My comic, it appears.

2008’s Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Junot Díaz, was asked what he was reading for pleasure and he named my and Salgood’s graphic novel Therefore Repent! “It’s completely nuts,” he said, which is pretty close to what the Quill and Quire guy said (”unhinged”). Seems there’s a literary consensus on that. When my reader poll came out in favour of Lilith being actually daemonic and not just crazy, I committed to doing something over-the-top fantastical in contrast to my more muted stuff — nice to hear it’s working for people. Junot sounds like my kinda booknerd!

In other flattering news, I’ve been nominated for the Joe Shuster Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer award. Unlike some of the other talent there with a dozen or so comics to their name, I have only TR! and one other strip that appeared in the Beguiling-produced Comic Festival. You can read it on Salgood’s site.

Also: Chicago launch of Therefore Repent! next month!

Both critical raves and good sales? Eerie.

Therefore Repent! got a starred review in last month’s issue of Quill and Quire, made the Best of 2007 list in this month’s issue, and actually squeaked into the bestseller list for Canadian graphic novels last week.

Salgood Sam has booked the Montreal TR! launch at the newly opened Librairie Drawn & Quarterly Bookstore (211 Bernard Ouest) on Saturday, December 8, 7-9pm. As I’ve been in the baby zone, he’s been taking point lately with an audio ad and tabling at Expozine.

All this and it hasn’t even come out in the US yet! It’s due to hit the stores down south in January via Diamond (# NOV073660) and the US publisher IDW has printed up a great looking 30 page sampler to promote it: drop a line if you want some for your store or your pals. UPDATE: Salgood has a nice interview here, and the Montreal Mirror did an article as well.

The first third of Therefore Repent! — 60 pages — is now available for your browsing pleasure. And not only is it free to read, it’s also free to use: we’re licencing the jpg versions of these as remixable under this Creative Commons licence. So, if you’ve ever wondered what’d it’d be like to be the writer of a comic book and work with as talented an artist as Salgood Sam, now you can. Open a page up in photoshop or Gimp and replace my words with more interesting ones. Colour the pictures. Use the images as graphics for your non-commercial projects. Send the results to us and we’ll put ‘em up on the site: even better, we’ll send the three most inspiring remixes a free book.

I’ll be doing a Therefore Repent! launch in Vancouver on Friday, Sept. 28th with the creators of True Loves (Jason Turner & Manien Bothma), Jobgoblin (Brian Fukushima), and Hatesong (Fred Grisholm). It’s at Lucky’s Comics, 7-10pm, Free. Then I’m back in Toronto on the 30th for Word on the Street — I’ll be signing books at my table in Fringe Beat between doing a presentation called Be Your Own Boss In The World Of Publishing and a panel with Willow Dawson and Ray Fawkes called “I Have A Great Idea For A Story, But I Need An Artist!” Come say hi!

So my fifth book and my first graphic novel, a collaboration with Salgood Sam, is finally available. Therefore Repent! is my take on the dark fantasy world established in the Holy Bible’s Book of Revelations. Some folks have asked about its relation to the Left Behind series, also set post-Rapture but with a conservative bent. I haven’t read it (though I have watched the movie starring Kirk Cameron and featuring Toronto’s CBC building as GNN Headquarters) but from what I hear it’s sincere bible fan-fiction, careful not to violate the canon. Mine’s closer to Bible slashfic, what with the bisexual angels and nipple-clamp-enhanced demonic communion. I like to think I’m re-imagining the Bible franchise, like Frank Miller did for Batman. Head over to the store to buy it or keep reading for the back cover copy and to see a hot book striptease. Read the rest of this post »

Therefore Repent!, my post-Rapture graphic novel, is launching on Thursday August 16th to kick off the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. It’s a co-launch with another comic about the end of the world — my pal Claudia Dávila has written a thoughtful and ultimately hopeful story about what happens when the world runs out of oil. As well as the books being on sale, Salgood Sam will be bringing down the original Therefore Repent! art from Montreal for folks to ogle — crazy ass shit like this. Keep reading to see the neato flyer for the event. Read the rest of this post »

Revolver #2, which consists of an excerpt of Salgood Sam and my upcoming graphic novel Therefore Repent!, has been nominated for the Expozine Alternative Press Award for best comic. It’s an offshoot of the awesome Montreal zine fair, one of the more successfully bilingual events I’ve been to. This is the second time they’ve done the award and, although I have fairly ambiguous feelings about prizes and competitions, I think the attention it draws to underexposed artists is definitely a Good Thing.

Case in point, a nominee in last year’s Expozine competition The Hero Book by Scott Waters.

Scott’s a pal, and the book is great, but he’s a curmudgeon. Not likely to tour, or do readings, or talk to people, he’s not exactly a media magnet. But awards like the Expozine Award give a context in which to talk about him. Or, in this case, interview him. Read the rest of this post »

Four pages of our forthcoming graphic novel Therefore Repent! were published in the winter issue of Taddle Creek magazine, which was great. Taddle Creek dusts off the concept of the literary magazine and allows one to appreciate the quality and yes, even glamour, beneath. A mainstay of Toronto’s writers for the past decade, TC publishes excellent fiction, urban history, profiles where writers are given the star treatment — and they throw great launches. Click through to see the four page preview of our post-rapture comic. Read the rest of this post »

So I’m putting together the catalog copy and cover mockup for my upcoming graphic novel, Therefore Repent!, and Salgood’s done another killer job on the art. My favourite comment so far: “When I looked closer the dog’s eyes seem to be, uh, overflowing with evil.” I told Salgood about it and he said he just drew a blank eyed stare and people read it as demonic.

Keep reading to check out the cover it its full glory, wingèd helmet and all…
Read the rest of this post »

I’m excited to announce that my fifth book will be a graphic novel: Therefore Repent! is set in the Chicagoland area after The Rapture and continues the story started in the 24 page webcomic I did last year with Michel Lacombe. Salgood Sam is illustrating this one and and we’re working towards a summer 2007 publishing date — check out a rough page from it here to get a taste of his amazing talent.

In the tradition of The Book of Revelations, it’s a pretty wild dark fantasy tale filled with demons and swords and blood. Read the rest of this post »