A journalistic graphic novel profiling Igor Kenk and his notorious used bicycle shop, located in the rapidly gentrifying West Queen West neighbourhood of Toronto. in Summer 2008 Kenk was arrested after 3,000 bicycles were seized in a highly publicized bust that received international attention, heralding Kenk as “the world’s most prolific bicycle thief” (The Guardian and Telegraph). This is a New Yorker style portrait of an outsize neighbourhood figure and a city in flux, both wracked by the forces of gentrification and by a burgeoning global environmental and economic crisis that promises to define our generation.
Alex Jansen and Jason Gilmore followed Kenk extensively for more than a year prior to his high profile arrest in Summer 2008. Acclaimed Penguin author, Richard Poplak, was attached to the project in Fall 2008 following his stand-out article on Kenk in Toronto Life Magazine, and Toronto-based comic artist, Nick Marinkovich (various Marvel, IDW and Image Comics), is illustrating.
Kenk: A Graphic Portrait will release in May 2010. An interactive graphic novella treatment is being developed with the participation of the CFC Media Lab, and a fully-animated film is in development with The Juggernaut.
Creative Team:
Alex Jansen (Producer)
Richard Poplak (Writer)
Nick Marinkovich (Illustrator)
Jason Gilmore (Visual Director)
Shahid Quadri (Interactive Director)
|
