12 Canadian comics to read this summer
Check out these Canadian comic books and graphic novels to read during the summer season.
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me is a YA graphic novel about a teenage girl named Freddy who can't seem to quit her girlfriend, the popular and enigmatic Laura Dean. Though they keep breaking up and getting back together, Freddy frets over whether to forgive Laura's many indiscretions — all the while taking her friendships for granted.
Mariko Tamaki is an award-winning Canadian comics writer based in Oakland, Calif.
War Bears by Margaret Atwood & Ken Steacy
Victoria-based comic artist and illustrator Ken Steacy's new graphic novel War Bears offers a fictional look at the little-known history of Canadian comics during the Second World War. War Bears follows a young man named Alain Zurakowski, whose health issues prevent him from joining his brothers in the war effort abroad. In Toronto, Alain invents a Nazi-fighting superheroine named Oursonette in hopes she will help with morale for Canadians at home.
This Place by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, et al.
This Place is an anthology of comics featuring the work of Indigenous creators as they retell the history of Canada of the past 150 years. Elements of fantasy and magical realism are incorporated throughout the book, telling the stories of characters like Jack Fiddler, an Anishinaabe shaman facing murder charges, and Rosie, an Inuk girl growing up during the Second World War.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood & Renee Nault
Published to acclaim in 1985, Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale continues to resonate with audiences around the world. Adapted for television, film, ballet, opera and more, the classic dystopian novel is now a graphic novel, adapted by Victoria-based artist Renee Nault. The book tells the story of a Handmaid known as Offred, who is trapped in a society where her only purpose is to conceive and bear the child of a powerful man.
The original novel won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction.
Chicken Rising by D. Boyd
D. Boyd's graphic memoir looks back on her childhood in 1970s New Brunswick. Raised by a critical mother and father who owned a fried chicken franchise, Boyd was a shy girl who struggled to make friends and experienced bullying at a young age.
Now living in Montreal, Boyd posts webcomics on her website pastureoflove.com.
When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll
A young woman determinedly makes her way to the Countess's castle, where many have gone but never returned. When I Arrived at the Castle is a gothic horror comic from Stratford, Ont.-based artist Emily Carroll, whose first two books Through the Woods, a collection of horror comics, and Speak, an adaptation of Laurie Halse Anderson's YA novel, were published to critical acclaim.
Leaving Richard's Valley by Michael DeForge
Toronto artist Michael DeForge collects his Instagram comic Leaving Richard's Valley in book form, following the fates of Omar the Spider, Neville the Dog and Ellie Squirrel as they risk the wrath of a beloved but tyrannical leader in order to save their friend, Lyle the Raccoon. When exposed, the three friends are kicked out of the only home they've ever known and make their way to the big city for a fresh start.
Leaving Richard's Valley won the Cartoonist Studio Prize for best web comic in 2018.
Death Threat by Vivek Shraya, illustrated by Ness Lee
In Death Threat, poet and musician Vivek Shraya collects the transphobic hate mail she received from a stranger in the fall of 2017. These disturbing letters, along with her responses, are accompanied by illustrations from Toronto artist Ness Lee, culminating in a surreal and satirical comic book about the online spread of hatred and violence.
Shraya is also the author of the essay I'm Afraid of Men and the poetry collection even this page is white.
Aurora Borealice by Joan Steacy
Joan Steacy recounts her life from the perspective of her alter-ego Alice, an illiterate young woman with a talent for visual art and a thirst for higher education. The story follows Alice after she leaves her small town in 1974 for art college and an eventual career in Toronto, falling in love with a Canadian cartoonist along the way.
Steacy now teaches at Camosun College in comics and graphic novels and lives in Victoria.
Dear Scarlet by Teresa Wong
Teresa Wong pens an honest and emotional letter to her daughter in the graphic memoir Dear Scarlet. The Calgary writer describes her experience with postpartum depression — how feelings of sadness, loss and guilt consumed her — and her many attempts at healing. Dear Scarlet is Wong's first book.
Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal
In Woman World, a genetic defect has left the earth populated entirely by women and natural disasters have ravaged the planet. Only Grandma remembers a world with men — a time of that's-what-she-said jokes and heroic mall cops named Paul Blart.
Initially created as a series of bi-weekly comic strips posted to Instagram, Woman World was published as a book after gaining a sizeable following online.
Lunch Quest by Chris Kuzma
In Lunch Quest, a hungry rabbit goes searching for lettuce and instead finds a universe of skater kids in his lettuce cubby. Zany adventures await the characters of this bright and colourful comic book. Chris Kuzma is a freelance illustrator based in Toronto. Lunch Quest is his first all-ages graphic novel.