4 days ago
8 great comics featured on Bookends with Mattea Roach
Mattea Roach is a big fan of comics — after all, they won Canada Reads in 2023 with their defence of Ducks by Kate Beaton. So it makes sense that the first season of CBC Radio's Bookends with Mattea Roach featured a lot of great comics and graphic novels.
On the show, Roach talks to authors from Canada and around the world. And here are the creators of comics Roach sat down with this year.
Degrees of Separation by Alison McCreesh
Degrees of Separation blends stories, drawings and sketches that chronicle Alison McCreesh's decade spent living in the North. From being stranded in the High Arctic to raising a baby in a small shack with no running water, the book is a coming-of-age story that recounts the challenges and joys of life living and working north of the 60th parallel.
McCreesh is an artist who currently lives in Yellowknife. She has travelled around the Arctic, and the theme of contemporary day-to-day life in the North carries through her creative work.
All Our Ordinary Stories by Teresa Wong
In the graphic memoir All Our Ordinary Stories, Teresa Wong uses spare black-and-white illustrations and thought-provoking prose to unpack how intergenerational trauma and resilience can shape our identities. Starting with her mother's stroke a decade ago, Wong takes a journey through time and place to find the origin of her feelings of disconnection from her parents.
Something, Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt
Following the medically assisted death of her partner of 22 years, cartoonist Sarah Leavitt began small sketches that quickly became something new and unexpected to her — the graphic memoir Something, Not Nothing. The abstract images mixed with poetic text, layers of watercolour, ink and coloured pencil combine to tell a story of love, grief, peace and new beginnings.
Final Cut by Charles Burns
In Final Cut, childhood friends Brian and Jimmy set out to create a sci-fi horror movie using an old eight-millimetre camera. With Laurie as Brian's muse, they trek to a remote cabin in the mountains and Brian struggles with finding the balance between his dreams and reality.
Charles Burns is an American cartoonist. His graphic novel Black Hole won Eisner, Harvey and Ignatz awards. He is the cover artist for The Believer and has made covers for Time, The New Yorker and The New York Times Sunday Magazine.
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley
The Scott Pilgrim series is about an unemployed 23-year-old Torontonian, the titular character, who's going through a breakup. But when he falls for the enigmatic Ramona Flowers, he must face off against her seven evil exes in order to continue their relationship. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life is the first book in the series.
Bryan Lee O'Malley's career in comics took off after publishing Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, the first in a Toronto-centric series about an indie music-loving nerd who must defeat his girlfriend Ramona's seven evil exes. The bestselling books later became a film starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Brie Larson. O'Malley followed up this success with the acclaimed graphic novel Seconds and another series called Snot Girl with Leslie Hung.
Q&A
Before the internet, many comic books included a section to send letters to the creators and get insight into their work and their process. When cartoonist Adrian Tomine was growing up, he would send those letters — and now he's answering them. Q&A dives into the questions he most often hears from readers, and responds to them with a combination of words, photos and illustrations.
American cartoonist Adrian Tomine is best known for his series Optic Nerve, his memoir and his work in The New Yorker. He lives in Brooklyn.
Acme Novelty Datebook: Volume Three by Chris Ware
Acme Novelty Datebook: Volume Three is the third and final instalment of a series that offers readers a look into American cartoonist Chris Ware's personal sketchbooks. covers the last 20 years and tells of his journey into fatherhood and the rise of social media.
Ware is the author and illustrator of Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, which won the Guardian First Book Award in 2001, Building Stories and Rusty Brown, which was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein award. He has designed 32 covers for The New Yorker and his work has been exhibited in many museums worldwide.
Spent by Alison Bechdel
In Spent, a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel grapples with her complicated relationship with capitalism, community and activism after the success of her memoir and its subsequent TV adaptation.
