Visions of an Icon

On Saturday, June 14th, the Lillian H. Smith Library in Toronto will be hosting The Sequential Art Symposium '08, which features a stellar line-up of talented comics industry people doing panel discussions in the afternoon, followed by the Joe Shuster Awards ceremony at night. As 2008 is the 70th anniversary of Superman, this event also features the Visions of an Icon art show, featuring 70 different Superman pieces by 70 different Canadian comics artists, myself included.

My favourite thing about Superman has always been the transformation he makes from Clark Kent. He's this bumbling glasses-wearing nerd, but he's got Superman inside of him, who comes bursting out now and then. It's not hard to see why that's made a strong connection with generations of young people. So that's why I chose the image I did:

I also decided to go with a distinctly 1938 version of the character, both to honour Joe Shuster and because my favourite version of Superman is the original. Before the supervillains and mad scientists came along, Superman was just a guy who roughed up wife-beaters, slum landlords, and other Depression-era lowlifes -- and took great delight in doing so.

So come out to the event on the 14th and check out the other pieces, too. I'll be there signing books all day, then presenting the award for Outstanding Canadian Cartoonist at the Shusters afterwards. It's going to be a lot of fun...don't miss it!