December 2004 $2.50 Free for members. Want to become a member? SOL RISING Check out the back page for more info. The Newsletter of The Friends of the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy SOL RISING New At The Merril: Friends of the Merril Collection Number 31,December 2004 Comic Books? Inside A Look at the Biggest Phenomenon to Hit Libraries Articles Since, Well, Books 2 In Memorium: Liam Hustins 4 Sunburst Award Ceremony Held at the Merril Collection 5 The Word on the Street is all About the Merril 6 Will Eisner: Graphic Novelist 8 Graphic Novels at the Merril Columns 3 From the Collection Head 9 So Bad They’re Good Info Bits 3 Special Thanks Left to right: Legends of the comic business Will Eisner , Dave Sim and Ed Furness at the 4 Events Paradise comics convention this past June.Photo by Andrew Specht. n recent years comic books from North America and all around the world 8 Volunteers Needed! have become increasingly poplular. Now, some comics are being afforded 12 Membership and the same literary merit as the great classics of literature, and are finding I Renewal their way into libraries and special collections across Canada. The Merril is just one of many sites where comic books are being made available to the general public. In this issue, Sol Rising takes a closer look at the Comics Phenomenon. Reach Us Andrew Specht profiles Will Eisner, one of the greatest legends in comic Friends of the Merril Collection, books, Collection Head Lorna Toolis looks at the Merril’s new graphic novels c/o Lillian H.Smith Branch, TPL, club, and Sabrina Fried chimes in with a primer on graphic novels now available 239 College St. 3rd Floor, Toronto, for reading at the Merril...and elsewhere. Ontario, M5T-1R5 www.tpl.toronto.on.ca/merril/home.htm www.friendsofmerril.org/ Call for Submissions! Contact Sabrina ([email protected]) if you wish to submit articles, essays or art pieces. Please put the term ‘Sol Rising’ in your subject field to bypass the Spam filters. Be a part of SOL Rising, speak out! SOL RISING In Memorium: Liam Friends of the Merril Collection Number 31, December 2004 By Jamie Fraser Hustins Executive Committee Chair John Rose Vice Chair Jamie Fraser Treasurer Ted Brown Secretary Donald Simmons Manager of Special Collections David Kotin Members at Large Mary Armstrong Mourners pay their final respects at the wake for former Friends executive and Sol Rising editor Sabrina Fried Liam Hustins. Photo by Andrew Specht. Arlene Morlidge n July 30th The Friends of The Merril Collection lost a good friend and Andrew Specht former member of the Executive, Liam Hustins. His sudden passing Past Chair Owas due to natural causes and came as a great shock to myself and all his friends in the sf, horror and media communities. Jamie Fraser Editor / Designer I'd known Liam for many years, first as an employee and then as a good friend. Sabrina Fried His enthusiasm for the horror genre led him to start up a workshop for begin- ning horror writers. He was delighted to get involved with The Merril Collection Collection Head and the Friends. He became a regular contributor to our newsletter, Sol Rising, Lorna Toolis eventually taking over as copy editor. A kind soul, he was always volunteering his time and services for readings and other events. www.friendsofmerril.org/ SOL Rising, the newsletter of the Friends of the A celebration of Liam's life was held on August 21, which would have been his Merril Collection of Science Fiction and st Fantasy, is published by the Friends of the 31 birthday. Nearly 150 people showed up to honour and remember him. Many Merril Collection, c/o Lillian H. Smith Branch, TPL, 239 College St. 3rd Floor, Toronto, gave little talks about their memories of Liam and one of his best friends sang Ontario, M5T 1R5. This is issue number 31, December 2004. This newspaper is provided - continued on page 7 free of charge to members of The Friends; see back page for membership application form or THE write to the above address. All material con- tained herein that is credited is Copyright 2004 MERRIL COLLECTION OF by the author of the piece; all other material is SCIENCE FICTION Copyright 2003 by The Friends of the Merril AND Collection. “MC=(sf)2” is copyright 1994 by The SPECULATION FANTASY Friends of the Merril Collection. All Rights Reserved. Printed in Canada. LILLIAN H. SMITH BRANCH,TORONTO PUBLIC LIBRARY 3rd Floor 239 College St. Toronto, Ontario M5T1R5 Tel: 416.393-7748/9 Fax: 416.393.7741 [email protected] ISSN: 1199-2123 Hours: Monday - Friday 10-6, Saturday 9-5 For inquiries please contact above address c/o The Friends of the Merril Collection 2 SOL RISING From the Collection Friends of the Merril Collection Number 31, December 2004 Head Special Thanks The Merril Collection of By Lorna Toolis Science Fiction, Speculation Popular Culture Mutates Yet Again and Fantasy wishes to thank all our generous donors from he Merril Collection has been collecting graphic novels since a time when the past year for their gener- most librarians thought they were meant only for illiterates. Times change; ous gifts. Twhen Kim Hull, one of the Merril librarians, was asked to organize a graphic novel club for the Lillian Smith branch, she invited local graphic novelist Money donated in this man- Bryan Lee O'Malley1 as a guest speaker. His comments were instructive and rel- ner will be used to purchase evant to the sf field, as well as the comic industry. materials that the collection would otherwise be unable to Mr. O'Malley was concerned about a shrinking audience for comics, something afford. These additional funds he attributed to a lack of opportunity for contact. He pointed out that the path increase the collection's ability by which young people were introduced to comics has disappeared. Increased to obtain desirable materials. competition for shelf space means that now young kids seldom find comics in As the cost of books contin- drugstores or supermarkets. At best they might find some reprints of Archie and ues to rise, all assistance is Veronica comics, of marginal interest to anyone old enough to fight off puréed gratefully received. carrots. Donations to the Merril As David Hartwell once said in another context, "The golden age of science Collection of twenty-five dol- fiction is 12." If you are going to be hooked on books - any kind of books, it is lars or more over the basic going to have to happen before you are in your mid to late teens, of an age to go Friends membership fee are wandering through specialty shops, which are obscure, hard to find for younger eligible for income tax deduc- people, and expensive when they do find them. tions. The Toronto Public Library Foundation receives Mr. O'Malley was also concerned that much of his lost potential audience was the money, places it in a spe- a "post-textual generation," more committed to games than they ever would be to cial account for the Merril the combination of image and text that makes comics great. Collection, and upon request, issues a tax deductible certifi- Applying these concerns to science fiction and fantasy, I don't see any path cate at year's end. Donations problems. Star Trek begat Star Wars and then all other fictional generations since may be made by cheque or then: we live in a science fiction-saturated media universe. The path to science charge card. Anyone interest- fiction (as opposed to the path to text) is likely to start with television. From ed in doing this should talk to there a young person will likely jump to games, x-box or otherwise, possibly the collection head. comics, also possibly becoming fond of standard text at the same time. Fantastic content, you observe, survives any changes in form . A picture may be worth a thousand words, but words are admirably precise, less prone to interpretation. I see why many people in my profession view the drift from pure text with alarm, but it seems to me that the process is enrich- ment, rather than substitution. (Certainly some young people only play games and will never become fond of text. Like the poor, they have always been with us; chill). - continued on page 10 1. O'Malley, Bryan Lee. Lost at Sea: Oni, 2004. 3 SOL RISING Sunburst Award Ceremony Held Friends of the Merril Collection Number 31, December 2004 at the Merril Collection Upcoming Events By John Rose he Merril Collection hosted the fourth annual Sunburst Award ceremony December 5 2004 on September 23rd, honouring the five novelists short-listed for the 2004 Christmas Cream Tea TSunburst Award and presenting the award to the winner, Cory Doctorow. The Merril Collection Once again the Merril hosts its The Sunburst Award is one of Canada's best-kept literary secrets. Now entering annual Christmas Cream Tea. Come hobnob with fellow Friends at the its fifth year, it's a juried, prized award, presented to the Canadian author who collection. Tea and goodies will be produces the best work of speculative literature in the award year. The jury is served made up of five judges chosen from the literary community; the judges for the 2004 Sunburst Award were Caterina Edwards, Claude Lalumiére, Yves Meynard, December 18, 2004 Lyle Weis and Michelle West. The jury read from a selection of nominated titles The Graphic Novel Club The Merril Collection of adult speculative fiction, and drafted a short list of five titles in June.