In early 2021, Renegade Arts Entertainment put out a call for stories that were quintessentially Albertan. Of course, they got an amazingly diverse response, from slice-of-life to fantastical fiction and everything in between. Alberta Comics: Home collects these stories in full colour. Within the pages you will find a curious mix of pathos, optimism, humour, hope, and reflections on all the different things 'home' really means.

The characters within our comics frequently ask themselves just what makes a "good" home. Is it a crashed starship with only a glitchy holographic attendant? Or something even more fantastic, a page of art through which the artist is spontaneously transported — along with her cat — into the vastness of space? Naomi Fong shows us how complex it is navigating new parenthood amidst foreign traditions, values and language. Sam Hester shows how an owl taught her family about their local habitat and helped them keep sane during lockdowns. Great wisdom and encouragement are voiced by the most unlikely protagonists: a leopard gecko named Sponge, a magpie in its flight around a prairie farmyard, and a robot suffering from anxiety.

The theme of the anthology is "Home." Be it positive or negative, our homes help create us, and these last few years of distancing, cohorts and quarantines have likely made that even clearer. A home might become a haven as the outside world descends into chaos or it might also feel like a cage. It can be both. A setting can be as much a character as a person. Sometimes we long for places simply for their beauty, but more often we're seeking a reunion with a person, family or community. (From Renegade Arts Entertainment)

Alexander Finbow is a writer and CEO and publisher at Renegade Arts Entertainment, based in Canmore, Alta.

Shea Proulx is an artist, editor and author of the children's book ABC Monstrosity.

Emily Pomeroy is the assistant publisher at Renegade Arts Entertainment.