Amidst the usual namby-pamby historical dramas and domestic realism yawners, a graphic novel has made the final five in the Canada Reads book club program. Sara Quin of the band Tegan and Sara (each book is selected by a Canadian celebrity) chose Jeff Lemire‘s Essex County , published by American publisher Top Shelf. It’s the first graphic novel ever to be in Canada Reads.
In a press release, American publisher of Essex County Top Shelf noted, “The selection of Essex County for this program is a huge honor for Jeff Lemire, Top Shelf Productions, and the comics industry at large. It poses an opportunity for an entire country to discover the power of Jeff’s work, and to debate its values against four other excellent books. Our deepest congratulations to Jeff and the other finalists!”
Toronto cartoonist Jeff Lemire, creator of Essex County.
Lemire is currently writing and drawing Sweet Tooth for DC Comics’ Vertigo line, as well as writing new Superboy and Atom series for DC.
Congrats to Jeff. Could Chester Brown or Seth be next?
Vertigo Comics' Sweet Tooth by Essex County cartoonist Jeff Lemire.
Hopefully. Dave Sim, probably not.
Good point – some of those collected Cerebus books are amazing (before Sim lost it). I’d love to think Essex County comes within spitting distance… haven’t read it yet though.