A Guide to Comic books Published in Canada
Edited by John Bell (Matrix Books 1986)
ISBN: 0-921101-00-7
Although not strictly a graphic novel, this slim volume engagingly details the history of the comic book in the various provinces of Canada, and even provides a dual English/French essay on the European style Bande Dessinée produced in Quebec to rival the French language publications exported from Europe since the Second World War ended.
Lavishly peppered with black and white cover reproductions, and a complete listing of every comic ever produced in the country’s history (at least up until this book’s publication), the knowledgeable enthusiasms of Harlan Ellison, John Bell, Robert MacMillan and Luc Pomerleau generate an actual hunger to see more of these beautifully executed “lost †gems.
Most comic fans are always eager for more, and new, and rare, so this window onto another world gave me a couple of hours of sheer anticipatory delight. Good books about comics are even rarer than good comics themselves, and this one should be welcomed to any fan’s bookshelf.
© 1986 John Bell.