It’s a three-peat!

I’ve been nominated in the ‘Outstanding Writer’ category of the 2013 Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Awards for the third time in a row.

I’m humbled and thrilled to be recognized for my work by the nominating committee. Thanks so much!

The awards will be given out in late August here in Toronto. Wish me luck!

The first professional comic I ever wrote (well, co-wrote, but anyways) was the UDON/White Wolf co-produced Exalted comic mini-series back in 2005. Now, 8 years later, I’m coming back to write a brand new Exalted comic story!

As part of Onyx Path’s Exalted 3rd Edition Kickstarter campaign they’ve added a new stretch goal reward tier for an Exalted one-shot comic:

“At $525,000 of contributions, every backer at Scholar of Lore or higher will receive a free Exalted Comic PDF. This 20+ page, full-color comic, will be written by Jim Zubkavich, writer and creator of Skullkickers and long-time Exalted freelancer and illustrated by Hans “Hanzo” Steinbach. We will also unlock two new Reward Tiers that will allow backers’ Exalted characters to appear as crowd scene extras or as minor characters in the comic.”

If you’re a White Wolf fan, Exalted fan or Jim Zub comic fan, check out the Kickstarter campaign and see what you think. Lots of great rewards are being added as the Exalted 3rd edition crowdsource campaign breaks each new stretch goal.

Gerard and Vince from the Animation Portfolio Workshop dropped me a line asking if I’d be willing to help judge their 2013 Character Design Contest last month. Checking out the entries from aspiring animators and artists, I was really impressed with the overall quality.

So without further ado (drum-roll) here are the winners;

1st Prize – Maisie Li of Forrest Hill Collegiate Institute.

2nd Prize – Cynthia Brenes of Clarkson Secondary School.

3rd Prize – Karliegh Ivens of Forrest Hill Collegiate Institute.

4th Prize – Orlagh Lucyk McGowan of University of Toronto.

5th Prize – Hasan Mohamad of Ryerson University.

Congratulations to all the winners! Here are the 2 honorable mentions:

Honorable Mention #1 – Melody Fang of Earl Haig Secondary School.

Honorable Mention #2 – Melissa Chin of Sheridan College/Fine Arts Program.

I wrote a series of back-up stories that will be running through the July Valiant universe titles and Edwin Huang, our amazing Skullkickers artist, drew them.

Appearing as a back-up feature in each of Valiant’s July releases, “Who Will Lead the H.A.R.D. Corps?” shorts will be available in Shadowman #8, Quantum and Woody #1, X-O Manowar #15, Harbinger Wars #4 (of 4), Archer & Armstrong #11, Harbinger #14 and Bloodshot #13.

I spoke to Comic Book Resources all about these back-up short stories. Give it a read for all the details.

Part 2 of 2 of my first superhero story, Legends of the Dark Knight #50, has been released on digital and mobile platforms and it’s only 99 cents!

If you’ve enjoyed my other comics or found the tutorial posts on my blog helpful it would mean the world to me if you could purchase a digital copy, spread the word to others and let DC Comics know what you think of it!

Here’s a teaser page of Harley-Batman banter:

Erik Henriksen from the Portland Mercury asked me about my thoughts on the fantasy genre and used some choice quotes in a really neat little article he put together about the mainstream’s embrace of sword & sorcery. Give it a read!

My friend Jay emailed me a question about Canadian superheroes and it got my brain gears turning.

—
As someone in the biz in a variety of positions I thought I would see if I could get thoughts on why Canadian superheroes have never really “taken off” compared to their American counterparts.

I know it’s somewhat of a broad stroke statement but what I would really like is your immediate, off the cuff thoughts on the topic.
—

Some thoughts on Canadian superheroes:

- Canadians, by and large, aren’t as theatrically patriotic as Americans are. We believe in our country and we’re passionate about it to a degree, but we don’t tend to put on the kind of bold outward display of patriotism that Americans do. When Stacy and I visited Maryland for a friend’s wedding late last year we saw small town America in full form and were stunned by the number of American flags out in front of houses. I haven’t seen that many Canadian flags anywhere this side of the parliament buildings in Ottawa. We as Canadians tend to be laid back and more understated as a whole and the kind of “Rah-Rah, our country needs a hero!” thing doesn’t seem to jive well with our national identity.

North America is a land of immigrants, but I get the feeling there’s an added pressure on people who live in the US to be “American”. Easy-going Canada seems more than happy to let immigrants keep closer ties to their foreign identity. They’re happy to be in Canada, but they don’t necessarily put “Canadian” in the forefront of their personal identity. For many, being “Canadian” means you’re from somewhere else but are now living in Canada. Our population’s cultural mosaic splinters its national loyalty over dozens of foreign cultures. They’d be more likely to empathize with a superhero from their family’s land of origin than a distinctly Canadian superhero.

- Our population base is just over 10% the size of the United States (34 million to America’s 311 million). That means if the best-selling comic in North America sells around 150k (currently DC’s Batman) we’d expect a similar product, all things being equal, to sell around 15k in Canada (which isn’t exactly a huge success but, in this current market, it would be a very solid indy).

The problem is that, obviously, things aren’t all equal. We don’t have a long standing superhero tradition in this country. We don’t have a long-standing focal point character people recognize (I like Captain Canuck, but the average person on the street does not know who he is). We’re not a country galvanized by heavy-duty patriotic pride that lends itself to a Superman, Captain America or even a Batman. We don’t have the kind of rampant crime that ‘needs’ a heroic symbol to fight back against. We don’t have even 10% of the comic shops that the US does and there’s zero tie-in media raising general awareness of Canadian superheroes (movies, cartoons, toys, games, etc… though we’re trying).

Culturally, although we hold steadfast to a few Canadian media icons or cultural touchstones and love to point out how we’re not American, we get 95% of our pop culture from the United States. A handful of hardcore comic fans may pine for a uniquely Canadian superhero (or team) and will buy Alpha Flight and Captain Canuck when they’re being published to prove their national loyalty but, for the rest, American superheroes are good enough for us to borrow and draw inspiration from without feeling left out. We’ll point out that Wolverine is “ours” from time to time and keep reading the American superheroes we grew up with.

In summary- I think we’re too easy-going and understated for a full blown patriotic Canadian superhero to really take root in the public conscience and, even if it did, it would sell a pretty measly number of copies in our niche market with next to zero chance of generating sales anywhere outside our borders.

My first published superhero story and first published DC Comics work, Legends of the Dark Knight #49, has been released on digital and mobile platforms and it’s only 99 cents!

If you’ve enjoyed my other comics or found the tutorial posts on my blog helpful it would mean the world to me if you could purchase a digital copy, spread the word to others and let DC Comics know what you think of it!

I’m hoping we can make a big splash on the digital sales charts and that this is my chance to turn some heads. Thanks, as always, for your support. Also, a special thank you to editors Hank Kanalz and Kristy Quinn for giving me the opportunity to write two of my favorite comic characters.

Here’s another exclusive teaser of Batman VS classic Harley Quinn from the issue, drawn by Neil Googe!

“Dr. Quinn’s Diagnosis” part 1 of 2. When the investigation of the Joker’s latest disastrous plot stalls, Batman gets creative. Harley Quinn might reveal her puddin’s secrets..if Batman agrees to one demand.

I’ve been posting teasers of my upcoming Legends of the Dark Knight story on Twitter, so I thought I should put them up here on my blog as well.

I absolutely love the way Harley and Batman move over the stationary background here. It feels like frames of animation and really drives the action.

Neil Googe’s Harley Quinn is lithe, acrobatic and full-on awesome. So pumped for all of you to read this fun little two-part story.

Legends of the Dark Knight #49 arrives online Thursday May 9th for only 99 cents!

I’m thrilled to finally be able to let everyone know I’ve got a Batman story arriving next week!

I wrote a two-part story for the Batman digital-first anthology series Legends of the Dark Knight that will be released as digital issues #49 and 50 on May 9th and 16th for 99 cents each.

As you can see from the teaser above, artist Neil Googe knocked this one out of the park. Trust me when I say that his expressive characters and acrobatic action are second to none.

Getting the chance to write an official Batman story has been a blast. It’s a banter-packed tale with the Caped Crusader facing off against Harley Quinn (I actually think it may be the first appearance of classic Harley since the DC New 52 began) and I’m incredibly proud of how well it turned out. Getting to write action and dialogue for two of my favorite characters and seeing it so fully brought to life… it’s a dream come true.

I’ll have a few more teasers to post leading up to the release, but now you know to mark your calendars. Zub on Legends of the Dark Knight #49-50, May 9 and 16!