State of Canadian Comic Books Debate

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State of Canadian Comic Books Debate
By Hervé St-Louis
Sep 2, 2009 - 7:34

The Canadian blog Sequential's editors Bryan Munn and Salgood Sam will moderate a discussion on the Canadian comic book industry with other industry players such as the Doug Wright Awards' Brad Mackay and Jeet Heer, The Shuster Award's Kevin Boyd and a few unnamed mystery artists. The Comic Book Bin, which is not located in Central Canada, like all the other guests, but which is nonetheless the largest and most visited Canadian comic book media source was not invited to the event.

It is important to mention that Bryan Munn, Brad Mackay, Jeet Heer and Salgood Sam are all of the same "camp" when it comes to the Canadian comic book industry and that the lone stand out, Kevin Boyd will have a tough time dealing with these guys.

Moreover, at this time, no Francophone guests, such as this writer have been invited to the debate. Francophones represent one quarter of all Canadians and account for more than half of all comic book outputs from Canada.

This writer would really like to crash this party but will have to decide if it's really worth the money and time to attend a debate that will probably be one sided in the sidelines with the audience. Having written extensively on the Canadian comic book industry and being completely bilingual and versed in both comic book output from Canada's national languages, I would have brought a different perspective than all the guests involved.

If this writer can't make it to Toronto for that weekend, it won't matter much as I can already guess where this debate will head. Whatever is said is sure to be a tainted portrait of Canada's reality just because none of the guests are fluent in French or familiar with the inner workings of both cultures and their creative output.

Best of luck to the debaters and let's hope that something good comes out of this discussion other than a consensus. The debate will take place at the Word on the Street Toronto, September 27, 2009.