Comics in Halifax

It’s been a big week in comic book news here in Halifax.

First there was last week’s release of the third volume of Scott Pilgrim (by current Halifax resident & HGPA member Bryan Lee O’Malley). This was a big enough deal get coverage in a national paper (see a scan here).

If you believe what you read on the Internets:

• Scott Pilgrim books are the distilled essence of pure genius
• they capture the essence of our generation
• Mal is God’s most special angel and is made of lightI totally stole this phrase from Matt Fraction, who also has an excellent comic out this week: Five Fists of Science, wherein Nikolai Tesla and Mark Twain save the world. This post is about Halifax comic news, though, so I relegate this mention to a footnote..

I think the Internets might be engaging in a bit of hyperbole (shock!) but the books are certainly really well done, and a lot of fun to read. I certainly was looking forward to this oneAnd I know a lot of people, including at least one published author, who are already starting to ask about Volume 4 and I totally recommend you go buy the books–and not just because I want Mal to have more money to bring to poker!

If you don’t know about Scott Pilgrim, go check out the free comic from this year’s FCBD. (You can also get previews of the first three volumes from the main Scott Pilgrim site.) Also, the Scott Pilgrim Wikipedia entry has lots of information, including links to many reviews, and lists of the many awards and award noms Mal had garned for the book.

I’ve previously mentioned current Halifax resident, and “come from away“, Hope Larson–oops, I mean “Hope fucking Larson, the hottie from Flight“–here. She also had some pretty big news to announce this week: she’s signed a two book deal with Simon and Shuster!

Hope is too hard on herself in that articleI like what Joanna Carlson says about it: “It’s great to see a creator being brutally honest about their analysis of their work, if surprising in this press-puffery comic world. I’d disagree with her about how well her design and artwork serve her stories in her previous graphic novels, though — I think her ability to integrate the three without boundaries or obvious separation is a large part of what drew me to her work.”, as people who have read Salamander Dream and Gray Horses will know, but it’s still interesting to hear creator’s changing opinions of their own work, and the motivating forces behind its creation.

Of course, it’ll be a couple of years before we see anything in print from that deal–the first of the two is “tentatively” on the 2008 schedule–but I see it is pure-D good news. I can’t wait to see what she does.

Oh, and in case you didn’t know, Larson at some point in the past consented to let O’Malley marry her. They’re the comics power couple of Atlantic Canada.

Perhaps the news that’s getting the most media play here in town this week though, is the news that this month’s issue of Brian Wood‘s comic series Local (which came out this week) focuses on Halifax. The series is set in a different city each issue, and a tremendous amount of research goes into the visuals and setting.

Since Halifax is the only Canadian city featured in the series, it’s been getting quite a bit of media play here. There was an article in the Daily News today. Tuesday the local evening program on CBC Radio did an interview about the issue with Calum Johnston. Cal is both the owner of the best comic shop in Canada…with the possible exception of The Beguiling, but that’s in Toronto, and so has access to the biggest market in Canada–I think it’s more impressive what Cal manages to do in a market the size of Halifax., and my pusher.

Trish, Sarah, and I gave the visuals from the issue a detailed perusal over dinner Wednesday night, and we found them to be extremely accurate. I also dug the story, as I have the other issues of Local so far. I’ve actually been a fan of Wood‘s for years–ever since I first encountered Channel ZeroI still have a Channel Zero t-shirt, which is awesome, but which I wouldn’t wear during a border crossing given the current political climate.. Almost everything he’s done since then has pleased me–the more overtly political stuff, and the more intimate, personal stuff in particular.

I also should point out that lettering in all issues of Local is done by Halifax’s power comics couple, so there’s another connection there.