Mattea Roach is a big fan of comics — after all, they won Canada Reads in 2023 with their defence of Ducks by Kate Beaton. So it makes sense that the first season of CBC Radio’s Bookends with Mattea Roach featured a lot of great comics and graphic novels.
On the show, Roach talks to authors from Canada and around the world. And here are the creators of comics Roach sat down with this year.
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Degrees of Separation by Alison McCreesh
Degrees of Separation is a graphic memoir by Alison McCreesh. (Conundrum Press)
Degrees of Separation blends stories, drawings and sketches that chronicle Alison McCreesh’s decade spent living in the North. From being stranded in the High Arctic to raising a baby in a small shack with no running water, the book is a coming-of-age story that recounts the challenges and joys of life living and working north of the 60th parallel.
McCreesh is an artist who currently lives in Yellowknife. She has travelled around the Arctic, and the theme of contemporary day-to-day life in the North carries through her creative work.
LISTEN | Alison McCreesh on the magic of the North:
Bookends with Mattea RoachAlison McCreesh: Exploring the magic and nuance of life in the North in her latest graphic novel
All Our Ordinary Stories by Teresa Wong
All Our Ordinary Stories is a graphic memoir by Teresa Wong. (Arsenal Pulp Press, Kaitlin Moerman)
In the graphic memoir All Our Ordinary Stories, Teresa Wong uses spare black-and-white illustrations and thought-provoking prose to unpack how intergenerational trauma and resilience can shape our identities. Starting with her mother’s stroke a decade ago, Wong takes a journey through time and place to find the origin of her feelings of disconnection from her parents.
Wong is the Calgary-based author of the graphic memoir Dear Scarlet, which was on the Canada Reads longlist in 2020 and was a finalist for the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. Her work has appeared in The Believer, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s and The Walrus. CBC Books named her a writer to watch in 2019.
LISTEN | Teresa Wong on All Our Ordinary Stories:
Bookends with Mattea RoachTeresa Wong: Illustrating her family’s past — in all its ordinary and epic moments
Something, Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt
Something, Not Nothing is a graphic memoir by Sarah Leavitt. (Arsenal Pulp Press, Jackie Dives)
Following the medically assisted death of her partner of 22 years, cartoonist Sarah Leavitt began small sketches that quickly became something new and unexpected to her — the graphic memoir Something, Not Nothing. The abstract images mixed with poetic text, layers of watercolour, ink and coloured pencil combine to tell a story of love, grief, peace and new beginnings.
Leavitt is a Vancouver comics creator and writing teacher. Her debut book was Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me.
LISTEN | Cartoonist Sarah Leavitt on documenting grief and celebrating love:
Bookends with Mattea RoachSarah Leavitt: Illustrating grief too wide for words
Final Cut by Charles Burns
Final Cut is a graphic novel by Charles Burns. (Pantheon, Charles Burns)
In Final Cut, childhood friends Brian and Jimmy set out to create a sci-fi horror movie using an old eight-millimetre camera. With Laurie as Brian’s muse, they trek to a remote cabin in the mountains and Brian struggles with finding the balance between his dreams and reality.
Charles Burns is an American cartoonist. His graphic novel Black Hole won Eisner, Harvey and Ignatz awards. He is the cover artist for The Believer and has made covers for Time, The New Yorker and The New York Times Sunday Magazine.
LISTEN | Charles Burns returns to teengage angst in his graphic novel:
Bookends with Mattea RoachCharles Burns: Why the comics icon keeps returning to teenage angst
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O’Malley
(Oni Press, Superfan Promotions)
The Scott Pilgrim series is about an unemployed 23-year-old Torontonian, the titular character, who’s going through a breakup. But when he falls for the enigmatic Ramona Flowers, he must face off against her seven evil exes in order to continue their relationship. Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life is the first book in the series.
Bryan Lee O’Malley’s career in comics took off after publishing Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, the first in a Toronto-centric series about an indie music-loving nerd who must defeat his girlfriend Ramona’s seven evil exes. The bestselling books later became a film starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Brie Larson. O’Malley followed up this success with the acclaimed graphic novel Seconds and another series called Snot Girl with Leslie Hung.
LISTEN | 20 years of Scott Pilgrim:
Bookends with Mattea RoachBryan Lee O’Malley: 20 years of Scott Pilgrim
Q&A by Adrian Tomine
(Drawn & Quarterly)
Before the internet, many comic books included a section to send letters to the creators and get insight into their work and their process. When cartoonist Adrian Tomine was growing up, he would send those letters — and now he’s answering them. Q&A dives into the questions he most often hears from readers, and responds to them with a combination of words, photos and illustrations.
American cartoonist Adrian Tomine is best known for his series Optic Nerve, his memoir The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist and his work in The New Yorker. He lives in Brooklyn.
LISTEN | Cartoonist Adrian Tomine answers his readers’ questions in his latest book:
Bookends with Mattea RoachAdrian Tomine: Answering his readers’ burning questions
Acme Novelty Datebook: Volume Three by Chris Ware
The Acme Novelty Datebook: Volume Three is a book by Chris Ware. (Pordenone Cartoon Museum, Drawn & Quarterly)
Acme Novelty Datebook: Volume Three is the third and final instalment of a series that offers readers a look into American cartoonist Chris Ware’s personal sketchbooks. Acme Novelty Datebook: Volume Three covers the last 20 years and tells of his journey into fatherhood and the rise of social media.
Ware is the author and illustrator of Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, which won the Guardian First Book Award in 2001, Building Stories and Rusty Brown, which was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein award. He has designed 32 covers for The New Yorker and his work has been exhibited in many museums worldwide.
LISTEN | Inside the sketchbooks of a comics legend:
Bookends with Mattea RoachChris Ware: Inside the sketchbooks of a comics master
Spent by Alison Bechdel
Spent is a comic novel by Alison Bechdel. (Mariner Books, Elena Siebert)
In Spent, a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel grapples with her complicated relationship with capitalism, community and activism after the success of her memoir and its subsequent TV adaptation.
American cartoonist Alison Bechdel is the creator of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For and graphic memoirs Fun Home, Are You My Mother? and The Secret to Superhuman Strength.
LISTEN | Alison Bechdel on making money and seeing Fun Home in a new light:
Bookends with Mattea RoachAlison Bechdel on making money and seeing Fun Home in a new light