KOMIKSTOK
FANTASIA'S COMIC BOOK AND MANGA SPECIAL WEEKEND EVENT
This week end, The Fantasia Ubisoft Festival will host a COMIC BOOK AND MANGA SPECIAL WEEKEND EVENT (JULY 17-18), entitled KOMIKSTOK FANTASIA. For this occasion, we will be showing movies related to, or adapted, from comic books.

Feature films

Arzak Rhapsody (Moebius)
Band of Ninja (lost masterpiece from Nagisa Oshima based on Ninja Bugeicho from Sanpei Shirato)
Blueberry (from Jan Kounen based on the work of Jean Giraud / Moebius)
Blue Springs (from Toshiaki Toyoda based on the work of Taiyo Matsumoto)
Corto Maltese (from Pascal Morelli based on the work of Hugo Pratt)
Cutie Honey (from Hideaki Anno based on the work of Go Nagai)
Hair High (Bill Plympton)
Hôpital Brut /Mauvais Œil / Peau de Chagrin (from the French collective Dernier Cri)
Immortel (Enki Bilal)
Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure (from Javier Fesser based on the work of Francisco Ibáñez)
Paranoia Agent (Satoshi Kon)

Short Features

Square Jaw Theater (Short films featuring super heroes such as Batman, Daredevil, Green Arrow, Hulk, Nexus, Wonder Woman and many more)
Comic cartoons (some short features featuring the work of Carle Bacha, Blanquet, Dave Cooper Druillet, Kid Koala, Bernie Mireault, Monkmus , Monsieur Ferraille, Tony Millionaire, Rick Trembles and Jim Woodring)
Mundo Urbano: Graffiti and Beyond

On July 17th and 18th, Fantasia will host a comic and manga convention on the mezzanine of the Hall Theatre Building, adjacent to the principal cinema of our festival. There, you'll be able to meet with retailers, comic-book artists and more, while admiring comic-book and cinema oriented displays. Prizes will be drawn each hour, including McFarlane actions figures.

A large number of guests have already confirmed their presence at the event:

Schedule of guest appearances

Saturday, July 17

Sunday, July 18

Steve Bissette
Stephen R. Bissette is best known for his award-winning collaboration with writer Alan Moore on DC Comics' Saga of the Swamp Thing from 1983-87. Bissette’s artwork has also graced the pages of Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated, Bizarre Adventures, Weird Worlds and many others. He co-founded, edited and co-published the controversial adult horror comics anthology Taboo (1988-95). He has also illustrated special edition novels, novellas and short stories by Joe R. Lansdale and others. As a writer, his articles on horror films have appeared in Deep Red, Video Watchdog, Fangoria and Gore Zone. He has also lectured extensively on the history of horror comics and co-authored the book Comic Book Rebels (Donald I. Fine, 1988). His original novella Aliens: Tribes, illustrated by Dave Dorman (Dark Horse) won a Bram Stoker Award in 1993. Through his own imprint, SpiderBaby Grafix, he is currently publishing an ambitious serialized graphic novel, Tyrant, a rigorously researched portrait of the birth, life and death of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in late Cretaceous North America. He is also the co-creator (with Alan Moore and Rick Veitch) of three popular THE FURY, N-MAN, and THE HYPERNAUT, which appeared in Image Comics' best-selling series, 1963.
www.hollywoodcomics.com/bissette.html

Kim Deitch
Kim Deitch, the son of legendary jazz cartoonist Gene Deitch, is a prominent comics figure in his own right. Since the late ’60s, he has been at the forefront of America “head” or underground comics. Kim Deitch began doing comic strips for The East Village Other in 1967. In 1969 he became the editor of Gothic Blimp Works, an underground comics tabloid. Since then, his work has appeared in Bijou Funnies, RAW, Pictopia, Zero Zero, Nickelodeon Magazine, Details and art speigelman’s kid’s comic book Little Lit. His work draws on and explores, in a dramatic and fantastical manner, classic pre-WWII animation, both its iconography and the history of its creators. He continues to create comics and display in galleries to this day. Some of his most notable titles are the Pantheon book Boulevard of Broken Dreams, featuring the famous Waldo. He lives in New York City.
http://www.lambiek.net/deitch.htm

John Holmstrom
John Holmstrom founded PUNK magazine, co-founded Comical Funnies, STOP! magazine, and draws the wildly-unsuccessful Bosko cartoon character. Holmstrom illustrated several early Ramones album covers, and more recently he has worked for High Times magazine. He has developed a reputation as America's Least Favourite Cartoonist.
www.johnholmstrom.com
www.punkmagazine.com

Cameron Stewart
Cameron Stewart is best known for his critically acclaimed run on DC Comics' CATWOMAN, with writer Ed Brubaker, and as artist and co-creator of SEAGUY with Grant Morrison. He has also contributed to THE INVISIBLES, HELLBOY, B.P.R.D., DEADENDERS, HELLBLAZER, TRANSMETROPOLITAN, and many others.
www.cameronstewart.com

Kagan McLeod
Kagan McLeod, a Toronto-based illustrator whose work is seen regularly in the National Post, also writes draws and self-publishes the acclaimed "Infinite Kung Fu". An ode to the martial arts films of 70s and 80s, Infinite Kung fu has been praised in publications including Wizard, The Source and Maisonneuve.
www.kaganmcleod.com
www.infinitekungfu.com

Chip Zdarsky
Chip Zdarsky is part of Toronto’s Royal Academy of Illustration and Design collective with Cameron Stewart, Kagan McLeod and Ben Shannon. He is also the creator of the Prison Funnies comic book.
http://chipstudio.com

Ben Shannon
Ben Shannon is part of Toronto’s Royal Academy of Illustration and Design collective with Cameron Stewart, Kagan McLeod and Chip Zdarsky. He has done illustrator: Wired, Rolling Stone, Globe & Mail, Nylon, IBM, Nike, and contributed to the RAID comics anthology Rumble Royale.
www.magnetreps.com/gallery_ben.html

Danny Hellman
Danny Hellman has worked as a commercial artist since the late 1980s, and has contributed to a wide variety of publications, including Time, The Wall Street Journal, Hustler & Screw. Hellman is also the editor/publisher of LEGAL ACTION COMICS Volumes 1 & 2, paperback comics anthologies which featured work by R. Crumb, art spiegelman, Kim Deitch, and many other stellar cartoon talents.
www.dannyhellman.com

Mike Kupperman
Mike Kupperman’s art has appeared in The New Yorker, Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and McSweeney's. Parts of Kupperman's book Snake 'n' Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret (2000, Harper Collins) were animated for Robert Smigel's TV Funhouse (Saturday Night Live). Kupperman has also contributed to Danny Hellman’s Legal Action Comics anthology.

Marc Ngui
Marc Ngui is a graphic novelist and artist whose work is firmly rooted in DIY/zine culture. His book, Enter Avariz, is a satire of globalization and corporate culture in the imaginary world of Zak Meadow. Marc was a participant in 2003's Perpetual Motion Road Show, a grassroots media tour that brought little-known artists to well-known cities in Canada and the U.S. For his various speaking engagements, Marc has developed a multimedia performance that includes slides, video, sound effects, and cartoon voices.
www.bumblenut.com

Brian Ralph
Brian Ralph is an Illustrator and Cartoonist living in Baltimore, Maryland whose work appears in various publications, most notably Nickelodeon Magazine. In addition, Brian has two published graphic novels, Cave-In and Climbing Out. Brian also creates a comic entitled Reggie-12 for every issue of Giant Robot Magazine. Brian currently teaches Sequential Art and Character Design at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
www.highwaterbooks.com
www.brianralph.com

Josh Simmons
Josh Simmons drew the comic book series Happy (www.topshelfcomix.com) and was responsible for the infamous mini comic All About Fucking. He has also toured the United States performing with sex cirkuses (The End of the World Cirkus and Know Nothing Family Zirkus Zideshow), rock bands (Glory Bee), and in support of comic books (Kramers Ergot 4). He also does a puppet show called BUNNY! He has just produced to two brand new self published comics: Pussies (portraits of female genitalia by some of the top cartoonists), and Jessica Farm (The adventures of a teenaged girl and her interactions with all of the fantastical and horrible creatures which occupy her house). Josh is working on many more things for future release in book and CD form.

LOCAL GUESTS

Rick Trembles
Montreal cartoonist, musician and animator Rick Trembles is a founding member of the American Devices, the city’s longest-lived punk band. In addition to his own publication Sugar Diet and contributions to numerous comics anthologies, he has created the Motion Picture Purgatory film-review comic strip in the Montreal Mirror for many years, and this year at last sees a collection published by FAB Press. In addition, at this year’s Fantasia he premiers his ten-minute animated film Rick Trembles’ Goopy Spasms Live Cartoon Show, a live-action/animated adaptation of his “How Did I Get So Anal?” slideshow performance, itself adapted from an early, autobiographical comic strip.
www.snubdom.com

H. Valium
A founding figure in the underground punk comix scene in Quebec, H. Valium has been creating eye-scorchingly complex and intense comics that destroy the medium’s formal rules while astounding with their precision and shock value. His work has been published in the US by Fantagraphics Books (Primitive Cretin and the Zero Zero anthology) and by numerous prestigious publishers in Europe. He is also known for his now-defunct punk band Valium et les Depressifs and for his longstanding work as a poster silkscreener in Montreal. Valium will be presenting the film Hôpital Brut from the European collective Dernier Cri, in which he participated, at Fantasia Komikstok this year.

Bernie Mireault
Montreal cartoonist, colourist and animator Bernie Mireault is best known for his own comic book The Jam and for his work on Matt Wagner’s Grendel series. He is currently working on an extensive Jam graphic novel.

Eric Thériault
Creator of the Veena series, founder of Rectangle magazine
www.cam.org/~veena

Thierry Labrosse
Creator of the series Moréa (Soleil)
www.thierrylabrosse.com

Salgood Sam
Salgood Sam is the current director of the Montreal Comic Jams (http://spiltink.dreamhost.com/MMCJ/). He has worked on the titles Doctor Strange, Muties and Ghost Rider 2099 (Marvel), Realworlds: Wonder Woman Vs. the Red Menace (DC) and The Big Book series, as well as extensive self-published work, including the personal anthology Revolver.
http://spiltink.dreamhost.com/salgood/

Michel Lacombe
Creator of One Bloody Year and Onigami, and illustrator of Warrior Nun Black & White.
http://michel-lacombe.dyndns.org/

Sherwin Tjia
Creator of Pedigree Girls.

Caro Caron
Painter and contributor to anthologies such as Cyclope.

R. Suicide
Underground cartoonist, painter and illustrator. Has contributed to Cyclope and numerous other Quebec anthologies, and does illustrations regularly for the Montreal Mirror.

D. Bilos
Illustrator and cartoonist, has contributed to the Cyclope anthology.

Simon Bossé
Cartoonist, illustrator, silkscreener and publisher, creator of Intestine for l’Oie de Cravan and editor of Kékrapules.
www.cam.org/~cravan/new.html

Quesnel
Cartoonist and editor of the Foetus anthology.