Steve Manale

He curated an exhibition in Toronto honoring professional basketball player Ron Artest. • Illustration — Steve Manale

• Illustration — A sample strip from Superslackers Manale is the creator of the web comic Superslackers. The comic is described by Manale as "mostly about a group of kids who tease and torment each other all in the name of fun. They're content hanging out at the park and eating popsicles. Actually doing anything super requires way too much effort on their part... Superslackers is an All-ages, Western, Pirate, Screwball, Bible, Roman, Superhero, Coming-Of-Age, Feel-good, Comedy diversion." In 2005, Superslackers was nominated for an Ignatz Award in the category of Outstanding Online Comic. Superslackers was also published in the Toronto Star's youth-oriented offshoot newspaper, Brand New Planet, from 2003 until 2006. The comic also received a favourable review from Scott McCloud, the American comic theorist and writer of Understanding Comics. Alexander Danner and Iain Hamp, both fellow comic artists, similarly gave positive reviews of Superslackers. In 2007, Manale contributed guest art to the acclaimed comic book series, Scott Pilgrim. The artwork, using characters created by Scott Pilgrim author Bryan Lee O'Malley, was published in volume four of the series, Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together. Manale also makes an uncredited appearance in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the 2010 film adaptation of the comic directed by Edgar Wright. During the DVD commentary of the film, Bryan Lee O'Malley can be heard making reference to Manale's appearance. Manale also collaborated with writer Marcel St. Pierre on the comic "Sponge and Stone," which appeared quarter-annually in YTV Whoa Magazine from 2000 until 2009. Other clients of Manale's have included Nickelodeon, textbook publishers Thomson Nelson, Cheestrings, Hellmann's Mayonnaise and the Toronto Raptors. Currently, Manale writes and illustrates the comic "Chick and Dee" for the Canadian children's publication, ChickaDEE Magazine. He also contributes regularly to the publication Taddle Creek and collaborates on limited-edition prints with indie publisher, Koyama Press. He was a storyboard artist for Summer Camp Island and co-created the short Foools for the Cartoon Cartoons shorts program alongside Seo Kim.