The Canadian Alternative

A broad survey of the inspirations of comics creation in Canada

Contributions by Jordan Bolay, Ian Brodie, Jocelyn Sakal Froese, Dominick Grace, Eric Hoffman, Paddy Johnston, Ivan Kocmarek, Jessica Langston, Judith Leggatt, Daniel Marrone, Mark J. McLaughlin, Joan Ormrod, Laura A. Pearson, Annick Pellegrin, Mihaela Precup, Jason Sacks, and Ruth-Ellen St. Onge This overview of the history of Canadian comics explores acclaimed as well as unfamiliar artists. Contributors look at the myriad ways that English-language, Francophone, Indigenous, and queer Canadian comics and cartoonists pose alternatives to American comics, to dominant perceptions, even to gender and racial categories. In contrast to the United States' melting pot, Canada has been understood to comprise a social, cultural, and ethnic mosaic, with distinct cultural variation as part of its identity. This volume reveals differences that often reflect in highly regional and localized comics such as Paul MacKinnon's Cape Breton-specific Old Trout Funnies, Michel Rabagliati's Montreal-based Paul comics, and Kurt Martell and Christopher Merkley's Thunder Bay-specific zombie apocalypse. The collection also considers some of the conventionally "alternative" cartoonists, namely Seth, Dave Sim, and Chester Brown. It offers alternate views of the diverse and engaging work of two very different Canadian cartoonists who bring their own alternatives into play: Jeff Lemire in his bridging of Canadian/US and mainstream/alternative sensibilities and Nina Bunjevac in her own blending of realism and fantasy as well as of insider/outsider status. Despite an upsurge in research on Canadian comics, there is still remarkably little written about most major and all minor Canadian cartoonists. This volume provides insight into some of the lesser-known Canadian alternatives still awaiting full exploration.

Alternative media hold the promise of building public awareness and action against the constraints and limitations of media conglomeration and cutbacks to public broadcasting. These media are becoming key venues for community expression and political debate, but what is it that makes them alternative? The contributors to this path-breaking volume answer this question by examining the evolution of various kinds of alternative media – including indigenous, anarchist, ethnic, and feminist media – against the backdrop of political, economic, and cultural developments in Canada. They get at the heart of alternative media by focusing on the three interconnected dimensions that define them: structure, participation, and activism. Alternative Media in Canada not only reveals how alternative media are enabled and constrained within Canada’s complex media and policy environment; it also shows that, in the context of globalization, the Canadian experience parallels media and policy challenges in other nations.

A broad survey of all the inspirations of comics creation in Canada

The pew edition of the prayer book of the Anglican Church of Canada. Includes: the Divine Office; Baptism and Reconciliation; the Holy Eucharist; the Proper of the Church Year; Pastoral Offices; Episcopal Offices; Parish Thanksgiving and Prayers; the Psalter; and Music. (ABC).