'Putting my guts on the page': Calgary called graphic novel hub by high-profile creators

This story was originally published on April 26, 2017.

Neil Gaiman's Only the End of the World Again. Harley Quinn. The Matrix. Batman. Kennel Block Blues. Sons of Anarchy. Peter Panzerfaust. Neverboy. The Forevers. These are just some of the graphic novels that have been worked on by Calgarians, as the city joins Vancouver and Toronto as a hub for the art form.

"Calgary has a really long history of developing different sorts of artist communities that are mutually reinforcing and mutually supporting," said Alex Link, who has been an instructor at the Alberta College of Art and Design since 2005 and is now also the critical and creative studies chair.

"There is this kind of history of people simply self-starting small groups of mutual support. Those kinds of things tend to gain momentum and that is true of comics as well."

Link says the audience has expanded and risks are being taken.

"Maybe 30 years ago, it would have been for a young-adult male audience in their 20s and 30s who had grown up with Marvel Comics, at a time when the industry could take some risks without losing their shirt. The primary reading audience is still, I would say, younger adults, given that DC and Marvel do kind of dominate the cultural airwaves, but there is a whole lot more happening than that," Link explained.

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"The field has diversified so much in the last 30 years, it is really for anyone now."

CBC News interviewed Calgary-area content creators Riley Rossmo, Tyler Jenkins, Curt Pires, Ryan Ferrier and Troy Nixey to get a sense of the community.

Here's a Q&A with each of those artists, edited for brevity and clarity:

Riley Rossmo

Riley Rossmo has been a graphic novel illustrator for the last 15 years in Calgary. He's got a long list of credits including work with DC Comics, Marvel Comics and Image Comics among many others.

Q: What single piece are you most proud of and why?

A: Rasputin falling through the ice and drowning was my favourite panel, along with some of the newer panels I've been doing in Batman..

Q: Is there any image or idea that you haven't been able to transfer to the page, so far?

A: I would like to do some World War I imagery and I just haven't had the opportunity or time in my schedule to figure out how to make than happen.

Q: How has Calgary influenced your work?

A: The art college (ACAD) has had a huge impact on me because I went to school there. So probably just being in the institute has filtered in, but not a particular place that I can think of in Calgary.

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Q: Are there a lot of comic content creators based in Calgary, and if so, why do you think that is?

A: Yes. There is a critical mass that has occurred in the past 10 years I would say. A big part of it is, in Western Canada, ACAD is one of the only places that has an illustration program. Any institute that is a centre for people to pick up the skills, nurtures that environment.

The comic convention here is a pretty big one. Comics have been accepted again. Out of the 1990s comics moved from being a niche, collectors market to more of an accepted form of entertainment and literature.

There was a period in the mid-1990s when things were looking pretty grim for the medium in general in North America and out of that came the graphic novel in the mass-market form.

Q: What do you see as the future of the medium?

A: I think it's going to feed itself and it's just going to keep growing. When you can walk into an airport book store and pick up a Walking Dead comic, it's going to make it more and more acceptable to the general public as a legitimate art form instead of something that has been ghettoized historically.

Tyler Jenkins

Tyler Jenkins grew up in Calgary but about five years ago decided to give rural life a try, moving to a community about a 20-minute drive north of Sundre. He's an illustrator and writer known for Peter Panzerfaust, Neverboy, Snow Blind and now Grass Kings.

Q: What single piece are you most proud of and why?

A: Grass Kings is the one I am working on right now. The story is something I have been working on for three years and just recently we got a writer involved, got the whole ball rolling.

It's a story that means a lot to me because the original idea came from things I was thinking about, the loss of a child and living rurally. It's very heavy, obviously a crime piece. That tends to be what I like to work on the most. I really like these characters. We have been working on them for a long time.

It's coming together like I hoped it would.

Q: Is there any image or idea that you haven't been able to transfer to the page, so far?

A: It has happened, I suppose, but I forget about that very quickly because the image that you end up with is the image that happens. Having an intention and then getting all pissed off because it didn't measure up to what your original intention was, is kind of self-defeating.

You create what you are ready and capable of creating. I am sure that happens all the time, but it's not a problem.

Q: How has Calgary or southern Alberta influenced your work?

A: No question, Grass Kings is set, to me, in rural Alberta. The original start of the piece was a reaction to moving out here.

Living in the city, I went out to the country lots of times but when you move out here for the first time, you see it with complete eyes, fresh eyes.

Being a part of it, you see it very differently.

Q: Are there a lot of comic content creators based in Calgary, and if so, why do you think that is?

A: There's tons of Canadian creators, lots in Calgary and lots all across Canada but specifically why? I don't know. There is a lot of really, really unique, interesting stuff being created.

Q: What do you see as the future of the medium?

A: What I am hoping changes, in more of a mainstream way, is the confusion between genre and medium. It's not a genre, it's a medium.

The percentage of the population who is willing to read comic books, I hope that grows. I hope that grows tremendously with people recognizing that there may be stuff in there that they didn't know was there, that might really move them.

Curt Pires

Curt Pires is a native Calgarian who has numerous writing credits including Mayday and most recently The Forevers.

Q: What single piece are you most proud of and why?

A: Right now I am probably proudest of the graphic novel I am serializing by Black Mask Studios The Forevers. This is a book where everything kind of came together for me in terms of being able to say a lot of the things I wanted to say with this medium. I feel like I finally came into my own, to be honest.

It feels like the closest I have come to getting things where I wanted them to be.

Q: How has Calgary influenced your work?

A: Growing up here, the energy of this place is so specific and so interesting, particularly if you are a creative artist. We have developed this really good scene here.

Calgary for me, there is just something incredibly beautiful about this place. I am a big fan of (Mayor) Naheed Nenshi. I think the city is moving in good directions but I still feel like there are so many old ways of thinking, methodologies, that need to be diffused before we can get to where I want us to be and I think where so many people want us to be.

Overall I've got a lot of love for Calgary.

Q: Are there a lot of comic content creators based in Calgary, and if so, why do you think that is?

A: Yes. We have big city vibes and big city energy and a creative community but it's not as ungodly expensive to live in as Vancouver or Toronto.

The community is really great. I remember when I was first starting to do this, how welcoming and nice everyone was. It makes me proud to be creating art here and to call these people my friends.

Q: What do you see as the future of the medium?

It's no longer just super heroes. What's most exciting, as a medium, we are finally just being freed up to try all these new things. People are creating content for audiences that aren't just 40-year-old males who grew up reading super hero comics.

There's books for everyone. I feel like the path to the future is content for everybody. Comics are such a magical medium because you can do stuff in them that you literally can't do anywhere else.

Ryan Ferrier

Writer Ryan Ferrier has lived in Calgary all of his 35 years. He's been writing for a decade, full time for three years. He's known for the acclaimed series D4VE, D4VE2, Hot Damn, Kennel Block Blues, Curb Stomp and Sons of Anarchy for Boom! Studios.

Q: What single piece are you most proud of and why?

A: I wrote a comic series called Kennel Block Blues and that was a very personal story, but it was also a story that the collaborative team, I feel like we all levelled-up on. There's a panel in the third issue where the main character has a, for lack of a better word, come to Jesus moment where they realize what's troubling them.

That was really profound to write but to also see the art that came with it. That panel has always hung with me a lot.

I feel like that was kind of putting my guts on the page in a way. Writing that issue, and especially that scene, it was almost like I was going through that journey with the main character as well.

Q: Are there a lot of comic content creators based in Calgary, and if so, why do you think that is?

I think you get these pockets in Canada. Vancouver is a pocket, Calgary is one, Toronto is definitely one.

Calgary encourages and nurtures that creative aspect.

For me, when you are figuring out what you want to do in your life, it's do you want to do oil and gas or do you not want to do oil and gas? I knew at a very early age that's something I can't do.

The city, it nurtures that creativity enough. We attract so many diverse people and there is a real passion for that do-it-yourself, bootstrap mentality, where you can make your own thing happen.

I think that's really important for comics. I think you have to at least start by doing things yourself. For a lot of comics people, that's the dream. Not to write for Marvel or DC but to do your own work. There is a mentality here in the city that nurtures that, for sure.

Troy Nixey

Troy Nixey has been a comic illustrator since the early 1990s. He's written illustrated comic books like Neil Gaiman's Only the End of the World Again, Harley Quinn, and The Matrix Comics among many others.

Q: What single piece are you most proud of and why?

A: Pointing to just one panel would be incredibly difficult. It also works against what the intention of a single panel is. Comics are a series of panels that work together to tell a story.

In a panel an artist can capture a moment of emotion or action or humor but it only works if the panels that proceeded and follow it work.

There's certainly panels that are drawn better, whether technically or they really capture an emotion but I tend to think in scenes. Did that scene work? Did it work with the rest of the scenes to tell an engaging story? That's my goal when creating comics.

Q: Is there any image or idea that you haven't been able to transfer to the page, so far?

A: Yes, lots of them but only because of time. Even when I'm fully immersed in a project there's always ideas for new ones floating around in the background.

As for the execution of an idea, I try to capture the intent of an image on the page, how I hope the reader will feel when reading my work.

I believe the creation of images and words to paper from an idea should be an organic process, as long as the intention is achieved, it can look very different than the original idea and still be a successful drawing.

Q: How has Calgary influenced your work?

I moved to Calgary six months ago after 19 years in Vancouver.

The energy in Calgary is very different than Vancouver. I find it far more relaxed and easygoing here and that has certainly been reflected in my work. I'm at my creative best when I'm happy and living in Calgary makes me very happy.

There's a lot of community and public art here. From tiny neighbourhood outdoor galleries to the recently opened cSpace, Calgary is incredibly supportive of its creative community.

Calgary is wonderful, vibrant, creative city. I was born in Alberta, and am glad to be back.

Q: Are there a lot of comic content creators based in Calgary, and if so, why do you think that is?

A: ​I grew up on the prairies and would joke that during the long winters, kids were either playing hockey or drawing. The reality is there are cartoonists in every city, it's because of the solitary nature of our jobs that you don't hear more about us.

Q: What do you see as the future of the medium?

The love of reading and creating comics is appreciated more than people think.

Comics aren't just about capes and cowls and I urge anyone who is a fan of stories, whether in novel or movie format, to visit a comic shop. They'll find something that'll really grab them.

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Meanwhile, ACAD instructor Alex Link has some tips for aspiring artists and writers.

"You need some kind of distinctive, individual style. If you simply copy what's out there, why would anyone pay any attention to you," Link said.

"You need to match the visual style with the storytelling so that the two are appropriate together. The third thing you need is persistence and a supportive community and a degree of flexibility. And lastly professionalism, absolutely. It is not strictly talent if that makes sense."