François Vigneault's Blog, page 5

New Interviews: Comic Book Couples Counseling & Radio Free Krypton

I had the pleasure of sitting down for two great interviews, both of which aired this week:

First off I had a truly fantastic time chatting with my colleague Michael Tanner and the hosts of Comic Book Couples Counseling about Orcs in Space! Lisa and Brad have been such amazing boosters of this title from the beginning, and we had a great discussion about the series, the upcoming Volume 2 (out April 27th!), and the future of the series, and they had some really nice things to say about our series:

“For us, Orcs in Space jumped immediately into our hearts, and we’ve folded it into our core philosophy. You can consume it exclusively for its mayhem and gags, but you’ll scrape into a passionate plea for human (or sentient) connectivity if you pierce just below its surface. Twelve issues will certainly satisfy as the previous eight issues have already done so, but we don’t want this trek to end with one season.”

You can listen to the episode here. I’ve been digging into all the rest of the Comic Book Couples Counseling episodes, including a recent interview with Chris Samnee, and I’ve been loving it! Lisa and Brad, a married couple, do a fantastic job, they dive deep into their subjects, and naturally the banter is off the charts, so make sure you check out the podcast and subscribe!

Next up I did a nice, in-depth dive into TITAN over on Radio Free Krypton. My interview with Jacob and Justin over is now up an on the air (it even went out on the radio airwaves on  CJRU 1280 AM in Toronto!). We talk all about my book TITAN, my efforts to integrate into francophone culture here in Montréal, my love of Caetano Veloso and Tropicalia, code switching, collaborating Orcs in Space, and much much more… Honestly we get a lot into just 30 minutes! Had a fantastic time talking with these dudes, it turns out this is the penultimate episode of the show, but I very much recommend digging into the Radio Free Krypton back catalogue if you wanna do a deep dive into Canadian comics and creators!

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Read (and Review) Orcs in Space Vol. 2 EARLY!

Orcs in Space Volume Two will be hitting bookstores in ONE MONTH on April 27th (I hope you’ve preordered your copy already ), but if you just can’t wait to clap your eyes on this sci-fi adventure I’ve got some good news for you!

Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of Orcs in Space Volume One are currently available for download over at NetGalley. You just have to put in a request!

The deal with ARCs is pretty simple, you get to read the book early, for FREE, and in return you then post an honest review on a site like NetGalley and/or Goodreads (here is the link to Orcs in Space on Goodreads). 

If you are interested in taking a look at Orcs in Space Volume Two early and help spread the word on the book, please check it out! I’m eager to hear any feedback you might have, and posting a public review on Goodreads, Amazon, etc can make a big difference for the success of the book when it is eventually released! Oh, and naturally, while I hope you like the book, don’t hesitate to post a middling or even negative review or rating online! The most important thing for me is to get people’s honest opinions; if you think that Orcs in Space is a 2-star book don’t worry, I won’t get my feelings hurt.

If you have any trouble downloading the ARC online feel free to drop me a line and I can send you a direct link. I’m also happy to hear any comments or questions you might have over on my Patreon or Instagram (in fact I have been cross-posting a few of those thoughtful questions to my Goodreads profile). Looking forward to hearing what you think!

The post Read (and Review) Orcs in Space Vol. 2 EARLY! first appeared on Tour de François.

Preorder Orcs in Space Volume Two

After a few delays because of (you guessed it!) the ongoing international paper shortage and other Covid-related business, I’m very happy to say that Orcs in Space Volume Two will be hitting bookstores on April 26, 2022!

There are lots of pre-order options for you, Orcs in Space will be available wherever you buy books, from local indies to international mega-corporations. Pre-orders on your preferred bookseller do make a huge difference for the overall fate of the book, they help retailers and readers learn about the book early and build anticipation of the book release, so if you know you wanna pick up this book, please consider pre-ordering it!

Pre-order at your Local Comic Book Shop (OCT211603)Add on GoodreadsBookshopIndieBoundAmazonBarnes & NobleIndigo

Read on for a sneak preview!

The post Preorder Orcs in Space Volume Two first appeared on Tour de François.

“It is Literally My Job to Draw Comics” — An Unpublished Interview

A couple months back I did an interview with a local Montréal paper that was never published. I thought it was a shame it never saw the light of day (as always with my interviews I tried to spend a good chunk of time developing thoughtful answers to the questions, and the questions themselves were interesting), but that’s how things go sometimes! So I reckoned I’d share it here for those who might be interested.

Read on for some thoughts on the differences (and similarities) between Orcs in Space and TITAN, my improvisational creative process, working with Justin Roiland, my occasional frustrations with comic book shops, and more!

And don’t forget that Orcs in Space Volume Two comes out in April, so it is a great time to preorder the book now!

1) Where/how did the idea of Orcs in Space originate?

Orcs in Space was born in the minds of Rashad and Abed Gheith (or as I am trying to get them to be known, the #GheithBros). Inspired in roughly equal parts by online role playing games, Three Stooges reruns, and the cult classic British series Red Dwarf, the comic is a mash-up of the various pop-culture obsessions they had shared since childhood. The Bros collaborated with their long-time friend (and Rick and Morty co-creator) Justin Roiland to shape the concept (Justin’s contributions included the killer setup of the StarBLEEP crew losing their advanced starship the Aarken) and develop it as a series. Michael Tanner in turn was brought in to help shape the ideas and plot into a comic book, bringing with him a strong background in the medium (he is the author of two volumes of Junior Braves of the Apocalypse). Then finally me and our colorist DJ Chavis were brought in to bring the whole thing to life visually! In addition to drawing the comic I design all the characters and do the lettering. So it has been a long, multi-stage, collaborative process bringing the idea to life!

The extended Orcs in Space team

2) How does this work compare with your past work TITAN? What makes Orcs in Space different? And, alternatively, what aspects of it are similar, or continuations/improvements on previous themes? 

It’s been so, so different… TITAN was a solo effort, I wrote and drew the whole book myself, so I’m 100% responsible for it, for better or worse! The jokey, slapstick atmosphere of Orcs in Space is also (pardon the pun) light years away from TITAN, which is a much, much more serious story, a “mature readers” look at past and present socio-political realities like class conflict and revolution through the lens of near-future science fiction. But all that said, in some ways both Orcs in Space and TITAN are loosely in the sci-fi genre and so I am drawing a lot of inspiration for both works from the book, films, and comics I have been slowly absorbing over the course of my lifetime… They share a lot of the same creative DNA as it were.

Violence in TITAN: Bloody and tragic

All my life, both as a creator and a consumer of culture, I’ve been into exploring a range of genres and types of stories… I’ve never been the kind of reader who only reads comic books, or science fiction, or classic literature, or what have you. I am often really interested in work that mixes and matches (some of my favorite authors and directors include Jaime Hernanadez, Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Steven Soderbergh), and I guess I have a  sort of similar approach in my own artistic practice too… Pinging from socio-political sci-fi with TITAN to coming-of-age tale in 13e Avenue (written by Geneviève Pettersen, 2018, La Pastèque), to comedy-adventure with Orcs in Space. I like the variety.

Violence in Orcs in Space: Bloody and comedic

3) What is your creative process like? 

For collaborative projects like Orcs in Space or 13e Avenue, I am starting off very much as a film director might with a screenplay someone else has concocted, so I approach it with that in mind: How can I visually tell the story in a way that captures both the letter and the spirit of the story the writer(s) are telling, while also adding in my own creative energy so that the final product is (hopefully) greater than the sum of its parts? I rough things out very quickly as a rule, my “thumbnails” and “pencils” are all one single stage, and they tend to be very loose gestural sketches, with very little detail… Mostly just blocking out the characters and dialogue, seeing what fits on a given page or in a particular chapter.

A “penciled” rough page from Orcs in Space

All of the final drawing is done directly in “ink.” I use these older analog terms because that is what I grew up with, but in fact for the last five years or so I have worked exclusively digitally (I draw on a simple, inexpensive Wacom tablet and use Photoshop). This means both that the drawings can have a kind of fun, improvisational and loose quality to them, but unfortunately it also means that sometimes I go down the wrong path and will have to redraw complete panels or pages… But I think the rapidity and spontaneity I get makes it worthwhile.

A page from Orcs with my finished “inks”

When I am writing the project as well, like with TITAN, I have to say the whole thing is much more complicated and even frustrating… I enjoy writing and telling my own stories my own way, but it can be daunting to face the blank page. Many of my writing projects will gestate in my mind and on the pages of various notebooks for quite a few years before I have a breakthrough and begin working on them in earnest… That was the case with TITAN and it’s the same story with my upcoming graphic novel, Blue Moon, both came from concepts I had maybe 20 years ago! While I am slowly working things out, I just try to keep myself thinking about the characters, the world, and the plot whenever and wherever I can (one trick I have is I try to think about the story as I am falling asleep). I ask myself questions: Where is the protagonist coming from, be it physically, emotionally, or intellectually? What can character X say to character Y to push this scene forward? Is there anything in my personal experience I can bring to this scene to add something unique here? Can I bring an element from earlier in the story back near the end to make a connection? By sort of allowing myself to wander mentally in the story space I can often find some interesting links and surprise myself. I am definitely an improvisational creator rather than a careful planner. 

And early sketch for TITAN

4) What was it like working with Justin Roiland?

For most of the project it has been pretty hands off I have to say! One of the quirks about Orcs in Space is that much of the writing for the first story arc was completed before I came on board the project as the artist, and then when we finally got started on it in earnest, Covid-19 hit, and Justin and the other writers are off in Los Angeles, so my contact with everyone was really limited for much of the project. I’ve still never gotten a chance to hang out with the guys in person! Hopefully next year, things will calm down and we’ll finally be able to do some appearances at comic conventions together and just have fun. Recently we have all had the chance to chat and communicate more, discussing some of the details in the upcoming Volumes Two and Three, and that has been a lot of fun, I think the collaboration with all the writers has been getting more free-flowing and that definitely adds to the fun for me. Justin in particular has been a sort of guiding light for the entire creative team, he has really helped finesse and streamline the fun and funky ideas Rashad and Abed were bringing to the table, and punching up the narrative so that things just work better… I think you can really feel his influence throughout the book. On the art side, there was also naturally a desire that my work on the book reflect some of Justin’s unique visual style, but I was also always allowed to really be myself too, there was never a question of trying to duplicate the look of Rick and Morty for instance.

A page from Orcs in Space Volume Two

5) What has the feedback/reception been like so far, after the graphic novel’s release on Oct 6?

It’s been really fantastic so far! We’ve gotten some excellent, thoughtful reviews (some people can’t bear to read their notices, but personally I read ALL the reviews of my work, including reader reviews, good and not-so-good, and I always get something constructive out of it). Lisa Gullickson at Comics Bookcase gave Volume One a frankly glowing review and brought out a ton of interesting subtext in the book, that definitely made my week. But I also really appreciated Matt Baume’s review in The Stranger, which was much more mixed, pointing out both the things he really liked and the areas he thought we could do better. That kind of feedback makes me want to keep “leveling up” as we go forward, and really bring my A-game in future volumes. I have the feeling that Orcs in Space is still a little bit “under the radar” so I am definitely looking forward to the word getting out, more people finding out about the book, and building a fanbase for it. 

6) Were there any challenges in creating the book? Setbacks? 

It’s definitely been a major challenge to bring out this new series in the midst of a global pandemic! Not only did that entail delaying the release of Orcs in Space (the series started coming out a year later than initially expected!), but also so many of the tools we would normally use to promote the release, like appearances at comic conventions or in-store signings, just haven’t been available to us. But I am very happy to say that things seem to slowly be getting better, and I have been doing a few signings locally. And, fingers crossed, we can hope for a more “normal” year in 2022 and that we will be able to do additional promotion for Volume Two (out in April) and Volume Three (out in October of 2022). Dare to dream!

The cover to Orcs in Space Volume Two

7) Where do you hope to go from here? With the second volume releasing in February, any longer-term goals/aspirations, or is this your main focus?

I just finished the art for Volume Two the other day, and I will be diving into Volume Three in about a week, so Orcs in Space is still definitely the main focus of my creative workday for the upcoming months! But I am also trying to fit in more personal work, most notably my next solo graphic novel, a sci-fi thriller titled Blue Moon. That book is much more in line with TITAN, and I am really excited to find the time to really dig into the creation of that more and more in the coming months. TITAN took me nearly five years to write and draw, and I am hoping that the process will be much faster with Blue Moon, so with any luck I will be done in 2022 or 2023. The real struggle is to find the time and energy to juggle multiple projects at the same time, but I do think I am getting better at it with time. Beyond that, I just hope I can continue to create work that is interesting and connects with an audience. I’d love it if I could continue to both draw other writer’s stories as well as create my own narratives, I feel like the two modes engage different parts of my brain, and I like that. I definitely don’t take it for granted that I’ll always be doing comics as a full-time job, so I also just try to enjoy it while I can… It’s incredible to me that I am literally doing what I dreamt of as a kid.

8) About you personally—How did you become a cartoonist living in Montreal? 

I moved to Montreal six years ago. Long story short, I grew up in the United States, but both my parents were immigrants, my father from Haiti and my mother from Quebec. I had always been frustrated that I had lost the ability to speak French when I was a child and had tried to get it back with mixed results, so when I had a chance to take a summer off to work on my comics back in 2015, I decided to spend three months here in Montreal. I fell in love (both with the city and with a particular human being!) and moved here permanently! And my French is much improved, I am happy to say.

A watercolor drawing from my first summer in Montréal

I was really lucky to find an eager audience for my work here, my book TITAN (which came out first in French from Éditions Pow Pow in 2017) was nominated for six prizes, and 13e Avenue won a few awards, including the Prix des Libraires. The comics community here has really welcomed me, and I know I wouldn’t have the same career in comics I have now without the support of the creators, publishers, booksellers, and readers of Montreal. I try to give back in whatever ways I can, for instance I have been volunteering with the Montreal Comic Arts Festival almost since I arrived in the city. There is such a rich comics community here. 

9) What are your favorite, and maybe least favorite, parts of the discipline/craft? 

My favorite element of comics as a medium is that it is really approachable, both for the creator and the reader. In some ways I am convinced that most people just “get” the basics of storytelling in the medium, you give a kid a comic and they can basically read it right out the gate. Now that we have an increasingly broad range of subject matter and ever-more diverse group of authors creating comics, I think that the horizons for the artform are really expanding. If you go into a bookseller like Librairie Drawn & Quarterly or Librairie Z, I guarantee that you can find a graphic novel that you will love, or a perfect indie comic for someone in your life.

One of my least favorite things about comics is probably in some ways the reverse, it’s that there are some entrenched elements determined to keep comics just the way that they were in the past. Happily, it’s not so much of an issue here (Quebec has a much more mixed comics culture), but I have been into comic shops in the USA that feel completely stuck in the 1990s, totally focused on the superhero genre and seemingly actively unwelcoming to readers who don’t fit into the traditional (male, adult, heterosexual, and nerdy) market for comic books. You also see it online, where fans complain venomously about “social agendas” if a creator dares to mess with one of their favorite characters. I grew up in the old-school comics culture, so in some ways I get it, people think that the work they grew up on and love is getting shoved aside and forgotten about. But that’s not true, personally I think there will always be space for the old-school stuff. I think there is a real responsibility on the part of everyone in the comics industry (shop owners, publishers, creators, festival organizers, readers, etc) to welcome in new readers and creators and stories that reflect the broader world. There is room for everyone in comics!

Some X-Men fan art by me, after Frank Cho

10) And, lastly, my favorite question to ask artists: Why do you like being a cartoonist?

When I was getting into comics as a teen, waaaay back in the 1990s, it was my dream to be a comic book artist. Now, every time I see my name on a comic I am struck by just how lucky I am to be doing what I do for a living, it is literally my job to draw comics. For many years I didn’t think that was going to be the case, and I was 100% fine with that, I have had a bunch of other fulfilling jobs over my lifetime. Furthermore I know that I might not always be a full-time comic book creator, in a few years I might find myself back working in an office, or a store, or whatever, and I am okay with that, too. But for now I just try to remind myself that I am doing just what I wanted to do, and that is amazing.

Photo of TITAN via @bookstagram_emily

The post “It is Literally My Job to Draw Comics” — An Unpublished Interview first appeared on Tour de François.

My Year of Movies 2021

For the last few years I have been consistently rating and occasionally reviewing the movies I watch over on Letterboxd, a site that might be described as “Goodreads for movies, but MUCH BETTER” (please please someone make a Letterboxd-style, modern, improved alternative to Goodreads and I will be there in a second). By my count here I watched about 80+ movies in 2021. This is actually far less than I used to, I probably watched 5-10 movies a week back in the day! I also only watched three movie in the theatre this year due the the ongoing pandemic: Dune (well worth catching on the big screen) and a double feature of Cruella and Black Widow at the drive in.

Making up this list I noticed that I often didn’t review my favorite or highest-rated films, so a quick shout-out to some of best movies I watched in 2021 but didn’t review: Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Dune, His House, Sorry to Bother You, and Freaks. I’ll try to fill these in with reviews as I inevitably rewatch these in the years to come.

The movies below are roughly in the order I watched them. If you’d like to see more of my ratings and reviews or chat about movies throughout the year, please connect with me over on Letterboxd!

Arctic ½

Terminator: Dark Fate
“This one starts of semi-promising and quickly descends into a morass of unintelligible action and logic-defying silliness.”

Minari ½
“I will say that this rather conventional film takes an unexpected turn at nearly the final moment and ends on a narratively unsatisfying note that feels very far from everything that preceded it.”

La Bolduc

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Rewatch)
“An often surprisingly moving collection of varied tales in which mere mortals bicker and brawl, but Death is always waiting to have the final word.”

Those Who Wish Me Dead
“Overstuffed and overlong.”

Promising Young Woman
“Tour de force acting by Carey Mulligan but an uneven script and a beyond pitch-black ending that leaves a very nasty taste in your mouth (as I am sure it is meant to).”

Dune

Inside Man (Rewatch)
“A mechanically-precise bank heist film full to the brim with fantastic character moments and hilarious “New York is the greatest city in the world” touches that make it a highly re-watchable.”

Life ½

Blood Red Sky ½

I Care a Lot ½
“This film does run straight into the problem of being about a throughly unsympathetic, cruel, and downright irredeemable protagonist who is brought into conflict with a (perhaps?) slightly more wicked antagonist, it’s just hard to root for anyone to come out on top.”

Count Dracula
“I loved the occasional pop-art psychedelic moments and the goofy special effects, including the appearance of a very cute, very not scary flying fox on a bed.”

Beautiful Girls
“Funny, awkward, and occasionally discomfiting, this film could have been great if the many women characters (with a who’s-who of top-notch talent playing them) got a bit more focus and centrality.”

No One Gets Out Alive ½

30 Days of Night ½

2 Guns

Ma

In The Cut

Kate
“Squandered potential, with only a couple cool scenes drowning in a morass of dull dialogue and recycled plot beats that feel like they were produced via random number generator.”

The Good Liar

The Equalizer 2 ½

The Courier ½

Freaks

Cold Skin
“A fantastic setup that could have been the basis for an intriguing and thematically rich film, but this is just a repetitive and predictable bore.”

Cruella ½
“Fun, punk-inspired, remixed supervillain origin story where style is the ultimate superpower.”

Beckett ½

Cam ½

Night Eats the World ½

The Quiet Earth
“This artsy sci-fi meditation on solitude and society feels like a film I should have caught in the late 90s when I was watching double features at my local rep house (the much-beloved, much-missed Ken Cinema in San Diego) like 2-3 nights a week.”

Runaway Jury

La Grande Seduction

Fear Street: 1994 , Fear Street: 1978 ½, Fear Street: 1666

Black Widow ½

1981 , 1987

A Quiet Place Part II
“…starts off on firm footing with an excellent flashback that caught me by surprise and underlines everything that has already been lost, but the continuation of the story from “A Quiet Place” disappoints on almost every level. Probably the most shocking lapse is the very odd and blatant sidelining of Emily Blunt’s character, but there really isn’t much new on the story front that either makes sense from a world-building or character development point of view.”

1BR

Blow Out ½

Luca
“Quite a gorgeous if lightweight concoction, probably the most straightforward and conceptually simple Pixar film I can recall seeing, without any stand out characters or set pieces.”

No Sudden Move
“Unsurprisingly rock-solid, with plenty of nuance and subtext, an often darkly comic look at capitalism’s infinite appetite for betrayal and greed: ‘You just don’t know when to stop, huh?'”

Desperado ½ (Rewatch)

Cold Pursuit ½

The Little Things ½

The Commuter ½
“Delivers the action goods with some nice conspiracy twists while also sneaking in some pointed elements of economic rage.”

Unknown
“Delivers the goods in reliable Liam Neeson/Jaume Collet-Serra action-thriller-mystery mode. But the biggest mystery to me is why a German actress was cast to play an illegal immigrant in a film set in Germany?”

The Last Detail ½

The Devil All the Time ½

Nomadland ½

Captain Fantastic ½

Palm Springs

Greyhound

Knives Out

Army of the Dead
“I appreciated that it was almost (almost!) a self-parody and a sideways critique of capitalism, with characters happily throwing away their lives for less and less money, a race to the bottom that knows no end. The house always wins! But that point would have been a bit too deep for this movie to get to I suppose.”

The Block Island Sound ½

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada ½

The Homesman ½

Sorry to Bother You ½

Pokémon Detective Pikachu ½
“I went in hoping for cute Pokemon and I got Cute Pokemon! I think I would have enjoyed a more “down-to-earth” mystery, this got pretty epic by the last act, I had more fun in the earlier silly bits.”

Buena Vista Social Club ½

Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

Barbarella (Rewatch)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Ammonite

American Psycho ½

The Crazies ½

Shivers ½

Journey to the Beginning of Time
“My 2nd film from Czech director Karel Zeman, wonderful (in the sense of literally being filled with wonder).”

Road House
“This movie was about twice as good as I expected, totally a solid Western/samurai tale, on the razor’s edge between the ridiculous and the sublime.”

Cat Ballou ½
“Little glimmers of social consciousness and progressive ideas jostle with typical mid-1960s insensitivity but overall I think “Cat Ballou” comes out alright even after all these years.”

The Vast of Night
“The story is simultaneously very small and connects with something much greater… A lovely way to spend an evening, and a promising film from this first-time director.”

I’m Your Woman ½
“Great premise and starts off strong, but by the end of the film it really falls apart. Characters constantly do things for no reason whatsoever and the plot devolves into a stew of illogic. Some lovely moments along the way, tho.”

His House ½

Congo (Rewatch)

The Dig

You Should Have Left

Piranha
“I was slightly distracted watching this, but I don’t think there was a single moment where someone reached out to help someone out of the water and just pulled out their severed bloody hand, so that knocked it down to a single star for me.”

Mank ½

Lethal Weapon ½

Tomb Raider ½

Freeway (Rewatch)
“Pitch black comedy, raw, violent, cruel, hilarious. Witherspoon is amazing, pure star power.”

The post My Year of Movies 2021 first appeared on Tour de François.

My Year of Books 2021

My reading fell off a bit this year, coming up short of the 60 books I set as my goal over on Goodreads, despite the fact that quite a few of the books I logged were pretty short and lots of comics and graphic novels in the mix this year as well. But failing at a reading challenge is pretty forgivable, I reckon, and I’ve just adjusted my goal for 2022 down to a more manageable 50 books… Wish me luck! I’ll be continuing to log books over on Goodreads and will try to post more full reviews on my review blog Tipped In throughout the coming year.

One advantage of reading quite a few shorter works was that last year saw me tackling a bunch of classics I have been meaning to read for years, and in general they didn’t disappoint: The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, , Wise Blood, My Man Jeeves, Passing, The Dispossessed, and The Incredible Shrinking Man were all excellent, and even if they didn’t blow my mind I definitely appreciated Travels with Charley and Siddhartha. Happy to have checked those all of “The List” as it were. I also caught up with shorter works from some of my fave contemporary authors like Jennifer Egan and Ben Winters.

Probably my biggest discover of the year was purely by happenstance: I picked up Days by Moonlight by André Alexis based on its cover and the fact that I was interested to read more contemporary Canadian literature, so I dived in knowing nothing. What starts off as a seemingly straightforward travelogue soon blossoms into something quite unusual, full of utterly absurd humor (an unexpected scene featuring a perplexed and put-upon owl had me laughing out loud), sharp social critiques, beautiful descriptions of the natural world, and some extremely surprising plot twists. Reminded me great books like “Pale Fire” by Nabokov, “The Crying of Lot 49” by Pynchon, and “White Boy Shuffle” by Beatty, but this was totally unique. I am so delighted to find out that this is part of André Alexis’ “Quincunx” cycle (a quincunx, I was intrigued to learn, is the distinctive shape of a “five” on a die… four dots in a square with one more in the center), and I am eager to dig into the rest of these novels in the coming year. Highly recommended, my discovery of the year.

Lots of graphic novels this year, especially French books that I read in French. Lots of great discoveries for me like Camille Jourdy and Elène Usdin. I have a bunch more interesting French BD sitting in my “to be read” pile as well… It can be a bit more of a challenge for me to read in French, it definitely takes longer but it is really worth it and I’m frankly amazed by how much better I am at it. That’s one of the nice things I look forward to: I have spent the first forty years of my life reading almost exclusively in English, but I think the future will hold a lot more French literature… I’m excited to discover a whole new world of books.

I think one of the things that slowed me down in 2021 is that between the shorter books, I tried to take quite a few rather lengthy books that have been either sitting on my “to be read” pile for a few years (like 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, which I am about 1/2 way finished with) or that came out this year from authors I was particularly eager to read (like The Free World by Louis Menand), so hopefully I will be able to check those off the list in 2022 (some others I am looking forward to in 2022 include The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie, more works by Andre Alexis, Jennifer Egan’s new book The Candy House (a sequel to A Visit from the Good Squad!), digging into works by Rachel Kushner (I read a couple of her essays last year and really liked them), and possibly Karl Ove Knausgaard’s new book The Morning Star (another long and dense book to add to the shelf).

Here is my 2021 list, including “blurbs” from the linked reviews, and links to my Bookshop in case you want to pick any of them up (I get a referral fee):

The City of Belgium by Brecht Evens Review
“A moving and surprising look at party people, panic attacks, and the power of storytelling.”

Comment ne rien faire by Guy Delisle

Chronique de jeunesse by Guy Delisle

Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (reread)

The Overstory by Richard Powers

The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith Review
“I can see why Tom Ripley has become an iconic character, he’s truly a dark, deep, sad, bizarre, and complex figure.”

Cyclopedia Exotica by Aminder Dahliwal

The Keep by Jennifer Egan

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Emerald City by Jennifer Egan

The Prestige by Christopher Priest Review
“Like many people I came to this novel by way of the Christopher Nolan film adaptation from 2006… after reading it I come away even more impressed by the adaption job Christopher and Jonathan Nolan did in bringing this to the screen, and in my opinion certainly improving on the already pretty impressive source material.”

Passing by Nella Larsen Review
“Quick, tightly written piece that reminded me of Katherine Mansfield, with a well-rendered mix of interior struggles, interpersonal cruelty, and a thoughtful exploration of the intricacies of racial identity in America”

Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor Review
“As raw, cruel, nasty, fascinating, and darkly comic as anything I can recall reading.”

Inside Jobs by Ben Winters Review
“The three stories collected are of varying levels of excellence but they all get the job done, creating an old-school crime atmosphere while embracing the peculiarities of a very specific moment.”

The Incredible Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson

Juliette: Les fantômes reviennent au printemps by Camille Jourdy Review
‘I really liked this book, maybe even loved it. I found it to be a totally charming and low-key family/relationship dramady, which reminded me of a good indie film…”

Becoming Horses by Disa Wallander

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson Review
“A big book full of thought-provoking ideas, but that is more often interesting than genuinely engrossing.”

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin Review
“…a unique and thoughtful mix of a bildungsroman, philosophical treatise, revolutionary tract, political thriller, and novel of ideas… No simple answers are given here and LeGuin includes scenes and concepts that are certain to make people of all political leanings uncomfortable.”

The Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig

Alay-Oop by William Gropper

The Man Without Talent by Yoshiharu Tsuge Review
“This meandering, melancholic semi-autobiographical graphic novel, originally serialized in 1985-86, is remarkably ahead of its time.”

Rebecca et Lucie mènent l’enquête by Pascal Girard Review
“Fantastic breezy read that combines a page-turner of a missing persons case with a loving, sensitive, and often hilarious look at the day-to-day life of a young mother.”

The Fifth Quarter by Mike Dawson Review
“This story is wonderfully positive and uplifting but still deals with some very real emotional matters and difficult life lessons.”

René.e au bois dormant by Elène Usdin
“…a really remarkable book, a beautiful and moving story that is presented with such a strong artistic voice that it is almost incredible that this is Elene Usdin’s first graphic novel.”

Superman Red Son by Mark Millar and Dave Johnson Review
“While deeply indebted to classics like Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? and The Dark Knight Returns, the unique setting and truly excellent concept make this tale stand out.

Ping Pong Vol. 1 by Taiyo Matsumoto Review
“Dense and intense, Ping Pong is definitely a master class in depicting action, movement, and energy on the page, but is somewhat lacking in human connection, which is perhaps to be expected from a narrative focused entirely on the high-intensity world of competitive high school table tennis to the virtual exclusion of all other subjects.”

I am Not Starfire by Mariko Tamaki and Yoshi Yoshitani Review
“The rather interesting characters and their difficult but very honest relationships resolve into something a bit less intriguing and far more conventional by the end of the narrative, and that is a shame.”

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John LeCarré
“Excellent, twisted, deep, and dark.”

A Legacy of Spies by John LeCarré Review
“…this one never really took off for me off and wraps up abruptly, but it was a quick read with an interesting protagonist, so I leave satisfied.”

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

Sousbrouillard by Anne-Caroline Pandolfo and Terkel Risbjerg Review
“…an intriguing, scattershot, romantic, old-fashioned, and ultimately somewhat superfluous tale of seeking one’s identity and finding it, after a fashion, in stories.”

Le Joueur d’échecs by Stefan Zweig

World’s Funnest by Evan Dorkin and others Review
“The gag is great if straightforward (even if it has been done before to darker and more powerful effect) but the art lineup is insanely stacked. Well worth a read (and it’s a quick one).”

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse Review
“Quite ahead of its time considering it was published nearly 100 years ago in 1922.”

By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolaño

Days by Moonlight by André Alexis Review
“What starts off as a seemingly straightforward travelogue soon blossoms into something quite unusual, full of utterly absurd humor (an unexpected scene featuring a perplexed and put-upon owl had me laughing out loud), sharp social critiques, beautiful descriptions of the natural world, and some extremely surprising plot twists… Highly recommended, my discovery of the year.”

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie (reread) Review
“It’s best to go in knowing little and gather the loose threads one-by-one as you go… Lots of fun “ah-ha!” moments await you.”

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

The post My Year of Books 2021 first appeared on Tour de François.

2021 in Review

Visiting Strange Adventures in Halifax, Nova Scotia back in August.

I’ve never been a nut for holidays traditions, it’s been years and years since I gave or received a gift for Christmas or done anything major for my birthday, but I do alway get a special feeling at the end of the calendar year. Even if the demarcation between years is arbitrary, I feel genuinely uplifted and emotional by the switch from one year to the next. Over the last few years, I (ridiculously) always find myself tearing up when Bye Bye (an annual sketch comedy special that plays on New Year’s Eve here in Québec) plays a montage of people all over the world shouting out “Bonne Année!” There’s something that is irrepressibly positive in the simple, universal message of “Happy New Year” that I simply can’t resist.

One of the only traditions I observe every year is taking a moment to write up a quick, non-exhaustive review of my creative projects. I have quite a streak going now, I have been doing these annual “Year in Review” blog post for seven years now! Here are links to 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 posts in case you wanna travel back in time to a more innocent time (pre-Trump, pre-Covid… Can you even imagine?!). It’s probably no coincidence that I started writing these posts the same year I first moved to Montréal and began trying to work as a creative full-time. It’s pretty wild for me when I look back on the ups and downs of the last few years. This is one tradition that I am glad I have stuck with!

As always, I must say a very big “thank you” to everyone reading this message and to everyone who has supported me and my work over the course of the years: My fans, readers, friends, and collaborators, the publishers who put out my work and the booksellers who stock my graphic novels, the critics who review my books, the clients who hire me and the editors who help make my work the best it can be. When I began working as a full-time creator in 2015 I had no idea if it would work, and I try to never take it for granted that I get to do what I always wanted to do, and that I somehow make a living at it as well. That would be impossible without the support, kindness, and interest of many, many people, and I extend my gratitude to you all.

I’d also like to take a moment to extend a special message of appreciation to my partner, C. She is a private person and I don’t talk about our life much in public, but I know that I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish a fraction of the work I have done in the last seven years without her love, advice, and support. Everything I have created in the past seven years has been deeply influenced by her presence. My life and my work wouldn’t be complete without her.

#vanlife Travels on the Côte-Nord

Early in 2020 The Comics Journal posted a series of illustrated journals I created based on me and my partner C.’s 15-day trip to the end of the road in Québec’s Cote-Nord. These were super fun to work on, bringing me back to the nature journaling I was doing with my defunct series Bird Brain back in the day. I’d love to find more time for these kinds of non-fiction stories in the near future, especially taking a look at the natural world and he ways it intersects with everyday life. You can read the whole series online at the TCJ website, and I am very happy to say that Travels on the Cote-Nord will finally be appearing in print in 2022 in a very cool collaboration with some old friends! Back with more on that soon.

#orcsonas of the extended Orcs in Space teamOrcs in Space

The biggest project for 2021 (and much of 2020 for that matter) has doubtless been illustrating Orcs in Space. This sci-fi/fantasy/comedy series, published by Oni Press and created by a team including writers Justin Roiland, Abed Gheith, Rashad Gheith, Michael Tanner, colorists DJ Chavis, and Dave Pender, and editor Amanda Meadows, has been a huge undertaking for me: My first time drawing a monthly comic book series, including designing dozens of characters and the whole visual universe of the title, it’s been a major undertaking—but plenty of fun! I’m really proud of what the team has created and feel like I’ve really grown as an artist and creator over the course of creating this series. Volume One is out now, with Volume Two due in March 2022 and Volume Three hitting shelves in October, so be on the look out for much more of Kravis, Mongtar, and Gor in 2022. Over the course of the last year I posted a few behind-the-scenes looks at my process illustrating the book and designing the characters in case you wanna check ’em out.

Many, many hours of work.Brecht Evens’ City of Belgium

This is another one of those projects that I was working on throughout 2020 that finally saw the light of day in 2021, and what a beautiful book it is! I hand-lettered the English-language edition of Brecht Evens’ masterpiece City of Belgium, published by Drawn & Quarterly. This project was a massive undertaking, over 330 dense pages featuring multi-colored calligraphy that weaves in and out of Brecht’s vibrant watercolor drawings. I read this book very closely over the course of the project, even giving extensive feedback on the English translation (which the talented Brecht did himself!), and I can definitely recommend this book unreservedly… A moving and surprising look at party people, panic attacks, and the power of storytelling.

What a cutie!World Turtle Day

One of the organizations I am proudest to be working with over the last few years is Nature Conservancy Canada/Conservation de la Nature Canada, a non-profit that preserves important habitats for the protection of threatened species throughout Québec and Canada. I do a lot of graphic design work for them (reports and such), but one of my favorite gigs with them this year was a special drawing celebrating World Turtle Day and the fifth anniversary of Project Carapace, an initiative to help protect native turtle species (like the ever-smiling and utterly adorable Blanding’s turtle above) here in Québec . If you are looking for an impactful organization to donate to in the coming year, you could do much worse than Nature Conservancy Canada!

Sing us a song, piano girls…Music to My Ears

I love working with repeat clients, and I love working with musicians, so I was delighted to have a couple of fun illustration gigs come up in 2021: I drew the apocalyptic cover for Tommy Dubs’ new album We’re All Gonna Die! album cover and the covers and interior designs for Five-Finger Pop! Book 1 and Book Two for Brock Chart. Looking forward to working with both these talented dudes again (and if you are a musician and wanna hire me to do your next album cover, show poster, or whatever, get in touch… Those are always fun gigs!).

All these books are great, by the way.Prix des Libraires Poster

As I mentioned in my 2020 in Review posting, Geneviève Pettersen and I were honored by the Prix des Libraires when our graphic novel 13e Avenue won the inaugural Prix es Libraires BD Jeunesse award. I had the pleasure of designing the poster announcing the 2021 winners and the cover of the accompanying activity book, which were available in bookstores all around Québec! And yes, before you ask Geneviève and I are working on 13e Avenue Tome 2!

Does this mean I’ve entered the canon?Textbook Example

Last year one of my illustrations for Ambrose Bierce’s classic short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (originally published a few years back by my old colleagues at Scout Books, you can read the whole story and see all my drawings for it over on my Patreon) was reprinted in American Literature & Rhetoric, a brand-new high school English textbook! Quite a surprise and an honor, they even included study questions specifically about my art! Pretty cool. Oh, and another of my pieces was also reprinted as the cover for the Véhicule Press catalog, too!

A glimpse of the future…Up Next: Blue Moon

Finally, this is a project that is far from finished, but I did want to highlight the fact that my next graphic novel Blue Moon is starting to come together. I am so happy to report that the Canada Council for the Arts has generously provided me with a grant to support my work on Blue Moon, for which I can’t express the depth of my appreciation. Blue Moon is still in the early stages (I made a courageous attempt to rough out the whole book for National Novel Writing Month in November, but had to admit defeat because I had too many pressing deadlines on other gigs), but I am very happy with how the book is shaping up. Like TITAN, Blue Moon is a somewhat allegorical science fiction story that examines elements of politics, economics, and interpersonal relationships. The narrative will be combining a bunch of genre elements and story modes I love (including folktale, psychological horror, cyberpunk, and the Gothic novel), and I have a really cool plan for the visual style that I think is gonna be a major achievement for me. I think you are gonna dig it. Stay tuned throughout 2022 for more on my process on Blue Moon and all my other projects!

The post 2021 in Review first appeared on Tour de François.

Video: UPGRADE SOUL Collector Edition virtual book launch with Ezra Claytan Daniels

It was my honor and delight to chat with the brilliant Ezra Claytan Daniels to celebrate the launch of the Collector Edition of Upgrade Soul, published by Oni Press! The book is beyond gorgeous, and your bookshelf just won’t be complete without it! Order your copy from the host Floating World Comics and you’ll get a special signed bookplate.

Watch the Video

• • •

Join Dwayne McDuffie Award-winning creator Ezra Claytan Daniels in conversation with François Vigneault for a virtual book launch celebrating the release of Upgrade Soul Collector Edition!

This new Upgrade Soul Collector Edition is a beautiful hardcover of the trailblazing science-fiction graphic novel, with a new essay and design files from Ezra, as well as a foreword by Darren Aranofsky and afterword by Karama Horne.

For their forty-fifth anniversary, Hank and Molly Nonnar decide to undergo an experimental rejuvenation procedure, but their hopes for youth are dashed when the couple is faced with the results: severely disfigured yet intellectually and physically superior duplicates of themselves. Can the original Hank and Molly coexist in the same world as their clones? In Upgrade Soul, McDuffie Award-winning creator Ezra Claytan Daniels asks probing questions about what shapes our identity: Is it the capability of our minds or the physicality of our bodies? Is a newer, better version of yourself still you?

Preorder the book here to receive a FREE signed bookplate by the author!

Ezra Claytan Daniels Upgrade Soul Collector Edition virtual book launch
Wednesday Nov. 17, 5 – 6pm PST
Zoom virtual event
Facebook Event

EZRA CLAYTAN DANIELS is a mixed-race (black/white) writer and illustrator. His critically acclaimed graphic novel series, The Changers, began a unique career peppered with collaborative multimedia projects ranging from video games to animation to feature documentaries.

Ezra’s graphic novel, Upgrade Soul, began as a pioneering immersive serialized graphic novel for iOS in 2012. Upgrade Soul has been frequently featured on the Apple App Store, was named a 2013 IndieCade Finalist, and has exhibited at The Hyde Park Art Center, the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Upgrade Soul was a featured project at the Fantoche International Animation Festival in Baden, Switzerland, Haarlem Stripdagen in Amsterdam, and the Fumetto International Comics Festival in Lucerne.  Upgrade Soul was collected in print by Lion Forge Books in 2018. It was the recipient of the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics, nominated for Eisner, Harvey, Ringo, and Ignatz awards, and was named one of the best books of 2018 by Publishers Weekly, Vulture, The Library Journal, and Paste. Upgrade Soul is currently in development as a feature film.

Ezra currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, where he writes for film and television, most recently on the 3rd season of Doom Patrol for HBO Max and the upcoming Amazon sci-fi drama, Lightyears.

The post Video: UPGRADE SOUL Collector Edition virtual book launch with Ezra Claytan Daniels first appeared on Tour de François.

Nov. 17 – UPGRADE SOUL Collector’s Edition virtual book launch with Ezra Claytan Daniels

It’s gonna be my honor and delight to chat with the brilliant Ezra Claytan Daniels tonight to celebrate the launch of the Collector Edition of Upgrade Soul, published by Oni Press! The book is beyond gorgeous, and your bookshelf just won’t be complete without it! Order your copy from the host Floating World Comics and tune in at 5:00 PM PST to catch the virtual launch party!

• • •

Join Dwayne McDuffie Award-winning creator Ezra Claytan Daniels in conversation with François Vigneault for a virtual book launch celebrating the release of Upgrade Soul Collector Edition!

This new Upgrade Soul Collector Edition is a beautiful hardcover of the trailblazing science-fiction graphic novel, with a new essay and design files from Ezra, as well as a foreword by Darren Aranofsky and afterword by Karama Horne.

For their forty-fifth anniversary, Hank and Molly Nonnar decide to undergo an experimental rejuvenation procedure, but their hopes for youth are dashed when the couple is faced with the results: severely disfigured yet intellectually and physically superior duplicates of themselves. Can the original Hank and Molly coexist in the same world as their clones? In Upgrade Soul, McDuffie Award-winning creator Ezra Claytan Daniels asks probing questions about what shapes our identity: Is it the capability of our minds or the physicality of our bodies? Is a newer, better version of yourself still you?

Preorder the book here to receive a FREE signed bookplate by the author!

Ezra Claytan Daniels Upgrade Soul Collector Edition virtual book launch
Wednesday Nov. 17, 5 – 6pm PST
Zoom virtual event
Facebook Event

EZRA CLAYTAN DANIELS is a mixed-race (black/white) writer and illustrator. His critically acclaimed graphic novel series, The Changers, began a unique career peppered with collaborative multimedia projects ranging from video games to animation to feature documentaries.

Ezra’s graphic novel, Upgrade Soul, began as a pioneering immersive serialized graphic novel for iOS in 2012. Upgrade Soul has been frequently featured on the Apple App Store, was named a 2013 IndieCade Finalist, and has exhibited at The Hyde Park Art Center, the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Upgrade Soul was a featured project at the Fantoche International Animation Festival in Baden, Switzerland, Haarlem Stripdagen in Amsterdam, and the Fumetto International Comics Festival in Lucerne.  Upgrade Soul was collected in print by Lion Forge Books in 2018. It was the recipient of the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics, nominated for Eisner, Harvey, Ringo, and Ignatz awards, and was named one of the best books of 2018 by Publishers Weekly, Vulture, The Library Journal, and Paste. Upgrade Soul is currently in development as a feature film.

Ezra currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, where he writes for film and television, most recently on the 3rd season of Doom Patrol for HBO Max and the upcoming Amazon sci-fi drama, Lightyears.

The post Nov. 17 – UPGRADE SOUL Collector’s Edition virtual book launch with Ezra Claytan Daniels first appeared on Tour de François.

Expozine (Nov 20-21) & Montréal ComicCon (Dec 3-5)

After more than two years away from comic conventions and book festivals, I’ll be doing not just one but TWO shows in my hometown of Montréal in the period of less than a fortnight (and how often do you get the chance to properly use the term “fortnight”? Not often enough, say I! Fortnight!!). If you are in town please consider swinging by!

Expozine 20 poster design by Chaity I.

First up I’ll be exhibiting at the legendary Expozine! I’ll have books, comics, and some prints for sale. Too many great creators and publishing houses will be in attendance, including Éditions Pow Pow, Julie Delporte, and so many more. This is a great indie show with a fantastic punk vibe, it’s FREE, and it’s well worth swinging by!

November 20-21, 11:00am-6:00pm,
SAT (Société des arts technologiques)
1201 Saint-Laurent, Montréal
Free admission,
18+ only 

Next we have the Montréal ComiCon Holiday Edition, which is always a lot of geeky fun, with tons of cosplay, comic books old and new, toys, and a nice selection of comic book artists. In addition to me, some of my pals and colleagues will be there as well, including Cab, Jeik Dion, Boum, and more. It’s a great spot to pick up some fun holiday gifts. Come and say hi if you are there!

December 3-5
(Fri 5:00-9:00pm, Sat 11:00am-6:00pm, Sun 11:00am-5:00pm)
Palais des Congrès
1001 Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle

The post Expozine (Nov 20-21) & Montréal ComicCon (Dec 3-5) first appeared on Tour de François.