CANADA’S THE BEGUILING DEBUTS “DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION: EXTRA CREDIT” GRAPHIC NOVELS

by CBR News Team, Editor

Posted: November 13, 2006

Official Press Release

TORONTO, Ontario – The Beguiling, Canadas premier comic book retailer, is pleased to announce TRIPLE THREAT 2, the second in their annual series of young adult graphic novel presentations. Featuring double the participating novelists and the Canadian dbut of the Degrassi: The Next Generation graphic novels, this is a much-anticipated event!

ONE. Labeled Extra Credit, the Degrassi graphic novels feature brand new stories that fill in the gaps of the smash-hit T.V. shows continuity, and offer up a sneak-peak at developments in future episodes. On hand for TRIPLE THREAT 2 will be series writer J. Torres, along with series artists Ed Northcott, Ramon Perez and Eric Kim. All four Canadian comic creators have had a blast working on these books and make them essential for fans of the series! Degrassi: The Next Generation: Extra Credit Book One: Turning Japanese, and Book Two: Suddenly Last Summer will both make their official debut at the event. Degrassi: The Next Generation (Season 6) premieres November 28 on CTV.

TWO. Also in attendance will be Svetlana Chmakova, the Canadian author of the hit manga series DRAMACON, from Tokyopop/HarperCollins. The most recent volume of the series, Dramacon 2, has just been released to much reader acclaim. Dramacon is a manga series detailing the trials and tribulations of a young manga fan at her first manga and anime conventionsomething many of her readers can relate to.

THREE. Author Scott Chantler has been chronicling the early days of the Canadian frontier and the Hudsons Bay Company in his series NORTHWEST PASSAGE. The third volume of the series (featuring a climactic battle between Charles Lord and a band of vicious mercenaries) has just been released and is probably the most fun youll ever have with Canadian history!

Were very excited to partner with the Toronto Public Library for this event, enthuses The Beguiling manager Christopher Butcher. Programmers at TPL have been amazing in their commitment to stock manga and graphic novels, making the Toronto Reference Library the perfect setting for the dbuts of these terrific new books. Add in the official premiere of first two Degrassi: The Next Generation: Extra Credit graphic novels and weve got a cant-miss event!

The afternoon will feature on-stage interviews with Svetlana Chmakova, Scott Chantler and the entire Degrassi creative team in an exploration of their creative process and beginnings in comics. All creators will be signing copies of their work, and the first 200 attendees will receive a gift bag filled with free comics and more! The event is appropriate for all ages.

Books:

Many of the books debuting at this event are currently in stock at The Beguiling (601 Markham Street, Toronto, http://www.beguiling.com). Copies of all books will be for sale at the event. The event is FREE and open to the public, and appropriate for all ages.

About the Authors:

Scott Chantler is a graduate of Sheridan Colleges post-graduate Computer Animation Program. A professional illustrator since 1996, his work has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Toronto Star, The National Post, and Macleans. He is the illustrator of the graphic novels Days Like This and Scandalous and his current series Northwest Passage earned him a nomination for the Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Canadian Cartoonist.

Svetlana Chmakova was born and raised in Russia and came to Canada at the age of 16. She finished high school here and then graduated from with a Classical Animation Diploma from Sheridan College. Svetlanas credits include art for the MangaMania series of how-to-draw books, illustrating the The Adventures of CG! manga appearing every month in CosmoGIRL magazine, and is the author of the Dramacon series of graphic novels for Tokyopop.

Eric Kim is a graduate of Sheridan Colleges Art Fundamentals, Interpretive Illustration, and Computer Animation post-graduate program. Having done concept and animation work for the films Hypercube: Cube 2 and Blizzard, Eric returned to his first love of comics in 2003. He is the creator of the weekly comic strip Battle Academy which just finished its run in the Toronto Star and is the illustrator of the graphic novel series Love as a Foreign Language and the forthcoming Degrassi: The Next Generation: Extra Credit Graphic Novel Book 3.

Ed Northcott is a freelance illustrator who lives in Kitchener, Ontario. He is the illustrator for the first volume of the Degrassi: The Next Generation Extra Credit series, and the cover illustrator for all of the books. This is his first professionally published work.

Ramn Prez is a freelance illustrator living in Toronto, Ontario. He is the illustrator for the second volume of the Degrassi: The Next Generation Extra Credit series, and has done illustration work for numerous clients including Wizards of the Coast and Palladium.

J. Torres is the writer of the monthly Teen Titans Go and Ninja Scroll comic books, as well as a regular contributing writer to Batman Strikes and Legion of Super Heroes for DC Comics. He is also the author of the Degrassi: Extra Credit series of graphic novels, and won the award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer in the 2006 Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Awards. Born in Manila and raised in Montreal, he currently resides in Toronto.