Ten Graphic Novels for Fan Expo

After a hiatus for a couple of years, Fan Expo is back! There are many sights to see and things to buy, including graphic novels. They come in many genres, offering different stories and illustrations for every type of fan to read about. Here are ten such stories spanning the whole gamut of fiction and non-fiction.

1. Lonely Boys

Roommates Jen and Lucie are surprised when their former roommate, Ella, shows up at their door after disappearing for a year. Sophie Bédard’s Lonely Boys (Pow Pow Press) features these three young women navigating multiple facets of life while dealing with their fractured friendship.

2. The Pineapples of Wrath

The Pineapples of Wrath, written by Cathon (Pow Pow Press), is a murder mystery set in the fictional “Hawaiian district” in Trois-Rivières. Marie-Plum does not believe that her neighbour died from a piña colada overdose. She launches her own investigation into the death of her neighbour.

3. Earthbound

Earthbound (Pow Pow Press) follows Phil, a recently reanimated zombie trying to readjust to life among the living. Blonk explores the themes of friendship, trust and infidelity as the story progresses.

4. Vampire Cousins

Vampire Cousins is a paranormal graphic novel by Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau and illustrated by Cathon (Pow Pow Press) that is reminiscent of a B-movie. Camillia is invited back to a manor by her cousin Frédérique but she soon finds out that all is not what it seems with the house and her cousin.

5. Shelterbelts

Using vignettes, Jonathan Dyck illustrates the tension between a Mennonite community, their past and future, after a megachurch opens at the edge of their community. Questions of LGBTQ+ inclusion, Indigenous land rights, and the Mennonite legacy of pacifism are all discussed in Shelterbelts (Conundrum Press).

6. Art Life

Catherine Ocelot speaks with seven different artists to try and answer the question of what it means to live. Through these discussions, she explores the impact of others on oneself and comes to understand herself in Art Life (Conundrum Press).

7. Primo Levi

Illustrated by Alessandro Ranghiasci and translated by Alberto Toscano, Matteo Mastragostino’s Primo Levi (Between the Lines) tells the story of Primo Levi, an Italian-Jewish chemist and his survival in Auschwitz. This comic details the horrors of Auschwitz and the burden of survival.

8. Special Topics in Being a Human

Through a queer lens, S. Bear Bergman offers advice combined with illustrations from Saul Freedman-Lawson. Special Topics in Being a Human (Arsenal Pulp Press) is a guide to help navigate the many complexities in life while bringing to light many social inequities and injustices in the modern age.

9. Wonder Drug: LSD in the Land of Living Skies

Wonder Drug (Between the Lines) focuses on LSD and a controversial Canadian medical research project. With illustrations by Nicole Marie Burton, Hugh D.A. Goldring writes a history spanning from the 1950s to present day of psychedelic research conducted by Dr. Humphrey Osmond and his colleagues.

10. The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book

Gord Hill’s The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book (Arsenal Pulp Press) is an illustrated history about Indigenous resistance against colonizers all over the Americas from the past to the present. Here’s hoping everyone attending Fan Expo has a great time! Which of these graphic novels are you likely to pick up first? Let us know at @alllitupcanada