Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton (Drawn & Quarterly)
Canada’s influence on U.S. comics goes back to the 1930s, when Toronto-born Joe Shuster became the co-creator of Superman. But Kate Beaton may be the first artist to make Canadian history palatable (and hilarious) to Americans. Hark! A Vagrant, a collection of Beaton’s popular online comic strips, caught the attention of editors at the Paris Review, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, and Harper’s, who join legions of fans charmed by her satirical, subversive cartoons of prominent historical and literary figures. There may be stronger technical illustrators working today, but there is no other artist who can serve up an egotistical Louis-Joseph de Montcalm on his deathbed, still trying to outdo General James Wolfe: “I’ll show him a martyr! I’m going to die so hard.”
