PRESS RELEASE: She Is...Silkie

SeajayVentures is pleased to announce the release of its first graphic novel, SHE IS...SILKIE. Co-written by Jonathan A. Gilbert and Laurie Wright with cover and interior art by Seppo Makinen SHE IS...SILKIE is a post World War Two tale of mystery and intrigue on an island off the southwest coast of Great Britain where the lines between myth and reality are blurred.

     

Currently only available in digital format (with a print version slated for a July 2012 release) SHE IS...SILKIE is exclusively available at http://graphicly.com/publishers for $5 under the listing of our packager, CE Publishing.

Volume Four, Number Eleven

Each time I am interviewed about my comics career the one question I can always count on being asked is "Who are my main influences as a comics writer?". While Roy Thomas has admittedly had a big influence when it comes to my interests in golden age comics as a writer specifically my reply without hesitation is Steve Skeates.

For those of you who don't know who Steve is he has worked in the comics industry since the mid-1960s and has written for DC, Marvel, Charlton, Gold Key, Warren and just about everyone else. His credits are legion and include Lightning (TOWER COMICS), Aquaman, The Teen Titans, Plastic Man, Hawk & Dove, Supergirl and Challengers of The Unknown (DC). And if you think he is just limited to super-heroes think again. He has also written westerns, mystery tales and funny animals including Underdog for Charlton where he added the Mutt of Wonder's Shack of Solitude to his series.

The reason Steve is such an influence on me creatively is because of his unique writing style. He is not what I would call a "pretty writer" but rather takes a subject and puts a unique twist on it that no one else had even considered. He can make the old look new again which is a rare talent in our business.

I actually know Steve on a personal level. We first met at Torcon 2, a comic book convention held at York University in Toronto in 1974. Also in attendance was Bill Gaines and Will Eisner; both of whom I also met. For a short while after the convention Steve and I kept in touch-maybe two letters-but as often happens life got in the way and we lost contact until the late 1990s when my buddy The Groovy Agent reconnected us at Blue Moon Comics Group. Since then we have kept contact on a regular basis and have even worked together on a project or two including a short story called "Tepeth-Tet" (with pencils by another comics legend, Dick Ayers) that is supposed to be published by CE Publishing Group later this year (http://cepublishing.wetpaint.com ).And if all goes according to plan I will be publishing Steve's Stateside Mouse at the end of this year under my Red Lion Publications imprint (www.redlionpublications.blogspot.com ).

If I were asked what of Steve's work I liked best I would be pretty hard-pressed to pick any one thing. His work on Aquaman in the late 60s and early 70s is still one of the best examples of quality comics writing going and his Supergirl stories in DC's Adventure Comics actually made The Maid of Steel an interesting character.

But if I had to chose one body of work I would have to say that it was his run on DC's Blackhawk series (#244-250) that appeared Jan-Feb. 1976 to Jan-Feb. 1977. Even though the revival of this legendary title was for one year Steve did his best to put new energy and excitement into a concept that had been suffering during the last days of its earlier run.

As I said though I would be pretty hard pressed to pick any one body of work. Steve Skeates is one of the few comics writers that I have read over the decades who have never let me down. He does good stuff.

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Jonathan "A" Gilbert is a comics writer, columnist, comics reviewer, comics editor, comics publisher and t-shirt designer. He can be contacted at JonAllanGilbert@yahoo.ca .

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Volume Three, Number Three

When I began making plans to revive E-Dispatches from the Great White North as well as having the column appear at www.jazmaonline.com/edispatch and in the electronic version of The People's Comic Book Newsletter my hope was also to eventually have it as a blog. Now, thanks to my best buddy and fellow comics creator Lloyd Smith that hope has become a reality. As of this installment as well as being a part of the Jazma Online Universe E-Dispatches can now be found at http://dispatchesfromthegreatwhitenorth.blogspot.com . Lloyd did a fantastic job of setting the whole thing up for me as you'll see when you check it out. There's lots of neat stuff there including places for you to comment of what I've written, a list of my favourite links and connections to CE Publishing Group's website and Lloyd's blog

( http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com ) where he writes about 70s comics and other nifty stuff. So give it a look, folks, and let me know what ya think.

I have another bit of business I want to take care of here before getting into this installment's subject. Now that E-Dispatches is appearing as a blog I will be increasing it's frequency, starting with once a week. As well as reviewing comics I'll also be discussing various aspects of comics, the comics industry and comics related subjects. So keep your eye on the blog, folks, 'cause there will be lots of neat stuff for you to read in the coming weeks and months. Now to this installment's subject.

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As some of you know I've been a professional writer since 1974 and have been working in the comics industry in some capacity since 1988. Over the years I've been asked a lot of questions about writing in general and comics writing in particular with the three most frequently asked questions being a) where do I get my ideas, 2) do I do the artwork, and 3) can my work be found online. I'll answer the first two in a future installment of E-Dispatches. Today though I am going to tackle the third question and the answer is yes, you can find my work online. The problem there though is trying to find it as when one does a search if you don't use the proper terms I won't come up. (Try it. Google Jonathan Gilbert and what you will find is lots of sites for a certain actor I share the same name with and not a mention of me).

So I've decided for anyone out there who is interested in seeing some other stuff I've done that I'll provide some links. I'm sure there is other work on mine online somewhere out there-and if anyone can provide me with the links it would be greatly appreciated-but this is all I can find.

1)E-DISPATCHES FROM THE GREAT WHITE NORTH VOL. 2: This version of E-Dispatches used to appear a site that no longer exists but when I moved it to Jazmaonline for Vol. 3 I had all of that material brought along. My guess is Vol. 1 is floating around out there too somewhere but I haven't yet been able to track it down. Anyway, Vol. 2 can be found at www.jazmaonline.com/edispatch .

2)CE PUBLISHING GROUP: This is the comics publisher that I write and edit for. The previews section has samples of my comics work and there's a section that features updates on future projects. http://cepublishing.wetpaint.com .

3) HORROR DAYS AT RIVERDALE HIGH: At www.mightycrusaders.net/thegroovyage.html you will find an article I wrote some years back about the Archie Comic Publications' short-lived horror comics line, Red Circle Comics Group.

4)SPIRITKEEP .NET: At this message board ( http://messageboards.spiritkeep.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=4&t+000840 ) you will find an article I wrote a number of years back for a newspaper here in Port Stanley Ontario (The Lake Erie Beacon) about a legendary fresh lake monster said to exist in Lake Eire.

5)INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD VASSEUR: While I didn't write this it might give you some additional insight into my career as a writer. www.jazmaonline.com/interviews/interviews2008.asp?intID=110 .

And that's it for the links. As I mentioned if anyone knows of any other places where my work is I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know. Or better yet, post the information up at my blog which is at http://dispatchesfromthegreatwhitenorth.blogspot.com .

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That pretty much wraps things up for this installment but before I go I want to give a quick plug to one of the businesses located here in Port Stanley Ontario. Called Grandpa's Dollhouse it is located at 223A Colborne Street a few steps north of the lights at the village's main intersection. Owned and operated by my friend Liz Dieleman, Grandpa's Dollhouse has lots of interesting stuff including figurines, doll house kits and doll house accessories. If you'd like to find out more about this gem of a store you can check out www.grandpasdollhouse.com .

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That's it, folks. See you next week when I'll be reviewing a comic by Canadian comics publisher Crystal Fractal Comics.

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Jonathan A Gilbert is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Port Stanley, Ontario Canada. If you'd like to learn more about where he lives check out www.port-stanley.com. Jonathan can be emailed at JonAllanGilbert@yahoo.ca or edispatches@hotmail.com .

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