Small Saves
| Small Saves | |
|---|---|
sports, ice hockey , children |
Small Saves is a syndicated periodic comic strip written and illustrated by James DeMarco. Published weekly, the comic focuses on a young ice hockey goaltender named Small Saves and his adventures.[1]
Overview
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2019) |
The strip takes place in a small, unnamed northeast US town. Small Saves is about nine years old and plays goaltender for a team of children competing against other children's teams.
Small Saves always wears his game jersey and his
Other characters
- Mom: Small Saves' devoted hockey momfrequently has to resort to tricks to get Small Saves to do anything not related to hockey, such as telling him a game starts in 15 minutes in order to get him up for school.
- Mia: Small Saves' cat, who also wears a goalie mask tipped back on his head. Mia is based on artist James DeMarco's real-life cat, also named "Mia."
- The Coach: The Coach, name unknown, is the long-suffering manager of Small Saves' team. It is frequently The Coach who deals with Small Saves' reactions to bad losses.
- The Defenseman: The Defenseman, named Dee, is a female teammate. She is the only player on Small Saves' team who does not wear a helmet, has long red hair, and wears dark sunglasses. She is always willing to go toe-to-toe with Small Saves exchanging trash talk with her teammate.
The artist
James "Jay"[
Small Saves debuted in 1991. DeMarco says that while writing the comic isn't hard, it is tough to keep it fresh given the specific subject matter of an ice hockey goalie. DeMarco draws the comic by hand on paper, pencilling it then inking it, and then coloring a copy to preserve the original.[1]
The comic is a part-time job for DeMarco, who also works at a nursing home, does silk-screening, and helps out at a skating rink.[1] James says that his fascination for cartooning began very young, drawing inspiration from classics such as The Family Circus, Peanuts and Dennis the Menace.[2]
In addition to Small Saves, He also illustrated a children's book about ice hockey, written by Darren Hersh, called Holy Moly, We Need a Goalie!: Robbin to the Rescue![3] DeMarco has also authored and illustrated another children's book called The Dinosaurs of Winter.[4][3]
Distribution
Small Saves has appeared in hockey-related publications such as USA Hockey Magazine,[1] Independent Sports News,[5] Goalie's World magazine[6] and InsideHockey,[7] and is linked through NHL.com.[8] DeMarco has said his aim is for Small Saves "to be in every hockey media type there is."[1]
The Canadian Make-a-Wish foundation publishes a black-and-white version of the strip in coloring books that it provides to children in hospitals.[1]
Compendiums
Eight volumes of collected Small Saves cartoons have been published.[1] These include:
- DeMarco, James (2014-04-05). Goalie on Vacation: A collection of Small Saves cartoons!. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 36. ISBN 978-1497563803.
- DeMarco, James (2014-04-26). Renegade Goaltender: The continued cartoon antics of Small Saves. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 38. ISBN 978-1499277999.
- DeMarco, James (2014-05-05). Where's My Defense...? Even more cartoon antics of Small Saves!. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 38. ISBN 978-1499364088.
- DeMarco, James (2015-03-31). The Goaltenders' Creed: A Small Saves Storybook. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 34. ISBN 978-1518629549.
- DeMarco, James (2017-03-30). When the Game Calls: A Small Saves Storybook. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 34. ISBN 978-1543247879.
- DeMarco, James (2017-08-15). The Day the Dinosaurs Played Hockey: A Small Saves Storybook. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 42. ISBN 978-1974620715.
Merchandise
Small Saves has a variety of merchandise,[1] including T-shirts, mugs, stickers, and coasters.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Oliver, Greg (25 September 2019). "The modest empire of DeMarco's "Small Saves" goaltender". Society for International Hockey Research. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ "Small Saves About Me". Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
- ^ ISBN 978-1729772171.
- ISBN 978-1501022180.
- ^ "Small Saves". ISN. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ "Small Saves". Goalie's World (69). Quebec, CA. October 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
- ^ "Inside Hockey: Small Saves". Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ "NHL.com Small Saves, In The Slot". Archived from the original on 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2008-10-12.