3 'perspective-shifting' comic books that show the power of visual storytelling
CBC Books producer Ashly July shared his love of sequential art and words with The Next Chapter’s Ali Hassan
A talented visual producer, Toronto-based CBC Books producer Ashly July has always had an appreciation for the impact of combining the storytelling of both words and pictures through comics.
July credits his local Toronto public library for giving him the space to read graphic novels as a kid, "I gotta give a shout out to the Barbara Frum branch! That's where I used to go as a kid and read comic books after school — and mostly it was Spider-Man."
He joined The Next Chapter's Ali Hassan to talk about three graphic novels that "tell the story in ways that words can't."
Godhead 2 by Ho Che Anderson
Godhead 2 is the sequel to Ho Che Anderson's 2018 graphic novel Godhead, a gritty sci-fi graphic novel about how society reacts after a powerful corporation creates a device to communicate with God. In the conclusion to the story, Racer Calhoun learns that he's on a mission to destroy the God machine. As he fights for survival, Racer is reunited with a past love, leading to a resolution that upends typical narrative expectations.
Ho Che Anderson is the Toronto-based author of numerous graphic novels, including the Martin Luther King biography King and the horror thriller Sand & Fury.
Ashly July says: "It's this really good sort of combination of espionage, lots of action, explosions, killer robots — basically like an 80s sci-fi movie on the page.
"The images in this book are this neo-noir, really high contrast dark images that support that idea of the religious implications and big questions that the book does ask and then all the action and the killer robot stuff raises the level and it gives you a break from those heavy questions."
Are You Willing to Die for the Cause? by Chris Oliveros
Are You Willing to Die for the Cause? is an oral history of the movement known as the Quebec Liberation Front, told in comic book form. The story starts in 1963, when a dozen mailboxes in an affluent Montreal neighbourhood are destroyed by homemade bombs. Chris Oliveros' book explores how this eight-year-long movement turned violent and explores the ingredients to dissatisfaction and dissent.
Oliveros is a Montreal-based writer and publisher. In 1989, he founded Drawn & Quarterly, a Montreal publishing company that specializes in comics. He left the company in 2015 to work on Are You Willing to Die for the Cause?
Ashly July says: "I learned a lot from it and that was one of the things that drew me to it, these stories about this revolutionary movement that was going on in Quebec. It has parallels to the Black Panther Party in the States around that same time in the 60s, but based on the same kind of Marxist ideals."
LISTEN | Chris Oliveros on Day 6:
Ultimate Spider-Man #1 by Jonathan Hickman
In this contemporary reimagined Marvel universe, Peter Parker is a happily married man and father of two when he must step up to the plate and become the hero the world needs — Spider-Man. The older Ultimate Universe version of Peter has yet to be plagued by tragedy and strife and so he is faced with the challenge of balancing his life at home and his newfound responsibilities as a superhero.
Jonathan Hickman is an American writer and comic book artist. As a Marvel writer he has contributed to Fantastic Four and The Avengers. He is also the writer of The Nightly News and The Manhattan Projects.
Ashly July says: "It's a different take on the story that's more contemporary and it takes Peter Parker away from being this angsty teenager to, I guess, an angsty man."
Comments have been edited for length and clarity.
