folio:
Gene Day Award Nominees
By Various
The Canadian Comic Book Creators Awards Asociation created the Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing in 2008 to recognize the fantastic, creative comics being produced across the country. The nominees for the inaugural year of the awards are featured in the following pages: Jordyn F. Bochon for The Day After V-Day, Jesse Jacobs for Blue Winter, Shapes in the Snow, Dakota McFadzean for Hypocrite, C. Eric Peters for Peter the Pan and Miriam Libicki for jobnik!: an american girl’s adventure in the israeli army.
WINNER: Jese Jacobs makes little comic books about animals, science fiction, and a few other things. His book Blue Winter, Shapes in the Snow, which has recently been nominated for a Gene Day award, is the story of a forest love triangle between a shape shifting blue jay, a human girl and a real blue jay. In it you will find raccoons eating pizza. Some of his comics and drawings can be viewed at onemillionmouths.blogspot.com.
Originally from Edmonton, Jordyn F. Bochon is an artist and filmmaker currently living in Montreal. She is currently working on her third short film with partner Tim Carpenter, as well as numerous print related projects. Quirky, humorous and dark, her work deals with tense relationships, the beauty of inner-city life, and scientific fictions. Jordyn is passionate about community, making hand-bound books and the continuous battle to better her craft. To see more of her work visit 8et8.net.
When Image Comics made their mark in the ’90s, that’s when c. eric peters started working on his own comics. He self-published a few comics with a photocopier and long stapler, which a few local stores were gracious enough to carry and sell. Eventually he went to college, got a job and comics fell to the wayside. Then one day, nine or more years since he had drawn a comic, he saw an ad about 24 Hour Comic Day, and he decided I’d give it a go. Chris ended up finishing the full 24 pages and it turned out well enough that he self-published it into ashcans. Thus starting him back into making comics and self-publishing.
Dakota McFadzean has been drawing comics in Regina for most of his life. Then he met a girl and they moved to Montreal for a couple of years, where he also drew comics. While in Montreal, McFadzean self published Paper Wall and Hypocrite, which were both shortlisted for Best English Comic at the Expozine Small Press Awards in 2007 and 2008. Recently McFadzean completed work on Gregarious, a multiple narrative comic that will be part of the Regina Dunlop Art Gallery’s touring exhibition of Saskatchewan Artists: Mind the Gap. For more of his work visit dakotamcfadzean.com.
Miriam Libicki is a cartoonist and illustrator concentrating on narrative nonfiction. She completed her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Emily Carr Institute in 2006, and is the creator of the comic series, Jobnik!, and the drawn essay Jewish Memoir Goes Pow! Zap! Oy! Miriam exhibits at galleries and comic conventions, and lectures on cartooning across Canada and the US.
