Too Busy to Even Think of a Title for This

It’s Monday morning and we’re starting one of the busiest weeks we’ll be having this year!

Monday September 10 (TODAY!!), Ty is appearing on CHCH TV’s Morning Live show. Starting at 9am, he’ll be on for the whole hour drawing away and answering questions (although not on camera the whole time!). Channel 11, I believe.

Later this afternoon, Ty and I will head downtown to The Comics Embassy which houses COMIC BOOK BOOTCAMP to set up the tables, put the white board up, and generally make sure that everything is good to go for…

Tuesday September 11, when Ty teaches the first class ever in his brand new space at 392 Spadina Avenue, in downtown Toronto–WRITING FOR COMICS (Part One). There is one spot left, if you want to email us for a last-minute registration (comicbookbootcamp AT gmail DOT com). Class starts at 7pm, and Ty is soooooo looking forward to this!!

Wednesday September 12, Ty will be teaching DRAWING THE HUMAN FIGURE FROM YOUR HEAD, 7-10pm. We have two spaces still open, if you’d like to register.

Thursday September 13, our youngest son turns 13! Sean has an awkward birthday as it’s just after the start of school each year, and the day before we leave for a weekend. But 13! He’s turning 13 on the 13th! He’s been counting down to this for months! We’ll have the family over for a birthday dinner and there will be cake!

My youngest son

Friday September 14, crack of dawn, me, Ty and two or three of our kids will pile into the car (might send one of the kids with their older brother and my daughter-in-law) and drive to Montreal where Ty will be appearing at the MONTREAL COMIC CON all weekend.

Our oldest son will be working (informally) at the show (my daughter-in-law and teenaged son will be there over the weekend, volunteering). And we’re looking forward to seeing our friends from HEROES OF THE NORTH again. They’ll be there all weekend, with different cast members of their webseries making appearances each day. (Ty wrote a 12 pge story for them recently–the artist, Daniel Wong, will be at the con all weekend as a member of the SPENT PENCILS STUDIO.)

Friday, the con runs 4-9pm. After we’ll be at a barbecue with other comics creators–Ty is looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting creators we haven’t met before.

Saturday September 15, Ty will be at the MONTREAL COMIC CON 10am-7pm. After the show will be THE JOE SHUSTER AWARDS, AT 7:30PM. I always love to go to the show and watch Canadian creators get some well-deserved love, but I have a vested interest this year–Ty has been nominated in the WEBCOMICS CREATOR category for BUN TOONS.

After, we’ll be off to the post-awards party to celebrate all the winners, and to get a chance to talk to everyone.

Sunday September 16 will be the last day of the MONTREAL COMIC CON,  10am-5pm. Last chance for sketches, signatures and for Ty to tell stories! Then, it’ll be back to our sister-in-law’s home for a chance to have a family dinner with her, our youngest kids and our nephew and nieces.

Monday September 17, we’ll all pile back in the car for an early-morning drive back to Toronto. (Probably with me driving–Ty will probably still be asleep).

And, through all of this–Ty is working on Marvel Ultimate Spider-Man Adventures! Pencilling and inking and plotting!

Keiren

Fan Expo Canada 2012: Friday

Back to the convention today!

I’ll be doing a workshop at 4pm, Creating a Character, with my great friend and sometime collaborator Dan Slott. Been a few years since Dan and I’ve been in a room together; I’m looking forward to spending time with him this weekend and to doing the workshop with him. He wasn’t able to do it last year as he had to cancel out of the con (because of the hurricane) and I ended up doing the workshop on my own and really enjoying it. I can’t imagine how much more fun it will be with Dan.

I will be sitting in Artists Alley at P30A–look for me there. I have original art, sketchbooks, copies of  Bigg Time, Bill the Boy Wonder:  The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, and most of my original teeth. Although I’m not selling or sketching my teeth.

AND!! Don’t forget–copies of HOLMES INCORPORATED #3 are available for sale today. Look for artist Christopher Yao in Booth 614, at Rachael Well’s booth A165, and at the Templeton-Smiths tables in Artists Alley, P30A and P30B. Stop by and pick up your copy!!

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AND!! don’t forget–if you’re interested in taking any of my classes at COMIC BOOK BOOTCAMP, you can ask me or Keiren Smith about them, at P30A/B. Come by and pick up a flyer.

AND!! My 12 page story for Heroes of the North, The Canadian:  The Man I Think I Am, is available ONLINE and FREE as of today! Pencilled/inked by Spent Pencils’ Daniel Wong (or Bootcamper Daniel Wong, or Holmes Inc. #2 alum Daniel Wong!), colours by Aljosa Tomic, lettering by Zen, cover by Donald Caron.

Ty the Guy OUT!!

Nepotism Friday! Keiren Smith edition!

I always talk about how busy I am around here, creating fine comic book based entertainment for the masses with all those crazy knucklehead characters I get to write and draw….

Like my wildly hysterical script for Avenging Spider-Man #8, (cover by Shane Davis, interiors by Matt Clark), due in stores in just eleven weeks! Silver Sable and Doc Strange Guest Star! Order yours today!

…but my wife has been doing so much colouring work around the funnybook biz lately that this month, she’s got more to read out there than I do.

So, because you should love her as much as I, I’m showing off some pages from her most recent work, with links to where you can read it online.  Who says my home in Toronto isn’t the House of Ideas?  Oh, this Cease and Desist order from Marvel  does.    Well, OTHER than this legal restraint?  Who?  Who?

First up:  A few teaser pages from a HEROES OF THE NORTH story about their characters Nordik and Eightball, available as an online comic book before the print edition comes out later (from Ardden Entertainment; the first omnibus collection sold out, so grab the second one as soon as you see it!-kts).  Read it while it’s free, fans, it just went online a few days ago.

I LOVE the blues she chose.  The pencil and ink artwork is by my friend David J. Cutler, who did the fun-but-hard-to-find-a-copy-of Johnny Canuck and the Northern Guard comic book with me last year.  I just can’t seem to quit David J., but one look at these pages and you can see why I’m a fan.

The lesson of this tale seems to be:  Ladies, dress warmly for cold weather.  Either that or it’s a thrilling murder mystery with cool action sequences and gunfights and stuff, like a good comic book should be.   All in glorious colour for LESS than a dime!  Beat that!

I dig the first panel on this page!

So click on over and read this story and show our Canadian comic book creators a little love.  It’s even better with the word balloons, though it covers up the pretty drawings and the pretty colours.

Keiren also just finished colouring a project called “Taking Flight” for writer Stephen Sutherland and artist Garry McLaughlin, who hail from Glasgow, a town with even more foreboding weather than Toronto.

If you're getting a "Frank Quitely" vibe, you're not alone.

This is the just the first three pages.  It’s available for pre-order at Laser Age Comics, but it won’t be printed up until April 9, so you’ll have to pace and bite at your nails until then.  I really like the colour work my one-and-only did on these pages.  The sense of quiet and peace as this character learns what it’s like to fly is really brought across by the palette she chose.

Here’s a page from a YMCA comic book project Keiren finished a few weeks ago…

The Adventures of Y Guy, written by another Holmes Inc. alumnus Kathleen Gallagher

Pencil art by Christopher Yao this time around…an alumnus of the Holmes Incorporated comic books I put out every year with the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop.  You can read the story here, and pick up the comics at local YMCAs in the Toronto area.

Just so you don’t think I’m a completely lazy sod, I have an issue or two of Ultimate Spider-Man Adventures coming up that I’ve done script and art chores for a story, as well as an issue of the Simpsons I wrote and drew, due in stores any time.  And my OWN Heroes of the North 12 pager in the pipeline for early summer.  Oh, and don’t forget tasty, tasty BACON!! (more on this as it crisps and develops).

But you guys get enough of me around here.

Check out the work of my own personal comic book colourist (her deviantART site), and let her know she’s pretty good at this gig.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your Keiren Templeton-Smith Bun Toon Bonus Moment:

One of Keiren's first appearances as a bunny in a Bun Toon from the early 90s!

2012 Convention Schedule and more…

Ty promised himself that he was going to be posting more on the blog this year and was getting frustrated that he hasn’t had the time–until I pointed out that it’s that he has so much work to do, all of which he’s excited to be doing.  But I did promise that I’d pop in to mention a few things, so here ya go…

The official start to Ty Templeton’s 2012 Convention Season is next-next weekend. Usually, Ty only does the Toronto shows but after doing the wildly-successful wildly-enjoyable Montreal Comiccon last year, he’s agreed to do more for 2012.  There might be a few additions to the list later in the year but for now, this is it:

Formerly known as Fan Appreciation and now Toronto ComiCon as presented by Fan Expo. And expanded to two days– Saturday March 10-Sunday March 11.

Toronto Cartoonists Workshop will be there, sharing a booth with The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery. (You might be able to register for the upcoming workshops at the show…but classes will begin the Monday after the show, so best to not take any chances and sign up now for WRITING FOR COMICS LEVEL TWO and Ty Templeton’s COMIC BOOK BOOTCAMP PART ONE.) If you’re not able to get to the show, but need to get some comics, make sure you check out The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery in it’s permanent space (shared with TCW) at 587A College Street West. Our oldest son will be holding down the fort.

Been waiting for Calgary Expo to announce this–now, we can confirm that Ty will be attending, for the first time, the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. The show runs Friday April 27-Sunday April 29, and features an amazing list of guests.

Our buddies, Heroes of the North will be there as well, showing off all their books, posters, figurines and some of the actors! Artist Gibson Quarter (Holmes Incorporated, Undertow #2) has finished pencilling a new 8-Ball story for HoTN and will be there, too. (Ty just finished a script for HoTN, to be pencilled by Richard Pace. Like Ty, Richard divides his time between teaching and drawing comics. He’s an instructor at Durham College, and is currently hard at work on Ashes written by Alex de Campi. AND he just announced that he’s drawing a 3-part adaptation of a Robert E. Howard story for Dark Horse’s SAVAGE SWORD (#5-7), written by Ian Edginton.)

In June, Ty will be off to Austin, Texas…but that hasn’t been “officially” announced yet, so I’ll wait to put up all the info.

In August, it will be The Big One–the biggest comic convention in Canada, that is. Fan Expo Canada runs Thursday August 23-Sunday August 26 this year. It was wildly busy last year–slightly overwhelming by the last day, butgreat to spend time with so many other creators and to talk to so many fans.

Toronto Cartoonists Workshop and The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery will both be at the show as well. Heroes of the North will put in an appearance as well. Their second omnibus collection will be published by then. And the HoTN comic story drawn by David J. Cutler (artist for The Northern Guard) will be out by then as well.

Montreal Comiccon is the little comic book convention that didn’t so much grow as EXPLODE!! It was such an enormous, unexpected success that they’ve moved to a bigger location this year, Friday September 14-Sunday September 16. Ty and I really really enjoyed the show last year…had a very brief twenty minutes when we thought it was going to be quiet, when we first arrived at Ty’s table. That was the last twenty minutes of peace for the entire weekend! Got to meet Dan Parent, have dinner with Dan, Gibson Quarter and the Heroes of the North crew.

That is currently the extent of Ty’s convention schedule…

At the same time that all this fun is going on, and as Ty is busy working, he will be continuing to teach at Toronto Cartoonists Workshop.

WRITING FOR COMICS LEVEL TWO begins Monday March 12, 7-10pm. Completion of Level One is a requirement.  Wednesday March 14, Ty starts COMIC BOOK BOOTCAMP Part One 7-10pm.

Rob Walton will be teaching CREATING YOUR OWN GRAPHIC NOVEL starting Thursday March 15, and Walter Dickinson will be teaching CARTOONING RODEO for kids 8-12 years of age Saturday mornings April 14-June 16.

                                                                                              Keiren

FanExpo Friday!

Back at FanExpo Canada 2011 today…the con is open 10am-8pm.

Our buddies at Heroes of the North will be having a “Meet and Greet” at 4:30pm in Room 713.

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Look for the TCW booth (to the left of the Autograph Signing Area; wander through the tables along the back wall and find Booth #125), and say hello to the creators of Holmes Incorporated #2.

Again, Ty will be P-O57A.

Keiren

Canadian Superheroes cont’d

Ty did a post on Johnny Canuck and Heroes of the North yesterday, focussed on little ol’ me, because we were talking about the work I’d done on the weekend. But there are quite a few other people involved in these projects, so I’m going to post ’em here so you can take a look at their work:

Northern Guard/Moonstone Books

David Cutler, artist

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Jason Edmiston, cover artist

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Heroes of the North

Marcus MASman Smith/artist

(Check out MAS’s colouring–there are other examples on his site. I have to turn from lettering to colouring some pages and I’m having some serious artistic insecurities after working on MAS’s pages)

(not a relative btw–I didn’t get the lettering gig through nepotism! At least I don’t think he is, hard to tell with us Smiths)

Will add more links as I find them…

Keiren

Ty tells me that I’m not supposed to post anything without adding a Comic Book Moment of Zen. I’ve got nothing “comic book” that fits so I’m going to post Keiren’s Moment of Zen…a Canadian Superhero! (he’s Canadian, and he’s a superhero–it fits)

More Canadian Superheroes!

Okay, I’ll admit I’m a Canadian.  It’s something I was born with, I’m not bragging or anything…

And as a result of all that Canadian blood in my veins, and stuff, y’all know that I’m the writer for a new mini-series from Moonstone Books featuring Johnny Canuck and the heroes of the NORTHERN GUARD, all based on the Canadian Golden Age comic book heroes….

Ty Templeton, David Cutler, KT Smith, covers Jason Edmiston

but did y’all know that my wife, the lovely and talented KT SMITH, is the letterer  for ANOTHER Canadian superhero series, an online extravaganza called HEROES OF THE NORTH? And they JUST put up the latest issue of the online comic and the latest episode of the online live-action series.

written by Michel Brouillette & Yann Brouillette/ art by Marcus MASMan Smith/ letters by KT Smith

You heard me right, snow-heroes…HOTN has downloadable comics, live action webisodes, and more, and it’s great fun.  Click here to bathe in the rich, bacony goodness of heroism amidst the tundra fur trappers. (Click HERE to join their Facebook Fan Page)

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your comic book moment of zen:

CANADIAN SHIELD COMICS!

Talk about a collector's item!

Whilst rooting around in the dollar bins at my last convention, I came across the gem you see above.  It’s important for many many reasons:

1)  Unlike issue #1 of this Golden Age Canadian White comic book series, issue #2 is ULTRA-RARE, and I have never even SEEN one in person.

2)  It was drawn by “Ty Murphy”.  (You can see his signature in the lower right, under the Shield’s foot).  Ty was one of Canada’s first comic book professionals, and certainly one of the more consistent illustrators of the Canadian Whites.  And if you haven’t guessed by now, I was named after him by my cartoonist father, who owed Mr. Murphy money and settled the debt by naming his last born son after him, some twenty years after Murphy died.

For more information about the great Canadian Super-hero pictured in this ancient cover go to HEROES OF THE NORTH and click “PLAY” to watch a newly shot webisode of the golden age character, or click HERE and click on the download comics button, to read an all new retelling of his origin adventure!  Or HERE for a facebook gallery of modern versions of the characters (I’ve got one in there, very bum-centric!)

That’s it.  Back to typing script and inking little figures in backgrounds.  Ah, the life of Riley!

TY THE GUY OUT!

Here now, your comic book moment of zen.

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What am I up to?!?

I get asked this a lot.    I usually have about nine projects in the air at any one time, and as a result, I’m always behind on about three of them…but I’m STARTING to get caught up on some of it, so I thought I’d share (almost) everything I’m working on this week.

Back row: Suzie and Edgar. Front row: Sweet-pie, Dave and Lois.

Just finishing up a script for an issue of the Simpsons Comic, it should be done by the weekend.  Great fun, the family visits Canada again, and as a Canuck, I get to poke fun at some of my fellow country-men.

It’s been announced here and there that Marvel is publishing ONE LAST Harvey Pekar story for their upcoming Strange Tales series, but I’m not sure it’s been announced that I’m the one drawing it.  So I announce it here.

You can't see Harvey on this cover, he's hiding behind Hulk.

I’ve read Harvey’s script for this issue, and it’s one of the funnier things he ever wrote, and I’m bleeding with excitement to start laying this out on the weekend.   Drat him for dying like he did, but I’m honored and delighted that he made a point of asking me to do this before he died.  Yer a mensch, Harve.

For the next couple of hours I’m doing final production on a CANADIAN SHIELD cover for the fine folks at HEROES OF THE NORTH. I did a pin-up of their character PACIFICA a couple of weeks ago, and dove in for a second blast of illustration fun.  That’s today’s playtime.

Later today, I’m inking some pages over GIBSON QUARTER pencils for a new comic book (that I created and am editing for the Toronto Cartoonist Workshop) about the great grandchildren of the Master Detective, and their 21st Century adventures.  I’ll try to get some of the pages and cover for this mag up asap, it’s being published in about four weeks.  AHH AHH AHH AHH !  Deadlines!!  Whether you’ve never read a Holmes-style story, or  you’ve been an addicted Baker Street Irregular for years, you guys are going to LOVE this comic, trust me.  The premiere issue will  launch at FAN EXPO at the end of the month.  Much more on this as the day approaches.

Promo image from THE GAY CAVALCADE. Hoverboy, Uncle Orval, and "The Chief" seem to be upset about something...the Chief is likely drunk, as the character was often played for racist laughs.

And I’ve be looking over some old Hoverboy footage with the Hoverboy production staff… NEWLY DISCOVERED  “GAY CAVALCADE” episodes…the Hoverboy puppet show from the early sixties.  They need some editing and some cleaning up, but it should be ready for the Hoverboy Museum in the next couple of weeks.  FOUR entire episodes were found UNCUT!  Can’t wait to show ’em to you.

And though it shot LAST week, I think the TV program I co-hosted for Space:  the Imagination Station about graphic novels should be airing in the next week or two.  Check your local listings (in Canada) as they say.

And that’s not counting my teaching, raising my children, or my work with blind orphan girls.  ENOUGH TALKING TO YOU GUYS, I’m back to work…but before I go….

If you haven’t seen the DC UNIVERSE ONLINE game promo for the new game “WHO DO YOU TRUST?”, then go HERE immediately!  I mean NOW!  This is the BEST I’ve ever seen in super-hero CGI.  Not kidding, it makes Arkham Asylum look like Pong.  I thought everyone had seen this trailer by now, but it turns out a bunch of folks haven’t seen the glory.  Go, enjoy.  Bring popcorn.

TY THE GUY OUT!

Here now, your COMIC BOOK moment of ZEN

Pacifica

Just a lightning quick post today…

I just finished a pinup I was asked to do for the exciting Heroes of the North web series featuring back-bacon eating superheroes in the frozen lands of maple syrup, French Inuit casinos, year round hockey and free health care.   This is of Pacifica…a speedster  like the Flash (only with a rounder bum, and says “eh” when she talks, unless she’s French, then she says things Americans can’t understand, so you don’t need to know).

Check out their way-cool website, Heroes of the North (which has a fun trailer to watch, I dare you not to be entertained!), and their frankly fabulous  Facebook page, which includes many of their other swinging superheroes!  MON DIEU!

Ain’t photoshop blur tool grand?  I haven’t been this proud of myself since I skull clubbed a G-20 rioter yesterday.

And while you’re here, scroll a bit down this page for the Saturday Comics, I’m fairly proud of this week’s entry, as well.

Ty Le Guy

Clearly proud to a fault.

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