New comic book news for June 14, 2025

Here’s the latest news about Canadian comic book creators for Saturday, June 14, 2025

Doug Wright Awards announced at TCAF 2025
The Doug Wright Awards were handed out to recipients at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2025. Recipients included:
– Maurice Vellekoop for I‘m So Glad We Had This Time Together (Random House Canada) – Winner of The Doug Wright Award for best book
– Boum for The Jellyfish, with translation from Robin Lang and Helge Dascher (Pow Pow Press) – Winner of The Nipper: The Doug Wright Award for emerging talent
– Patrick Allaby for Customer Service (self-published) – Winner of The Pigskin Peters: The Doug Wright Award for best small- or micro-press book
– Trina Rathgeber, Alina Pete and Jillian Dolan for Lost at Windy River: A True Story of Survival (Orca Book Publishers) – Winner of The Egghead: The Doug Wright Award for best kid’s book
Additionally, Richard Comely and Lou Skuce were inducted into Giants of the North: The Canadian Cartooning Hall of Fame
Congratulations to all those who received awards AND to all those who were nominated. Read more at https://dougwrightawards.com/announcing-the-winners/

News from Toronto Comic Arts Festival
I caught up with various creators at the 2025 Toronto Comic Arts Festival to ask them about upcoming projects. Here’s a sneak peak of what you can expect in the future:
– Boum is working on her next untitled project planned for 2027
– Don Sparrow is working on a tentatively titled graphic novel New Blue Moon as the sequel to Does Your Mother Know with possible June 2026 release date
– Jay Odjick is working on Kaboom from Scholastic planned for Spring 2026, described as ‘Spy Kids meet Spider-man on the rez’
– Nicholas Friesen is creating a new imprint in 2026 to produce books by other creators including Georgia Grieve
– Nick O’Gorman is working on a graphic novel adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Temple’ planned for October 2025, featuring German U-boats and Atlantis
– Scott Brian Woods announced work on Black Helm Saga described as a Norse mythology-based book that takes place after Ragnarök with the first issue planned for August 2025
Stay tuned for brief chats with creators from TCAF on the True North Country Comics Podcast YouTube channel in the near future.

Canada’s ‘great cartoonist’ enters Hall of Fame
The Daily Cartoonist announced that Lou Skuce has inducted into The Giants of the North: The Canadian Hall of Fame as announced The Doug Wright awards. The article reported that Lou was a newspaper and magazine sports cartoonist, editorial cartoonist, comic strip creator and editor. Read more at https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2025/06/07/canadas-greatest-cartoonist-lou-skuce-enters-hall-of-fame/

Jason Loo announces Iron Fist project
On his LinkedIn feed, Jason Loo announced that he and artist Fran Galan will be joining forces for The Undead Iron Fist. The post indicates that the first issue will be for sale on September 10. Read more at https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jasonloo_new-marvel-project-me-and-artist-fran-galan-activity-7338244628736786433-Kq-x

Eric Kim and Jim Monroe to sign new book at The Beguiling
blogTO announced that illustrator Eric Kim and writer Jim Monroe will be signing their new book Zeroed Out at The Beguiling on July 3. The article describes the sci-fi rom-com by asking the question ‘What if shapeshifting aliens came to Earth, but instead of taking over they just fill all our problems’. Read more at https://www.blogto.com/events/zeroed-out-signing-and-talk-with-creators-jim-munroe-and-eric-kim-toronto/

Bailie Rosenlund and Anthony Oliveira interviewed about Avengers Academy
Marvel.com posted an interview with artist Bailee Rosalind and writer Anthony Olivera about their work on Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic. They answer questions about reinventing Blackheart’s human form along with doing a ‘makeover’ for Teen Immortus. Read more at https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/avengers-academy-anthony-oliveira-bailie-rosenlund-interview-blackheart-teen-immortus

Michael Walsh reveals how he created Frankenstein
Brands Untapped spoke with Michael Walsh as he spoke about his creative process for Skybound’s Universal Monsters: Frankenstein Unbound. During the discussion, Michael chatted about how the movie inspired his creation process and about what inspires him as a creator. Read more at https://www.brandsuntapped.com/michael-walsh-talks-us-through-the-creative-process-behind-skybounds-universal-monsters-frankenstein-comic/

In case you missed it, check out this interview with Conor McCreery about The Last Witch: Blood and Betrayal