Here are the CBC Books picks for the top Canadian comics of the year!
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 sub-Arctic and the theme of contemporary day-to-day life in the North carries through her creative work.
Bookends with Mattea Roach24:54Alison McCreesh: Exploring the magic and nuance of life in the North in her latest graphic novel
When Alison McCreesh was 21, she left her Quebec hometown and hitchhiked to the Yukon searching for something she couldn’t quite put her finger on — and hasn’t left. She talks to Mattea Roach about her graphic novel Degrees of Separation, which reflects on the everyday lives of people in the North… and how it’s changed during her time there.
Life as a witch can be tough. With the town relying on her magic for success, the demands keep coming in. But when a witch outlives her usefulness she is burned at the stake, taking her memories and her magic. When she is left half-burned because of a rainstorm, it’s up to a witch doctor and her toad friend to help her get her magic back before it’s lost forever. Viral comic creator Aminder Dhaliwal uses prose, illustrations and comics to craft a humorous allegory for burnout in A Witch’s Guide to Burning.
Dhaliwal is a comic writer and television animator originally from Brampton, Ont. Now based in Los Angeles, Dhaliwal is a director at Disney TV Animation. Her comic series Woman World, originally published on Instagram to hundreds of thousands of followers, was released as a graphic novel in 2018. CBC Books named Dhaliwal a writer to watch in 2019.
17:39Aminder Dhaliwal: A Witch’s Guide to Burning, burnout, and protecting your creativity
After working at some of the biggest animation studios in the world and breaking out with her own art, the Canadian cartoonist Aminder Dhaliwal is reflecting on what it means to protect your creativity (and your sanity) in a world that’s always demanding that we work harder and faster. The result is her new graphic novel, “A Witch’s Guide to Burning,” which tells a fairy tale-like story about how to find your magic again when you’re feeling burnt out. Aminder talks to Tom about the book and what burnout feels like to her.
In the Wendy series, Mohawk artist Walter Scott follows the character’s journey as a comic book artist who must contend with both the art world and her personal life. Scott’s latest installment in the series, The Wendy Award, follows Wendy struggling with imposter syndrome after receiving a nomination for the prestigious National FoodHut Contemporary Art Prize.
Walter Scott is a Mohawk artist based in Toronto. Scott has published three other Wendy books, including Wendy’s Revenge, and has appeared in The New Yorker and the Best American Comics anthology.
22:16Walter Scott: Why he’s saying goodbye to Wendy, his most famous creation
How do you step away from your most famous creation? Mohawk artist Walter Scott is about to find out. More than a decade after creating his beloved “Wendy” series of graphic novels, Walter is taking a long hiatus from his cartoon alter-ego. He joins Tom to tell us how he came up with Wendy — a neurotic young party girl who’s trying to make it as an artist — and why his latest book, “The Wendy Award,” is going to be her final adventure for now.
In Portrait of a Body, Julie Delporte examines her life experiences and trauma in an attempt to answer the haunting questions she has about her gender and sexuality. The book focuses on the journey inward to heal oneself and live more authentically.
Julie Delporte is a comic creator and poet based in Montreal. Her other books include This Woman’s Work, Everywhere Antennas and Journal.
Helge Dascher is a frequent translator of comic books. She’s also translated many of Guy Delisle’s titles, Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, White Rapids by Pascal Blanchet and Paul Goes Fishing by Michel Rabagliati.
Karen Houle used to be a Professor of Philosophy but now she is a full-time Earth worker-activist and a sometimes translator.
I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together depicts Maurice Vellekoop’s intense childhood and difficult young adulthood as a young gay person in a strict Christian household. Set in Toronto from the 1970s, Vellekoop begins to see his relationships with his mother and father fracture. As he ventures out on his own, he explores his passion for art and is set on finding romance and is met with violent attacks and the anxiety surrounding the AIDS era.
I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together won the 2024 Toronto Book Award.
Vellekoop is a Toronto-born writer and artist. He has been an illustrator for the past three decades, including companies like Air Canada and Bush Irish Whiskey. He is also the author of A Nut at the Opera.
The Next Chapter18:56Maurice Vellekoop reflects on family, art, and growing up gay in a religious household
In Maurice Vellekoop’s vividly drawn graphic memoir I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together, we see how faith, family, fraught sexuality and a deep love of art shaped the course of his life.
In Gamerville, video gamer Max is sent to Camp Reset by his parents, forcing him to miss the championship of his favourite game. At Camp Reset, Max trades late night gaming sessions for group activities, sun and fresh air but he longs for the chance to take his shot at the Gamerville title. Devastated and frustrated, he plots his escape. As he invents ingenious ways to bend camp to his will, Max discovers that maybe the real world isn’t so bad after all.
Christmas is a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator currently based in Vancouver. He previously illustrated Margaret Atwood‘s Angel Catbird and is the creator of Swim Team. In 2022 CBC Books named Christmas a writer to watch.
The Next Chapter12:21Forced to unplug and reconnect with reality in Gamerville
Gamerville is the latest project from the mind of bestselling author and visual artist Johnnie Christmas, where a talented gamer named Max is reluctantly sent to summer camp by his parents.
Following the medically assisted death of her partner of 22 years, 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.
Sarah Leavitt is a Vancouver comics creator and writing teacher. Her debut book was Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me.
Bookends with Mattea Roach31:35Sarah Leavitt: Illustrating grief too wide for words
The Canadian graphic novelist talks with Mattea Roach about life with their late partner, who had an assisted death, and using art to confront grief in Something, Not Nothing
Richard Van Camp’s latest graphic novel follows a local hero named Ross, who is bitten by a Wheetago at his cabin in northern Edmonton. The province of Alberta is crawling with the deadly monsters and Ross must form an alliance with escaped prisoners in order to reach his family, who are trapped in the city.
Half-transformed, Ross holds onto his humanity with the help of his family medicine. But the Wheetago are not discouraged — they’ve already renamed him “Roth” and wait for him to join their “gruesome crusade.”
Richard Van Camp is a Tłı̨chǫ Dene writer from Fort Smith, N.W.T., who has written 30 books across multiple genres. His graphic novel A Blanket of Butterflies was nominated for an Eisner Award and his children’s book Little You, illustrated by Julie Flett, was translated into Bush Cree, Plains Cree, South Slavey and Chipewyan.
Christopher Shy is an American artist, book cover designer and film poster artist. His graphic novel work includes Dead Space, I Sleep in Stone and The Mummy.
The Next Chapter7:25Richard Van Camp is just happy to be here
Writer and storyteller Richard Van Camp talks about Star Wars toys, gratitude and writing 30 books in 30 years on The Next Chapter’s version of the Proust Questionnaire.
In this fantasy Western, a ruthless cult called the Undrowned Order rules the land as they enact their evil plans. They believe that Helmina is their messiah who will unleash unspeakable horror upon the earth. After a lifetime of wrestling with her cosmic affliction, Helmina decides to take her destiny into her own hands.
Jarret Hartnell is a comic writer and artist based in Calgary. Shout Kill Revel is his debut graphic novel.
In So Long Sad Love, Cleo is hurt to find out her boyfriend may not be the man she thought he was and she doesn’t know if she can trust him moving forward. As the life they built together comes apart at the seams, Cleo rediscovers her identity as an artist and explores romantic relationships with other women.
So Long Sad Love was a finalist for the 2024 Governor General’s Award for French to English translation.
Mirion Malle is a French cartoonist and illustrator who lives in Montreal. She has published three books. The League of Super Feminists was her first book translated into English and was nominated for the 2020 Prix Jeunesse at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Her book This is How I Disappear was a finalist for the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award for French-to-English translation.
Aleshia Jensen is a French-to-English literary translator and former bookseller. Her translations include Explosions, written by Mathieu Poulin, which was a finalist for the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Award for translation. Jensen lives in Montreal.
The Jellyfish follows a twenty-something year old named Odette living a normal life until one day they begin being haunted by a jellyfish floating in their eye. It’s just a minor annoyance until the jellyfish starts to multiply. Boum uses stunning and inventive artwork in a powerful story about facing the thing we fear most.
Samantha Leriche-Gionet, also known as Boum, is an illustrator, animator and comic creator from Montreal.
Helge Dascher is a frequent translator of comic books. She’s also translated many of Guy Delisle’s titles, Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, White Rapids by Pascal Blanchet and Paul Goes Fishing by Michel Rabagliati.
Robin Lang has been co-translating graphic novels for Pow Pow Press with Helge Dascher since 2017. They have worked together on several titles, including Lonely Boys by Sophie Bédard, which won the 2021 Doug Wright Award for best book. Lang runs a cut-flower farm in the Eastern Townships during the growing season and translates from French to English in the winter.
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