I have a complicated relationship to Canada. I am regularly detained by authorities whenever I fly there. You see, when I was 23 I tried to get into the country, but had recently lost my identification and was questioned and returned to Buffalo, New York. My friends continued on to Toronto and returned around 5:00 AM to pick me up from the middle of downtown Buffalo. This was pre-9/11, post Strange Brew. I slept on the steps of a large public obelisk. It wasn't much fun.
So, I harbor some ill feelings to my northern brothers despite the other nice things they have given me: Rush, Subhumans, Nomeansno, Bossanova (the band, not the style)...umm, whatever other cultural things come from Canada...
So, I have basically forgiven Canada for all of their trespasses against me. I mean I am anglophilic, and Canada definitely helps to fuel that flame. A former English colony, etc., etc. BUT having just finished reading Chester Brown's Louis Riel, A Comic-Strip Biography, I am once again mad at the north. You should read it, it is awesome. Louis Riel was a Metis (mixed blood Native American/French) who fought for the rights of the indigenous peoples of Canada. It was Riel who named Manitoba. He ultimately wanted what Americans want(ed) local representation by their peers. He eventually went sort of crazy and believed himself to be a prophet and wanted to split the Northwestern territory from Canada, but his initial intent was good. The part where he went crazy was (I believe) a response to the adversity he experienced at the hands of the English.
Anyway, this book/comic is pretty great and because it is history it is available in libraries. Chester Brown's drawing style is minimal, stark and sort of abstract (yet realistic?!). Black and white, classy.
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