"Two Generals" Moves to McClelland & Stewart

Those of you who have watched or listened to recent interviews I've given may have heard me refer to the publishing details for my upcoming book Two Generals as being "up in the air." No longer.

Despite the book's obvious educational value, its original publisher Tundra Books balked at the content of the script as being inappropriate to include in their catalogue of young adult classics. But fear not, fans of graphic military biographical non-fiction! After a few months of renegotiation, the project has been taken over by Tundra's parent company, McClelland & Stewart, who will offer it in both their adult and young adult catalogues.

McClelland & Stewart is Canada's oldest and most prestigious literary publisher. The roster of authors they've published reads like a Can-lit who's who: Robertson Davies, Margaret Atwood, Rohinton Mistry, Alice Monro, Jane Urquhart, Guy Vanderhaege (one of my favourites), and the memoirs of the late former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

Now the bad news: the lost summer means the book's release is now slated for early spring 2010. I'll be working on a second draft of the script over the next few weeks, and starting to draw as soon as the first Three Thieves book is in the can. Until then, here are a couple of teaser panels from the pages I've pencilled so far.

And yes...my book has both Louis Armstrong and Hitler in it! The question is why doesn't yours?

Three Thieves Progress Report

On the weekend I finished pencilling the first act of the first book in my Three Thieves series (which is titled Tower of Treasure, pending publisher approval) and thought now would be a good time to post an update, as I haven't mentioned it since the deal was signed.

Series editor Karen Li at Kids Can Press did an amazing job helping me get the script in shape, and as usual the story and dialogue are getting another polish as I draw. Obviously I can't share too much, but I've posted a three-page sequence that I really enjoy, one which hopefully gives some of the flavour of the book--physical, fast-paced, and fun.

So far, the project has been a lot of fun, it's coming out well, and it's even ahead of schedule. Here's hoping all those things continue to be true.

I hope to soon have an update on my other ongoing project, Two Generals, as well. Anyone who's listened to any of my recent interviews will have learned that things with that book have been complicated recently, but the publishing issues have worked themselves out, and as soon as the papers are signed there will be a significant announcement to make. Stay tuned!

Convention Sketch Round-Up

With convention season coming to a close for another year, I thought maybe it would be time for a new tradition. Like most cartoonists, I spend most of my time at con appearances drawing for fans--quick (10-15 minute) marker drawings, usually of a favourite character or theme, for a price of $20 apiece. Some of these end of being pretty good (if I do say so myself), and as many of them end up online anyway, I figure they might as well end up online here, too.

So, here's the first of what will likely be many posts to come containing some of my favourite con sketches. Enjoy!

This one goes back a few years, and is in fact one of my very first convention sketches. But I still really like it. Oni Press editor-in-chief James Lucas Jones keeps a Royal Tenenbaums-themed sketchbook which features art from nearly all of the artists who have worked for the company over the years (which I probably don't need to tell you is an impressive lot.) I picked Gene Hackman as Royal, since he was the easiest to caricature.

This one, of Captain Jack Sparrow, is much more recent. I did it at last month's Fan Expo Canada.

And this one, of the classic Flash villain called The Trickster, was from a show earlier this year, but damned if I can remember which one.