Richard Van Camp and Scott B. Henderson's graphic novel A Blanket of Butterflies soars again, in full-colour
CBC Radio | Posted: October 14, 2022 6:19 PM | Last Updated: October 14, 2022
Originally published in 2015, the Eisner Award-nominated book has been released in a colour version
It started with a samurai suit of armour in a museum in the Northwest Territories.
When Richard Van Camp discovered that the museum down the street from his childhood home housed an unexpected Japanese artifact, he wanted to know how it got there. Turns out, theories abound — one of which Van Camp takes delight in telling Shelagh Rogers he made up himself.
While the suit remains a mystery, it's also a relic of Van Camp's younger years: the Tłı̨chǫ Dene writer from Fort Smith, N.W.T., grew up in awe of ninjas and samurais. So much so that, years later, the odd discovery inspired his graphic novel, A Blanket of Butterflies.
One of 26 books Van Camp has authored throughout his 26 year career, A Blanket of Butterflies follows a Tłı̨chǫ Dene boy and his grandmother as they help a Japanese man reclaim his grandfather's lost samurai sword and armour.
Illustrated by Winnipeg-based author and illustrator Scott B. Henderson and coloured by Winnipeg-based colour artist Donovan Yaciuk, the new, full-colour edition of A Blanket of Butterflies is the first volume in The Spirit of Denendeh series. The black-and-white edition was originally published in 2015 and was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2016.
Van Camp and Henderson spoke with Shelagh Rogers about what else inspired A Blanket of Butterflies.
Unearthing history
Richard Van Camp: "I'm really proud that [the graphic novel] is set in my community, that this is based on a true story and I was able to link our relationship with Japan because not a lot of people know about the Highway of the Atom and the Canol project.
"When I was growing up in Fort Smith, I started to hear stories about people who would wake up to people dressed like astronauts going through their garden and holding up rocks of uranium. I remember the mayor was saying that they were finding uranium under some of the roads when they were digging them up and that Fort Smith was part of something called the Canol Project and that we were along The Highway of the Atom.
I didn't want to believe that the beauty of the Northwest Territories was somehow involved in this.
"I started to do a little bit of research. A long time ago, there were two uranium mines in Port Radium [along the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories]. The American and Canadian military and governments worked with Dogrib, K'atl'odeeche and Slavey workers to go into mines in Port Radium to remove uranium — and transport it, ship it, barge it and bring it back down to the United States.
"Canada and the Northwest Territories Denendeh were complicit in the detonation over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I actually couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe that the beauty of the Northwest Territories was somehow involved in this."
Illustrating fight scenes
Scott B. Henderson: For the fight scene splash page, I was inspired by another artist, Travis Charest. He did a sequence for a book called Metabarons. It showed four-part action sequences broken down in moment-to-moment style transitions. I expanded it from four to about 20 transitions in the background, showing all the individual moves. Otherwise, I watched a lot of MMA fights. I knew I had to choreograph it so it's not these random moves; they attack, he counters and flips one, comes around, does a round-house kick, whatever the sequence was. I tried to make it as natural and logical as possible.
This is Scott's finest work. The interior design, the pictures on the wall, the emotion, the pacing. [He] has really honoured the story.
Richard Van Camp: "I think this is Scott's finest work. The interior design, the pictures on the wall, the emotion, the pacing. [He] has really honoured the story."
Honouring heroes
Richard Van Camp: "There are so many heroes in the Northwest Territories, in Denendeh, in Nunavut and across Canada. Those are really the grandparents who are raising their grandbabies all by themselves. I really wanted to honour the grandmother. It's the grandmother who is the true hero of A Blanket of Butterflies because she stops escalating the warfare between men by using protocol, dignity and tough anti-power.
"The interesting thing about this story in my mind is the most reluctant hero of all is the villain, Benny the Bank. When I was growing up, I always asked myself: what would it take to turn a wicked man's heart?
"When I think about our 'leaders' right now, I think: what would it take to turn their hearts to go, 'Wait a minute, what am I doing? I have access to all these resources, money, troops. What if I focused on global peace and ensuring clean water for all and donating to all these worthy causes with the time I have on this planet. How do I want to be remembered?'
I always asked myself: what would it take to turn a wicked man's heart?
"When I received the full-colour, new edition of A Blanket of Butterflies, [I realized] how much we explored that in book one."
Richard Van Camp and Scott B. Henderson's comments have been edited for length and clarity.