Graphic Novel Class for Teens and Adults

Subject to Financing Part I

My short story comic - Subject to Financing - has its first part in the first issue of Spiked!Punch.

The comic and Spiked!Punch can be read in its entirety here

My piece is about two roommates who live in an apartment together in East Vancouver. They are facing a variety of issues when their landlord decides to sell the apartment and refuses to acknowledge their lease to sell his property faster.

Vancouver is currently going through a real-estate market boom. It is the result of a variety of factors: the 2010 olympics, lax regulation on development and the increasing demand for housing from people moving into the city. The fact is, there is so much residential development going on, and it's worth so much money, that the Vancouver municiple government recently put regulations on building residential in our downtown core. Aparently there is more residential there than commercial space and businesses are being pushed out.

When something of this nature happens, the people who are usually left out in the cold are the ones who can't afford to stay in the system. Due to the increased cost of mortgages, rental prices in the lower mainland have soared, and many people find themselves evicted or forced out of their homes to make way for people who will pay higher rent.

The second part of the comic will be out in the next edition of Spiked!Punch in January 2008. I will be posting pages as I work through it as well.

For more information about Spiked!Punch, go here

The Sketchbook

I drew this image as a guide for a 5x3ft painting on doorskin. I'm not usually a painter, but painting like a cartoonist was interesting.


When I created this drawing, it was during a time when I was having a hard time working within my conceptual methodology. It's a static image, with very little movement or interest, but its a personal symbol for working through my stiff and rigid past practices.

The following pages are comic sketches and inkings that never really became anything, but entered into my practice repetoire.

I drove across town to see "Across the Universe"

I seriously thought about drawing a comic to detail my journey to the theatre and the experience of watching this mess of visual cliches, nostalgia, emo boy haircuts and Beatles music. Then I realised I'd be putting a lot of work into a movie that I just didn't care about.

It was predictable. It relied on imagery that we already know to iconify a cultural era that us young-uns never lived through, but are haunted by. Everytime that I thought this movie was going to push the limits, it held back. Halfway through I was so thoroughly frusterated with the shallow characters, obvious visual accompaniments to the music and glassy doe-eyed singing sequences that I was so near to walking out of the theatre. Then the movie got into some better stuff, though nonetheless wholly mediocre.

The last half of the film was more interesting (though much less cohesive) than its first counterpart. The Beatles music from this time is better as well, as it seems they obtained their critical edge. My criticism here is the same as above, however, as they didn't push it far enough. It could have been thoroughly psychadelic, tense and culturally interesting, but it just kept on missing the mark. All in all, this is a safe movie made to sell theatre tickets off of nostalgia, real, cultural or imaginary.

History is always viewed through our present context, and "Across the Universe" has nothing to add to my perspective on history nor that of the present. It's a well dressed typical musical sold on the fame of the Beatles.

Code 46

Set in an intemerminable future, Code 46 brings us the story of William Geld (Tim Robbins) and Maria Gonzales (Samantha Morton), two individuals who have a romance while Geld is in Shanghai investigating identity card fraud. This movie sets up the future unexpositionally, allowing the viewer to determine the world the two characters live in based on their actions, dialogue and interaction with other characters. It appears that Earth is suffering from over population and environmental destruction; living in a city requires the use of "cover", a permit that some people are given, while others are denied and forced to live on the "outside".

Gonzales works for the "Sphinx" creating permits for people to live within urban areas and for them to travel between countries. Geld is investigating the staff in Gonzales workplace for fraud. He knows that Gonzales is guilty, but does not turn her in.

Among the environmental problems (apparently the sun is so harmful that people work and live during night and sleep while the sun is up) and overpopulation, cloning and invitro fertilization have become popular methods of reproduction. As a result, it is legislated, under code 46, that individuals may not reproduce with another individual with more than 25% identical genetic information. People are regularly screened before they marry or have children, and a violation of code 46 is criminally punishable.

Code 46 presents its audience with an intelligent and layered science fiction film in the guise of a romance mystery. The chemistry between Robbins and Morton is electric, creating scenes that are so strong with sexual and romantic tension that they are difficult to watch. The dialogue in the film is almost poetic, with a colloquial combination of English, French, Spanish and Mandarin. I recommend this film to the same audience that would enjoy "Ever Since the World Ended", an audience that looks for narrative sensitivity, character driven plot and the intense thought that comes with well done science fiction.