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Books·My Life in Comics

What is the power of superhero storytelling? Yanick Paquette talks comics at Montreal's Librairie Z Bookstore

The Montreal illustrator of X-Men, Batman and Wonder Woman shares the comics he loved reading.
CBC Books ·

Yanick Paquette browses for comics at Z Librairie in Montreal

6 years ago
Duration 5:20
Yanick Paquette is an artist for DC Comics. He's worked on comics like Swamp Thing, Wonder Woman and Batman. CBC Books caught up with Paquette at his local comic book store to learn about the comic books he loved reading as a kid.

Yanick Paquette is a comic book illustrator from Montreal. The artist has used his award-winning abilities to tell stories with well-known characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the X-Men.

CBC Books connected with Paquette at Montreal's Librairie Z Bookstore to talk about the comic books that have influenced him over the years. Check out the tour in the video above and see his picks below.

The Adventures of Asterix

Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comics that first appeared in 1959. (Hachette)

"I think my generation, and even the generation before that, have read their share of Asterix books — if not the entire series. These books were my first introduction to comics as a kid. They are well researched and feature classic storytelling."  

Franquin's Last Laugh by André Franquin

Franquin's Last Laugh or Idées Noires was a collection of dark humoured comic strips illustrated and written by Belgian comics artist André Franquin (Wikimedia Commons/Fluide Glacial)

"This is an absolute classic. Franquin is such an awesome storyteller where sometimes the narrative doesn't even need dialogue."

The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé

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European comic book series The Adventures of Tintin was created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. (Egmont Group)

"Everyone knows Tintin, which, even before the 2011 movie, was a series of historically important books."

X-Men by John Byrne

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The X-Men are a fictional superhero team featured in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. (Marvel Comics)

"The first American comic I was exposed to was an X-Men comic by British author John Byrne that I found in a garbage can. There was a big stain of ketchup on it and there was no cover! After I discovered that issue, I had to read them all. The X-Men hooked me on comics — the level of drama was amazing and appealed a lot more to my sensibilities compared to Tintin."

Watchmen by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons

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Watchmen is an American comic book limited series/graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. (DC Comics)

"This is a precious book. Read this instead of watching the 2009 live-action film. The storytelling takes advantage of the comic book form. The comic book panels are packed with multiple layers of information. I also read music and there is no other medium that allows you to control time and information like comic book storytelling.

"Writer Alan Moore is using all the tricks to tell a story in a way that other media forms cannot accomplish. That's what makes comic books so unique and worth doing. This is glorious."

Yanick Paquette's comments have been edited and condensed.

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