Recap

Hello there! How’s your tan? I’ve been touring pools and biking a lot so mine’s going great. If only it lasted all winter!

Sixty. Two. Thousand. People.
That’s how many people attended the Montreal Comiccon earlier this month. YEAH. Luckily I didn’t get COVID but I forgot how exhausting it is to table for three full days. Thankfully, I was surrounded by my comic buddies so it made the (rare) down times a lot more entertaining. We get really stupid at around hour 5 of standing behind a table! The week before the event, I decided to finish this sketch of Eddie Munson to try and ride on the huge Stranger Things popularity wave. I wish it had sold more but hey, at least it’s done! And guys, look at this “Everything Everywhere” print I got from Marie Bergeron, who was actually there when I walked by for once! I’ve been a huge fan of hers for years, so there was no way I was passing up on this poster. Ah, spending your profits on the same day, it’s a way of life. 

In other more nerve-wracking news, I was minding my own business, biking back from Nota Bene when I got a message concerning Oni Press. You know, my English publisher for Utown? An article had just dropped saying the company fired four senior staff members and was rumored to shut down all of their original content in favor of franchised IPs. My stomach dropped and I spent the following evening refreshing Twitter, which was a VERY bad idea. Things eventually cooled down and I talked to my editor last week: Utown is still on track, albeit coming out later than initially planned. The US publishing industry is responsible for quite a few of my premature white hair but as always, we’ll pull through! What a week though!

As I mentioned last month, I had to close my Etsy shop for two weeks. I used that pent up rage and revived my old Big Cartel shop. Doing things out of spite is an excellent motivator! Since the start of the year, I’ve been trying to become more independent in my business and having my own hosted shop feels really good. I’ll have to work super hard at promoting it to make up for the loss of traffic from Etsy’s HUGE market place but I’m ready! Check it out if you can, tell me what you think! 

In order to have a shop exclusive, I finally scanned and formatted this illustration of Nadia from Russian Doll. It’s one of my favorite drawing from this year 🙂

Announcements

I’ll be attending the Festival de BD de Prévost on August 12, 13 and 14. It’s outside, it’s nice, it’s free and there’s a lake at the resort we’re staying at. It’s like work AND vacation all at once.

That’s it for now! If you go out (please go out), don’t forget your sunscreen! See you in a month 🙂

Cool stuff

On the little screen:

• I enjoyed Moonknight a lot more than I thought I would! Oscar Isaac is brilliant in it.  
• Stop everything and go watch RRR on Netflix, preferably with friends. It makes Avengers Endgame look like a school play. I SCREAMED.
• Open your Mind, a really well-done documentary on the history and science behind psychedelic drugs and their use in modern medecine.

Under my thumb:

• I’ve been playing a bit of Perfect Tides, a retro-looking point and click game taking place in the early 2000s. It’s really relaxing so far!

In my ears:

• Death Song by Black Angels. It’s trippy, heavy at times and super melodic. An instant buy. 
• Been revisiting Lush, a British shoegaze/guit-rock that instantly hits a nice nostalgia chord with me . 
• Gorillaz has a new song and a really good video called Cracker Island and it’s a banger. 

Some reads: 

• Speaking of Gorillaz, I got the big art book full of new Hewlett art and great hommages from artists from all over. I’m overdue for a proper fanart!
• Some Japan-themed reads: an interview with the owner and founder of Madarake, a legendary hobby/book store in Tokyo. I spent a good hour in there when I went in 2018, completely immersed in the art book section. We need places like this, more than ever. In the same vein, the history of Shonen Jump, the magazine that shaped the manga industry. Just walking by the building gave me chills. Here’s a tour!
• A look inside Shibuya’s Bridge Listening bar. I love the idea of a “third place” between work and home (which is the same for me). Plus, don’t you just want to be friend with the owner?

Cool artists:

Étienne Poisson, who I met at Comiccon. He’s frighteningly good with ink, holy shit.

Recap

Hi everyone! It’s time for the June recap, so let’s just dive right in and not dwell on anything that happened this month, because, holy hell.

The biggest highlight of the month was my trip with Boum to TCAF, after a 4 year absence. We went as tourists and not exhibitors this time, which gave us plenty of time to look around and buy all the zines and books. So. Many. Books. And since I love talking shop with people who are outside my little group so I was looking forward to spending some time with Danielle Corsetto and Dan Berry, two seasoned comic artists I admire a lot. I missed the TCAF hangs!

Utown is getting some attention from the press so I made a post about its coverage on Patreon. My poor protagonist is getting dunked on a lot, and I love it. Maybe I have a pattern, but I do like creating despicable characters. As long as the readers feel strongly about them, I’m happy! Marco from Nuclear Winter also ended up having a bad rep, which he deserved wholeheartedly. 

Speaking of Nuclear Winter, it might be time to announce that there’s a french-language anthology in the works. All three volumes, collected, re-letered and re-mastered. The English-language editions went through a thorough recoloring, so that’s what we’re putting in the omnibus, as well as an 8 page-prequel that only exists in a collective that came out 9 years ago. Re-visiting my first comic is equal parts cringe and comforting. There are a lot of issues with writing and layouts, but there’s no way it could’ve gone any differently. It was my first real comic project, holy shit! I’m still very fond of Nuclear Winter and I hope the collected edition can find its way into people’s bookshelves. And into their heaaaaarts!!

The best drawing of the month comes in the form of a fake album cover/track list. I made an “official Utown soundtrack” to accompany the book, like you would for a movie. Music has always been a huge part of my process and sharing playlists has never been easier, so I took advantage of that!

Announcement

The Montreal Comiccon is back in full swing, baby, from July 8th to July 10th. I’ll be tabling the entire time, so come and say hi if you’re around. I’ll be at booth #2730, at the very end of the showfloor, with most of my fellow comic friends. And yes, I’ll have some Utown copies to sign!

On a more ugh note, my Etsy shop is closed for a few days. Long story short, Etsy has changed its sales tax options and it’s screwing me over big time. I’m thinking about opening a shop on another website, so I’ll keep you posted on this. That’s the reality of operating a small business on the Internet. You can’t get too attached to platforms…

Alright, that’s all for now. Enjoy summer you guys, I’ll see you next month 🙂

Cool stuff

On the little screen:

Each summer I get my bike out and wonder how much better our life would be if there were generally less cars in cities. So enjoy a few bike-related videos!

• How bicycles boosted the feminist movement: 
• Dreaming of car-free streets.  
• Yeah yeah, Umbrella Academy and Stranger Things and all that. But Heartstopper?! YES PLEASE.

In my ears:

• Always a fan of Belle and Sebastian’s peppy’s and oh-so-listenable brand of twee-pop. Their latest album has been on steady rotation over here. https://belleandsebastian.bandcamp.com/album/a-bit-of-previous
• The Smile is not Radiohead but they released the best Radiohead album in years : https://thesmile.bandcamp.com/album/a-light-for-attracting-attention
• Normally, I’d find a band like Cave In way too brutal but this album is a wonderful blend of heavy riffs and beautiful melodies.   https://cavein.bandcamp.com/album/final-transmission

Reading:

• Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. It’s like an anime in a book, with a ruthless and unapologetic heroine. Big mechas, magic, technology, everything!! 

Cool artists, TCAF edition!