Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography
Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography is a highly acclaimed comic book biography of the Métis rebel leader, Louis Riel, by Chester Brown and published by Drawn and Quarterly. Time Magazine included it in its annual Best Comix list in 2003.[1]
Overview
The novel, drawn entirely using a six-panel grid, gives a somewhat sympathetic chronicling of Riel's resistance to the Canadian government's mistreatment of the Métis community, in both 1869-70 and 1885, which resulted in the Métis' military defeat, and Riel's trial and execution. Brown eschews defining exactly what Riel, the most debated figure in Canadian history, should mean to a contemporary audience. His ambivalence about Riel's status in Canadian history is revealed in the novel's very large appendix, which serves in part as a running commentary on the novel's action. In some instances, Brown wonders why he depicted certain scenes in the way he has, suggesting perhaps a postmodern approach to his subject, in that precise meaning is deliberately confused or left vague, thereby enjoining the audience to "fill in the gaps," as it were.[2]
Publication History
Louis Riel was originally published in ten comic book installments from 1999 until 2003 simply as Louis Riel. Brown was granted CAD $6,000 by the Canadian Council for the Arts in 2001 to assist in the completion of the book,[3] and the full volume was published in hardcover as Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography in 2003. A softcover version was released in 2006. The book sold out its first printing in two months,[4] went through multiple printings and had sold 50,000 copies by the beginning of 2011.[5]
The comic book and the collection both came with copious amounts of footnotes (23 pages in the collection), and the collection came with a bibliography and an index. The footnotes, bibliography and index were all hand-lettered by Brown.
A lot of the artwork in the book collection was altered from that of the serial comic book, mainly in the earlier portions. Some panels were altered — adding hatching or redrawing heads — while in other places entire panels were redrawn or added between existing panels.
Style
Brown has frequently cited Harold Gray[6] of Little Orphan Annie fame as the primary influence on the drawing style of Louis Riel. He also says he referred to Jack Hamm's How to Draw Animals when drawing the horses that appear frequently throughout the book.[7]
Over the course of the serial, the Gray influence became stronger and Brown gradually ended up using more hatching and drawing characters with smaller heads and larger bodies. For the book release, Brown went back to the pages from the earlier issues and touched up a lot of the artwork in order to give the book more consistency. The touch-ups included adding hatching to panels, redrawing portions of panels (especially to make characters heads smaller and bodies bigger), redrawing entire panels and adding new panels between finished panels.
Brown drew the art on watercolour paper, using both both a thin ink brush (no larger than size 0) and dip pen with a Hunt 102 nib and black ink.[8]
Recognition
Awards
Foreign Editions
See also
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References
- ^ "Time Magazine Best Comix of 2003"
- ^ Brown, Chester: Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography. Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly Press, 2003. Academic Press, 2003. ISBN 1-896597-63-7.
- ^ Provincial Profiles, 2001-2002: Grants to Ontario. Canada Council for the Arts, August 2002. page 29
- ^ Arnold, Andrew D. (2004-04-12). "Keeping It 'Riel'". Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/columnist/arnold/article/0,9565,609686,00.html. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
- ^ Adams, James (2011-04-30). "Entering Chester Brown's red-light district". The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/entering-chester-browns-red-light-district/article2003899/singlepage/#articlecontent. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
- ^ Heer, Jeet (2003-11-06). "Little Orphan Louis". jeetheer.com. http://www.jeetheer.com/comics/riel.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ Sim, Dave. "Getting Riel" interview Part 1 2 3 . Cerebus (295-297). Aardvark-Vanaheim. retrieved 2011-04-07
- ^ "Chester Brown answers your questions". Toronto Public Library. 2005-03-07. http://ramp.torontopubliclibrary.ca/pdfs/chester_brown_interview.pdf. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
- ^ Harvey Awards official website
- ^ Ignatz Awards official website
- ^ Weiland, Jonah (2004-04-08). "2004 Eisner Award Nominees Announced". Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&old=1&id=3505. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
- ^ Product page at Casterman's website. retrieved 2011-05-12
- ^ Product page at Coconino Press's website. retrieved 2011-05-02
- ^ Product page at the Ediciones La Cúpula website. retrieved 2011-05-12
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