Category: Press

  • My Last No Media Kings Post

    I’ve decided to stop using the No Media Kings imprint for my work. I started using it back in 2000, and the media context has shifted drastically: things are so much weirder now. Who knew back then that the kind of print media consolidation I was concerned about would seem quaint in the face of Facebook’s billions of users? That the self-publishing game-changer would be a kinky e-book that came in 50 Shades of Grey? That Rupert Murdoch’s machiavellian publishing manoeuvres would pale in comparison to his overtly pro-Nazi mouthpiece, Fox News?

    Originally I started NMK to self-publish my second novel Angry Young Spaceman. (more…)

  • Artist Residency at the Art Gallery of Ontario

    Magi's Rendering screenshot

    Quite flattered and surprised to announce that I’ll be the artist-in-residence at one of North America’s largest museum galleries, the AGO. During February and March they’re providing a studio, a stipend and institutional support to make art — in my case, game art — and engage the public. What the public engagement will look like is still in the planning stages but I’ll be posting more about it as event details firm up.

    In related news, I took part in a hackathon and made this art game in about six hours with the guys at Verold. The Magi’s Rendering is my first 3D game, and you can play it now in most recent browsers. Credits and design notes below. (more…)

  • Sword of My Mouth’s Word of Mouth

    Shannon made this terrific display for TCAF, click to zoomReview wise, we’ve had a pretty nice response from places like Bust, Boing Boing, and the Onion A.V. Club — check out the blurbs here. Also, tor.com has published an excerpt — you can read the first chapter there.

    We got a bit of coverage at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival — the guys from Vepo Studios interviewed me for their great piece on self-publishing comics and I rambled on with the guys with RGB Filter as well. (Sadly, Shannon hates being videotaped.)

    More recently we drove to Detroit and did a launch at Leopold’s Books, a fantastic new bookstore with an emphasis on comic/zine/visual culture. Greg, the owner, interviewed us on stage. Probably the nicest thing was hearing that he was worried the comic was going to be another exploitive take on Detroit in the “ruin porn” genre but was pleasantly surprised to see it was not.

    UPDATE: Quill & Quire gave it a starred review: “Munroe has created another stunning, thought-provoking work that will linger in the reader’s mind.” The Indypendent has an interesting contrasting review of three Detroit books, including ours. Also, Shannon’s touring the west coast in August! Drop her a line if you want her to come to your town.

  • Promoting the Hell Out of It

    Hey, we’re putting out a graphic novel treating the Rapture irreverently — we’re damned anyway, might as well get the word out about Sword of My Mouth! First up — science-fiction powerhouse io9.com is running a contest where you can win a copy of the print edition by rewriting my dialogue. It’s had a hundred entries in the first six hours, but there’s 18 hours left!

    Secondly — what with the urban farming theme and spring being here and all, we figured it’d be fun to make seed packets marketed for the post-Rapture world — ones that don’t need the light of God to grow. (The first twenty people to buy a copy of Sword of My Mouth at the Toronto launch get one.) So Scott made a nice design and Shannon went to take some pictures “in context” as it were at a garden centre. The photo and the altercation that followed with the manager follows below. (more…)

  • Sword of My Mouth #1 Out Soon

    Her baby isn’t quite right. But in a post-Rapture Detroit, not much is.

    The first 22 pages of the next post-Rapture story after Therefore Repent! will be appearing in comic stores in May, to be eventually collected into a graphic novel called Sword of My Mouth in 2010. Check out Shannon Gerard’s fantastic cover art and the description after the jump, and if it looks good you can preorder at your local comic store — it’s in this month’s Previews (MAR09 4308, pg. 266). Update: I just saw it’s a Staff Pick at Previews!

    (What’s that, you say? You’re behind and haven’t read the critically acclaimed Therefore Repent! yet? Well, lucky thing I’m releasing the full graphic novel as a free download today, isn’t it?)

    (more…)

  • The Time Management For Anarchists comic

    Emma focuses on the task.Marc Ngui and I have just finished a 22 page comic book adaptation of the workshop and flash animation I made on how to be productive without having, or being, a boss.

    Starring Emma Goldman and Mikhail Bakunin, it’s a totally weird animal: part how-to, part polemic, part coming-of-age story, part interview, and Marc’s matched it with his whacked-out imagery and trippy colouring. I’m really excited to see what people think when we launch it next month. Check out more info and the cover after the jump.
    (more…)

  • Make Games Now

    Detail from Chris McCawley’s Swimmin HoleA lot of artists I know have great ideas for videogames, but no programming skills. A lot of videogame makers I know wish there was more creativity and innovation happening in the field, but don’t know how best to foster it. I started the Artsy Games Incubator to try to address both issues.

    We just had our first prototype set of sessions, with four of us meeting once a week for four weeks, and I kept notes. Using point-and-click game creation tools we made games and game elements for the sessions and invited feedback and discussion from the other members. It’s based on the writer’s-circle model that I’ve also used for movie making, but I wasn’t sure it’d work for games — but when the other members were playing and talking about my game Space Invader I was getting feedback as useful as I did with those other groups.

    There’s going to be another iteration, so whether you’re a Toronto artist looking to get into the next group in January or an interested party who would like to get involved in some other way (Metanet and Queasy sponsorship are what made starting this possible), read more about it here.

  • Ten Lessons from the Roadshow

    Marc Ngui's PMR iconThe Perpetual Motion Roadshow was a project I started four years ago and has since sent a hundred people on tour. Three indie artists, usually strangers, would bring their vaudevillian-inspired variety show acts to seven cities in eight days, sharing costs, crashspaces, and camaraderie. Two circuits, both going to Canada and the US, meant that people could tour each month of the year.

    Last month, the final tour took place    . To be honest, I expected it to finish years ago after I decided to stop coordinating it, but a succession of previous tourmembers took over the coordinating duties and kept it going for two more years.

    While it’s fresh, I figure now’s a good time to compile some of the things it’s taught me.

    10. Dependency can be a good thing. (more…)

  • Expozine Exposes the Antisocial Homosocial

    Expozine 2006 posterartRevolver #2, which consists of an excerpt of Salgood Sam and my upcoming graphic novel Therefore Repent!, has been nominated for the Expozine Alternative Press Award for best comic. It’s an offshoot of the awesome Montreal zine fair, one of the more successfully bilingual events I’ve been to. This is the second time they’ve done the award and, although I have fairly ambiguous feelings about prizes and competitions, I think the attention it draws to underexposed artists is definitely a Good Thing.

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

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

  • Therefore Repent!

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

    In the tradition of The Book of Revelation, it’s a pretty wild dark fantasy tale filled with demons and swords and blood. (more…)

  • I’m Down With OPP

    No Media Kings ServicesA lot of people assume that in an ideal world, they’d be working on their own projects 100% of the time. As someone who’s been in the lucky position of being able to do just that, I discovered a few years back that it can drive you a little crazy. Thinking about yourself all the time — realizing your vision, considering your place in the world — can actually be too much of a good thing. I noticed that when I worked on Other People’s Projects and took on another role I found it invigorating.

    I’ve always been involved with a number of projects, giving people feedback and suggestions, but I’ve decided to formalize it a bit and open it up to people beyond my immediate circle through something I’m calling No Media Kings Services. Hang a shingle outside my virtual door, as it were, that reads CONSULTANT. If you’re so inclined, check out what I’ve done for the clients I’ve worked with so far and the webhosting and site design services I’m also offering.

  • Beautiful Poles and Delightful Discs

    Click for a better look.In the last issue of This Magazine there’s a nice profile on me and the Perpetual Motion Roadshow. Audrey Gagnon even dug up an old piece I wrote on frieghthopping to frame the origins of my indie touring circuit. I quite like the picture of me, which is unusual–I credit it to the photographer Stephen Gregory indulging my request to get one of Queen St. West’s great old poles in the shot. They’re thickly layered with staples and scraps of posters, and the texture’s always seemed to me representative of the organic nature of underground culture. Click the thumb for a better look.

    This issue of Exclaim also has a review of my Novel Amusements, where Liz Clayton describes it as an “artsy, accessible treasure trove.” I thought it was cool that the subheading for the review section identified it as a DVD zine as matter-of-factly as it identified “Book” and “Videogame”. And DVDzines are, happily, appearing here and there. Electrical Tape does offbeat and engaging interviews with Toronto indie bands–my favourite piece was a day in the life of the faux-Francais Ratsicule. Lev also sent me his DVDzine Tales of Mere Existence II, who imbues his lo-fi cartoons with deadpan humour and bittersweet personality.