H-Day has arrived!

If you’re reading this before seven o’clock this evening, then you’ve still got time to get down to the TORONTO CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP,  587A College Street (at Clinton) and join in the fun for our launch party, celebrating the new issue of Holmes Incorporated!  We’ll have issues in hand, performing conjurers, circus acts and a host of comic creators to talk to about working on the new issue, except for the circus acts and conjurers.

Artwork by Dawnson Chen.

But a room packed with the next generation of hot comic book creators should be reason enough to drop by.  WHERE are you going to find a room FULL of comic creators this weekend, all in one place?  I mean outside of San Diego, obviously…

And if you need more reasons to come over and say hello, then I’ll give them to you:  Preview pages from the Holmes Incorporated mega-collection, being published tonight!  I’d like to say I’m saving the best for last, but we always offer up the best here at Art Land, and I believe in honesty.   But here’s more of the best below.

As lovely as these pages are, they become lovelier when you realize that Vince Tourangeau (author and penciler) had never ever drawn a comic story before this one.  And I don’t mean he hadn’t been published before today, I mean he hadn’t EVER written or drawn one.  For his rookie gig, he gives us one of the coolest stories in the book, and I ain’t kidding.  You gotta read “Enabled” to see the twists and turns our new auteur had up his sleeve.  Our returning champion inker, Jeff Longstreet, gave these pages the spit and polish that only Jeff can, and it all adds up to a heck of a rookie card.   Come and meet ’em both tonight, and pat them on the back.

“She died of rage.”  If that ain’t a great line, then I should eat my shoes.  And the story just gets better from there!   But it was that wonderful line by author Sam Ruano that sold me on this script when he first pitched it at me.  And there’s nobody better to sell the story than his artist, Gibson Quarter.  Gibson’s a bit of a ringer in our group, as  he’s already worked with some big name creators  in his career (Judge Dredd creator Alan Grant, Miracle Man artist Gary Leach, to name-drop a few), but he’s kind enough to lend us his hands when we get a script this good.  I’ll bet both Sam and Gibson have a few comic book war stories to share with the gang at the launch party.

Writer/Artist Marshall Geddes is one of those people that really makes me mad.  Like Vince Tourangeau, this is ALSO his first ever story, and it’s remarkably good for his first time out of the gate.  But Marshall was only SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD when he started this tale.  He’s just turned eighteen, so you can’t buy him a beer yet.  But he’s annoyingly good for someone that young.  If I was that good when I was that age, I’d probably own Marvel Comics by now.  Normally I encourage our creators, but Marshall must be stopped before he rules the world.  Jeff Longstreet’s steps in to give us more of his mighty brushwork, and Jeff did it all while on vacation!  The dedication of this guy is frightening.  A pox on both of them for being so good at this without the normal decades of hard work.

If you recall from the first set of preview pages on Tuesday, our issue starts off with the memorable image of Sherlock Holmes’ open grave and his rotting body.  As an editor, I know how to pick a heck of a curtain raising image.  Well, “Safe” ends up with the most shocking moment of the collection, and you don’t get to see it unless you come on down to TCW tonight.  Or, of course, you can see it when the issue is distributed to local comic stores, and is available free online.  Actually, you’ll get to see it in a lot of places, but I promise you’ll remember it once you do.   Aaron Feldman’s dynamic script packs a gutshot punch that’s worth whatever wait you have, and Rachael Wells turned in pencils so lovely and detailed that I couldn’t help it…I grabbed my kit and inked this one myself.  I only hope those two were as happy with my inks as I was with their issue-ending thriller.  Why don’t you come on down tonight and get their opinion?

All right, that’s enough out of me.  If you ain’t excited by all this new talent on display than you ain’t a comic fan.  And if you ain’t a comic fan, than you’re not invited to the launch party tonight.

But everyone else is.

TORONTO CARTOONISTS WORKSHOP,  587A College Street (at Clinton).  I’ll see you there!

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Holmes Incorporated COMIC MOMENT:

The teenaged Sherlock Holmes the Third. Art and colours by Christopher Yao.

And don’t forget to download Issue #1, with an equally amazing array of talent and fun, including, Rachael Wells, Gibson Quarter, Christopher Yao, and Jeff Longstreet, showing off THEIR first work with the Holmes Family.   You can find the free download HERE:

I believe we can officially call this the TCW Age of Comics, right?

(and, as always, to check out bios of the creators, and links to sites with more of their work, check out the Holmes Incorporated website–kts)