NWP on Attack of the Show

I'm on TV again! Well, not me, personally. But Northwest Passage got a nice mention/review last night in Blair Butler's "Fresh Ink" segment on G4's Attack of the Show. Click the image for the video (though you'll have to listen to a minute and a half of stuff about Secret Invasion first):


Thanks for the coverage, Attack of the Show people!

In the Media

The Annotated Northwest Passage got a review early this month in The Toronto Star. The author's main criticism of the book seems to be that it isn't Chester Brown's Louis Riel (which to me seems perfectly clear by simply glancing at the cover, and akin to criticizing oranges for not being grapefruit.) Still, it's some big-time mass media exposure for the book (The Star has the highest circulation in the country,) and the reviewer seems to have liked it well enough, so I'm thankful for it.

More recently, my new friend Rachelle Goguen interviewed me for her blog Living Between Wednesdays ahead of my appearance at Halifax's Word on the Street festival last weekend. It's a good interview, and covers lots of stuff, so go give it a read.

"A Modern Classic"

Reviews for The Annotated Northwest Passage continue to appear, and most have been almost embarassingly positive. Here's a quick round-up of some of the most prominent links:

Ain't It Cool News calls it "a wild, crazy frontier ride. It’s fun, thrilling, and smart."

Earlier in the month the book turned up on the "Top Five Books of the Moment" lists of four of the five reviewers at Comic Pants.

And over at Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson calls the book "a modern classic." I'm blushing!

More Reviews

Entertainment Weekly has a brief review of The Annotated Northwest Passage in this week's (June 29/July 6) issue--their big "EW 100" double issue. They give it a solid B, which is about as well as I did in high school, so it works for me.

The Toronto Metro is more enthusiastic, giving the new collection four and a half stars out of five.

Annotated Northwest Passage Reviewed in Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly has given thumbs-up to The Annotated Northwest Passage. The full review reads as follows:

While being hyped as the greatest Canadian western comic book ever may sound like faint praise indeed, in the case of Chantler's thrilling historical adventure, it definitely is not. Categorized as young adult historical fiction, the book is a James Fenimore Cooper–styled thriller set in remote Rupert's Land, circa 1755. Fort Newcastle, an English-run trading post commanded by the stout-hearted hero Charles Lord, is overrun in a vicious sneak attack by French mercenaries looking to get rich off the fur trade. Lord and the survivors of the massacre wander the wilderness, looking for allies and plotting their revenge, while inside the captured fort, the villainous Guerin Montglave plots evil deeds. Chantler's sharp black and white artwork (replete with dramatic closeups and muscular action choreography) has a welcome precision to it, while the writing has a pulp immediacy (" 'T'ought you could 'ide, English dog?' ") which brings history to life. This collected edition of the three-issue original comes with copious and welcome annotations at the back, where Chantler discusses various plot points and historical references as well as the different styles used from one frame to the next (including one he calls his "Frank Miller shot").

Rumour has it there's a review coming up in Entertainment Weekly, so keep your eyes peeled for that, too, NWP fans!