I Don't Like Mundays

We've got bent appeal

2009-10-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

More good news, friends!

A Certain Bent Appeal, one of my favourite book blogs, recently reviewed my book. The delightful B. Kienapple gave it a choice review. (Full disclosure: we travel in the same circles – the book publicity world – and have met a few times.) Check out these outstanding pull quotes:

'Munday, who previously contributed to this year's Stripmalling, has done
Margaret Atwood one better by setting his post-apocalyptic world in a very-recognizable Toronto where only 25 year olds have managed to survive.'

and

'It's good to have a talented homegrown comic artist among us to showcase what we love about this city.'

So, take that, Margaret Atwood!

Anyway, because B. has demonstrated such fine taste, I encourage you all to visit her blog regularly. It's got some great reviews and (my personal favourite) an ongoing feature called 'Books to Lose Your Virginity To.' Also, she's one of the few people I've ever met who likes the comic series Baker Street, so bonus points for that.

Reviewed!

2009-09-29T19:13:00.001-07:00

The first review for Quarter-Life Crisis is in, and it's a good one! My favourite Toronto newsblog, Torontoist, did a story on the book. Writer Stephen Michalowicz gave it a nice review (in a fantastically titled article, 'Worst Quarter-Life Crisis Ever'), and included some big images from the book. He also brought up some good points about a few weaknesses that I agree with.

Check it out here: http://torontoist.com/2009/09/quarter-life_crisis.php

And I love that someone noticed the THX 1138 reference.

Word On The Street-wise

2009-09-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

This Sunday (September 27), I'll be reading at The Word On The Street in Toronto with two extremely talented people -- Jeff Lemire (Essex County Trilogy, Sweet Tooth) and Willow Dawson (100 Mile House, No Girls Allowed).

The Word On The Street happens from 11 to 6 at Queen's Park. Come out and see me embarrass myself beside two actually amazing artists. (But seriously, it should be fun.) We'll be at the Comics and Graphic Novels Tent from 4 to 5 p.m. And there will be PowerPoint!

The Making Of Documentary

2009-09-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Quarter-Life Crisis was recently printed by the fine people at Coach House Printing, and they did a fantastic job. For the uninitiated, Coach House is a publisher and printer based in Toronto with a storied history and a bang-up staff. I took some photos during the binding process of the book.

The books are done and in (some) stores now! (I'll be putting them in more retail outlets in the coming weeks. And I'll be at The Word On The Street at Queen's Park in Toronto this Sunday, September 27, reading at the Comics and Graphic Novels Tent at 4 p.m.

The Road to Fan Expo

2009-08-27T21:25:00.001-07:00

Like Loo-bot, I've also been chained to my drawing table and computer, finishing up the first book of Quarter-Life Crisis, trying to meet my printing deadline. Since I'm getting it printed where I work, Coach House Books, my deadline is a little later. It's going to be tight, but I think I'm going to make it (knock on wood).

But I'm really excited to have something new and something I'm proud of at the convention this time around. I'm happy with how the book is coming together.

Here's the cover spread for Quarter-Life Crisis. Thoughts? Like or dislike?

I heard they suck live

2009-06-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

This Friday night, I'll be 'reading' from my comic-in-progress, Quarter-Life Crisis, at the Taddle Creek launch party (at Jet Fuel Coffee, 519 Parliament Street). The latest issue of Toronto-based litmag Taddle Creek is an all-comics issue, featuring work from Michael Cho, J. Bone, Dave Lapp, Zach Worton and others more talented than myself. I'm not in the actual issue, but somehow I will be performing. (Dave Lapp also will do a reading.)

I've done a couple of live comic 'readings' before, but it's always a bit strange. Not easy to match the experience with a reading. But I'm borrowing a projector and my gal's laptop, so be prepared for mild amusement. Could be disastrous and/or entertaining.

Living on Video

2009-05-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

A video made by Vepo Studios and Open Book Toronto about the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. They interviewed me (for some reason), alongside Bryan Lee O'Malley, the Tamaki cousins, Chris Butcher and others.

TCAF Haul

2009-05-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

TCAF wrapped up a bit earlier today, and the SketchKrieg! gang and I had a lot of fun. What a great festival. Great guests, great attendees. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I'm running on empty after a weekend full of comic stuff, but I thought I should give a quick rundown of some of the excellent reading material I picked up over the past few days.

AWOL'd: Leeves by Jason Loo
Pope Hats by Ethan Rilly
Jan's Atomic Heart by Simon Roy
Sword of My Mouth by Jim Munroe and Shannon Gerard
Monster Cops by Chip Zdarsky
Medicine: Artwork by Brian Hoang
Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards by Jim Ottaviani and Big Time Attic
Beards of Our Forefathers by David Malki!

I hope to post a couple short reviews in the coming weeks ... maybe during the long weekend.

TCAF!

2009-05-09T04:32:00.000-07:00

I'm at TCAF (The Toronto Comic Arts Festival) all weekend long. May 9 and 10. It's at the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street). Should be lots of fun.

Postcards from the Edge

2009-05-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

Since I failed so hard to get the actual book done in time for TCAF, I decided to make a postcard. It's like 1/120th of the book:

Though I fear I may have made it too hasty. I hope it looks all right.

Some recent Quarter-Life Crisis sketches

2009-04-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

A post to demonstrate that (a) I'm alive, and (b) working on Quarter-Life Crisis as hard as I can.

So, some images from new sections of Quarter-Life Crisis. A couple pages from a flashback scene, both in original thumbnail (and crudely scripted form) and in penciled form. Then thumbnail sketches and final pencils of a scene of our protagonists staking out a Shoppers Drug Mart in the pouring rain.(I've actually been working a lot on getting a new website up and ready before TCAF.)

Unfortunately, as I get close to finishing pencils on the entire first book, I realize I need to add a couple scenes. Namely, one between the characters of Harper and Sonja ... one that involves the robot 1895s. (Otherwise, they only make one appearance in the first book.)

I also want to add a scene hinting at the sinister projects going on at the Rogers Centre, but haven't thought of a good way to do that and maintain the book's perspective. The book is entirely from Harper's perspective. There's not a scene in it that doesn't include him, and he narrates the entire thing. I don't really want to show a scene with the Rogers that he would have no access to ... It's a bit of a stumbling block for me at this point.

These last-minute additions also make me wonder what sort of extras (if any) I should include in the final printed book. Any requests? Sketches? Maps? Pin-ups? A mix-tape listing (a la AWOL'd or Scud before it)? I'm taking suggestions now.

Intro

2009-04-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this blog of mine. The site is in the process of being spruced up. Apologies for the mess. We'll start getting posts up here soon enough.

In the meantime, please visit sketchkrieg.blogspot.com for samples of my work, as well as those of my fellow members of SketchKrieg!, a Toronto-based illustration collective.

Stripmalling, a novel by Jon Paul Fiorentino that I illustrated, published by ECW Press, is now available in bookstores almost everywhere.

I'm also hard at work at Quarter-Life Crisis, a new book set in a post-apocalyptic Toronto. It's Mad Max meets Scott Pilgrim, and (until I have my site fully operational), you can view its progress here.