By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/5/2016
Millennials are often portrayed by the older generation – my own, to be clear – as a generation of victims. Like most cross-generational proclamations, this is a self-righteous pile of bull built from Gen Xers’ and Boomers’ stumbling reading of Millennial discourse, as well as some resentment for our own repression and the ability of […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/16/2015
So many Halloween comics are coming out this season. Here’s one that’s available as part of Halloween Comic Fest: BIRTH OF KITARO by Shigeru Mizuki, the origin story for Mizuki’s most popular character. Kitaro is a one eyed boy with strange powers—because he’s actually a 350-year-old yokai (spirit monster). While you may know Mizkui from […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/15/2015
Well, D&Q was just about the last digital holdout among prestige comics publishers, but today they have joined the throngs with a full selection of books available both via Comixology and in the Kindle store. Books you can download include Lynda Barry’s One! Hundred! Demons; Guy Delisle’s Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City; Rutu Modan’s […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 5/9/2015
As revealed in the Globe and Mail, a change at the top of one of the most lauded and loved alternative comics publishers was certain the #1 topic at the parties of TCAF: Chris Oliveros, founder of Drawn & Quarterly is stepping down as publisher to focus on his long dormant cartooning career. Peggy Burns will succeed him as publisher while Tom Devlin will take over as executive editor.
A lot of folks expressed surprise to me over the change, but Oliveros was a mere lad of 23 when he started the company and at age 48 still has a lot of time left to explore his art. Burns and Devlin have helped completely reshape the publisher with kids lines, reprints, discovering and rediscovering great cartoonists from all over the world.
If you want to hear more about this from the horse’s mouth and happen to be at TCAF come to the Hinton Learning Center in the main TCAF library venue tomorrow at 3 pm for
3pm: Changing of the Guard: A D+Q AMA
Drawn & Quarterly celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015. On stage will be founder and “chief” Chris Oliveros with his two right hands, Associate Publisher Peggy Burns and Creative Director Tom Devlin. How do they select what to publish? How do you submit a book? How did they start in comics? Where do they see the future of comics heading? Where’s the best duck fat poutine in Montreal? When is the next issue of Joe Matt’s Peepshow? Ask them anything. Heidi Macdonald of Publishers Weekly and The Beat will be on hand to ask the hard-hitting questions.
For those with better wifi than have at the moment, Tom Spurgeon has a roundtable of opinions on Oliveros’s achievements and D&Q’s status in general; as Joe McCulloch put it “There is no flames of Gyro for D&Q.” They have indeed managed to forge ahead with one of the most consistent and important and entertaining lines of graphic novels in an era that they helped make possible.
Again if you’re at TCAF you know that the 25th Anniversary of D&Q is a main focus so please stop by to buy some books and congratulate Oliveros, Burns and Devlin on their well earned changes.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 2/25/2015
Although most of these books have been announced, here’s all of Drawn & Quarterly’s fall schedule in all it’s glory. You can read the complete catalog here — commentary below is my own.
STEP ASIDE, POPS: A HARK! A VAGRANT COLLECTION
Kate Beaton
9781770462083 6c2d3
In stores September 15, 2015! $19.95 / 5.5″ x 8.75″ / 160 pages / b+w / hardcover / 9781770462083
Surely one of the biggest books of the fall —collecting Beaton’s strips over the last four years—a hilarious mosaic o Canadian history, strong female protagonists and people who take themselves a leeeeeetle too seriously—perfect for gifting!
KILLING AND DYING
Adrian Tomine
9781770462090 fbf67-1
In stores October 6, 2015! $22.95 / 6.25″ x 9.25″ / 128 pages / full color / hardcover / 9781770462090
Collecting the last few OPtic Nerve’s — Tomine’s cartooning has never been more insightful.
SHIGERU MIZUKI’S HITLER
Shigeru Mizuki, translated by Zack Davisson
In stores November 2015! $24.95 / 6.5″ x 8.75″ / 296 pages / b+w / paperback / 9781770462106
HIstorian/cartoonist Mizuki is known for SHOWA! his history of wartime and post-war Japan. I’m not familiar with this work but this should be “compelling” to coin a phrase.
PUKE FORCE
Brian Chippendale
In stores October 2015! $22.95 / 10.875″ x 8.025″ / 120 pages / b+w / hardcover / 9781770462199
D&Q’s first book by Fort Thunder ally Chippendale—these strips were originally serialized on the PictureBox website, I believe. Here’s the catalog blurb:
A bomb explodes in a coffee shop: the incident is played out over and over again from the perspective of each table in the shop, revisiting moments from ten and twenty years before. We see the inevitable as the characters bicker or celebrate, unaware of what awaits them. Throughout this dystopic graphic novel, Chippendale uses humor and a frantic drawing style to show how the insidious nature of corporate greed and the commodification of everything have warped society into a killing machine. Sardonic and self-aware, Puke Force asks all the right questions, providing a startling and on-point take on contemporary social issues. Chippendale’s artwork makes each panel a masterpiece of thrumming linework and lo-fi magic, as his storytelling wends and winds its way to a fascinating conclusion.
RED COLORED ELEGY
Seiichi Hayashi, translated by Taro Nettleton
9781770462120 3ac17-1
In stores August 2015! $19.95 / 6.875″ x 8.25″ / 240 pages / b+w / paperback / 9781770462120
New paperback edition of a manga that reads like the best literary fiction.
THE NATIVE TREES OF CANADA: A POSTCARD SET
Leanne Shapton
9781770462137 bff04
In stores August 2015! $14.95 / 4″ x 5.75″ / 30 postcards / full color / 9781770462137
Postcard set for the horticulturally minded.
PIPPI LONGSTOCKING: THE STRONGEST IN THE WORLD!
Astrid Lindgren & Ingrid Vang Nyman
translated by Tiina Nunnally
In stores October 2015! $22.95 / 7.5″ x 9.5″ / 160 pages / full color / paperback / 9781770462151
Is there a better role model for anyone than Pippi?
THE OWNER’S MANUAL TO TERRIBLE PARENTING
Guy Delisle, translated by Helge Dascher
TERRIBLE.cover
In stores August 2015! $12.95 / 5″ x 7″ / 204 pages / b+w / paperback / 9781770462144
The third book in Delisle’s witty series of short cartoons on crappy parenting.
MOOMINMAMMA’S MAID
Tove Jansson
In stores November 2015! $9.95 / 8.5″ x 6″ / 64 pages / full color / flexicover / 9781770462168
This small, back-pack sized Moomin reprint books are perfect for the kids in your life.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/17/2014
In case you missed it, Sony Pictures has been forced to cancel the theatrical release of The Interview after hackers have released a catastrophic trove of private emails and scripts, and threatened to bomb theaters showing the film—and theater owners began saying they wouldn’t carry it. The film follows a pair of bumbling journalists sent to North Korea to assassinate Kim Jong Un, and apparently, Supreme Leader did not like this plot line.
The repercussions of this Hollywood disaster will be felt for years to come, but one piece of collateral damage was a planned adaptation of Pyongyang, Guy DeLisle’s graphic novel about his two months spent in the North Korean capital working on an animation project. New Regency has pulled the plug on the project which was to have starred Steve Carrell and be directed by Gore Verbinski from a Steve Conrad script. However the log line for the movie bears little resemblance to the book that I read:
Based on the graphic novel by Guy Delisle, “Pyongyang” is a paranoid thriller about a Westerner’s experiences working in North Korea for a year.
Delisle spent two months living in North Korea’s capital, where according to Wikipedia, he struggled with the difficulties of outsourcing and the bureaucracy of the totalitarian closed state. He was authorized to bring Aphex Twin CDs, Gitanes cigarettes, Hennessy cognac and a copy of George Owell’s novel “1984,” but left the country with no expectations to ever return.
Well, for now you can still just go buy his books and not worry about getting your emails hacked, so show the terrorists haven’t won by getting a copy of Pyongyang!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/12/2014
How has it escaped the notice of the world for a week that Drawn and Quarterly announced that Gilbert Hernandez’s Bumperhead will debut at San Diego this year? And a cover and preview were released? For shame, comics industry, for shame. Would you ignore the new David Lynch movie? Gilbert Hernandez is our David Lynch. This standalone graphic novel picks up a bit, emotionally and chronologically, from where Beto’s acclaimed Marble Season left off, as described by the previww, with the innocent joy of childhood giving way to disaffected punk youth.
A raw, disaffected, punk rock/glam rock/drunk rock/speed-freak rock coming-of-age story about growing up in America, seen through the eyes of Bobby, or Bumperhead. Told in the subtle yet thought-provoking way that only Gilbert can, Bumperhead follows a life as it zooms by — from childhood bullying to first love to the realities of becoming a (disappointing) grownup.
CANNOT WAIT. 
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/29/2013
My first experience with Sarah Glidden’s work was via her debut, How To Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less (published by, of all people, DC Vertigo!). That book saw Glidden take the ‘Birthright Tour,’ an Israeli government funded initiative traversing through Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Masada and other places, where she constantly finds a conflict between her pre-conceived notions and what she’s experiencing, and you can’t help but feel an affinity for her as she attempts to navigate knotty political and personal waters.
She has since been making political, informative comics for various online platforms- Cartoon Movement, the Jewish Quarterly and Symbolia Magazine amongst others. This is going to sound incredibly stupid, but I find it very difficult to engage with long prose non-fiction texts, so I’m glad to see the slow expansion of the same genre in comics, and so I really appreciate Glidden’s presence in comics, and her smart, thoughtful, and clear take on things.
I was very pleased to hear, then, of Drawn and Quarterly’s announcement at the beginning of this year, regarding the publishing of her second book, Rolling Blackouts (due for release in 2014), another graphic journalism work which finds Glidden following reporters in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.
You can find Glidden’s website here and buy her work here.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/15/2013
PALOOKAVILLE #21 is on its way, and while the looong running Clyde Fans serial is on hold, Seth digs into his own life story in the cheerfully titled “Nothing Lasts.” Seth may be gloomy but he’s also one of our all-time favorite cartoonists; we’ll race to pick this up.
This is an auto-bio comic where Seth reminisces about his childhood and his mother and I might even go so far as to say it’s a revelation. It promises to be a much longer comic when completed–one of many comics that Seth does concurrently with his “Clyde Fans” serial as well as his work with Lemony Snicket on the new All the Wrong Questions series.
Here’s a short preview (click to embiggen):
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 2/15/2013
Tweet Geneviève Castrée’s tour kicks off TONIGHT in Los Angeles. Cartoonists going on tour is a sure sign that winter is peeling away and Spring Con Season is soon upon us!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/29/2013
Tweet It seems that Hollywood studios are now so desperate for material that they are turning to smart, nuanced graphic novels with intelligence and insight for material. To wit: New Regency has optioned PYONGYANG, the first in French-Canadian cartoonist Guy Delisle’s acclaimed series of travelogues/social commentary. The book concerns his sojourn in North Korea while working [...]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/24/2012
___________________________________________________________________________
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/1/2012
The very very funny Lisa Hanawalt has joined D&Q’s cartoonist lineup; they’ll publish a collection of her works called MY DIRTY DUMB EYES in spring 2013. The book will collect her various comics for Vanity Fair, The Hairpin, and so on. You will laugh and laugh.
More info.
Drawn & Quarterly has acquired world rights to MY DIRTY DUMB EYES by award-winning cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt, it was announced today by Tom Devlin, Acquiring Editor & Creative Director. To be released in Spring 2013, MY DIRTY DUMB EYES is Hanawalt’s first full length work. It will be a collection of her intricately detailed, absurdly funny comics that have appeared in The Hairpin, VanityFair.com, Lucky Peach, Saveur, The New York Times and The Believer.
“We have been fans of Lisa for a very long time, she is the great combination of excellent drawing ability and being genuinely laugh out loud funny,” said Devlin. “Her unhinged musings on pop culture and celebrity make her the premiere humorist for her generation. She approaches her subjects with both a stalker’s wild-eyed mania and a satirist’s precise control.”
MY DIRTY DUMB EYES will be distributed in the U.S. by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and in Canada by Raincoast Books. International rights are represented by Samantha Haywood of the Transatlantic Literary Agency. Meredith Kaffel of DeFiore and Company represented Hanawalt in negotiations.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 5/5/2012
.
Once again, I collected (almost) all of the Free Comic Book Day offerings, and offer my reviews on what’s good, what’s great, and what should have been better!
Titles are arranged alphabetically by publisher, and the images and summaries come from the offical FCBD website. My comments are in purple.
What did you grab? What did you enjoy?
Publisher: ANTARCTIC PRESS
By: John,
on 10/11/2011
I’m currently reading Guy Delisle’s Burma Chronicles. He has supplemental photos and some samples of Burmese cartoonists on his site.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/22/2011
Another cartoonist has won a prestigious prize, this time Seth winning the Harbourfront Festival Prize for his body of work.
Congratulations to Seth on winning the Harbourfront Festival Prize which is based on the merit of the author’s body of work and contribution to the medium and industry. The jury consisted of John van Driel (VP Programming & Operations, Classical 96.3 FM), Denise Donlon (Television Host and Producer) and Geoffrey E. Taylor (Director, IFOA) and noted the diversity and range of Seth’s illustrations and designs in addition to his body of work. And the prize is $10,000 and will be presented to Seth on the closing night of the IFOA (Oct. 29) at 8pm in the Fleck Dance Theatre.
NYC Wednesday, October 12th, Adam Baumgold Gallery
OAK PARK Thursday October 13th, Unity Temple with Book Tablewith Daniel Clowes
BOSTON Saturday October 15th, Boston Book Festival with Daniel Clowes & Alison Bechdel
NYC Tuesday October 18th, New York, NY Housing Works w/ Desert Island w/ Daniel Clowes
MONTREAL Wednesday October 19th, Ukrainian Federationwith Daniel Clowes
TORONTO Friday October 21st, IFOAwith Daniel Clowes
MIAMI Saturday November 19, Miami Book Fair with Daniel Clowes & Adrian Tomine
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/8/2011
The long-awaited HARK! A VAGRANT collection of Kate Beaton’s hilarious digs at history and literature is hitting stores, and she’ll sign across North America. Here are the tour dates:
BETHESDA SPX Saturday, September 10 & Sunday, September 11th
BROOKLYN Brooklyn Book FestivalSunday, September 18th, 1 PM
MANHATTAN Housing Works with Desert Island Tuesday, September 27th, 7 PM
SAN FRAN APE Saturday, October 1st and Sunday, September 2nd
BOSTON Boston Book Festival Saturday, October 15th
VANCOUVER Vancouver International Writers Festival Friday, October 21st, 10 AM
PORTLAND Live Wire Saturday, October 22nd, 7 PM
LOS ANGELES Skylight Books Sunday, October 23rd, 5 PM
TORONTO IFOA Saturday October 29th and Sunday October 30th
MONTREAL Librairie D+Q Tuesday November 1st, 7 PM
HALIFAX Strange AdventuresWednesday November 2nd 7 PM
Via:
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/6/2011
The complete BIG QUESTIONS by Anders Nilsen is ure to be one of the books of the year, a 600+ page meditation on life and being 10 years in the making. Nilsen is hitting the West Coast part of his tour, and here’s the dates:
07/20 Family, LA
07/21-24 Comic-Con, San Diego
07/26 Needles and Pens, SF
07/27 Pegasus, Berkeley
07/29 Floating World, Portland
07/30 Fantagraphics, Seattle
07/31 Lucky’s, Vancouver
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/3/2011
.
The following is a selection of new comics titles due to be published in April 2011. This list is not comprehensive, just what I’ve discovered browsing the Internet. Below, you’ll find selected titles which caught my interest. If you would like to browse forthcoming graphic novels and related books at your leisure, click here. These are not necessarily titles I will purchase, but which I will definitely look at once they arrive at my local comics shop or bookstore.
If you click that link above, you’ll see all the graphic novels at BN.com, sorted by date. Lots of graphic novels (and related books) scheduled from May to December. Of course, there will be even more titles added and announced in time for the Holidays! (You might want to use your tax return to buy some bookshelves.)
Please be advised that publication dates are not set in stone, titles may change, and covers may be altered. Also, your local comics shop might receive copies before your local neighborhood website or library. I consider my tastes to be rather eclectic. If you feel I’ve neglected or slighted a title, publisher, or creator, please feel free to mention it in the comments below. Yes, you may promote your own work, but please include the ISBN for easy searching (and shopping!)
Disclaimer: I am employed by Barnes & Noble. This and any other posts by me at this site have no official connection to B&N. As always, feel free to send us your PR. Even better, send us some free books!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/30/2011
February has only 28 days, but is jam-packed with lots of great graphic novels and related titles!
Warning… looking at what appears so far on BarnesAndNoble.com, the rest of 2011 is going to be just as amazing! Click this link
to discover more! (Sweet Kirby Crackle! Corto Maltese, in English, from Rizzoli?!) Better start shopping for bookshelves now.Since this list takes a lot of work, I will not be adding hyperlinks to the publishers or BN.com. Most browsers allow you to search directly just by highlighting a term, or feel free to cut and paste into whichever web browser you prefer.
As always, I work for Barnes & Noble, but do not speak for them. These are titles which caught my interest, and are worth a closer work. I have not read any of these books (perhaps a comic here or there) so do not endorse any specific title on this list. My tastes are not yours, so please recommend other titles below in the comments! Also, the information below is subject to change. Covers, publication dates, prices, formats… all data are subject to changes.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/19/2011

If you missed the earlier stops, you can still see the one and only phenomenal Lynda Barry talking and inspiring:
DO NOT MISS Lynda Barry on tour for PICTURE THIS in a city near you. Seeing Lynda Barry’s exceptional, inspirational presentation in person is something each and every fan should witness. Lynda has been speaking to SRO, sold out audiences across the continent so be sure to reserve your ticket or to show early!
with novelist Elizabeth BergFeb 23-25 INDIANAPOLISJanuary 25th 2011 OAK PARK IL | Tuesday, 7:30
Book Table at Unity Temple
March 17th PHILLY | Thursday, 7:30 PM
Free Library
March 19th LANCASTER PA | Saturday, Time TBD
Dog Star Books
April 6-11 EG Conference in Monteray CA
April 15th WELLESLEY MA | Friday, 7:30 PM
Newhouse Center at Wellesley College with Alison Bechdel (FUN HOME)
And if you need any more persuasion to go, here’s a fantastic post by Peggy Burns
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/31/2010
By Torsten Adair
The following is a selection of new comics titles due to be published in November 2010. This list is not comprehensive, as there are over 350 books scheduled. Instead, I have selected titles which caught my interest. If you would like to browse forthcoming graphic novels and related books at your leisure, click here. These are not necessarily titles I will purchase, but which I will definitely look at once they arrive at my local comics shop or bookstore.
This month is traditionally the last month of new releases before the holiday gift giving season kicks into full gear. Stores (and websites) usually have their displays set up the first weekend after Halloween, and publishers definitely want their titles in stores before Black Friday (and Cyber Monday). There are a few titles scheduled for December, so I’ll present a list for that month. I will also present a special list of blockbuster titles (gift books priced over $40) for those who have either been especially good this year or who shop for themselves.
Please be advised that publication dates are not set in stone, titles may change, and covers may be altered. Also, your local comics shop might receive copies before your local neighborhood website or library. Clicking on the publisher’s name will link to the publisher’s website, sometimes to the exact title. Clicking the ISBN-13 (also known as the Bookland EAN) will take you to the title as featured on BarnesAndNoble.com . I consider my tastes to be rather eclectic. If you feel I’ve neglected or slighted a title, publisher, or creator, please feel free to mention it in the comments below. Yes, you may promote your own work, but please include the ISBN for easy searching (and shopping!)
Disclaimer: I am employed by Barnes & Noble. This and any other posts by me have no official connection to B&N. Neither I or Heidi MacDonald receive any remuneration from linking to barnesandnoble.com . As always, feel free to send us your PR. Even better, send us some free books!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/13/2010
Drawn & Quarterly is also having a warehouse sale, with nearly all titles in stock 30-40% off. Lots of great stuff from Chester Brown to Lynda Barry to Kevin Huizenga.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/18/2009
Chris Oliveros announces a new edition of Matthew Forsythe’s OJINGOGO. We need more of this!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/16/2009
A few links making the rounds related to the health of various sectors of the comics business.
§ In Boston, while book industry sales are “in freefall”, comics sales are strong enough to support new retail outlets:
They couldn’t find a single financial backer willing to risk a penny on a comic book store, but the pair knows something about their kind: namely, that comic book fans, who number more adults than kids these days, are serious about their reading material. Look no further than the man who posted a comment on the store’s Facebook page praising the recommendations of the “in-house sommelier.’’ Reed has faith that the business, which has seen heady peaks (hello, Stan Lee) and crushing lows (television nearly wiped it out half a century ago), is poised for another revival.
§ Meanwhile, in Japan as the above scary chart shows, this writer believes the manga industry is in “Dire straits.” In the above chart, magazines sales (red) are plunging, while tankōbon sales (blue) are flat:
The very notion that the health of a medium can be measured by the number of blockbusters it produces is itself increasingly obsolete – in music, books and other media, markets are increasingly centred on the so-called “long tail,” with modern distribution allowing vast numbers of niche titles to be economically supported where before only a few very popular titles could ever find commercial success. Having low or high sales is thus not a measure of how “good” a title is, but instead merely reflects the size of the particular niche a product serves.
While Oliveros is reluctant to claim credit, D&Q was pivotal in that transition. Its titles were lavishly, lovingly produced, and mainstream media outlets took breathless notice of this blurring of publishing boundaries. In 2004, The New York Times noted D&Q’s (along with its closest competitor, Seattle’s Fantagraphics’s) role in shaping the renaissance of the comic book form. Crossover success was concomitant: the titles started to appear in traditional bookstores where, suddenly, every self-respecting independent and chain devoted a section to graphic novels, and major publishing houses started getting into the game. D&Q’s fastest bestseller, Chester Brown’s Louis Riel, an improbable “comic strip biography” of the controversial 19th-century Métis leader, sold 10,000 copies in its first season, and to date has sold more than 36,000, more than most bestselling books in Canada. Publishers Weekly called it a “major achievement.”
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