new pal, and very talented artist, John Lang has a cool web comic called SHOCK EFFECT in competition over at Zuda, So check that out, and vote for it if you dig it!

Doug Wright Awards and Group Show

The Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning and BOARD OF DIRECTORS, a curatorial project at Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Arts Projects, are pleased to present an exhibition of original work by some of Canada's most recognized and promising cartoonists.

Strip Stories features works by artists who focus on sequential arts and graphic novels, many of whom have either won a Doug Wright Award in the past or have received nominations.


Strip Stories will consist entirely of works with sequential, narrative or relative qualities. The exhibit presents viewers with a rare opportunity to witness the comics medium outside of conventional mass distribution.

Runs August 7-23.

Opening reception: August 7, 7pm.

Featuring works by

Ho Che Anderson
Chester Brown
Ray Fenwick
Emily Holton
Jason Kieffer
Jeff Lemire
Nick Maandag
John Martz
Joe Ollman
Lorenz Peter
Ethan Rilly
and Doug Wright!

The show is curated by Katharine Mulherin, Erin Stump, and Sean D.B. Craig.

ESSEX MINI COMICS SOLD OUT!

The limited edition Essex County Mini-Comics are now sold out! Thanks to all who ordered them!

PS...Many of the paintings below are still available. If interested, email me for details.

I'm Off To San Diego (And I'm Bringing Some Superheroes)

Hey all, I'm packing up to head down to San Diego tomorrow morning, and as mentioned before Essex County 3 will make it's official debut (Chris Staros just informed me that 250 copies have landed safely in California).

In addition to that I will have original artwork from all 3 Essex Chapters on hand, and a whole fresh batch of Superhero watercolor paintings for sale (a few samples above). Hope to see you there.