François Vigneault's Blog

2024 in Review

Being shamelessly unproductive in Cartagena, Colombia, photo by my lovely partner C.

Last month I was chatting with cartoonist (and Drawn & Quarterly founder) Chris Oliveros at a book festival in Montréal, and he asked me “How are you balancing out your creative work with all the other projects you are doing?” I had to simply admit “I’m not!” I thought of this exchange as I sat down to write up this traditional annual review of my creative projects, something I’ve been doing now for nearly a decade. Looking over my published projects and work in progress from 2024, there’s no doubt that my creative output has slowed down a bit! 

I’ve been quite busy with my part-time position as the Marketing Manager of Pow Pow Press and other small gigs, as well as working on renovations and projects at our new home in the woods (which, after 2 years of work, is nearly “done”), and I find all that work very satisfying. But I must admit that I am a little sad to see that some of my creative work has been put on the back burner in 2024. I’m going to have to make an effort to shift the balance a bit in the coming year and make sure to focus on my creative practice.

All that said, I wasn’t exactly resting on my laurels for the last 12 months, either! I had quite a few projects I’d been working on finally see the light of day, did some fun minor gigs, and I was working hard on projects that will be published in 2025 and beyond as well. 

Lunettes, Brillen, and Now, EyeglassesThe triplets of Lunetteville.

I already mentioned this last year, so it feels a bit like cheating, but I have to mention that the English-language edition of my children’s book Extraordinary Eyeglasses: The Amazing Invention that Helps Us See was published in August! As always, it’s a delight to see a book on the shelves with my name on the cover (along with writer Caroline Stevan and translator Jeffrey Butt)! At this point the book is available in French, English, and German, with a Chinese edition (!?!) coming soon(ish). This is a great book for the younger (7-12) kid in your life who is getting their first pair of glasses.

Taking NotesExcerpt from the strip that suggested the book’s subtitle to me.

Boulet’s Notes: Back in Time is a “best of” collection from the early years of Boulet’s webcomic Notes was a very interesting project that I was deeply involved in: I not only translated the strips into English, but I chose which comics were included, lettered the book, and did the graphic design! Phew! It was a lot of work but I think the final product looks awesome. Congrats to Boulet for 20 years of Notes, and I hope we get to do more collections of his work in the near future! Here is a little video I created looking at the (quite nice) physical book. 

Talli Becomes a Trilogy
Talli gets talking to from her mentor Fara.

Speaking of translation, another volume of Talli: Daughter of the Moon by Sourya came out this year, and it was my favorite yet, full of epic action and some great emotional beats. I’ve gotten to read volume 4 of the series already and I’m champing at the bit to bring the rest of Sourya’s fantasy tale to the anglophones of the world!

Idiom SavantTranslation: “Who Will Invent the Vehicle of the Future? International Competition.”

I was quite honored to be asked to participate in La langue par la bande, an anthology of 28 comic strips illustrating some of the unique and colorful French expressions and idioms my adopted nation is famed for… I felt like I’d truly earned my “Québecois” card! I guess I’m finally a local? I illustrated the expression “Ne pas avoir posé les pattes aux mouches” i.e. “Did not put the feet on the fly” (!!!) which is an idiom which means “Isn’t particularly intelligent or creative.” Above is an excerpt from my nearly-silent, single-page comic (I’m not allowed to show the full strip), for the moment it hasn’t been posted online, and this book will certainly never be published in English, so if any of you are die hard François Vigneault completionists (are there any?) you’ll have to pick this up directly from the Government of Québec!

Lettering and Design GigsNudity on a book cover?! Shocking!

In addition to the the aforementioned books (I generally letter and design my own work), I had the pleasure of working on a few fun projects this year in the roll of either letterer, designer, or both, including a story by Zack Quaintance and Nick Cagnetti in the very fun anthology Death of Comics Bookcase, Lara Pickle’s I Feel Awful, Thanks, Buzzelli Collected Works Volumes 2 and 3 from Floating World Comics (oh by the way Buzzelli Vol. 1 was nominated for an Ignatz award), and a few other bits and bobs. Always enjoy the more behind-the-scenes work that goes into making a book look its best!

Pow Pow PowerPrairie Comic Arts Festival in Winnipeg

As I mentioned earlier, I spent a good amount of my year working in a part-time (but quite time-consuming) gig as the Marketing Manager of Pow Pow Press, one of the coolest publishers of graphic novels out there! I’m very happy to be getting the word out about the fantastic books that this Québec publisher is putting out in English and getting the books into an increasing number of bookstores and comic shops in the United States and beyond! I was proud to see our latest books The Jellyfish by Boum (“A deeply moving meditation on disability, diversity, and joy… a near perfect symbiosis between narrative and art,” Kirkus, Starred Review) and Botanica Drama by Thom (“…a love story, charmingly told,” Montreal Review of Books) get a ton of fantastic press in the media. I also got to travel all around the USA and Canada in 2024 to represent Pow Pow at comics events such as MoCCA Arts Fest, MCAF, TCAF, VanCAF, SPX, Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, and the Prairie Comics Festival! Whew! Watch for me at more shows in the coming year and look for Pow Pow titles at your local bookstore or comics shop (or even better, tell your bookseller you wanna see these books!). We have some great new titles coming in 2025, so stay tuned.

Interviews and ReviewsÉloïse Marseille, me, and Walter Scott at the Read Quebec Book Fair.

I’ve continued to conduct interviews and round-table discussions with comic book creators throughout the year. Like my work with Pow Pow, for me this is all about connecting with artists and getting word out about their creative practice. I think that over the years I’ve become a very able interviewer, in my humble opinion! So much so that I’ve been contemplating some ways to develop this into yet another sideline… Save me from myself, please!

This year I sat down for a chat with Boum that ran over on Broken Frontier, interviewed Boulet in the new Notes collection, did in-house interviews with Pow Pow creators Thom and Samuel Cantin, conducted VanCAF’s “Comics Across the Globe” roundtable with Kaori Tsurutani, Alex Baladi, Jesse Jacobs, Freddy Carrasco, and Jean-Marc Rochette at VanCAF (overloaded with talent but cool to get to meet such a variety of creators), moderated a pair of excellent panels at the Montreal Comic Arts Festival (“Stranger in a Strange Land: Expats and Immigrants” with Alison McCreesh, Veronica Post, and Zoe Qiu; and “On the Road,” a truly all-star panel with Jillian Tamaki, Tillie Walden, and Adam de Souza), spoke with Chris Oliveros at TCAF, and most recently I hosted a “Comic Book Confessions” panel with Montreal creators Chris Oliveros, Walter Scott, and Éloïse Marseille at the Read Quebec Book Fair.

I also reviewed a couple of excellent books over at the Comics Beat in 2024: Are You Willing to Die for the Cause? by Chris Oliveros and Tokyo These Days by Taīyo Matsumoto. I’ve always enjoyed writing down my thoughts on books over on my occasional review blog Tipped In and on my Goodreads page, but I’m quite happy to be writing for a larger outlet where I might be able to reach more readers and potentially turn them on the books I dig. Expect more from me in the coming months.

Take a PictureBlack phoebe, Santa Rita Reserva Natural, Colombia

Does photography count as a creative project for me? I’m really just doing it for fun so it feels not quite right to list it here, but at the same time I’ve enjoyed playing with my Olympus M43 camera this last year, taking pictures of my local flora and fauna (both animal and human). I don’t have any special plans on how to share this “work,” I mostly just take these for myself or to share with the folks I take pictures of directly, but I have posted a couple on my IG: Photos from the Montreal Comics Arts Festival, Vancouver Comic Arts Festival, and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I’m currently sorting through photos of a recent holiday trip to Colombia, so make sure to follow me on Instagram if you wanna see some cute birds in your feed soon.

Coming in 2025: A Mystery Story for Kids and More

Wow! That’s it? Yes, I truly had a less productive year than usual, at least on the creative side of the equation. I am definitely feeling energized going into 2025, and though I know better than to promise you (and myself) the world, I can definitely say that I have some stuff in the works that will be completed and published in the coming year!

First up, my main creative project the last few months has been illustrating a mystery comic for kids, which will be published in Fall 2025 by La Pastèque, the French-language publisher behind my award-winning book 13e Avenue. This has been a lot of fun to work on so far, and I have a lot of work to do on this book in the next couple of months, so I’ve got absolutely no choice but to knuckle down on this project to meet my deadline! It is a very charming and silly story, and I’ll share more from my process soon, but here is a sneak peek:

Having a lot of fun working in a cartoony and colorful register with this book.

I also have a 10-page short story appearing in BARADA and NIKTO, the new double anthology from Toronto-based comics studio Raid. This book already had a successful Kickstarter campaign but as of this writing you can still order the book online. I’ll announce on my Instagram when the book is out, of course, below if a sneak peek of my story, a sort of EC Comics-inspired twisted tale:

This short story takes some dark turns…

And of course I am very slowly plugging away at my graphic novel Blue Moon but I know better than to make any extravagant promises about that book! I ended my review last year by saying the following hopeful prognostication about Blue Moon:

I WILL be making more time for MY book in 2024, too! I have finally started actually drawing Blue Moon and so far I’m really loving the way it looks, and feel more energized and inspired to get back to the grind on it… I’m excited to see where I will be with this project at the end of 2024!

Can I say I made a lot of progress on Blue Moon in 2024? No I can’t. But I did make some. I do promise that I am chipping away on it and I am determined to make progress on it in 2025. I do love how it is looking so far and I think it’s going to be a cool, smart book (but again, it’s taking far too long).

I like this bicycle, but it’s a pain to draw!

So that’s where I am at, creatively, as we begin 2025. I simultaneously feel quite happy about the multi-pronged approach I have taken towards my career, and also more than a bit disconcerted that I have consistently put my most personal creative projects on the back burner as I hustle to make ends meet with gigs (not to mention renovations, volunteering, and (gasp!) just relaxing from time to time). Throughout this new year, I think I am going to often think of Chris’ question to me: “How are you balancing out your creative work with all the other projects you are doing?” I’m not quite where I want to be, but I have to say I’m not doing too bad, either. Hopefully at the end of 2025 I’ll be positioned to say that I am doing better than I am today.

As always, my sincere thanks for your continuing interest in me, my life, and my work. I’m looking forward to connecting with some of you throughout the year, either in person or at a distance. If you haven’t done so yet, please make sure to subscribe to my email newsletter (my preferred platform to get the word out about what I am working on and the events I’ll be at) and Instagram, and maybe even Patreon (honestly, I have been posting less frequently on Patreon so I encourage you to subscribe at the free level, or adjust your pledge down to $0… I don’t mind at all). Furthermore, don’t hesitate to reach out directly anytime if you have questions for me or just wanna chat… Life is short. Best wishes as we enter a new year.

Birding on Isla Fuerte, Colombia. ¡Feliz año nuevo!

The post 2024 in Review first appeared on Tour de François.

A Month of Comics Fests

I had a very busy May this year, with appearances at 3 comic arts festivals all across Canada: TCAF in Toronto, VanCAF in Vancouver, and FBDM/MCAF in my beloved Montréal! It was a bit exhausting but I have to say I enjoyed the social element, connecting with friends new and old in this shaggy and quirky creative scene.

The Montreal Comic Arts Festival on rue Saint-Denis

I had the pleasure of conducting interviews and round-table discussions at all three, including a spotlight on Chris Oliveros (I also reviewed his excellent, award-winning book Are You Willing to Die for the Cause? over at the Comics Beat), a neat “drawn interview” with Tim Probert, an all-star panel with Tille Walden, Jillian Tamaki, and Adam de Souza (), and a massive panel on international comics. 

I’ve been taking photos over the last few years using an Olympus E-M5 Mark II, I mostly use a zoom lens to grab pics of birds and other animals, but lately I’ve been playing more with a fixed 25mm lens and I decided to mix it up and take photos of human beings once in a while! I’ll be posting more of these photos over on my Instagram (as well as the Pow Pow Press IG, too), and you can expect to see these here in the newsletter once in a while. Here are some quick portraits of comics folks from the last month. 

Boum and CathonAlejandro BruzzeseCéline Loup & Ian MacEwanJulie DelporteShawn Kuruneru and Francine YuloColin UptonVeronica PostAndy Brown and Joe OllmanCathon (and Biscuit)Axelle LenoirLonnie Nadler & Jenna ChaPaul ChadwickMeags FitzgeraldThom

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MY YEAR IN BOOKS 2023

I was a much less “productive” reader in 2023 when compared to the last few years, I barely cracked 30 books on my official list, and many of those were graphic novels, which make for pretty quick reads. But even tho’ I like to set a reading goal for the year, I’m also not trying to approach reading as a race or endurance test, and I have definitely come to realize that in the face of an exponentially increasing pool of “to be read” books both contemporary and classic I’ll never get to read (or re-read) everything I’d like to. So I am at peace with my 30 books logged this year. Looking back, I do think I might have missed a couple titles, I’ll just add them to my 2024 list if I recall them later!

Despite not tackling too many books this year I finally got around to reading a few chunky novels that had been on my list for a long time. One of the novels I enjoyed the most in 2023 was the first I completed, The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner—Jonas and I recorded an episode of our podcast Apples to Giraffes about this edgy and immersive prison novel, which will certainly see the light of day (hopefully along with more new episodes) in 2024. Reading Kushner also inspired me to revisit one of her big influences, the author Denis Johnson, and I throughly enjoyed Tree of Smoke, a sweeping novel of the Vietnam War… Moving, bizarre, and engaging. Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland was better than I expected, and I finally read the lyrical Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (extraordinary, it deserves all the praise it has racked up and I’m definitely gonna seek out this author’s (few) other books).

My biggest “discovery” of the year was Charles Portis, despite the fact that I read and loved his classic western True Grit a couple years back I was wholly ignorant of his other work and was totally delighted by a pair of his novels that I binged back to back, Norwood and The Dog of the South, both totally oddball and charming picaresques. Anyone who loves the English language owes it to themselves to delve into Portis’ oeuvre, and I’ll certainly make room for his other books in the coming years.

Many of the books on this list fit neatly into the Italo Calvino’s category “Books Read Long Ago Which It’s Now Time To Reread” (one of many classes of books Calvino defines in If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, which I re-read 1 1/2 times 2023… In full in English and partially in French). I delved back into Kane by Paul Grist (a deeply underrated comic that had a profound impact on me back in the 1990s), re-discovered The Missing Persons League by Frank Bonham, read Le Jardin Armé by David B. in the original French, bought (and read with delight) a deluxe edition of Our Encounters with Evil & Other Stories by Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, re-read some Gene Wolfe, went back to the amazing Annie Dillard, and more. I guess I’ve reached the age where my natural inclination is leaning towards books from my past… Nothing wrong with that, I think, tho’ of course that means I’m even more out of touch with what is going on in contemporary lit.

Speaking of the past, I also delved into history this year, including a partial re-read of Tony Judt’s magisterial Postwar, Mary Beard’s entertaining history of ancient Rome SPQR, and The World of Yesterday, Stefan Zweig’s powerful and deeply depressing memoir chronicling (amongst other things) the rise of fascism in Europe in the days leading up to World War II. Chilling stuff, to be honest.

Best graphic novel I read this year? Probably Jordan Crane’s long-awaited Keeping Two, which I started reading way back in the day as he was serializing it. Crane really achieves a unique, only-in-comics effect in the final chapters of this meandering tale and any fans of the medium owe it to themselves to pick this one up. I was more lukewarm on what is broadly considered the “Graphic Novel of 2023,” Monica by Daniel Clowes, but it was still an excellent read… Just didn’t live up to the hype for me. I also caught up on a few Pow Pow Press books I hadn’t read yet, since I am repping the company as their Marketing Manager it was definitely part of my job to do so. I am obviously biased, but those are all some great graphic novels and worth checking out.

So below are the books I read in 2023, including excerpts from my Goodreads reviews, and links to buy the books on my Bookshop, where I get a small commission. Enjoy and happy reading in the new year!

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner Review
“Great, meandering, trashy, and emotional.”

Earthbound by Blonk Review
“By turns funny and depressing, but always insightful and clever.”

Catwoman: Lonely City by Cliff Chiang Review
“The settings, action, and very importantly the worn-in, emotive faces of the characters are all expertly drawn, and the dialogue pulls the story along at a fast clip.”

The Adventures of Sgoobidoo by Cathon Review
“If Garfield Minus Garfield made you chuckle, this will make you howl with laugher!”

The Outfit by Richard Stark Review

The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New by Annie Dillard Review
“A good overview of an excellent writer, observer, and philosopher.”

The Missing Persons League by Frank Bonham (reread) Review
“This book made a gigantic impression on me when I read it as a kid, the mystery and dystopian setting really captured my imagination. I had forgotten the title, and it took me a long while to rediscover it.”

Naked: The Confessions of a Normal Woman by Éloïse Marseille Review
“A wonderfully candid graphic memoir in which the author lays out her personal journey through the sometimes scary and often hilarious world of modern sex, love, and relationships, most importantly her relationship with her self.”

The Court Charade by Flore Vesco and Kerascoët Review
“Coming to this primarily as a fan of the artistic team, I found the book to be very cute and charming, but in all honesty it doesn’t have the ‘WOW’ factor that other Kerascoët classics like Beautiful Darkness or Beauty have.”

The Gold Coast by Kim Stanley Robinson Review
“This is the least fun of the “Three Californias” trilogy, probably because its the one that’s the least “sci-fi” of the lot… Here American consumerist culture, suburban sprawl, military-industrial complex, and the Cold War just keep on chugging on thru to 2027… Not much different than the Southern California I spent my own wayward youth in. “

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino (reread) Review
“Not my favorite Calvino by a long shot (not even in my top 5 books by him, one of my all-time favorite authors), but rereading this one now brought certain additional pleasures that I didn’t really vibe with the first time around, maybe 2 decades or more ago, fitting this shaggy, indefinable novel of incipits, cliffhangers, and paens to the love of reading quite nicely into the category of ‘Books Read Long Ago Which It’s Now Time To Reread.'”

The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig Review
“A surprisingly propulsive telling of a life in letters during a period when, the author firmly and often convincingly argues, the world was transformed utterly, and often not for the better. Zweig narrates a version of his life story that almost completely erases the personal (his two marriages are only mentioned in passing, his children, not at all) to focus on books written and read, encounters with authors and artists both famed and forgotten, and, most of all, the inexorable march towards war and terror that tears Europe apart not once, but twice in his lifetime. “

First Love by Ivan Turgenev Review
“Lovely little novella from one of my fave Russian authors, this story, which at first might seem stuck in the mores and manners of 19th century Russia, slowly reveals itself to be surprisingly universal and perhaps even modern… This could be adapted in a modern fashion that would make the story seem very current.”

Keeping Two by Jordan Crane Review
“I was blown away by what Crane has achieved here… He lays the groundwork to his story and characters so slowly and deliberately that by the time he gets to the final pages of this extremely dense but fast-paced graphic novel you feel utterly transported into another realm.”

Norwood by Charles Portis Review
“A looping, meandering picaresque road novel that’s full to bursting with outrageous characters and supremely funny and unpredictable twists and turns. Weird and heartwarming.”

The Dog of the South by Charles Portis Review
“Another deadpan, sprawling road trip novel from the mind of Charles Portis, this one is a wonderful exploration of voice and character, populated with lots of annoying yet lovable personages… Alternately sweet, depressing, and bizarre.”

The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe (reread)

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson Review
“An exceptional ‘realist magical’ novel that is both sweet and transcendental. Incredible writing on a sentence-by-sentence and word-by-word level, but with a strange and intimate plot that surprises on every front. A transporting, moving, and one-of-a-kind read.”

Le Jardin Armé by David B. (reread) Review
“Perfectly-realized mythic tales of blasphemers, prophets, warriors, and women.”

Vineland by Thomas Pynchon Review
“Lovably chaotic and often full-blown silly, this was a fun romp with tons of great scenes, crazy backstories, and a charming shagginess to the whole thing.”

Penny by Karl Stevens Review
“Often very funny, these vignettes of feline life are best read in a similar fashion as they were originally published in the Village Voice, a page or two at a time, where the reader can enjoy the absurdist humor and really soak up the beauty of the painted comics… “

Aliens: Labyrinth by Jim Woodring and Kilian Plunkett Review
“Interesting artifact from another era, where a capital-A comics Auteur like Jim Woodring (Frank) got to play around with some major Hollywood IP.”

Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson Review
“A wild, looping, ecstatic look at a uniquely American form of madness, brutally enacted on the urban cityscapes and jungle backwaters of Southeast Asia over the course of two decades.”

Kane: Greetings From New Eden by Paul Grist (reread) Review
Kane: Rabbit Hunt (reread) Review
Kane: Histories (reread) Review
Kane: Thirty Ninth (reread) Review

“This highly underrated indie comics series is a masterclass in the craft of sequential storytelling… These comics were amongst my very favorites back when they were being serialized (and Grist plays wonderfully with the serial comic book format, delivering extremely tight individual issues while also building a greater story in the process) and it’s a delight to be revisiting them again now. If you’ve never gotten the chance to meet the denizens of New Eden, do yourself a favor and check these books out. Highly recommended.”

Monica by Daniel Clowes Review
“Perfectly enjoyable, strong book, and very much in line with the rest of Clowes’ impressive and influential oeuvre, but I can’t say that Monica stood out to me as being a career highlight or masterpiece as I feel it is being presented.”

Our Encounters with Evil & Other Stories by Warwick Johnson-Cadwell and Mike Mignola (reread) Review
“Wonderfully energetic pulp comedy… Just so much fun to be had in these goofy tales, and the drawings are sublimely loose and kinetic.”

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard Review
“Great account of the mythic origins and historical rise of Rome… Lots of excellent anecdotes and strange stories that, along with Beard’s historical analysis of bigger economic and social forces, give you a greater understanding of this central and foundational moment in world history.”

The post MY YEAR IN BOOKS 2023 first appeared on Tour de François.

2023 in Review

Just a touch late, here is my annual “Year in Review” post where I give you (and myself, for that matter) a quick rundown of what I have been up to creatively and professionally over the last twelve months (Here are posts from 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022) in case you wanna jump in the time machine and see what I’ve been up to during the last decade or so… And also see me age in my photos!

Like 2015, the year I began doing these posts, 2023 was another one of those “pivotal life changes” moments for me: My partner C. and I finally decided to move out of the city and set up housekeeping in a lakeside cabin in the Laurentian Mountains, about an hour-and-a-half drive to the North of Montréal! It’s a very different lifestyle from the big city urban vibe we are both used to, but it is a change that we were definitely ready for and we’ve been so happy to be surrounded by the natural world (I’ve been posting some of our animal observations over on iNaturalist) and the changes of the season… Not to mention the joys of chilling on the dock all summer and jumping in for a swim in the lake whenever we want. I feel very, very lucky to be here. We’ve been renovating the house since we arrived in January 2023 and we’re far from finished… The great thing about that is you never have time to be bored!

Other than working on the house, I’ve been plenty busy with illustrations, comics, translation, and more this year… So without any further ado, let’s get into it!

Mes Lunettes Super Chouettes

In November of 2022 at Expozine (a very punk zine and comix fest in Montréal) I was approached by a tall, friendly guy named Hadi Barkat, who told me that he was the CEO of a Swiss publisher called Helvetiq and that he was looking for an artist on a kid’s book about glasses… Well, less than a year later the book is out in Europe! Available in both French (Mes lunettes super chouettes) and German (Brillante Brillen), the book, written by Swiss journalist Caroline Stevan, is an encyclopedic look at eyeglasses, vision, optics, and much more, full of fun facts, silly comics, and engaging games… Now if you don’t happen to parler français or sprechen Deutsch, I’ve got good news: Helvetiq will be releasing Extraordinary Eyeglasses in the USA on August 6, 2024!

Look Listen Learn: A Year of Noticing

Throughout the year I illustrated Look Listen Learn, a seasonal calendar that I created in collaboration with my friend, the author Jaimie Franchi. This project was a lot of fun, starting work on it coincided with my move to the woods, so the drawings were a great way to further connect with the land, plants, and animals all around me. All the money we raised through the project (and a bit more that I tossed on there) was donated to Nature Conservancy Canada, and I’m so proud that we were able to raise $500 to help preserve endangered ecosystems. I’m hoping to continue exercising this part of my creative brain in 2024, too!

“The People” in XINO

Speaking of collaborations, I had the interesting experience of writing a comic for another artist to draw, a first for me! The story in question, “The People,” was featured in the second issue of XINO, a new sci-fi anthology from Oni Press. This strange tale of life in the Palaeolithic Era was written by me, drawn by Artyom Trakhanov, colored by Jason Wordie, and lettered by Jim Campbell. The story will also be included in the upcoming collected edition of XINO, due in stores any day now (January 23, 2024) so make sure to grab it!

I’d had the kernel of “The People” percolating on the back burner for a couple years now, and I’m SO excited to have gotten to work with a real dream team to bring this to life. This comic is very “me” but it is also my fave collab I’ve done so far, it was a trip to let Artyom and Jason handle the art duties for a change but I couldn’t be happier with the amazing results… You can see a “making of” post I made about this project here. I can’t announce anything solid yet but there’s a pretty good chance we’ll be seeing more of the characters from this “excellent story” (Tegan O’Neil, The Comics Journal), so stay tuned for more news about “The People” down the line!

“The Bird is Gone” in NOW #12

Another appearance in an awesome anthology! I had a new version of my passenger pigeon story “The Bird is Gone” run in NOW #12, the wonderful series edited by Eric Reynolds. NOW ended up being nominated for an Ignatz Award!

“The Dogwalker” in Feathertale Review

One last little comic by me that was published in 2023! This quick and silly little comic marks my third time working with the fine folks at the Feathertale Review… always fun to find my work in their pages (or this time, as one of the dozens of individual postcards that made up their latest issue)! You can read the comic in all its glory here.

Translating Talli, Continued

Talli: Daughter of the Moon Vol. 2 by the wonderful Sourya came out in the fall from Oni Press. I was so happy to work with Sourya on this book, which I translated and lettered. Many thanks to editor Zack Soto for bringing me on board with this project, a wild, action-packed manga adventure about a young woman with great power fighting back against dark forces that want to wipe her and her kind from the face of the earth! I’m working with Sourya on the final touches on Vol. 3 as we speak, and that will be in shops next fall… Hopefully followed by two more volumes!

Collecting Buzzelli

I didn’t have a ton of book design or lettering projects come out in 2023 (some of the big ones I worked on, like the upcoming Boulet’s Notes and I’m Awful, Thanks by Lara Pickle, will see the light of day in 2024, and I already talked about Nick Cagnetti’s Pink Lemonade, which was collected in 2023, in last year’s recap), but I was delighted to work with my old friend Jason at Floating World Comics on The Labyrinth, the first volume of the Collected Buzzelli series, reprinting new translations of Guido Buzzelli’s amazing comics, originally released in Italian the 1970s. We have two more volumes of this series coming out soon, and it was a lot of fun to work on the series as a whole and create a consistent look for all of them… These are gonna look very nice on your bookshelf!

A Few Fun Drawings

A lot of my working hours were chewed up with bigger projects (especially Mes lunettes super chouettes, which I drew and designed in just a few hectic months!), but I did squeeze in a couple small illustration gigs for repeat clients with drawings in Montreal Review of Books, Maisonneuve, and THIS, all great Canadian magazines worth checking out!

Interviewing Los Bros Hernandez (and More)

Shifting to “creative-adjacent” projects, I love talking shop with comics creators, and I got to chat with two of my heroes, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez in honor of the 40th anniversary of their seminal sci-fi/punk/indie/Latino/everything series Love & Rockets. I’ve been reading Los Bros’ work for about three decades now, and they had a HUGE influence on my view of what comics could be and what kind of stories the medium can encompass. As a young punk (and comics nerd, and mixed-race kid) coming of age in Southern California, their modern, multi-cultural, multi-genre stories really spoke to me, and solidified my burgeoning desire to create my own work in the medium (I also eventually went on to write my undergrad thesis on Jaime’s Locas stories). It was a real delight and an honor to talk with these comic book giants. You can read our full interview at Broken Frontier!

Some other fun interviews I conducted this year included hosting the “Greetings from Montréal” panel at TCAF with some of Montréal’s top creators (Lee Lai, Ariane Cloutier, Boum, Julie Delporte, and Tania Mignacca) and two round-table discussions at MCAF: Sympathy for the Devil (video) with Aisha Franz, Walter Scott and Joe Ollmann, and Drawing Inspiration (video) with Fábio Moon, Sara Alfageeh and Cole Pauls (those two panels can be watched in full on MCAF’s YouTube channel, links above). And finally I’ll mention I put on my “creator” hat to be one of the inaugural guests (along with Chris Bergeron) at the new literary salon “Livre and Let Livre,” hosted live in Montréal by authors Michelle Franklin and Sylvain Neuvel… It was a ton of fun!

Promoting Pow Pow Press

The main “creative-adjacent” gig that I did in 2023 was working part-time as the “Marketing Manager” (ooh, fancy) at Pow Pow Press, the English-language branch of the folks who published my graphic novel TITAN in French. As is probably obvious, one of the most rewarding feelings for me is helping other creators out, whether that means designing book covers or running a comic book festival… So it’s been a pure pleasure to work with the Pow Pow team to get these amazing books from Québecois authors into the hands of readers in the USA and beyond. In 2023 the Pow Pow Press backlist started being distributed in American comic books shops via Lunar Distribution, and we had a major new title come out in November: Naked: The Confessions of a Normal Woman by Éloïse Marseille, which was named one of CBC Books’ “Best Canadian Comics of 2023”, hit the #1 spot in “Hot New Releases in Nonfiction Graphic Novels” on Amazon.ca, and has been hailed as “a memoir that’s as honest as they come… deeply engaging and beautifully made” (Mike Donachie, The Toronto Sun). I’m really stoked for everything Pow Pow Press has acheved so far, and 2024 is promising to be a HUGE year for the press with upcoming releases like Botanica Drama by Thom, The Jellyfish by Boum, and The Mongoose by Jonna Mosi… It’s gonna be a banger!

What about Blue Moon?

Once again I’ve managed to push work on Blue Moon (my upcoming graphic novel) back, usually to make room for more pressing contracts and deadlines, and I just agreed to another couple of projects in 2024 that will eat up a lot of my time, but I WILL be making more time for MY book in 2024, too! I have finally started actually drawing Blue Moon and so far I’m really loving the way it looks, and feel more energized and inspired to get back to the grind on it… I’m excited to see where I will be with this project at the end of 2024!

What’s to Come in 2024?

As per usual, I will be working on a range of projects throughout the year: I am scheduled to illustrate another kid’s book/comic book with La Pastèque (the folks who published 13e avenue) and hand-letter a big graphic novel, so those two projects will take up much of my work year (not to mention Blue Moon). But I am also definitely still open to taking on new gigs (I’m a glutton for punishment, if you’ve got a project that’s a good fit (design, translation, illustration) for me don’t hesitate to get in touch). I’ve also been feeling a desire to incorporate a more tactile, physical element into my art practice, such as getting back into printmaking (I was definitely inspired by a recent trip to Oaxaca). Stay tuned in the coming year to see if I succeed in that!

As I mentioned, I have a bunch of projects I was involved in one way or the other that will be published in 2024, including the collected edition of XINO (out in January), Lara Pickle’s I Feel Awful, Thanks (which I lettered, out next March), Buzzelli Collected Works Vol. 2 (out in June), Boulet’s Notes (which I edited, translated, lettered, and designed!) hitting stores in July, the English edition of Extraordinary Eyeglasses (out in August), Talli Vol. 3 (also out in August), a couple things I can’t talk about yet, and probably some things I’m forgetting about! Phew!

As always, thanks so much for your interest in what I am doing and your support! Best wishes to you for a happy, healthy, and productive 2024!

The post 2023 in Review first appeared on Tour de François.

Look Listen Learn: A Year of Noticing

Look, Listen, Learn: A Year of Noticing is a seasonal collection of words and images designed to inspire a connection with the small wonders of the natural world.

A collaboration between myself and the author Jaimie Franchi, new updates of Look, Listen, Learn were released seasonly throughout 2023. All proceeds from the project benefit Nature Conservancy Canada.

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Find me at SPX this Weekend!

I’m delighted to be headed back to SPX for the first time in YEARS!

I’m gonna be spending the weekend working hard for Pow Pow Press at Table M7, where we will have a selection of Pow Pow’s amazing English-language books and a very special guest: Québecois cartoonist Cathon! This is Cathon’s first time at SPX and she’s going to be signing her very funny, very cute books The Pineapples of Wrath, The Adventures of Sgoobidoo, and Vampire Cousins all weekend!

But in addition to bringing the very best comics from Québec to my native land, I’m also delighted to say that there will be copies of my graphic novel TITAN available at Floating World Comics, right next to Pow Pow at Tables M8-M9! So feel free to pick up a copy and I’ll be able to sign it right away for you!

Really looking forward to seeing comics folks and fans again this weekend, I think this will be my first show in the USA since… The final Linework NW? In 2016?!? What? Is that even possible?!

Small Press Expo
September 9 11am–7pm & September 10 Noon–6pm
Bethesda, Maryland

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The Making of “The People”

My newest comic “The People” is hitting shops tomorrow as part of the latest issue of the new Oni Press limited series, XINO #2. The process on this comic was quite different from my usual methods, since I was the writer and was working with artist Artyom Trakhanov, colorist Jason Wordie, and letterer Jim Campbell to bring this story to life on the page, a very unusual experience for me! But it was honestly a pleasure, I was already a big fan of Artyom and Jason’s previous comic First Knife and I think that everyone really worked hard on this little 8-page comic to create something unique and fun!

Here is a little behind-the-scenes peek at the back and forth process of creating the first two pages of the story, from my script thru pencils, edits, inks, colors, and final letters. If you like what you see here do pick up XINO at your local comic book shop this week!

SCRIPT

The first two pages of my initial script that was sent to Artyom. I’ve redacted a note on page one that is a spoiler for the rest of the story!

I had come up with my initial idea for this story a couple years ago, so when editor Zack Soto approached me about doing a comic for the second issue of XINO “The People” was one of three pitches I sent him and co-editors Gabriel Granillo and Jung Hu Lee. But it was really just an idea, I didn’t have a story or dialogue written at all, so I had to hustle and write up the comic in a week! Zack gave me a hard limit of 8 pages for the comic, and that was a challenge to get what I wanted to happen across in such a short space. I also didn’t want to use any direct narration, and have the whole story expressed in just dialogue and images, which is another restraint, but I am really happy with how it turned out.

I included quite a few links in the script that I thought might help Artyom out and streamline the amount of outside research he might have to do on things like what sorts of animals are present on these pages and the recent scientific research I was drawing inspiration for the distinct look (dark skin, blue eyes) of the People.

One thing you might notice right away is that while the script is broken down by page, I didn’t purposefully give Artyom any notes about how to split up the action and dialogue panel-by-panel. As I wrote to him:

“Artyom, throughout I have written the images, scenes, and dialogue I’d like to see on each page, but I am leaving you the freedom to layout the panels as you see fit—When I work on other people’s scripts I often find panel-by-panel breakdowns to be overly restricting of my work as an artist, and I tend to ignore a good part of it. I thought you would appreciate the freedom to layout your pages with as many or few panels as you like, and I have trust in your instincts as a visual storyteller.”

Having worked as an artist on a few different projects with different scripting styles, I do think that too much direction from the writer can really cramp my style, and I think that the relative freedom in a script like this pays dividends by allowing the artist to set the pace. I think Artyom’s pencils below show that to be very true!

PENCILS

Here we have Artyom’s roughs/pencils. First off I was so excited to see this, it was honestly a trip to see characters and actions that I had concocted in my head realized by another illustrator, especially one who’s style is quite different from mine. I was super happy with the results.

If you compare the script and the roughs, you can see that Artyom made some significant cuts in order to fit the action on these pages, for instance the actual moment of the hunters launching their darts at the antelope happens in between pages one and two! But seeing it laid out it was obvious to me that Artyom showed excellent judgement on what could be left to the reader’s imagination, instead of trying to crowd everything on the page and ending up with something that was way too cramped.

ROUGH LETTERING

The next step for me was doing a really quick pass on the lettering to see what fit on Artyom’s roughs (page one didn’t have any dialogue so that was easy). Seeing the roughs made it clear that a couple little cuts could be made here (and throughout the rest of the story), such as little asides or character-building lines like “Old man, when are you going to admit I’ve better aim than you?” or “And just when did you become so competitive, girl?” These are what you might call “nice to have” lines, but they could definitely be cut here so that Artyom’s illustrations wouldn’t be overly cramped.

It is less evident on this page than elsewhere in the story, but I also rewrote several sections so that the dialogue would flow correctly on the page, sometimes giving a different character a line so that we wouldn’t have crazy long speech balloon tails snaking across the beautiful art (one of my big pet peeves). I had a few edits for Artyom as well, for instance the little red arrow on page 2, panel 4 referred to a note to move Look Far’s head over to better accommodate the dialogue (this was more pronounced in some of the later pages, which were quite wordy).

INKS

Next up we have Artyom’s lovely final inks for the comic, including some gorgeous screentone work. Obviously not to much feedback from me here, since I had gotten him notes earlier in the process and these just look gorgeous. If you wanna see more of his step-by-step process, Artyom has a great Patreon and he is running detailed posts over there, from roughs to inks. Well worth checking out and he runs a very active Patreon for his paying patrons!

COLOR

Here we have the final colors by Jason Wordie. There was a bit of back-and-forth to get here, I had a couple of suggestions and Artyom (who has worked with Jason before) had some very good and detailed notes for him. What an incredible difference it makes to see the world of “The People” in full color! I love the restrained effects Jason has here in the sky and the way he and Artyom work together to do a slightly desaturated linework/screentone/color mix so that everything blends so well together.

LETTERING

XINO letterer extraordinaire Jim Campbell came in at this point with his excellent rendering of the dialogue and word balloons. I had some nit-picky edits about placement (again, less so here and more on some tricky, dialogue-heavy pages at the end of the story) and Jim was kind enough to accommodate me, and I worked directly with him to get everything implemented (as a person who does lettering professionally myself it was really cool to get a behind-the-scenes look at Jim’s expert techniques!). This included a final round of tweaks to make sure everything fit on the page and obscured as little of Artyom and Jason’s artwork as possible. As a final touch I created the simple little “The People” logo, and we were ready to go!

And that’s it! Many thanks again to my teammates on this project, artist Artyom Trakhanov, colorist Jason Wordie,  letterer Jim Campbell, and editors Zack Soto, Gabriel Granillo, and Jung Hu Lee (who all had some great ideas and feedback throughout). In the end I feel like this comic is probably my favorite collaboration yet, and it was fascinating for me to use a different set of creative muscles and have to rely on other talented folks to do things I am used to doing myself!

“The People” appears in XINO #2, out TODAY (7/19/2023). If you like what you saw here I hope you’ll pick it up, I think you will be surprised and pleased by what me and the gang got up to in the remaining pages of this short, strange tale of life in the Paleolithic Era! And if you do enjoy it, please do let me know, post on the socials about it, etc… I’d love to get a maximum of eyeballs on this story and build a little buzz, because I’ve got some ideas of where the story could go next!

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Livre and Let Livre – 8/29/2023

Joignez-vous à Michelle Franklin et Sylvain Neuvel le mardi 29 août à 20h pour la grande première des soirées littéraires LIVRE AND LET LIVRE à la brasserie artisanale les sans-taverne à Pointe-Saint-Charles.

C’est avec un immense plaisir que nous accueillons la romancière Chris Bergeron (Valide) et le bédéiste François Vigneault (TITAN). On y parlera bien-sûr de science-fiction et d’autres sujets qui touchent nos invités, en plus de vous proposer quelques jeux et surprises. Nous sommes aussi très heureux de pouvoir compter sur la présence de Librairie Saga lors de l’événement. Nous espérons vous y voir en grand nombre.

*Veuillez noter que les enfants sont les bienvenus aux Sans-Taverne et qu’ils servent de fabuleuses bières artisanales brassées sur place (les gens du bar, pas les enfants).
____________________
Join hosts Sylvain Neuvel and Michelle Franklin on Tuesday, August 29th at 8:00PM at Les Sans-Taverne – Coop and Craft Brewery in Pointe-Saint-Charles for the premiere of a new series of literary evenings called Livre and Let Livre.

It is with great pleasure that we welcome novelist Chris Bergeron (Valid) and comic artist François Vigneault (TITAN). We’ll talk about sci-fi and other topics of interest for our panelists. We also have a few games and surprises in store! We’re very pleased to have our friends at Saga Bookstore as our co-hosts for the inaugural event. We hope to see you all there!

*Please note: children are welcome at Sans-Taverne. They serve fabulous craft beers brewed on site (the bar people, not the children).

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Coming in July: “The People” in XINO #2 (with art by Artyom Trakhanov)

New Comic Alert! Coming your way in XINO issue 2, the new sci-fi anthology from Oni Press: “The People,” a strange tale of life in the Palaeolithic Era written by me, drawn by Artyom Trakhanov, colored by Jason Wordie, with letters by Jim Cambell.

I’ve had the kernel of story percolating on the back burner for a couple years now, and I’m SO excited to have gotten to work with a real dream team to bring this to life. This comic is very “me” but it is also my fave collab I’ve done so far, it was a trip to let Artyom and Jason handle the art duties for a change but I couldn’t be happier with the amazing results, I think everyone brought their A-game and it’s definitely greater than the sum of its parts! I’m quite proud of this short story and I think that there is a lot in such a little tale, with quite a few twists and turns.

Below you have a little preview of the first three pages, if you like what you see don’t forget to pre-order XINO #2, in stores on July 19th!

Order via Lunar: 0523ON351
Order via Previews: MAY231918

By the way, Artyom has a great Patreon and he is running process posts of the entire story over there… Well worth checking out and he runs a very active Patreon for his paying patrons!

To be continued in XINO #2 — Out July 19, 2023!

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Montréal Comic Arts Festival | May 26-28, 2023

Come join me and over 200 other creators at the Festival BD de Montréal | Montréal Comic Arts Festival! I may be biased, but I think that the Festival is one of the top events in the world of comics, a huge, FREE event that takes over over a mile of Saint Denis Street, creating a pedestrian-friendly street fair with a vibrant and unique atmosphere.

Officially bilingual, this event should definitely be on the radar of anglophone comics readers… Think of it as a North American Angoulême, but maybe even better! Some of the many publishers present include Drawn & Quarterly, Oni Press, Pow Pow Press, Floating World Comics, Uncivilized Books, La Pastèque, and so many more. Guests this year include Gabriel Ba and Fábio Moon, Nick Drnaso, Aisha Franz, Sarah Anderson, Sourya, Manuele Fior, Dorothée de Monfreid, and so many more!

My MCAF Signing Schedule

Delighted to welcome my frequent American publisher Oni Press to MCAF for the first time!

Friday, May 261:00 pm – 2:30 pm : Kiosque A10 Pow Pow3:00 pm – 5:00 pm : Kiosque D25 Oni PressSaturday, May 274:00 pm – 5:30 pm : Kiosque D25 Oni PressSunday, May 2812:00 pm – 2:00 pm : Kiosque D25 Oni Press12:30 pm – 2:00 pm : Kiosque A10 Pow PowMy MCAF Activities

Once again I’m moderating a few different events at the Festival:

ANIMATION : COMIC IMPROVISATION

Friday, May 26 | 6:30 pm to 7:15 pm | SKETCH

Comics and improv is a winning combo! Two artists will draw a live comic strip before your astonished eyes. From the initial idea to the final result, follow along as the creators craft an original story in just a few panels. With a little help from the audience of course!

Featuring:

Marco RudyScott B. HendersonPANEL : DRAWING INSPIRATION

Saturday, May 27 | 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm | HUB

No artist is an island: Whenever a comic creator puts pen to paper (or stylus to tablet for that matter) they are is drawing upon a wide range of influences and inspirations, from comics and paintings to diverse cultural traditions, and of course the occasional bit of pop culture that imprinted on them when they were young and impressionable!

During this freewheeling and illuminating discussion, creators Fábio Moon, Sara Alfageeh and Cole Pauls will reveal the sometimes surprising inspirations from the world of comics and beyond that inform their art and creative process.

Featuring:

Cole PaulsFábio MoonSara AlfageehPanel : Sympathy for the Devil: Creating Challenging (Yet Captivating) Characters

Saturday, May 27 | 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm | HUB

Bad behaviour, suspect motivations, problematic attitudes, and cringe-worthy moments: Graphic novels and comics have a long and proud history of showcasing characters who push way beyond the narrow confines of the “likeable protagonist.” Cartoonists know that flawed, exasperating, and even straight-up monstrous characters are not only a lot of fun to write, but also can serve as a dark mirror for examining both individual failings and societal dysfunctions writ large. What are the challenges and opportunities in creating characters that readers will love despite (or perhaps because of) their flaws?

Come listen in as creators Aisha Franz (Work-Life Balance) Walter Scott (Wendy: Master of Art) and Joe Ollmann (Fictional Father) discuss the ways they bring their challenging and captivating characters to life on the page.

Featuring:

Aisha FranzJoe OllmannWalter Scott

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