Amazing! Even if it isn't Stan Rogers

For most people outside of Canada, and even outside of the Atlantic Provinces, Stan Rogers is a folk singer who ranked 4th in the 50 Essential Tracks: Canadian Edition with his song Northwest Passage.

I don't know where to begin with this book. I honestly just put it down. Work is insanely busy right now, but I needed a lunch break so I took my sandwich and locked myself in the boardroom with this read. Scott Chantler is now listed as one of my links and I'll definately be waiting for more of this story as well as locating some older stuff.

It seems the stuff I'm enjoying is black and white these days. Whatever. It works. The only thing that sat a bit off with me was the time of the setting. 1755 is when my ancestors, the Acadians were rounded up by the English and deported. It was really horrible stuff, but that's not the point of this book. The point of this book was great characters with a boatload of potential for a riotous story. Everyone is easily identifiable, I'm assuming that's from his animation experience and even their speech patterns are well suited to the characters.

This is one of those books I've been waiting for. It's not billed specifically as an all-ages book but it's easily passed down to a younger reader. Think PG13 movie. I'd give it to the kid who's a little bored in Canadian History class. (Note: this doesn't work outside of Canada because you're unlikely to study Canadian history in, say, Hungary).

I think my favourite part was how the flashbacks and visions were rendered to feel black and white in an already black and white comic. Fantastic stuff that is. You want a "part one of X" that doesn't skimp on the action, this is the read for you. Don't let the digest size put you off, you'll be thankful.

This is my recommendation as the antidote for Infinity House Crossover Event. The history of the Hudson Bay Company and the northern adventures are basically the Canadian version of the Wild West. That's exactly how it is being portrayed here. Is there a lot of standard stuff here, sure, but Shakespeare never had an original idea either and Romance novels account for half of all paperback sales. It's all in how you implement the formula that matters. It is done here expertly. Okay, enough gushing. Maybe I'll get a better review up sometime, until then I'll just leave this gushing bit up.