Here are 4 sample illustrations I did for Toronto’s Broken Pencil Magazine circa 2000. I’d be given a short story & asked to interpret it in one cartoon panel to accompany it in print. I’ve unfortunately forgotten the stories by now but it’s fun to try to imagine what they were about judging by these odd scenarios. Reminiscent of Factsheet Five, Broken Pencil features reviews of zines & small press books, comix, excerpts from underground press, interviews, original fiction & commentary on all aspects of the indie arts. Published 4 times annually since 1995, “Broken Pencil is the entertaining, indispensable guide to zines.” – the Toronto Star (To see full-sized, keep clicking on an image to open it in a new window & use the magnify function).

Four original art pieces for sale at $50.00 CAD each. Two are pencil on paper & two are ink on paper. Postage & framing not included. Motion Picture Purgatory Volumes One & Two available at FAB Press. For original art info, contact Rick Trembles @ ricktrembles (at) hotmail (dot) com.

In 2010, Sarah Fahie & Shaun Anderson, member of Montreal band Ultrathin, but then also a gig promoter with Pirates of the Lachine Canal, asked me to do a Radio CKUT benefit poster for this “Wild in the Streets” BBQ rock show taking place outdoors on the McGill campus. I decided to go for a Ramones Rock & Roll High School (1979) vibe from their classic William Stout movie poster. My bands The American Devices & Sacral Nerves did other shows with many of the bands & people playing on this bill. Pirates of the Lachine Canal somehow morphed into “South West Wierd Punx” for this poster as can be seen by the skull logo at bottom. The “Weird” in “Wierd Punx” was deliberately misspelled. Weird, huh? Pirates grew out of a weekly punk DJ night at St-Henri sleaze bar & strip club annex Blackjacks that I used to go to in the late 2000’s because I lived right around the corner & finally there was something decent to do in that dreary neighborhood. One night some kid got stabbed to death right outside its doors. St-Henri is in Montreal’s South West next to the Lachine Canal (where my then neighbor committed suicide by jumping off a bridge into its icy winter waters), hence all those monikers. My former apartment was demolished to make a condo & now whenever I visit St-Henri I can’t even recognize it, it’s gotten so fucking gentrified. If anyone wants a custom poster like this made by me for an event, contact me. And I have much, much more original art available, so stay tuned. (To see full-sized, keep clicking on the image to open it in a new window & use the magnify function).

Original art for sale for $100.00 CAD. Includes three items total: The pencil art preliminaries, the original finished B&W inks (signed & dated by author/artist Rick Trembles in pencil on the back), & an original poster the way it was printed for advertising purposes. Postage & framing not included. Motion Picture Purgatory Volumes One & Two available at FAB Press. For original art info, contact Rick Trembles @ ricktrembles (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Come check out the launch of 2 brand new mini-comics from the father & son team of Jack Tremblay & Rick Trembles! Canadian golden age cartoonist Tremblay & Canadian post-underground cartoonist Trembles will be sharing a table at this year’s Expozine, Saturday & Sunday, November 15 & 16 @ Eglise St-Enfant-Jésus, 5035, Saint Dominique, Montreal.

CANUXPLOITATION.COM PRESENTS: “RICK TREMBLES’ MINI MOTION PICTURE PURGATORY”

Rick Trembles has developed a worldwide reputation publishing & distributing his own alternative comics since the late seventies & has been featured in anthologies such as Robert Crumb’s Weirdo Magazine & Russ Kick’s The Graphic Canon. FAB Press has published two critically acclaimed volumes of his Motion Picture Purgatory comic-strip film reviews culled from the pages of The Montreal Mirror since 1998. His artwork has been exhibited at numerous art galleries, his short animated films have won awards & toured festivals worldwide, & he’s been singing & playing guitar for his post-punk band The American Devices since 1980.

Trembles’ brand new 28-page mini-comic, MINI MOTION PICTURE PURGATORY, created especially for this event, is a collection of illustrated Canadian B-movie reviews that ran at Canuxploitation.com from 2012 to 2013. Trembles will be present at the launch & available for signings all day Saturday & Sunday.

$5 POSTAGE NOT INCLUDED (FOR MAIL ORDER CONTACT RICK TREMBLES THROUGH THIS WEBSITE).

“Genius” -The Guardian

“A famous free thinker” -L.A. Times

“Even more twisted & weird than me” -Robert Crumb, The Comics Journal

Since 1999, Canuxploitation.com has been exploring & documenting the murky world of Canadian “exploitation” cinema. With an emphasis on the past, their dedicated review team digs into dusty VHS deletion bins, combs through dollar store DVD racks & braves the wasteland of late night TV to investigate & reclaim Canada’s once forgotten B-movie tradition with style & humour.

INSIDE: CANUCKIAN NUDIST COLONIES! CANADA’S FIRST ZOMBIE AND GORE FLICK! KAREN BLACK ON HEROIN! CRONENBERGIAN CAR CULTURE! MUSCLE-ROCKER THOR! VANITY’S BUTT! NFB KIDDY-PORN! BIG 80’S HAIR! 3D MOLLY RINGWALD! MAPLE SYRUP SMUT! FLQ-INSPIRED GARBAGE TRUCKS! RAPIST PRIESTS! BURROUGHSIAN GLAM-ROCK GONE PUNK!

Pictured below: Front cover featuring images of mostly bygone Montreal movie theater marquees. Top to bottom; The Seville, MTL’s own grindhouse of yesteryear The Cristal, Cinema Five, & the only surviving one left, Plateau porn palace Cinema L’Amour.

MOVIES REVIEWED:

1) MONDO NUDE (1979)
2) THE CORPSE EATERS (1974)
3) THE PYX (1974)
4) ILSA: TIGRESS OF SIBERIA (1977)
5) FAST COMPANY (1979)
6) PIN (1988)
7) ROCK ‘N’ ROLL NIGHTMARE (1986)
8) TANYA’S ISLAND (1980)
9) NOT A LOVE STORY (1981)
10) BIG MEAT EATER (1982)
11) BEDROOM EYES (1984)
12) THE BRAIN (1988)
13) HAVE FIGURE, WILL TRAVEL (1963)
14) SPACEHUNTER (1983)
15) YETI: THE GIANT OF THE 20TH CENTURY (1977)
16) APRÈS-SKI (1971)
17) RABID (1977)
18) BELLS (1982)
19) VISITING HOURS (1982)
20) DIARY OF A SINNER (1974)
21) EAST END HUSTLE (1976)
22) A WHISPER TO A SCREAM (1989)
23) METAL MESSIAH (1978)

Expozine Website HERE

Below: Sample panel from review of THE BRAIN (1988).

ALSO!

“ESTHETIC COMICS: IN OUR BACKYARD” BY JACK TREMBLAY

Jack Tremblay is a Canadian Golden Age cartoonist who worked as a teen in Montreal during World War Two for WOW COMICS, (which he did Crash Carson for) and COMMANDO COMICS (which he did Wings Over the Atlantic for). After drawing comics he became a successful writer & commercial artist, publishing children’s books on Canadiana, illustrating for the likes of the Montreal Star’s weekly supplement Weekend Magazine, & then a fine artist exhibited at numerous galleries. He was the recipient of the Doug Wright Canadian Cartoonists’ Lifetime Achievement Award presented to him by renowned cartoonist Seth at TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) in 2014.

Tremblay’s brand new full color 24-page mini-comic, ESTHETIC COMICS: IN OUR BACKYARD, created especially for this event, represents his first foray into drawing comic books since WW2; a playful, surrealistic, full-color contemplation on language & life. Tremblay will be present at Expozine’s launch table & available for signings Saturday & Sunday from 1 pm to 4 pm.

$10 POSTAGE NOT INCLUDED (FOR MAIL ORDER CONTACT RICK TREMBLES THROUGH THIS WEBSITE).

Pictured below: Front cover of “ESTHETIC COMICS: IN OUR BACKYARD.”

Pictured below: Sample pages from “ESTHETIC COMICS: IN OUR BACKYARD.”

Pictured below: Jack Tremblay’s signature character from World War Two; CRASH CARSON.

This artwork originally appeared as a full-color oversized movie poster I painted for Montreal filmmaker Bashar Shbib in 1986 called “Evixion.” In 1991, Montreal comics artist Bernie Mireault asked if I would like to have something published in color for one of his upcoming books, The Jam Urban Adventure # 2, so I gave him the original preliminary B&W line art version of the movie poster, Zip-A-Tone & all. He removed the title & film credits & made a transparent copy of it on acetate to meticulously colorize with animation cel-paint. This was a process both of us had gotten familiar with from working in the dungeons of various animation studios over the years before they’d gone digital. You have to dab the thick paint, one color at a time, behind the acetate so it doesn’t flow over the B&W lines, then wait for each color to dry before moving on to the next so they don’t blend while still wet. It’s an amazingly time-consuming process. As far as the movie “Evixion” is concerned, I never even saw the thing; I was just going by plot descriptions the director was giving me, but I can tell you that’s supposed to be the “NDG Tower” in the skyline. I made a series of three movie posters for Shbib back then, all acrylic paint on board. I plan on posting them here eventually. Incidentally, Shbib still owes me money on these, & when he refused to pay & even had the nerve not to return my original art, I got a bailiff to go knocking on his door to seize it & return it to me. What a schmuck. (To see full-sized, keep clicking on the image to open it in a new window & use the magnify function).

Original art for sale for $1000.00 CAD. 8 & 1/2 X 11 inches, animation cel-paint on acetate. (I would split the money with colorist Bernie Mireault). Published in The Jam Urban Adventure # 2 (1992). Postage & framing not included. Motion Picture Purgatory Volumes One & Two available at FAB Press. For original art info, contact Rick Trembles @ ricktrembles (at) hotmail (dot) com.

This 3-page comic was directly influenced by reading the late Bill (Sleazoid Express) Landis’ excellent “Anger: An Unauthorized Biography of Kenneth Anger” (HarperCollins Publishers, 1995). All that strange “magickal” stuff underground filmmaker Anger was so concerned with made me wanna draw ritualistic cosmic orgies & such. Very inspiring read. I drew it for Montreal artist Eric Braun’s fun-fur covered self-published comic zine 106U #5 in 1997. (To see full-sized, keep clicking on the images to open them in a new window & use the magnify function).

Original art for sale, all three pages $500.00 CAD. Includes B&W pencils on 8 ½ by 11 inch sketch pad paper. Postage & framing not included. For original art info, contact Rick Trembles @ ricktrembles (at) hotmail (dot) com.