Former N.L. lighthouse keeper's tale gets comic book treatment in the U.S.

A lighthouse keeper's memoir has gotten the comic book treatment with a new series in a massive newspaper south of the border.

Barry Porter's memoir, Adventures of a Lightkeeper, was published by Flanker Press in 2022 and tells tales of his adventures while working with the Canadian Coast Guard on the northeast coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Washington Post, the fourth largest newspaper in the United States, recently published a comic version of the book that includes 40 illustrations.

"It makes more people aware of lighthouses and about what went on here," Porter told CBC Radio's The Broadcast.

He said Beatrix Lockwood, one of the newspaper's editors, reached out to him earlier this year as part of a series on different careers, ranging from Uber drivers to jobs that were phasing out. Porter said Lockwood had reached out to the United States Lighthouse Society, who pointed her his way.

It led to Zoom calls, phone calls and back and forth emails.

The comic strips were published last week.

"They've done a great little comic strip on my career," Porter said.

It details various aspects of his career working at lighthouses, from being up on a ladder while painting the siding, to going out in a speed boat, said Porter, as well as his then-girlfriend Alice, who would become his wife.

"They put a lot of work into it," Porter said. "[Lockwood] sent me the proofs about a month ago and just wanted me to double check on the accuracy and some spelling and all that because everybody has trouble spelling 'Baccala' or 'Baccalieu,' right?."

Porter said he was impressed with their accuracy, pointing to a particular pharmacy the artists got just right by using Google Earth to look it up.

The story left an impression on Lockwood, too.

"In my conversations with Barry, I got the impression that working as a lighthouse keeper was hard and sometimes lonely work, but that despite the challenges it was rewarding to be so connected to nature and to a greater purpose," Lockwood told CBC News in an email.

Since the comics were published, Porter said friends and other authors have been reaching out with compliments.

"They're really impressed with this different take on the book, right? It's getting good feedback and the comments on the Washington Post — I looked there this morning — there's like 150 something comments," said Porter.

There are also some positive discussions going on, he added, with people who had just visited the province or reminiscing about their own family's connections to lighthouse keeping.

Porter is also working on a children's book about his beagle who accompanied him during his career.

He said she passed away at the age of 14 in the mid-1990s. 

"She had an interesting life," he said.

"She played an important part with me and at the lighthouses, so I figured that I'd do a kids' book this time and plan to do the illustration."

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