Most of these I recorded at comic book conventions.
Right Click and Save Target As to download the MP3s and listen to them.
Comic Arts Conference: New Fun About Siegel and Shuster (1:20:09, 73.3mb)
Moderated by Comic Book writer and Men of Tomorrow Author Gerard Jones, this panel brings together a number of people with new info to reveal about Siegel and Shuster from a
variety of different angles. Panelist were Lauren Agostino (Lawyer), Brad Ricca (Author), Mary Wheeler-Nicholson/Brown (Granddaughter of DC founder Major Malcolm
Wheeler-Nicholson) and Mel Gordon (Author).
Brad Ricca has gone though the early work of Siegel and Shuster and found a lot of characters that they pulled from real life, from their school teachers, popular
movie stars at the time, to specific buildings. He is compiling a book about all of this and had a little slide show with Shuster's art and photo's of the people and
places to compare too.
Lauren Agostino was told to throw some old court documents away by an old, long retired ex-lawyer. She found out some of those documents were from the 1947
lawsuit between Siegel and Shuster and DC comics.
Nicky Brown talked about dispelling some myths about her grandfather based on her research into his history and presents evidence that Wheeler-Nicholson gave a
very specific and detailed outline on the Slam Bradley character. Her research is ongoing and is looking into what other characters Wheeler-Nicholson might have given
a detailed outlines on.
Mel Gordon has written a book about Funny Man, a character created by Siegel and Shuster after Superman. Along the way he talked about Jewish humor and brings up details
about Zisha Breitardt, a Polish-Jew strong man that often labeled himself Superman and did lots of true and faked amazing feats to show off his strength. It was also
mentioned that he toured in both Toronto and Cleveland around the time the two were growing up. He appears to be a strong likely influence on the creation of Superman.
Spotlight on Jenette Kahn (48:55, 44.7mb)
Jenette Kahn was Publisher, later President and Editor in Chief of DC Comics between 1976 and 2002. She is interviewed by former DC President and Publisher
Paul Levitz. They go over her time at DC comics and how she was greeted at first and some of the major projects she had a direct hand in. Specifically they talk
about a comic about land mines that was handed out to Children in areas with land mines were still hidden. One of those asking questions was overseas handing those
books out and spoke to how effective they were in drawing kids attention, getting them to read and take serious the threat of land mines. There is a lighting
round of names and her reactions to them. They also talked about her being a producer of the Clint Eastwood Gran Torino movie. Kahn talks about what was all
involved in getting it made and the list of big name actors that turned down the movie. This panel started late due to the previous panel going over it's time.
Spotlight on Robert Kirkman (43:50, 40.1mb)
Sina Grace moderates a spotlight on Robert Kirkman. They talk about Skybound, the new imprint under Image that Kirkman is heading up. They promote the first book
coming out called Witch Doctor and bring up it's creators Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner to talk about it. There is a long Q & A with fans where Kirkman goes into
Kevin Smith mode answering questions and having snappy conversations with his fans. Anybody that asked questions were also given a free Witch Doctor promo comic. A lot of
the questions focus on the upcoming Walking Dead TV show.
Geek Girls Exist (48:43, 44.6mb)
Moderated by Kristin Rielly, this panel includes Bonnie Burton (Star Wars Craft Book),
Kiala Kazebee (ThatIsNoMoon.com),
Morgan Romine (The Frag Dolls),
Kari Byron (Mythbusters),
Veronica Belmont (Qore),
Jill Pantozzi (Has Boobs, Read Comics),
Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory) and
Marian Call (Singer/Songwriter).
They talk about when they realized they were geeks, how they got their geek jobs, their role models and give advice for Geek Women looking for Comics and Gaming
related jobs. Also during the panel Marian Call sings a song that was cheered by the audience.
Spotlight on Moto Hagio (55:05, 50.4mb)
Moto Hagio was presented with an Inkpot Award. Matt Thorn moderated the panel and did the translating for Moto. They went over her career, highlighting some popular
and not so popular works. She was very funny about her work, telling jokes about how she treats her characters and why she did certain series. As they went through
the work she would point out which stories are in the new collection of her works from Fantagraphics called A Drunken Dream and Other Stories. She explained which US Sci-Fi authors she read and influenced
her. Some of the audience did not need any translating as they were laughing at her jokes before the translation was done. When the Q&A period was going on, some of
them spoke to her in Japanese as well, but gave an English translation for the audience too.
Spotlight on Stuart and Kathryn Immonen (48:11, 44.1mb)
This panel was moderated by John Siuntres of WordBalloon.com. It starts off with Stuart being asked about his
earliest work and then receiving an Inkpot Award. From there it goes through both Stuart and Kathryn's career in comics, when they worked together and apart. They talk
about their most recent work together, Moving Pictures from Top Shelf. They go into what their next book together will be and answer questions from fans, particularly
about their superhero work. Kathryn talks about Hellcat and her upcoming work, Stuart talks about Nextwave.
Comics Pro: So You Want To Become A Comic Book Retailer? (1:23:25, 76.3mb)
Comics Pro is an organization dedicated to helping other brick and mortar Direct Market retailers. Moderator
and Comics Pro President Joe Field believes the Direct Market can support another 1,000 comic book shops and uses this panel to reach out and help people wanting to
open their own stores. On the panel is Diamond Comics Dave Hawksworth, Retailers Thomas Gaul, Derrick Taylor, David Wheeler and Michael Ring. They present a range of
newer and established stores who've found success and are willing to share their knowledge. The group gave their comic retailing origin stories and talked about what
makes their stores unique. All retailers talked about the importance of creating a sense of community within the store. There was also a lively Q&A with the audience
with a lot of questions. Among the topics covered was the Online Market (Amazon, etc..), Kids Market, Buying a store vs. Opening a new one, Doing a Manga style cafe
and more.
Full 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (2:56:28, 161mb)
The 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards was held in the Indigo Room at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront on Friday, July 23rd.
Introduction by Masters of Ceremonies Bill Morrison and Maurice LaMarche. Assisted by Kayre Morrison.
The welcome was done by Jackie Estrada, Eisner Awards Administrator.
Denis Kitchen made an announcement of Contract with God being made into a movie.
Presenters included James Robinson, Thomas Jane, Phil LaMarr, Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon, Milo Manara and Chris Claremont, Peter Bagge, Dave Gibbons, James Sturm and Jillian
Tamaki, C. Tyler, Laurie Sandell, Berkeley Breathed also the entire cast of Scott Pilgrim was on stage and a few of them took turns presenting awards. The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award was
presented by Eric Shanower, The Bill Finger Award was presented by Mark Evanier and Jerry Robinson, The Spirit of Comics Retailer Award was presented by Joe Ferrara,
The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award was presented by Ruth Clampett. Sergio Aragones presented the Hall of Fame and Maggie Thompson did the Memoriam.
The Winners can be found at the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards page.
Spotlight on Peter Bagge (50:04, 45.8mb)
Jason T. Miles moderated this panel. Peter Bagge receives an Inkpot Award at the beginning. The two talk about Bagge editing Weirdo and the differences between them and
RAW which was running at the same time. Bagge also explained further about how art spiegelman (then RAW editor) tried to get the fine art world to take comics
seriously. Bagge explains why he doesn't like what was called fine art at the time and prefers low brow humor.
He also talked about his time at School of Visual Arts and why he dropped out. In terms of new work, he is still
working for Reason Magazine and is doing stories about women writers during the 1920s. What is appealing to him is
how they ignored societies rules and did what they wanted. He's hoping to have them collected in a book when he is done. The first one is now online.
Comics Criticism Panel (50:10, 45.9mb)
The panelists were R. C. Harvey, Gary Groth, Brian Doherty, Douglas Wolk, R. Fiore and Gerard Jones. Ben Schwartz did the Moderating. They talked about if comics criticism is now in a
Golden Age or not. They went into “outsiders” getting involved with comics and comics criticism and the pro's and cons of that. R. Fiore spoke a lot about his
disappointment in the intelligence of modern society, likening it to Flowers for Algernon when Charlie goes back to being mentally disabled. At the end they spoke
about the influence Harvey Pekar had on comics.
Comics Reprints Panel (49:20, 45.1mb)
Panel moderated by Andrew Farago of the Cartoon Art Museum. Panelists were Craig Yoe!, Dean Mullaney, Daniel Herman, Peggy Burns, Gary Groth (who arrives about 5 minutes in), Steve Saffel
and Charles Pelto. The group talked about the cyclical nature of comic reprints. Yoe! brought up the earliest newsstand comics were reprints of comic strips, then comic strips
were reprinted again the 60s and 70s in paperback books. Peggy Burns talked about making books for readers vs. collectors. She mentioned how collectors give
them negative feedback because they choose to exclude certain things from their books. There was also talk of how the later volumes don't sell as
well as the first one, but that they all see it through to the end because they love the material and made the commitment to it. They went into their stories
involving having to put out an S.O.S. to fans for missing art and weird stories of finding it. This went into a stories about dealing with families and how they can
help and hurt reprinting old comic strips. On the panel Gary Groth announced that they worked out the rights with Disney about publishing the complete Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse.
Bill Everett Panel (50:03, 45.8mb)
Author of Fire and Ice: Bill Everett, Blake Bell interviews Bill's daughter Wendy Everett. Blake showed some early work of Bill's showing how good he was,
and actually much better than most if not all golden age comic artists working during that time period. Wendy spoke about what Bill was like as a father. She goes into detail about how
hugely creative he was and gives examples of things he was did for them (her and her two brothers). Wendy said her father taught her to letter comics and involved her brothers in comics
in different ways. Wendy reveled what the inspiration for Daredevil was and what colour they wanted the costume to be (it wasn't yellow). They also talked about
Everett's alcoholism and how it started and that he eventually joined AA. Blake mentioned a couple of comic creators that Everett helped out with their drinking
problems as well. Blake revealed that after Everett died the ACBA (Academy of Comic Book Artists) created a Bill Everett foundation and that it has been rolled into
HERO Initiative. Blake said 10% of the book proceed will also be going to HERO as well.
Fan vs. Pro Comic Trivia contest (1:16:25, 69.9mb)
Panel was moderated by Peter David wearing a Galactus hat. Fans were Michael Grabois, David Oakes and Tom Galloway. On the Pro's side it was Len Wein, Kurt Busiek and was supposed to
be Mark Waid. Mark was unable to make it to the panel, taking his place was Peter Svensson who took his spot 2 years ago. He altered Mark Waid's name tag adding a “Pal”
(ala Jimmy Olson) and his name underneath. There was some delay as people were waiting for Mark. Kurt offers his Hershey Kisses to people in the crowd that could
answer one of his trivia questions. Kurt also brought a kazoo with him and occasionally played it. The theme this year was Pre-Crisis DC in recognition to thier 75th Anniversary.
The questions were unbelievably hard and there were many that nobody on either side got. Everybody agreed that Mark Waid would have been answer some of them though.
Still people on the panel wanted to strangle the guy that wrote the questions. Peter David was extremely funny on stage and got the audience involved by having sides say “ooohh” and “aahh” at times and
giving which question number they were asking. The “series” between the two was tied 6-6 prior to the start of event.
Details on the previous contests can be found here.
Full 2010 Joe Shuster Awards Ceremony. (1:57:47, 107mb)
Introduction by the Master of Ceremonies Jonathan Llyr, assisted by Sarrah Young
Hall of Fame induction for Serge Gaboury, presented by Robert Pincombe
Harry Kremer Award for Outstanding Comic Book Retailer to The Beguiling, accepted by store manager Chris Butcher, presented by Mark Askwith
Outstanding Comic Book Publisher Award for La Pastque, presented by Jeff Brown
Hall of Fame induction for Dave Darrigo, presented by Joe Kilmartin
Comics for Kids Award to Svetlana Chmakova for Night School Vol 1 & 2 (Yen Press), presented by Jennifer Stewart
Gene Day Award for Self Publishing to Ethan Rilly for Pope Hats 1, presented by Jeff Lemire
Hall of Fame induction for Deni Loubert, presented by Ty Templeton
Outstanding Cover Award to Darwyn Cooke for Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter (IDW), presented by Duane Murray
Outstanding Comic Book Colourist to Nathan Fairbairn, presented by Robin Fisher, accepted by Mike, friend of Mr. Fairbairn
Outstanding Comic Book Artist to Stuart Immonen, presented by David Okum
Hall of Fame induction for Cloude St. Aubin, George Freeman and Richard Comely (The Captain Canuck team), presented by Kalman Andrasofszky, Leslie Livingston and Ron Kasman
Outstanding Comic Book Writer Award to Maryse Dubuc for Les Nombrils, Tome 04: Duels de Belles (Dupris), presented by Robin Fisher
Outstanding Web Comics Creator Award to Karl Kerschl, presented by Duane Murray
Outstanding Comic Book Cartoonist Award to Michel Rabagliati for Paul, Tome 06: Paul A Quebec (La Plasteque), presented by Ty Templeton
Closing by Jonathan Llyr
Details about the awards can be found JoeShusterAwards.com.
All Panels moderated by Walter Dickinson of Toronto Cartoonists Workshop.
The Zen of Inking with Ernie Chan. (54:30, 49.9mb)
Bronze Age inker and artist Ernie Chan talks about being an artist in the Philippines, how they worked and the tools they used, then coming over to America and
working with artists like John Buscema and Gil Kane. He talks about how he inked Marvel and DC books, his penciling work and some of his very recent commissions.
Ernie Chan's art, which is talked about during the panel can be seen here.
Greg Rucka - A Novel Approach. (50:12, 45.9mb)
Greg Rucka answers questions about how he got into comics, writing books, working with various artists and other writers. He also tells a story about being an EMT
and how he helped a woman that got stabbed in the throat in New York City. Rucka talks about his changed views on the movie industry after his experiences on
the set of Whiteout. Greg also tells us about his upcoming creator owned work as well.
Shop Talk with Philip Tan, Barry Kitson and Francis Manapul. (57:29, 52.6mb)
These 3 artists talk about their art education, the process they use when working with different writers. More specifically Kitson talks about working with Mark Waid,
Manapul talks about Geoff Johns and Jim Shooter, and Philip Tan talks about working at Marvel and with Dan DiDio. Kitson talks about Negative Space and leading the
readers eye around the page and Manapul joins in. They also talked about the benefits and pitfalls of using Agents among other topics.
Chris Sprouse - From Panel to Page. (54:49, 50.1mb)
Chris Sprouse talks about his process of drawing comics. He takes us through going from thumb nails, to layouts to the finished page. Sprouse also talks about why
he sticks to working on paper and when and how he does use a computer. He talks about what programs he does use to help him on certain things. Chris also goes into
designing new characters and what he thinks of computer colouring.
Chris Sprouse's art, which is talked about during the panel can be seen here.
Jeff Lemire - Bruisers, Brawlers and Invisible Men. (47:35 43.5mb)
Jeff Lemire explains how he went from being an celebrated indy cartoonist to a monthly superhero writer for DC. He talks about his earliest work and winning the
Xeric Grant and how that helped him. Jeff gives insight to the real and not real parts of Essex County trilogy and how the 3 book series came together. He mentions
how things are going for him in Vertigo and also his now creating a new origin for The Atom and writing Superboy.
Feature: Jim Woodring, Dan Clowes, James Sturm, Seth and Chester Brown. (55:23, 50.7mb)
Moderated by Jeet Heer, these 5 heavyweight cartoonists talk about going from Comic Books to Graphic Novels, choosing their next books subject, they reasons they
want (and try) to draw in a different style and autobiographical comics.
6th Annual Doug Wright Awards. (1:24:09, 77mb)
The awards were hosted by Actor Peter Outerbridge
Among the presenters are Matt Forsythe, Carl Wilson, Jeet Heer and Geoff Pevere.
The ceremony was as follows:
Introduction of nominee's and sponsor appreciation by Brad Mackay
Pigskin Peters Hat/Award: Marc Bell for Hot Potatoe (Drawn & Quarterly)
Best Emerging Talent: Michael DeForge Lose #1 (Koyama Press)
Kate Beaton gives a tribute to Giants of the North Hall of Fame inductee Martin Vaughn-James
Best Book: George Sprott: (1894-1975) by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly Books)
Closing by Brad Mackay
Comics and Social Media (52:45, 48.3mb)
Moderated by Robin McConnell, Jeff Rowland, Kate Beaton, Rich Stevens, Ray Fawkes and James Sturm talk about social media,
or more generally the internet affects their work. James Sturm talks about his recent decision to cut himself off the Internet for 4 months.
Other topics was about dealing with the audience feedback and their own personal privacy, also about when they felt they became legitimate.
Webcomics and Serial Story telling (53:47, 49.2mb)
Ananth Panagariya, Merridith Gran, Spike, Tara Tallan, Cameron Stewart and Ramon Perez talk about doing long form webcomics. The panel is moderated by Holly Post.
Without naming it they talk about Jonathan Rosenberg recent blog post about possibly shutting down his long running Goats webcomic and feelings of legitimacy. Other
topics include how much of their story they have planned out, how their audience comments changes their stories, having their characters grow, introducing new
characters & getting and keeping new readers.
Re-making History: Curating and Packaging Reprints (52:14, 47.8mb)
Dan Nadel, Evan Dorkin, Jeet Heer and Seth talk about the resurgence of comic strips and other old comics. They talk about how the designs of the reprints affects
changes how people view the work. Other topics are good and bad design, without naming some people who were doing the bad designs, the ethics of redesigning other
peoples work, a bit about Jack Kirby and Siegel & Shuster legal situations.
Burn It! Surviving Graphic Novel Challenges (50:11, 45.9mb)
Deborah Caldwell-Stone from the American Library Association talks about censors that try to get Graphic Novels pulled from Libraries. She talks about specific cases
and has with her David Powell who was involved in a famous case of two library staff that was restricting access to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier.
Dark Horse Heroes (56:40, 51.8mb)
Dark Horse is bringing back the Gold Key heroes Turok, Dr. Solar and Magnus the Robot Fighter with Jim Shooter at the helm. This panel has Jim Shooter along with Dark Horse Editor
Chris Warner, artists Dennis Calero and Bill Reinhold talk about the books. Dark Horse Publisher Mike Richardson is in the audience and answers a couple of questions too.
Mr. Silver Age trivia Challenge, Mark Waid vs. 5 Fans (54:06, 49.5mb)
Hosted by Mr. Silver Age (aka "Craig Shutt"), Mark Waid takes on 5 knowledgeable fans in Silver Age trivia. Do you know which JLA member disguised themselves as Wonder Woman
before taking on a villain? Spider-Man's first full feature story? The creators of The Parasite? These questions and a ton more are asked and answered.
Old Media, New Media, Comics Media (1:04:23, 58.9mb)
The Beat's Heidi MacDonald moderates a panel of bloggers about the difference between covering comics in print vs. online.
On the panel are Lucas Siegel (Newsarama), Bridget Alverson (Manga Blog,
Good Comics for Kids), Johanna Draper Carlson (Comics Worth Reading),
Noah Berlatsky (The Hooded Utilitarian), Ron Richards (iFanboy),
Caleb Goellner (Comics Alliance), and Rick Marshall (MTV Splash).
All of them talk about their work in print before working online and the major changes in doing so.
Bill Willingham Spotlight (1:05:04, 59.5mb)
Comic Writer Bill Willingham gets the spotlight with his friend Steven Sullivan and Fans taking turns asking the questions. There are spoilers and secrets revealed about what
is coming up in the Fables Universe his other work.
Indie Is In (36:43, 33.6mb)
Mark Waid moderates a panel with Jeff Smith, creator of Bone. They two talk about Dave Sim, somebody trying remove Bone from a Library because they found it offensive and
creating comics in general, and how he got retailers to take notice of Bone. Towards the end Jeff Smith has to leave early to catch his flight (at the urging of the audience).
Mark Waid answers questions for the remaining 5 minutes of the panel. I was a little late to the start of this panel but they hadn't offically started it yet as they
were expecting more people to show up.
Max Brooks Panel (56:49, 52mb)
Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z author talks humourously about why he wrote his books, gives many real world details behind the World War Z stories. He also talks about the World War Z comic book, tells us about himself and answers questions from the audeince.
Note: Max Brooks swears.
Full Joe Shuster Awards Ceremony (92:01, 84.2mb)
Order of Presentation:
Introduction by the Master of Ceremonies, Jonathan Llyr from Hardcorenerdity.com
Co-Executive Director James Waley
Outstanding Cover by a Canadian Comic Book Artist
Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Colourist
Hall of Fame - Rèal Godbout
Outstanding Canadian Comic Book &/or Graphic Novel Publisher
Harry Kremer outstanding Canadian Comic Book Retailer
Hall of Face - Ken Steacy
Co-Executive Director Kevin A. Boyd's
Outstanding Canadian WebComics Creator / Creative Team
Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist
Hall of Fame - George Menendez Rae
Comics For Kids
Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist
Hall of Fame - Diana Schutz
Gene Day Award for Canadian Self-Publishing
Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer
Presenters included Robert Pincombe, Ty Templeton, Dave Ross, Bill Paul, Mark Askwith, David Day,
Mike Cherkas, Jennifer Stewart, Jessica Frey and others.
Winners can be found here at the Joe Shuster Awards.
Sequential Presents: Oh, Canada. Surveying the Landscape of Canadian Comics. (50:50, 46.5mb)
The panel was hosted by Bryan Munn and Salgood Sam from Sequential.
On the panel was Brad Mackay (pronounced Macka-eye) from the Doug Wright Awards and Kevin Boyd from the
Joe Shuster Awards. Much of the panel talked about their respective organizations when it comes to a
variety of Canadian cartooning topics. Brad Mackay did do much of the talking.
Webcomics! (50:02, 45.8mb)
Hosted by Chris Butcher, the panel consisted of 5 webcomic creators. They were Ryan North
(Dinosaur Comics), Andy Belanger
(Transmission X), Kean Soo
(Jellaby),
Faith Erin Hicks (Ice and War at Ellsmare)
and Emily Horne (A Softer World).
They talked about a variety of webcomics issues, how and why they started, what day has the lowest web
traffic, supporting themselves with a web comic, getting into print, etc.. Due to a dead battery lost
about the last 5 minutes of the panel.
Spotlight on J. Michael Straczynski (73:39, 67.4mb)
JMS answers questions from the crowd about his work and tells some very funny stories about his path to becoming an established writer.
Highlights include his encounters with his hero Rod Sterling and his faking his graduation from school to please his parents.
Stanley Cup of Joe (59:42, 54.6mb)
Joe Quesada along with Arune Singh (Manager of Sales Communications), CB Cebulski and Mike Pasciullo answer
fan questions about everything Marvel.
Spotlight on Darwyn Cooke (56:21, 51.6mb)
Cartoonist Darwyn Cooke speaks about his Parker: The Hunter Graphic Novel adaptation. He also talks about behind the scenes
stories about how a Spirit animated movie almost came to pass, the New Frontier animated movie and future work. Darwyn is
very open and candid in this spotlight. The Panel was moderated by Robert Haines. I should note I was a few minutes late for the
beginning of the panel.
Writing Comics with Len Wein (51:08, 46.8mb)
Industry Veteran Len Wein does a panel about writing comics and writing in general. He starts off with a
small talk about the subject then asks the audience for questions. Much of the audience was interested in
becoming writers and asked pretty on topic questions.
Mondo Marvel (52:30, 48mb)
Joe Quesada, Arune Singh, Kathryn Immonen (writer), Tom Brennan (Spider-man Assistant Editor) and CB Cebulski.
Off to the side was Mike Pasciullo. They start off promoting some of upcoming books then go into taking
questions from the audience. A couple of audience members vent their frustration over One More Day storyline
and the recent Marvel Diva's book. The rest of them asked questions about everything Marvel. There was also
some good natured ribbing regarding DC doing Wednesday Comics vs their online comics.
Secret Origins of Comic-Con. (61.8mb, 67:32)
Participants of the first and early San Diego Comic cons tell their stories of how it all began.
Panelist include Richard Alf, Greg Bear, Dave Clark, Ken Krueger, Mike Towry, Scott Shaw!, Barry Alfonso, Roger Freedman, Ken Krueger,
and moderated by William R. Lund. This panel gets cut off before it ends due to a dead battery.
Indie Comics Marketing 101. (41.7mb, 45:33)
How to market your comics if you are not a big publisher. Boom! Marketing director Chip Mosher, The Beat's Heidi McDonald and filling in for
Shanon Wheeler is popular blogger and creator Kevin Church. Chip goes through the mind set and some rules on marketing yourself, Heidi and Kevin goes through
some do's and don'ts on the press end. The panel is moderated by the former manager of development and content at MySpace, Sam Humphries.
Spotlight on Jerry Robinson. (41.8mb, 45:43)
Moderator Mark Waid interviews Jerry Robinson about his career in comics, particularly focusing on his early Batman days and his
latest work as a guest curator for an exhibition on Superhero comic art.
Golden and Silver Age of Comics. (69.1mb, 75:31)
Panelists include Murphy Anderson, Gene Colan, Ramona Fradon, Russ Heath, Jack Katz, Jerry Robinson and Leonard Starr. The group tells stories about
their time in comics. The panel is moderated by Mark Evanier.
COMICSPRO: Selling More Comics and Graphic Novels: A Forum for Publishers. (54.9mb, 60:01)
Joe Field (ComicsPro President and Flying Colours owner), Phil Boyle (Coliseum of Comics chain owner) and Judd D'Angelo (Earth 2 chain co-owner)
give instructions to publishers and creators on how to sell more comics.
Spotlight on Dwayne McDuffie. (45.8mb, 50:02)
Dwayne McDuffie receives an inkpot award and just does a straight Q&A with the audience. He answers questions about writing comics and animation.
In particular about Fantastic Four, Damage Control, Static Shock and the Milestone Universe, Justice League, Teen Titans and Ben 10.
2009 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. (154mb, 169:17)
Categories are in order of appearance:
Best Publication for Kids, Best Publication for Teens/Tweens
Best Coloring
Best Lettering
Best Digital/Web Comic
The Bill Finger Excellence in Comics Writing Awards
Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Best Painter/Multimedia Artist
Best Cover Artist
Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism
Best Comics-Related Book
Best Publication Design
Best Archival Collection/Project-Strips
Best Archival Collection/Project-Comic Books
Best Humor Publication
Best U.S. Edition of International Material
Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan
The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award
Hall of Fame
In Memoriam
Best Writer
Best Writer/Artist
Best New Series
Best Limited Series
Best Continuing Series
The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award
Best Short Story
Best Anthology
Best Reality-Based Work
Best Graphic Album-Reprint
Best Graphic Album-New
The awards were hosted by Bill Morrison. Neil Gaiman gave the keynote speech. Among the presenters were:
Patton Oswald, Robert Garant & Thomas Lennon, Blair Butler, Jeff Smith & Terry Moore, Jason Lutes & Seth, and Matt Wagner & Amy Reeder Hadley.
There was much humor to be had, poking fun at previous award shows and other creators.
Winners are listed here.
The Black Panel. (74.1mb, 81:00)
Moderated by Michael Davis. This laugh out loud funny panel's participants include Ludacris, Michael Jai White,
Kel Mitchell, Prdodical Sunn, Jimmy Diggs, Reggie Hudlin, Denys Cowan, a surprise guest Michelle Nichols. There was
also a performance by a singer Asia Lee, Queen of Cali. Artist Ken Lashley was in the crowd and stood up to participate towards the end.
There was much promoting of upcoming projects and some Q&A from the audience.
Spotlight on Sheldon Moldoff. (42.4mb, 46:22)
Mark Waid interviews Sheldon Moldoff about his career, in particular about his time working on Batman. Moldoff also talks about the
time he sued DC and won (but still continued to work for them) and his very bad experience with Bill Gaines. I should note I missed about the
first 5 minutes of the panel.
Spotlight on Denis Kitchen. (94.5mb, 54:04)
Michael Dooley gave a very long introduction to Denis Kitchen and also ran a quick moving power point showing lots of
Kitchen's underground art. They talked a bit about his career, what he's doing now and took questions from the audience.
Comic-Con: El Cortez Memories. (45.6mb, 49:51)
Moderated by David Scroggy, this panel includes many early comic con goers and they tell funny stories about the old
El Cortez hotel the comic con used to be held in. On the panel was Sergio Aragonés, Mike Friedrich, George Clayton Johnston,
Jack Katz, Lee Marrs, Mike Royer, William Stout and Mark Evanier.
Harvey Kurtzman Tribute. (46.9mb, 51:14)
Panelists include Paul Levitz, Denis Kitchen, William Stout, Charles Kochman and Harvey's daughter Nellie Kurtzman. Panel is
moderated by Mark Evanier. The group talk about Harvey, his strengths and his career path in an open and honest way.
The Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel. (51.9mb, 56:42)
Mark Evanier is the moderator. On the panel is Bill Mumy, Mike Royer, Steve Saffel, and the inspiration
for the 5 String Mob from Jimmy Olsen comics, Barry Alfonso, Roger Freedman, William R. Lund, Scott Shaw! and Mike Towry. The panel talks
about Jack, point out that several of the audience members also have Jack Kirby connections as well.
The Secret History of Manga in North America! (46mb, 50:20)
Jason Thompson a long time editor, writer, historian of various Manga related books takes us through Manga's journey in the North American market.
He goes through the magazines, comic books, publishers, people and events that have shaped the industry. The panel is both educational and funny as
Jason tells some behind the scenes anecdotes that have happened over the years.
International Perspectives on Manga. (46.7mb, 51:01)
Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim), Becky Cloonan (East Coast Rising, Demo) Eric Ko (UDON), Antoine Dodé (Armelle et Mon Oncle) and Jason Thompson (Manga: the Complete Guide)
talk about their experiences with Manga. The panel is hosted by About.com Manga guide (and cartoonist) Deb Aoki.
Scott McCloud Panel. (69.4mb, 75:51)
Scott McCloud talks about comics, comics, comics and does so very enthusiastically. The panel is hosted by Mark Askwith.
The audience also asks questions as well. Note: Scott occasionally uses foul language, but very politely.
Craig Yoe and Secret Identity: the Fetish Drawings of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster. (35.7mb, 39:03)
Craig Yoe talks about his new controversial book about a previously unknown period in Joe Shusters life where he began drawing dirty comics.
The characters bare a very close resemblance to Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and others. Yoe also talks about Frederic Wertham's involvement
in the situation and reveals some information regarding correspondence between himself and Shuster's sister. The panel is hosted by Douglas Wolk.
5th Annual Doug Wright Awards. (116mb, 127:38)
The awards were hosted by Actor, Writer and Director Don McKellar.
Among the presenters are Stuart McLean, Andrew Coyne, Jeet Heer, Adrian Tomine and a video from Bob Rae.
The ceremony was as follows:
A Burlington City Councilor announces the new Doug Wright Drive.
Pigskin Peters Hat/Award: Matt Forsythe for Ojingogo.
Best Emerging Talent: Kate Beaton for History Comics.
A talk between Brad Mackay, Seth and Chris Oliveros about the new Doug Wright Collection.
A surprise award to Chris Oliveros for 20 year anniversary of Drawn and Quarterly.
A surprise gift from the Doug Wright Family to Seth, Brad Mackay and Chris Oliveros for their work on the Doug Wright Collection.
Giants of the North, Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame inductee Jimmy Frise.
Best Book: Jillian & Mariko Tamaki for Skim.
Will Libraries Save Graphic Novels? (50.6mb, 55:21)
Lisa Heggum (Librarian, Toronto Public Library), Diana Malizewski (Teacher, Toronto District School Board),
Scott Robins (Blogger Book Comics for Kids/SLJ), Kent Allin (Teacher, Hastings and Price Edward District School Board),
Jim Ottavini (Comic Writer, Editor and Publisher) & Douglas Davey (Librarian, Halton Hills Public Library) talk about
Graphic Novels in libraries and schools. The panel is hosted by Jason Azzopardi, the Beguiling's Library Services Coordinator.
Comics, Newspapers and the Internet. (68.6, 75:00)
Rich Stevens (Diesel Sweeties), Brendan Buford (Comics Editor for King Features Syndicate), John Martz
(Chair of the Canadian Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society and co-creator of Drawn.ca),
Stuart Immonen (Artist Ultimate Spider-Man, and webcomic artist) & Scott McCloud (cartoonist, Understanding Comics series, Zot)
talk about the webcomics, newspaper print comics, and the Internet. Hosted by the very funny Chip Zdarsky/Steve Murray
(cartoonist for National Post and Monster Cops and Prison Funnies). Note: Scott McCloud occasionally swears.
How Not to Break Into Comics. (50.5mb, 55:13)
Randal C Jarrell (Oni) and Jennifer de Guzman (SLG). The two talked about a bunch of mistakes that the vast majority of beginners make when trying to break into comics.
It was quite humorous as they spent about a half hour going down a laundry list of stuff aspiring pro's have done to them. Then they took questions from the audience.
The Future of the Comic Pamphlet. (40.8mb, 44:39)
On this panel was retailer Carr D'Angelo, Image Comics Joe Keatinge, Age of Bronze creator Eric Shanower and it was moderated by author Douglas Wolk. I missed the first 5 minutes rushing between panels but when I came in Eric Shanower was talking about Age of Bronze in comic book vs. Graphic Novel format.
Eric admitted the comics don't make him much money and wonders if he should still be doing them. He says he ends up using the left over comics as giveaways and even brought a Diamond box full of various Age of Bronze issues to give away to the audience.
Joe Keatinge took exception to the calling a comic a pamphlets and brought some normal 3 way folded pamphlet leaflets to show everybody saying "THIS is a pamphlet!" Towards the end the panelist and audience talked about how to grow comic book sales, with everybody recognizing distribution is a major issue that couldn't be easily or quickly fixed.
Golden Age/Silver Age of Comics Panel. (73.4mb, 80:16)
This was moderated by Mark Evanier and it's panelists were Russ Heath, Al Jaffee, Larry Lieber, Jerry Robinson and Al Feldstein.
Mark Evanier asks the panel to tell funny stories about other creators they've worked with, as well as talking about
particular stories they were proud of. Jerry Robinson and Larry Lieber did some back and forth joking about the
respective Iron Man and Batman movies. Larry Lieber tells a funny story about him attending Premier of the
Iron Man movie.
That's 70's (Comics) Panel. (66.7mb, 72:56)
This was also moderated by Mark Evanier. Panelist were Jim Starlin, Joe Staton, Mike Grell, Mike W. Barr, Bernie Wrightson and eventually Len Wein.
The group told stories about who their mentors were in the comic industry, works they did they were especially proud of and other topics.
There was also some funny stories about how they used colour to get around the Comics Code.
Jim Warren spotlight. (50.8mb, 55:33)
For those that don't know, Jim Warren was a publisher that put out Famous Monsters of Filmland, Creepy,
Eerie, Vampirella and many other titles. He got a huge applause when he showed up which really moved
him. On the panel with him was Verne Langdon and it was partially moderated by Phil Kim. Jim said at
the beginning that he usually hated panels like this as they were boring a lot of the stuff said on
them was not true. Jim spent much of his time standing while speaking. He is hard of hearing now and
was just given magazine names to discuss, which he did. Eventually he took questions from the audience.
He was very blunt on his dislike of Creepy's first editor Russ Jones.
Colleen Doran's Resources for Creators Panel. (39.9mb, 43:36)
Colleen was a bit late getting the this panel. She had a bunch of info to give out to help freelancers,
particularly with the issue of legal assistance, health care, copyright and trademarks. She also brought
up her experiences with a bad publisher and discussed the proposed Orphan Works bill.
The Eisner Awards Ceremony. (163mb, 178:06)
The awards were hosted by Bill Morrison. Frank Miller gave the keynote speech. Among the surprise celebrity presenters were
Samuel L. Jackson, Jane Weidlin, Gerard Way (who won an award) and the star of The Spirit Gabriel Macht. Awards were given out to a variety of
comic industry professionals, most of which were on hand to accept the awards.
The Black Panel. (82mb, 89:36)
The panel was moderated by Michael Davis. On the panel was Method Man, Faith Cheltenham, somebody
sitting in Dwayne McDuffie's spot but I didn't catch his name, Rusty Cundieff, John Dokes, Denys Cowan
and Reggie Hudlin. There was plenty of people asking about support issues within the black community.
From the audience Jamal Igle joined when one person asked if the more conservative looking black creators were the ones getting work or not.
This was a hilarious panel with several laugh out loud moments.
The World of Steve Ditko. (49.1mb, 53:41)
The panel was moderated by Blake Bell, the author of Strange and Stranger The World of Steve Ditko.
This panel was different because it had a wide cross section of panelists. There was underground
cartoonist Kim Dietch, Fantagraphics Publisher Gary Groth, creator Jim Starlin, former Marvel editor
Carl Potts, and TV host Liana K. They looked at and talked about Blake Bells Top 10 pieces of Ditko art,
which spread throughout his early and mid career. There was a lot of talk about what Ditko did well and
set him apart from other artists, there was a bit of talk about how his views changed his work. There
was also a bit of contention between an audience member and Liana K over Ditko's philosophical views.
The panel was educational in terms of describing what Ditko brought to comic art and eventually lost.
Fan vs Pro Trivia Panel. (60.4mb, 66:00)
Peter David moderated and was hilarious. Mark Waid had to leave early and Kurt Busiek wasn't at the show so two audience
members took up the Pro side. The name pro's were Len Wein and Robert N. Skir from the animated X-men TV show.
Several people called for Peter David to join the pro side but as moderator he had already read all the
questions and answers. One of the audience members (Peter Svenson) was really knowledgeable and actually
answered most of the questions for the pro side. The other (Jason Luna) made some groan inducing guesses
to some questions. Peter was called early in the show to discovered his flight was canceled and he'd have
to spend an extra night in San Diego. He joked the winner of the show gets to put him up for the night.
Overall the questions were quite heavy on DC related stuff.
Web Comics, The Future of the Medium? (62.8mb, 68:37)
The creators were Scott Hepburn, Andy Belanger, Karl Kersch, Cameron Stewart, Dan "Jamie" Simon,
Jeff Moss, Brian McLaughlin, Tyrone McCarthy, Ramon Perez and Danielle Corsetto. The panel talked about
a wide range of general webcomics issues, not really about the panel topic. Most of it was Q&A among
fans and talk amongst the creators. A lot of it was pretty funny.
Mark Waid Telephone Interview (18.6mb, 20:23)
Mark Waid is a long time comic book veteran who has taken the Boom EIC position almost a year ago. He's also one of the new Amazing
Spider-Man writers. In this telephone interview we talk about his working for Boom, the mini-series he did for them called Potter's
Field, his upcoming work on Amazing Spider-Man and in his involvement with the lawsuits against the very stupid deadbeat Rick Olney.
Comics & Kids: Teaching with Sequential Art (49.8mb, 54:28)
On the panel was Teacher/Comic Book Retailer Jenn Stewart (The Dragon in Guelph, ON), Scott Chantler (Northwest Passage, Tek Jenson), Erik Kim (Owl Magazine), and Teacher/Artist Dave Watkins.
The panel was an excellent talk about the benefits of using comics to teach children. Several studies were brought up about comics vs prose books in stimulating reading.
Dave Watkins talked about his experience in using comics in the classroom. Jenn Stewart talked about her Comics in the Classroom project in helping teachers and librarians choose comics.
Scott Chantler and Eric Kim talked about their work which is being read by children and about the sequential art in general as compared to other mediums.
Some of the audience members were teachers and librarians.
Sequential Art on the Internet: Webcomics (46.2mb, 50:30)
On the panel were webcomic creators Andy B., Ramon Perez, Michael Cho (all from Transmission X) and Lar De Souza (Least I Can Do and Looking for Group).
The group talked about making money from webcomics and marveled over Lar De Souza's work that sprung from making webcomics. Cho talked about the benefits of cutting out the middlemen and dealing direct with the consumer. Another topic was about giving the content away for free and if that leads to sales when it comes to print collections.
The panel was moderated by Ty Buttars.
Darwyn Cooke's Next Frontier (40.9mb, 44:43)
Darwyn talked his upcoming fill in issue on Jonah Hex and how it came about (it involves alcohol),
his year of doing conventions and commissions, a bit about how important San Diego is to a lot of
artists is in terms of yearly income, his upcoming personal graphic novel and teases to his future
project which will be announced at San Diego. He also talked a bit about the comic market in terms of
black and white books vs colour in and outside of the direct market. Panel is moderated by Mark Askwith.
John Bell's Invaders From The North: Canadians and Comics (34.3mb, 37:30)
Author/Historian John Bell talks with two Hall of Fame Inductee's Pierre Fournier and Stanley Berneche about their careers in the
Canadian Comics Industry. Pierre Fournier created a satirical superhero comic, Les Aventures Du Capitaine Kebec and worked on magazines Croc and Titanic over a 15 year period.
Stanley Berneche worked on a counter culture humor magazine called Fuddle Duddle and created Captain Canada, also a satirical superhero feature.
Held at the Lillian H. Smith Library Auditorium.
Awards are in two formats. One recording containing the entire event (80.5mb, 88:01)
and broken into sections.
Part 1. Introduction by Rick Green and James Waley's Opening Remarks (8.72mb, 9:31)
Rick starts off with some humor and explains changes to the awards. James Waley thanks those that contributed to the Awards Ceremony.
Part 2. 3rd Quadrant Comic Shop owner Daryl Collison presents Outstanding Cover by a Canadian Artist (3.46mb, 3:47)
Award went to Steve Skroce for Doc Frankenstein #6 (Burleyman). Daryl accepted the award on Mr. Skroce behalf.
Part 3. Radio DJ Bill Paul presents Outstanding Canadian Comic Book &/or Graphic Novel Publisher (3.78mb, 4:08)
Award went to Drawn and Quarterly and was accepted by creator Chester Brown.
Part 4. Space Channel's Natasha Eloi presents Outstanding Comic Book related Achievement by a Canadian (4.54mb, 4:57)
Award went to David Watkins, History Teacher at Weston Collegiate Institute for using comic books in the classroom to teach kids.
Part 5. Space Channel's Mark Askwith inducts Edwin R. "Ted" McCall to the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame (3.65mb, 3:59)
Mark Askwith accepted the award on his behalf.
Part 6. Author John Bell inducts Stanley Berneche into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame (4.71mb, 5:08)
Stanley Berneche accepts the award.
Part 7. Writer Cecil Castellucci inducts Pierre Fournier into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame (8.37mb, 9:08)
Pierre Fournier accepts the award.
Part 8. Artist Tom Grummett inducts John Byrne into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame (5.45mb, 5:57)
Tom Grummett reads an acceptance speech written by John Byrne and accepts the award on John's behalf.
Part 9. Retailer and Teacher Jenn Stewart presents the Fan voted Favourite Canadian Comic Book Creator - English Language (2.34mb, 2:33)
The award went to Faith Erin Hicks for Zombies Calling (SLG Publishing.) Jenn Stewart accepted the award on her behalf.
Part 10. HOF Inductee Pierre Fournier presents the Fan voted Favourite Canadian Comic Book Creator - French Language (2.13mb, 2:20)
The award went to writer Philippe Girard aka phlppgrrd for La pasteque (Danger Public). Pierre Fournier accepted the award on his behalf.
Part 11. Associate Director Kevin Boyd presents the Fan voted Favourite International Comic Book Creator (3.36mb, 3:40)
Prior to the award Rick Green gets everybody to give Mary Waley an applause for her work during the show.
The award went to writer Ed Brubaker. Artist Cameron Stewart accepted the award on his behalf.
Part 12. Rick Green presents the Harry Kremer Outstanding Comic Book Retailer (3.09mb, 3:22)
The award went to Big B Comics (Hamilton, ON) owners Walter Durajlija and Marc Sims. Walter and Sims accepted the award.
Part 13. Gary Butler presents the Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Colourist (4.45mb, 4:51)
The award went to Dave McCaig for his work on various Marvel, DC and Oni Comics. The award was accepted by Gary Butler on his behalf.
Part 14. Jonathan Kuehlein presents the Outstanding Canadian Webcomic Creator/Creative Team (4.51mb, 4:55)
The award went to Ryan Sohmer and Lar De Souza (Least I Can Do and Looking for Group.) Lar De Souza was
there to accept the award on the teams behalf.
Part 15. Writer Howard Wong presents the Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist (5.39mb, 5:53)
The award went to Dale Eaglesham for his work on Justice Society of America (DC Comics). Dale Eaglesham accepted the award.
Part 16. Artists Agnes Grabowska and Francis Manapul present the Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer (6.16mb, 6:44)
The award went to Cecil Castellucci for The P.L.A.I.N. Janes (DC/Minx). Cecil accepted the award.
Part 17. Creator Scott Chantler presents Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist (5.05mb, 5:31)
The award went to Jeff Lemire for Essex County Vol. 1 and 2 (Top Shelf). Jeff accepted the award. Then there was the closing of the ceremonies.
Men of Iron Panel / Sketch off (56mb, 61:03)
David Michelinie, Bob Layton and Mike Grell talk about Iron Man and the role of a freelancer in dealing
with editors. Layton and Michelinie had not seen each other for 7 years prior to the panel. While the panel
took place, Grell and Layton did sketches of Iron Man which then given away via a draw. Panel was moderated by
Blake Bell.
Romita Sketch off / Q & A Panel (58mb, 63:03)
John Romita Sr. and Jr. do sketches but also answer question from the audience. The range of questions touched every base, from John Sr.'s earliest days with Stan Lee, Joe Maneely and Bill Everett, to John Jr.'s emotions while working on the 9/11 Amazing Spider-Man book.
DC Comics Panel (47mb, 51:15)
Moderated by Blake Bell, the panel includes a variety of talent working for DC. Included is Dale Eaglesham, Frank Quitely, J. Torres, Karl Kerschl, Chris Sprouse and Paul Dini on the dais for a full-filled hour of talk about the "Company Event" syndrome, deadlines, crowd scenes, and Zuda comics!
Marvel Q & A Panel (44mb, 48:07)
Moderated by CB Cebulski and a short appearance by World War Hulk writer Greg Pak. They open up the floor to the audience for general Q & A. Many answers are given including some interesting information about the level of involvement that Brian Michael Bendis and Warren Ellis have in their books after they've written the script.
Make Mine Manga! Panel (48mb, 51:54)
Moderated by Lianne Sentaur who is a Manga re-writer and worked for TokyoPop and Viz. Panelist were: Bryan Lee O'Malley, Becky Cloonan, Svetlana Chmakova, Jason Thomson and Paul Gravett. A lively panel with Lianne giving good questions and the panel popped some common beliefs about Manga. Among them was the influence Americans had on the Japanese and how far back the Japanese had influenced American artists. Gravett brought up that Frank Miller is an Manga inspired artist, incorporating Goseki Kojima's work.
WebComics Panel (50mb, 49:03)
Moderated by Ed Mathews. Panelist were: Chris Hastings, R. Stevens, Meredith Gran, Matt Forsythe, Danielle Corsetto, Rob Coughler, Ryan North, Joe Santoro, Jeffrey Rowland.
Among the topics were digital vs. print, making money from the web comic, other ways of doing webcomics (Zuda, Groups like ACT-IV-ATE, etc.) how long before they could quit their day job, how helpful are mainstream news articles about webcomics vs small blogs, what it's like having to live directly off their customers and not having any middle men and more.
Spotlight on Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer (56mb, 60:56)
Moderated by Chip Zdarsky. Poor, poor Chip. He did his research, came up with some intelligent questions and tried to do a serious panel. But this is Evan Dorkin we're talking about. He went into stand up comedian mode and started making fun of Chip. He talked a mile a minute and all along his cute little daughter would spit raspberry's into the microphone which made everybody laugh. Toward the end of the panel Dorkin told some funny stories about some run-in's he had with comic retailers.
Spotlight on Paul Pope and James Jean (48mb, 52:21)
Moderated by Chris Butcher. James Jean did a presentation of some of his artwork that will be coming out in a book later this year. Some of it was for an animation project that never got off the ground and some of it was just stuff he drew for himself. Paul Pope talked about illustration as well and they both talked a bit about the comic work they've done.
Graphic Novels in Bookstores Panel (41mb, 44:38)
This was focused on traditional prose book publishers and their entry into the graphic novel market. On the panel was Hope Larson, Carla Speed McNeil, Kean Soo, Raina Telgemeir and it was moderated by Scott Robins. There was a lot of talk about the learning curve book publisher editors are going through with Graphic Novels. Many of them don't realize the amount of time it takes to create one and give artists extremely tight deadlines, which quite often can't realistically be met. They also talked about Agents, new material vs. adaptations and more.
Women in Comics - Female Editors Panel (58mb, 63:11)
Robin Moore (Terry Moore's wife and business partner), Shelly Bond (Vertigo and MINX editor), Joan Hilty (DC and Johnny DC editor) and Renee Witterstaetter (Former Marvel editor, now Freelance editor, agent, production assistant to Michael Golden). The panel was moderated by long time pro Janet Heatherington.
Women in Comics - Visual Language of Comics Panel (74mb, 80:13)
Panel was moderated by long time industry pro Diana Tamblyn. This panel has 6 female creators. They are Tara McPherson (Cover Artist), Svetlana Chmakova (Dramacon - Tokyopop), Janet Heatherington (writer, Elvira - Claypool), Raina Telgemeier (Babysitters Club - Graphix, Scholastic, Inc.), Christine Norrie (artist, Hopeless Savages - Oni, Breaking Up - Graphix, Schoolastic, Inc.) and Faith Erin Hicks (Web Cartoonist).
Kids Comics Panel (54mb, 58:48)
Janet Heatherington moderates a panel full of people involved in kids comics. On the panel was Dan Davis (artist - DC Block Party), Michele LaFramboise (French Graphic Novelist), Joan Hilty (Johnny DC Editor), J. Torres (writer Johnny DC), Mike Choi (artist - Owl Magazine), Bryan McLachlin (writer - Owl Magazine), and Tania Del Rio (artist - Sabrina the Teenage Witch).
Vertigo/MINX Sneak Peak Panel (52mb, 56:25)
Panel hosted by Vertigo/MINX editor Shelly Bond. With her was Cecil Castellucci, writer of the first MINX book The Plane Janes. Part way through DC / Vertigo editor Joan Hilty joins the panel.
Held at the Holiday Inn.
Awards are in two formats. One recording containing the entire event (90mb, 97:51)
and broken into sections.
Part 1. Introduction by Rick Green & Rob Salem and speech by Jerry Robinson. (14mb, 14:42 )
Also very briefly, Stan Lee.
Part 2. Rick Green and James Waley. (8mb, 8:50)
James talks about those that contributed to the Awards Ceremony.
Part 3. Rick Green and Rob Salem present the Best Canadian Publisher Award. (4mb, 3:34)
It was won by Drawn and Quarterly. Award was accepted by cartoonist Chester Brown.
Part 4. Rick Green and Rob Salem, Space Host Natasha Eli, present the Harry Kramer Award for Best Canadian Retailer. (7mb, 6:56)
Jay and Shawna Bardyla from Happy Harbor Comics from Edmonton Alberta get the Award. A very emotional speech follows.
Part 5. Rick Green, Ed the Sock and Liana K. Present the Best Canadian Web Comic Award. (6mb, 6:20)
Winner was Dan Kim for April, May, June. He was there to accept the Award.
Part 6. Rob Salem, Hall of Fame. Inductees are: Albert Chartier, Jacques Hurtubise, Gerry Lazare, Howard Gene Day. (28mb, 30:10)
Presenters are: Francisco Rosa, Gabrielle Morrisette, Blake Bell and Dave Sim. Gene Day's Award was accepted by his brother David Day.
Part 7. Rob Salem, Gail Simone and Nicolla Scott present the Fan Favorite English and French Language Canadian Award. (7mb, 7:10)
The English award went to web cartoonist Dan Kim. It was accepted by Dan Kim. The French Language award went to Michel Rabagliati, it was accepted by Gabrielle Morrisette.
Part 8. Rick Green. Darwyn Cooke presents the Fan Favorite International Creator Award. (4mb, 3:44)
The Award was won by Brian K. Vaughan. It was accepted by Kevin Boyd.
Part 9. Rob Salem and Rick Green. Montage of Fallen Heroes. Then Outstanding Writer Award, presented by Karee Andrews. (7mb, 7:00)
Montage was a visual slide show of now dead heroes, shown with the old Incredible Hulk theme music.
The Writing Award winner was Darwyn Cooke, who accepted it.
Part 10. Rob Salem. Ty Templeton presents the Best Canadian Artist Award. (4mb, 3:40)
The award went to Darywn Cooke and J. Bone who accepted it.
Part 11. Rick Green. Matt Wagner presents the Best Canadian Cartoonist Award. (6mb, 5:45)
The winner was Darywn Cooke, who accepted his 3rd award of the night. James Waley, Rick Green and Rob Salem finish off the awards.
Dan Slott Panel (92mb, 100:00)
Dan Slott talks about writing comics and breaking into the big two. He also tells some funny stories about his time working for Marvel.
Carmine Infantino Panel (42mb, 45:58)
Comic Legend Carmine Infantino does a Q & A panel answering questions about his career and thoughts on the industry. Also on the panel is J. David Spurlock, publisher of Infantino's biography.
Roman Dirge Panel (41 mb, 44:21)
Roman Dirge is the creator behind the cult hit Lenore Comic Book. He gets interviewed, answers some fan questions. He tells a bunch of funny, embarrassing stories about himself. He also tells you about how father and how he scared the daylights out of him repeatedly as a child.
Cup of Joe - without Joe Quesada, but with CB Cebulski (50 mb, 53:07)
CB Cebulski answers fan questions for about everything Marvel.
William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy (40 mb, 43:23)
These two do their back and forth banter, tell some stories and answer some fan questions.
DC Big Guns panel (Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, Terry Dodson and Jim Lee) (37 mb, 40:21)
These four answer questions from the fans.
Phone Interview - Tony Tallarico (07/02/2006). (28 mb, 30:00)
Tony Tallarico is a Golden/Silver Age artist known for some oddball comics. He would create the first black solo title comic book title (Lobo, a western comic from Dell)
and do some political parody comics that got major mainstream press in the 60s.
A transcript can be read here.
Ramona Fradon panel. (51 mb, 55:44)
Starts with an introduction by Liana K and with a speech by Heidi MacDonald. Janet Heatherington interviews Silver Age artist Romana Fradon about her work.
She's best known for her co-created characters Metamorpho and Aqualad.
East Meets West Manga panel. (50 mb, 54:32)
Hosted by Chris Butcher. The panel stars Svetlana Chmakova, Jill Thompson, J. Torres and others talking about doing manga and
their reactions to it.
I've included audio mp3 recordings of the awards. They are available in two formats:
The entire event (78 mb, 85:26)
Or broken up into pieces:
Rob Salem and Rick Green hosted the awards. They were quite funny and did a great job. Founder of the Joe Shuster Awards James Waley gives a small speech. Then the keynote speaker Gerard Jones spoke a bit about Joe Shusters family origins and a bit about the origins of the comic book industry.
Rob Salem, Rick Green, James Waley and Gerard Jones (16 mb, 17:09)
Sara "Samm" Barnes presented the award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist Award. The Winner was Pia Guerra. Barnes accepted the award on her behalf.
Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist Award - Sara "Samm" Barnes (4 mb, 4:28)
Mark Askwith presented the Hall of Fame award to the family of Owen McCarron. Adam McCarron (son) and Dorothy (widow) accepted the award.
Hall of Fame Award - Mark Askwith and McCarron family (6 mb, 5:51)
Jill Thompson presented the Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Publisher Award. The winner was Drawn and Quarterly. The award was accepted by Chester Brown, who gave a small speech about being proud to be published by Drawn and Quarterly.
Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Publisher Award, Jill Thompson, Chester Brown (4 mb, 4:28)
Rob Pincombe presented the Hall of Fame award to the family of Jon St. Ables / Stables. It was accepted by his son Jon Stables and his grand-daughter Rosalind.
Hall of Fame Award - Rob Pincombe and Stables Family (9 mb, 9:30)
Ed the Sock and Liana K dressed up as Golden Age Flash and Power Girl. They did it as a joke to the new initials of the the awards: JSA. They did a funny skit and presented the award for Harry Kramer Award for Outstanding Comic Book Retailer Award. The award went to Strange Adventures of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Owner Calum Johnston accepted the award.
Honourable mention was given to runner-up Happy Harbour Comics & Toys of Edmonton, Alberta. It's owners are Jay Bardyla & Shawna Roe.
Harry Kramer Award for Outstanding Comic Book Retailer Award - Ed the Sock and Liana K, Calum Johnston (10 mb, 10:47)
Rob Salem and Rick Green presented the Canadian Fans Favourite International (non-Canadian) Comic Book Creator award. The winner was Brian K. Vaughan writer of Runaways, Ex Machina and Y the Last Man. Adrian Alphona (artist for Runaways) had Brian on the cell phone and by holding it up to the microphone, Brian spoke to the crowd. His voice came through loud and clear and it was a neato moment.
Canadian Fans Favourite International (non-Canadian) Comic Book Creator award - Salem and Green, Adrian Alphona and Brian K Vaughan (3 mb, 2:56)
Rob Pincombe presented the Hall of Fame award to the family of Win Mortimer. The award was accepted by his nephew Robert Cutting and his daughter Laura.
Hall of Fame Award - Rob Pincombe, Mortimer Family (9 mb, 9:49)
Tom Grummett presented the Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer Award. The award went to J. Torres, who was there and accepted the award.
Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer Award - Tom Grummett, J. Torres.mp3 (6 mb, 5:20)
J. Michael Straczynski presented the Hall of Fame Award to Dave Sim. Dave accepted the award and then sung "My Way."
Hall of Fame Award - J. Michael Straczynski, Dave Sim (10 mb, 9:59)
Dave Sim then presented the award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist. The winner was Bryan Lee O'Malley. Bryan accepted the award. Then the ceremony closed.
Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist - Dave Sim, Bryan Lee O'Malley.mp3 (5 mb, 4:43)
Neal Adams Panel (15 mb, 65:10)
Neal Adams is interviewed by Maggie Thompson from CBG. Among the topics Neal talks about are:
Warren Ellis panel. He answers questions asked by fans and tells stories.
Warren Ellis On:
Alan Moore (3 mb, 3:03)
Authority after he left (2 mb, 1:38)
Beer and the Garth Ennis Stag Party (5 mb, 5:09)
Excalibur and X-men (2 mb, 2:12)
Hellstrom and Druid (3 mb, 2:30)
His Knee Injury and Cane (2 mb, 2:00)
Picking Artists and Judge Dread (4 mb, 4:00)
San Diego Comicon and Bars (6 mb, 6:08)
Spider Glasses design (1 mb, 0:58)
Why he turned down Deadman (3 mb, 2:18)
Writing Bastards (1 mb, 1:10)
Writing JLA (1 mb, 1:10)
Writing Justice League Cartoon (3 mb, 3:15)
Writing Spider (1 mb, 0:42)
Cerebus Speaks! By Dave Sim (15 mb, 62:49)
Dave Sim reads comical excerpts from his Cerebus series, doing voice imitations of the characters from his books.
Jeff Smith presentation (12 mb, 52:39)
Jeff Smith talks while showing a slide show of images about his Bone books. This was attended by a mix of adults and kids.
The 1st (2005) Doug Wright Awards (15 mb, 62:04)
The first Doug Wright Awards, featuring Seth, Doug Wrights family and more.