Fiona Staples

I haven't had a chance to read the latest trade paper back edition of Saga (volume 5), I am waiting for the perfect time to delve into the amazing world that artist Fiona Staples and writer Brian K Vaughan have lovingly created.  Hopefully a quiet and sunny weekend morning where I can absorb all the richness and texture of the art and story.

I was trying to think of a good metaphor for Fiona's work and what came to me is that she's like the Wayne Gretzky of comic books, she seems to have been born to make comics. She has pared down her art to it's essence, her line work is economical and graceful. Her painted colors and backgrounds are energetic and exciting but never too flashy. I might be building it up too much, but so far Saga is one of those books that really does live up to the hype.

Here is some of the hype:

World-class talent teams up to create this galactic adventure that is comics' finest space opus of our time. Vaughan crisply depicts the perils of parenting in wartime. And Staples Harvey award-winning pen dazzles on almost every page. - The Washington Post

Saga is not just one of the standout comic books of the last decade it's an incredible affirmation that there's still room for originality in science fiction, even in a marketplace dominated by powerhouse franchises. - The Atlantic

Jillian Tamaki

Last year Jillian Tamaki was awarded a Governor General's Award for Children Literature for her YA graphic novel This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki. This year she is back with another super graphic novel Super Mutant Magic Academy, which she also wrote.

SMMA is an excellent example of the change that is occurring in publishing. Originally created as a web comic it was only later expanded into a printed graphic novel. What hasn't changed is that it features more of the vivid drawings, poignant emotions, and wry humour that Jillian has become well known for.

Scott Kowalchuk

When Scott Kowalchuk was at art school he was already doing his signature retro comic book style art. It was pretty sweet back then and even sweeter now but in an age of Dark Knights I wondered where his 1960's inspired work would get the spotlight it deserved. Only a few years later and the answer seems obvious – a 1960's inspired Batman comic! This is the second issue Scott has drawn and it's no riddle that his passion and tenacity has so quickly given him an opportunity to be a part of this timeless classic comic book series.

Riley Rossmo

Riley Rossmo visited the students at ACAD last week and among the words of wisdom he imparted was a variation on the idea that a person needs to do something for 10000 hours in order to be truly be good at it. For comic books the idea is an artist needs to do 1000 pages (which he figured would work out to about 10000 hrs) to get to where they needed to be as a comic book artist.

With all the comics that Riley has published he is far beyond that page count – and his work is pretty amazing because of it. The final issue of his most recent series Rasputin was released just last week and is his finest work to date. It must be a daunting challenge to take a subject from the dusty past and make it into something exciting and relevant to a contemporary audience. Riley's interpretation of Rasputin seems to do it effortlessly, it just seems natural that Rasputin appear as this post modern action anti-hero.

Dena Seiferling

I am enamoured by the frozen instants of time that ACAD instructor and alumni Dena Seiferling has captured with her needle felting sculptures. Each character tells a moment of story that invites me into their imagined lives. They feel sentimentally familiar, like a favourite picture book character from childhood come to life.



Dena's characters are super sweet, but not sugary sweet. They are sculpted with a sophistication and realism which, combined with a healthy dollop of quirkiness, gives the designs a living personality. They feel so imbued with life that looking at photos of their creation feels almost uncomfortable to me, like taxidermy. The accomplished sketches can be appreciated all on their own, and I find it intriguing to see how they are translated into the finished sculptures.

 Dena will be bring her raw wool creations to Make It Edmonton Nov 26-29th and Market Collective in Calgary Dec 18-20.

We're Back for the 2015 fall semester

Whew it's been a while! But school is in full swing and I have lot's to show and talk about. Our first post is just about ready and I will be posting it shortly.