Cartoonist: Jay Stephens
Publisher: Black Eye Books, Toronto, Canada
Format: 6.625 x 10.1875 (standard comic book size) / Full Colour / 36 pages / saddle-stiched
Audience: For mature readers
Publication date: December, 2020
web: www.blackeye.ca twitter/instagram/facebook: @blackeyebooks
Crowdfunding: https://go.blackeye.ca/kickstarter
Press/Business contact: michel@blackeye.ca
Review Copy: (download)
Press release: (download)
Oct. 1, 2020: pre-orders for issue #1 begin on Kickstarter!
Black Eye Books is thrilled to launch Dwellings, by Harvey and Eisner-Award nominated cartoonist Jay Stephens; his first ongoing comic book series in over twenty years! Blending retro cuteness with classic small town scares, each 36-page issue of Dwellings is complete and self-contained. The first issue features a tale of murder and crows entitled They Know.
As with previous Black Eye projects, Dwellings is being offered to readers as a pre-order via crowdfunding, which will run from Oct. 1–31, 2020 on Kickstarter at http://go.blackeye.ca/kickstarter
Praise for Dwellings:
“…a masterful job… I couldn’t be more impressed with the art and storytelling.” —Seth, Clyde Fans, Palookaville
Praise for Jay’s previous works:
“Dejects is a wonderful collection of Jay’s most bizarre stuff! A priceless treasure for anyone that digs great cartooning straight from the Id!”—Michael Allred, Madman, iZombie, Silver Surfer on Dejects
“…a fluorescent milkshake of a comic book, Jay Stephens’ Jetcat is Saturday morning forever, a timely reminder of what comics are there for, and of how good they can actually be.” —Alan Moore on Jetcat Clubhouse
“Stephens is a way ahead of the curve creator whose all-ages style and whimsical approach to comics is timeless.”—Comics Beat
“If Hanna-Barbera delt with existential angst and deconstructionalism, the end result would probably resemble the Land of Nod, the new comic from Jay Stephens. I sincerely doubt, however, that they would do anywhere near as good a job as he has. Make no mistake, this book is quite an achievement.”—The Comics Journal on Land of Nod.
Awards and Recognition:
Nominated for Doug Wright award: Pigskin Peter (best micro-press publication), Dejects, 2020
Nominated for Joe Shuster award: Cartoonist, Dejects, 2020
Nominated for Eisner awards: Best Humor Publication, Best Graphic Album Reprint, The Land Of Nod Rockabye Book, 2000
Nominated for Harvey award, Special Award for Humor, 1997
Description:
Innocent horror. The horror of innocence… A part of you is already familiar with the dark things that dwell just beneath the surface of your town. You could see them more clearly when you were younger, but they are still there. Dwellings is a new comic book series of self-contained southern Ontario horror tales, lovingly drawn in a vintage comics style to most perfectly invoke those half-remembered terrors of youth. The true meaning of the word nostalgia is, ‘to return home in pain’. So let’s get nostalgic, shall we?
Dwellings will be printed for a December release as a 36 page, full-colour, stapled comic book with uncoated interior paper and a glossy cover, just like the comics that inspired it.
About Jay Stephens:
Jay Stephens is a Canadian cartoonist and illustrator currently living in Guelph, Ontario. He is best known as the creator of Discovery Kids’s animated television series Tutenstein, Cartoon Network’s The Secret Saturdays, and the Jetcat animated shorts for Nickelodeon's anthology series, KaBlam!. Aside from his work in animation, Jay is recognized for several comic book projects, including SIN, The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales, and Jetcat Clubhouse, and has written and drawn for licensed properties such as Alien, Star Wars, Felix the Cat, and Teen Titans. Jay is the creator of the comic strips, Oddville!, Chick & Dee (in Chickadee magazine), Xtra-curricular and Arrowhead (in OWL magazine), and (with writer Bob Weber Jr.) the daily newspaper strip Oh, Brother!. Jay’s most recent project is Dejects (2019), featuring nearly thirty years worth of hitherto uncollected works.
About Black Eye Books:
From 1993–1998, Black Eye Books published such notable cartoonists as Jay Stephens (The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales), Nick Craine (Dance Me Outside), Jason Lutes (Jar of Fools, Berlin), Tom Hart (The Sands), Jeremy Eaton (World of Trouble), Matt Madden (Black Candy), James Kochalka (Quit Your Job), Ed Brubaker (Lowlife), Brian Biggs (Dear Julia), and New Zealand's Dylan Horrocks (Pickle, Hicksville).
Relaunched in 2019 by publisher Michel Vrana, Black Eye Books continues its pursuit of publishing eclectic and engaging stories told in the form of words and pictures.
Images: (download all in .zip)
