Following on from last month’s blog post, here are a few more of my cartoon letters from the archives. Enjoy!
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‘Life in Sooke’ cartoons
I was recently organising some boxes of old artwork and came across my cartoon letters from almost 20 years ago. After moving from Australia to Canada in 1994 I used to mail these ‘toon letters to family in Aus every now and then, to give them a taste of life in Sooke BC, Canada. ( This was back in the days before I had a computer and email ). Here’s one from January 1997 and another from July 98, which was around the time I started working on ideas for a graphic novel about a husky named Jasper. Fun to look back on these letters and I’ll post more of them soon. Enjoy!
Click on images to enlarge
The Solar Trial wins Bronze IPPY!
My 3rd book titled ‘The Solar Trial’ has just been awarded a Bronze IPPY (Independent Book Publisher Awards ) in the Graphic Novel/Humour category.
The IPPY’s are the world’s largest indie book awards recognizing independent titles from around the world intended for the North American market.
3 IPPY’s for the Jasper series!
Volume 1 ‘Lost in Skookum Valley’ was a gold medal IPPY winner, LA 2008, and volume 2 ‘Secrets of the Petroglyph’ picked up IPPY gold, New York 2011. This year’s IPPY awards will be held in Chicago in May.
Congrats to Magnetic Press for their gold medal IPPY in that category for their book ‘Love the Fox’. That series of books is one of my favourites! I even mentioned Love the Tiger in my recent post here.
Munro’s Books, #3 in the world!
National Geographic have cited Victoria’s Munro Books as #3 in the world! CONGRATS! It couldn’t have happened to a better bookstore! Munro’s Books have been incredibly supportive of my Jasper books since I first published ‘Lost in Skookum Valley’ back in 2007, and they’ve continued to sell my 3 volumes and the French edition since then. It’s great to have such a world renowned bookstore in Victoria that actually supports local authors !!
http://www.timescolonist.com/business/munro-s-books-cited-as-one-of-world-s-best-bookstores-1.2216182
A few of my faves…
Here’s just a few of my favourite comic albums that combine interesting stories with brilliant artwork. As you can see, I’m a big fan of Euro-style comic albums!
The Adele Blanc-Sec books by Jacques Tardi set in 1900’s Paris.
Freddy Lombard by Yves Chaland and Gil Jordan P.I. by Maurice Tillieux
Grisnoir by Julien Boisvert and Theodore Poussin by Frank Le Gall
Rocco Vargas by Daniel Torres and Love the Tiger by Brremaud & Bertolucci
Lovett’s cameo appearances in Jasper
Years ago I was interested to discover that Herge drew himself and some of his co-workers in several Tintin adventures as did the Asterix creators, Goscinny and Uderzo. Hitchcock also enjoyed making cameo appearances in his films. A few eagle-eyed friends and relatives have spotted my cameo appearances with Kay in ‘Secrets of the Petroglyphs’ and ‘The Solar Trial’. So here we are, in case you missed us.
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Pg 47 Secrets of the Petroglyphs
Lovett’s in the crowd.
The World Solar Challenge – Oct 18, 2015
Updated cover for ‘Lost in Skookum Valley’
Here’s a look at the new cover design for ‘Lost in Skookum Valley’. I like the simplicity of ‘The Solar Trial’ cover design and looking back on the original cover of Skookum Valley, I felt that it could be improved by taking out a lot of the background detail. I also enlarged the dog team and title lettering. Much better! Looking forward to picking up a new batch of Jasper 1’s with the new cover this week.
Click on images to enlarge
Banjo’s Monaro
In ‘The Solar Trial’, Ruby, Jasper and Banjo race his 1968 Holden Monaro, converted to solar electric drive. So what the heck’s a Monaro anyway? It is an Aussie classic and was advertised as ‘Australia’s First Sports Car’! Sort of GM Australia’s answer to the super successful ’65 Ford Mustang in America. When I was writing Solar Trial, I was wondering what vehicle Banjo should drive in the story, one of those fancy space-age looking solar cars they race in the real World Solar Challenge, or something different? Then a friend found an original sales brochure for the 68 Monaro at a car show swap meet here in Victoria, BC Canada! Bingo! I loved the idea of combining solar EV technology into a famous Aussie classic car. So that’s how it came to be Banjo’s ride.
Check out this fun and very cheesy TV ad for the Monaro!
Click on images to enlarge:
Back in the late 70’s, my very first car was a 1966 Rover 2000 that was previously owned by my Dad. Almost 4 decades later I’m driving a 1966 Ford Mustang! What can I say? I’m stuck in the 60’s !!
I often take our husky Jenna with me when cruising around Victoria in the Stang ..oh…and Kay too of course!
Keep the rubber side down! G