Ken Steacy and his wife, Joan, are both accomplished writers and artists and they’re visiting the east coast this July! They’ll be dropping by the Halifax store on Saturday, July 6th at 2PM to meet fans and sign books!
Starting out as a Canadian Air Force brat who decided at age eleven to become a professional comic book artist, Ken pursued this intent until the magic moment occurred in 1974 with the publication in ORB magazine of Super Student, a two page strip that he wrote, pencilled, inked, and lettered.
Ken has written and illustrated the exploits of practically every popular character you could name, including Astro Boy, Harry Potter, Batman, Ultraman, Spider-Man and The X-Men. His four major works in print are The Sacred & the Profane (co-authored by Dean Motter), Night and the Enemy (stories by Harlan Ellison), Megapowers (written by physicist Jack Weyland) and Tempus Fugitive (which he did all by himself).
He is an official Canadian War Artist, and created a series of paintings depicting the peacetime activities of navigators in the air- arm of the Canadian Armed Forces. During that assignment he flew with the Snowbirds aerial demonstration team, and broke the sound barrier in a CF-101B interceptor, a plane his father once piloted. The paintings are now part of the permanent collection of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, two of which were included in a touring exhibition titled A Brush With War which opened at the McMichael Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario.
The recipient of an Eisner and an Inkpot award, Ken was inducted into the Joe Shuster Hall of Fame, a lifetime achievement award honouring Canadian comic book creators for their contributions to the industry. He is currently Program Leader of Comics & Graphic Novels at Camosun College in Victoria, a certificate program he co-created with his wife, graphic novelist Joan Thornborrow Steacy.
Joan will have copies of her work: AURORA BOREALICE
“Aurora Borealice is the first of four graphic novels that chronicle my quest to find a voice in a rapidly changing technological world. It begins in the early 70’s, when I met a number of people who dramatically shaped my life: Ken Steacy, a crazy comic book artist, Eric McLuhan, an inspiring professor at art college, and media guru Marshall McLuhan…”
We hope you’ll take this opportunity to meet two wonderful cartoonists! See you Saturday!
