Graphic Novels

A brutally honest but charming look at the pain of childhood and the alienation and anxiety of early adulthood.

In his memoir, we are invited to walk through the life of the author, Jim Terry, as he struggles to find security and comfort in an often hostile environment. Between the Ho-Chunk community of his Native American family in Wisconsin and his schoolmates in the Chicago suburbs, he tries in vain to fit in and eventually turns to alcohol to provide an escape from increasing loneliness and alienation. Terry also shares with the reader in exquisite detail the process by which he finds hope and gets sober, as well as the powerful experience of finding something to believe in and to belong to at the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance at Standing Rock.

Reviews
"fortunately for readers of this raw and intimate graphic memoir, Terry never fully lets go of his youthful vulnerability. . . . Reckoning with sobriety requires connection and humility, as Terry makes the case for with sincerity and beauty, as he ties his recovery to his spiritual homecoming.” —Starred Review, Publishers Weekly.

“Terry, known for his outstanding superhero illustrations, turns the lens inward in this brutally honest memoir. . . . An exceptionally well-told story with no easy answers but an ending that will inspire.” —Starred Review, Booklist.

“Illuminated by bursts of both joy and sorrow. With humbling sensitivity and candor, Jim shares with us his personal journey down emotionally complex paths towards home.” —TIMOTHY TRUMAN, author of Marvel Comics’ Conan series.

“An epic memoir. Terry has a way with words — his pithy writing skillfully mixes nostalgia and melancholy. But it his gorgeous, inventive, black-and-white artwork that makes this book so memorable.”— JOSH NEUFELD, author of A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 16+

Additional Information
240 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Dez and Miikwan’s stories continue in this sequel to Surviving the City.

Dez’s grandmother has passed away. Grieving, and with nowhere else to go, she’s living in a group home. On top of everything else, Dez is navigating a new relationship and coming into her identity as a Two-Spirit person.

Miikwan is crushing on the school’s new kid Riel, but doesn’t really understand what Dez is going through. Will she learn how to be a supportive ally to her best friend?

Elder Geraldine is doing her best to be supportive, but she doesn’t know how to respond when the gendered protocols she’s grown up with that are being thrown into question.

Will Dez be comfortable expressing her full identity? And will her community relearn the teachings and overcome prejudice to celebrate her for who she is?

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 12 to 18.

This is the second volume in the Surviving the City graphic novel series, which is also part of the Debwe Series. 

Surviving the City is a contemporary graphic novel series about young Indigenous women navigating their way in an urban environment. It includes these books:

Surviving the City
From the Roots Up
We Are the Medicine

A Teacher Guide is available: Surviving the City Teacher Guide: Exploring Identity, Allyship, and Social Action for Meaningful Change in Grades 7-12 

Additional Information
64 pages | 6.50" x 10.00"

MOONSHOT: The Indigenous Comics Collection brings together dozens of creators from North America to contribute comic book stories showcasing the rich heritage and identity of indigenous storytelling. From traditional stories to exciting new visions of the future, this collection presents some of the finest comic book and graphic novel work on the continent.

Educator & Series Information
Inhabit Education Books is proud to distribute this important collection of Indigenous comic stories, originally published by Alternate History Comics. Moonshot has been published under Avani, an imprint featuring titles that extend beyond the Canadian North, giving readers the opportunity to explore cultures and stories from all over Canada and around the world.

Ages 12+

This is volume 2 in the Moonshot series.

Additional Information
165 pages | 6.50" x 10.25" | colour illustrations

MOONSHOT: The Indigenous Comics Collection brings together dozens of creators from North America to contribute comic book stories showcasing the rich heritage and identity of indigenous storytelling. From traditional stories to exciting new visions of the future, this collection presents some of the finest comic book and graphic novel work on the continent.

Educator & Series Information
Inhabit Education Books is proud to distribute this important collection of Indigenous comic stories, originally published by Alternate History Comics. Moonshot has been published under Avani, an imprint featuring titles that extend beyond the Canadian North, giving readers the opportunity to explore cultures and stories from all over Canada and around the world.

Ages 12+

This is volume 3 in the series.

Additional Information
144 pages | 6.50" x 10.25" | colour illustrations

Echo Desjardins is adjusting to her new home, finding friends, and learning about Métis history. She just can’t stop slipping back and forth in time. One ordinary afternoon in class, Echo finds herself transported to the banks of the Red River in the summer of 1869. All is not well in the territory as Canadian surveyors have arrived to change the face of territory, and Métis families, who have lived there for generations, are losing access to their land. As the Resistance takes hold, Echo fears for her friends and the future of her people in the Red River Valley.

Educator & Series Information
This is volume 3 in the graphic novel series, A Girl Called Echo, by Katherena Vermette.

Books in this series include: 
Volume 1: Pemmican Wars
Volume 2: Red River Resistance
Volume 3: Northwest Resistance
Volume 4: Road Allowance Era

Recommended for grades 5 to 9 by publisher.

Katherena Vermette, a Governor General's Award-winning author deftly enters a format typically dominated by male creators with this graphic novel series, A Girl Called Echo. Featuring compelling illustrations, a female main character, and the contemporary foster care system, the series follows Echo Desjardins as she discovers her Métis heritage firsthand while slipping back and forth through time.

This book is available in French: Elle s'appelle Echo Tome 3: La résistance du Nord-Ouest

Additional Information
48 pages | 6.50" x 10.00"

Experience the riveting, powerful story of the Native American civil rights movement and the resulting struggle for identity told through the high-flying career of West Coast rock 'n' roll pioneers Redbone.

You've heard the hit song "Come and Get Your Love" in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy, but the story of the band behind it is one of cultural, political, and social importance.

Brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas were talented Native American rock musicians that took the 1960s Sunset Strip by storm. They influenced The Doors and jammed with Jimmy Hendrix before he was "Jimi," and the idea of a band made up of all Native Americans soon followed. Determined to control their creative vision and maintain their cultural identity, they eventually signed a deal with Epic Records in 1969. But as the American Indian Movement gained momentum the band took a stand, choosing pride in their ancestry over continued commercial reward.

Created in cooperation of the Vegas family, authors Christian Staebler and Sonia Paoloni with artist Thibault Balahy take painstaking steps to ensure the historical accuracy of this important and often overlooked story of America's past. Part biography and part research journalism, Redbone tells a vivid story about this neglected chapter of American history.

Reviews
"Compelling reading for fans of roots rock and Native American history in middle school and up." —School Library Journal

"An entertaining, enlightening history for music fans. Balahy’s loose, energetic drawings; imaginative layouts; and playful use of color make everything pop." —Publishers Weekly

"Musicians with heart put their people before profits in an inspirational tale. Well-researched and well-paced, this book will introduce a new generation to the music and impact of Redbone." —Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)

"In some eyes, the guys in Redbone, still the most successful Native American rock band this country has produced, are indeed superheroes. Not all heroes wear capes, and some wear buckskin." —Houston Chronicle

"In the early sixties, Pat and his brother, Lolly, perform on the Sunset Strip, crossing paths with The Byrds, The Doors, and Jimi Hendrix, who gives the brothers the idea of forming 'an all Indian band. That'd make this country sit up.' The seed germinates and Redbone bursts forth. Staebler and Paoloni offer a lens onto aspects of the twentieth-century Native American struggle for civil rights and injustices like forced schooling and racist policing, as well as the 1968 birth of the American Indian Movement. Balahy's art is particularly splendid and well-varied in style for the complex subject matter." —Booklist

Additional Information
160 pages | 7.00" x 10.00"

“My million years of immortality have barely begun…”

Pursued by warring human/alien hybrids, the immortal Kyrill, also known as Salamander, is the key to a prison forged by the seven gods of creation. While one of the warring factions moves to protect him, the other seeks to use him to open the prison. Kyrill’s story unfolds in a war-ravaged dystopia where his people, Indigenous North Americans, are space pirates who control the solar system’s spaceways. The Krillian Key: Salamander Run is a fun, sassy and fast-paced graphic novel set in the post-apocalyptic future of Neo-New York circa 2242, with flashbacks to modern-day Canada.

Additional Information
200 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | black and white illustrations

“The ragged edges of the temperate rainforest reach far out onto an island in the western seas. It is a place where one chooses to go ahead or turn back…” 

In a prequel to the award-winning Red: A Haida Manga, acclaimed artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas blends Asian manhwa/manga with the Haida artistic and oral tradition in another stunning hand-painted volume. 

In a small near-future community perched between the ocean and the northern temperate rainforest, a series of disasters is taking a heavy toll. It is early fall and a fuel spill has contaminated the marine foods the village was preparing to harvest. As food supplies dwindle, a small group decides to make a late-season expedition to search for sea lions. Surprised by a ferocious storm, they abandon one man, Carpe, on an isolated rock at sea. After ten days they are finally able to return, but he has vanished. The story follows Carpe’s encounters with the Lord of the Rock, who demands retribution for Carpe’s role in the hunt, and Carpe’s fate in the half-life between human and animal, life and death.

Educator & Series Information
Haida manga is a contemporary style of Haida comics and print cartoons that explores the elements of both traditional North Pacific Indigenous arts and narrative, while also adapting contemporary techniques of artistic design from the western portion of the North Pacific, namely the Japanese manga from which its name derives.

Additional Information
120 pages | 10.00" x 10.00" | 100 colour illustrations

Indigenous protectors use language revitalization to save the Earth from evil pioneers and cyborg sasquatches.

Ts’ür’i and Aghay are the Dakwäkãda Warriors protecting Nän from their nemesis Cyber Nà’į and Space Kwäday Dän. Flying in their spaceship, can they prevent the Sha being stolen from Cyber Nà’į and Space Kwäday Dän?!

As a young person growing up in Haines Junction YT, artist Cole Pauls performed in a traditional song and dance group called the Dakwäkãda Dancers. During that time, Pauls encountered the ancestral language of Southern Tutchone. Driven by a desire to help revitalize the language, he created Dakwäkãda Warriors, a bilingual comic about two earth protectors saving the world from evil pioneers and cyborg sasquatches.

Pauls’ Elders supported him throughout the creation process by offering consultation and translation. The resulting work is a whimsical young adult graphic novel that offers an accessible allegory of colonialism. Dakwäkãda Warriors also includes a behind-the-scenes view into the making of the comic and a full-colour insert featuring character illustrations by guest Indigenous Canadian artists.

Awards

• 2020 Indigenous Voices Awards Winner for Works in an Indigenous Language
  

Reviews
From the publisher, an interview with Cole Pauls: 

1. Why did you decide to create this comic? 
I wanted to create a sense of identity and strength for the youth from my hometown and the Yukon. To be portrayed in a heroic but also realistic way, where culture is power and the community is stronger because of that. I made Dakwäkãda Warriors to keep Southern Tutchone language and culture alive.

2. What do you hope your work will bring to the Canadian comics canon?
A proper portrayal of Yukon Indigenous culture, we don't live in igloos, ya know!! I want to show the world what Southern Tutchone culture really is and how strong Indigenous culture can be when properly portrayed by someone who lives and practices it.

Educator Information
Recommended Ages: 8 to 16

Language revitalization in an allegory of colonialization.
Artist Cole Pauls wanted to reclaim the Southern Tutchone language he had learned as a youth while performing in a traditional song and dance group. So, he created a comic about two Earth Protectors saving the Earth from evil pioneers and cyborg sasquatches. But he also went to his elders and asked them to translate his comic into the two dialects of Southern Tutchone. The resulting work is an allegory of colonialization done in an accessible format, a whimsical young adult graphic novel which helps to revitalize language. Pauls includes a "making of" postscript to give context to the project, and invites guest Indigenous Canadian artists to provide "pin-ups" of his characters.

Additional Information
112 pages | 6.50" x 10.00" | 112 illustrations

Art has always played a significant role in the history of the labour movement. Songs, stories, poems, pamphlets, and comics, have inspired workers to take action against greedy bosses and helped shape ideas of a more equal world. They also help fan the flames of discontent. Radical social change doesn’t come without radical art. It would be impossible to think about labour unrest without its iconic songs like “Solidarity Forever” or its cartoons like Ernest Riebe’s creation, Mr. Block. 

In this vein, The Graphic History Collective has created an illustrated chronicle of the strike—the organized withdrawal of labour power—in Canada. For centuries, workers in Canada—Indigenous and non-Indigenous, union and non-union, men and women—have used the strike as a powerful tool, not just for better wages, but also for growing working-class power. This lively comic book will inspire new generations to learn more about labour and working-class history and the power of solidarity.

Reviews
"There are so many exciting and vitally important stories from the history of social movements, and the most engaging way to tell those stories is through art, in its various forms.  The Graphic History Collective is brilliantly doing just that." - David Rovics, singer, songwriter, activists 

"The Graphic History Collective shows us that art can inspire hope for radical social change" - Noam Chomsky

"Brilliant in narrative power and artistic expression, Direct Action Gets the Goods offers more proof of the Graphic History Collective's prowess with the graphic form. Magnificent!" - Paul Buhle 

"Direct Action Gets the Goods is a brilliant and essential resource. Through well-researched history and powerful graphic art, it shows how the strike is key to revolutionary unionism and social movement solidarity. This book will inspire future generations to fight and win against bosses and capitalism." – Harsha Walia, community organizer and author of Undoing Border Imperialism

Educator Information
The Graphic History Collective is made up of activists, artists, writers, and researchers passionate about comics, history, and social change.  They produce alternative histories - people's histories - in an accessible format to help people understand the historical roots of contemporary social issues. 

Additional Information
64 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | 80 illustrations

Authenticity and Content Note: This work contains contributions from Gord Hill, a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation.  Indigenous content and perspectives, therefore, may be included but are not the sole focus of the work.

Combining graphic fiction and non-fiction, this young adult graphic novel serves as a window into one of the unique dangers of being an Indigenous teen in Canada today. The text of the book is derived from excerpts of a letter written to the Winnipeg Chief of Police by fourteen-year-old Brianna Jonnie — a letter that went viral and was also the basis of a documentary film. In her letter, Jonnie calls out the authorities for neglecting to immediately investigate missing Indigenous people and urges them to "not treat me as the Indigenous person I am proud to be," if she were to be reported missing.

Indigenous artist Neal Shannacappo provides the artwork for the book. Through his illustrations he imagines a situation in which a young Indigenous woman does disappear, portraying the reaction of her community, her friends, the police and media.

An author's note at the end of the book provides context for young readers about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada.

Awards

• 2021 Indigenous Voices Awards winner for Published Graphic Novels, Comics, and Illustrated Books in any Language.

Educator Information
Recommended Ages: 12 - 18. 

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grades 7 to 12 for use in these areas: English Language Arts, Social Justice, and Social Studies.

This book is available in French: Si je disparais

Additional Information
64 pages | 8.50" x 9.50" | 100+ 2-colour illustrations

Explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in this groundbreaking graphic novel anthology. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through Indigenous wonderworks, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact.

Watch for new stories and familiar characters:

• Métis businesswoman Annie Bannatyne and Louis Riel
• Oka Crisis, Meech Lake Accord, and Kelowna Accord
• the Berger Inquiry into the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline
• Jack Fiddler, an Anishinaabe shaman charged as a serial killer
• Rosie, an Inuk girl coming of age during WWII
• wâpanacâhkos, an Indigenous woman sent back from the future to the early 2000s
• fishing raids and salmon wars in Listuguj, Quebec
• Francis Pegahmagabow, WWI sniper and veterans’ rights activist
• the impact of the Sixties Scoop and the child welfare system
• Chief Billy Assu and the potlatch bans in British Columbia

Reviews
Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, one of the contributors to this work, says the book is, an “opportunity to shine a light on the stories most Canadians haven’t heard, to learn from Indigenous communities from 1867 to present day—whether these stories are influenced by the creation of Canada or not." 

"…breathtaking comics anthology…this mix of powerful storytelling and memorable illustrations is a place to begin a dialogue with Indigenous peoples in Canada." —The Globe and Mail

"The anthology is visually gorgeous. Each story is powerfully conveyed, reflecting a time and moment in the Indigenous history of Canada…great read for any age." —Quill & Quire, starred review

"This Place is the graphic novel I’ve waited my whole life for, and the graphic novel Canada has needed for 150 years. The stories contained within its pages are both beautifully rendered and vitally necessary. They represent a history not only largely untold and unknown, but one obscured, hidden from sight, so that other stories may occupy a privileged place in the defining a national story. Their importance is exquisitely captured on these pages, told by some the leading artists working today. This is an essential book, for comic fans, teachers and anyone who wants to learn the stories of this place we now share." —Jesse Wente, broadcaster and film critic

"A landmark collection of Indigenous comics that redraws how we understand the past, present, and future of Indigenous communities and cultures since Confederation. Each chapter immerses us in a gripping story about real people brought to life through vivid and affecting artwork. This collection proves the power of comics storytelling to create fresh pathways to knowledge and new ways of envisioning Indigenous experiences." —Candida Rifkind, University of Winnipeg

"This is the power of storytelling. It’s going deeper and truer than the history books and the newspaper accounts. It’s bringing the stories to the people for the people and doing it for the right reasons: to teach and to illuminate. This Place: 150 Years Retold is the dawn to a new storytelling tradition that doesn’t need to be held back. It should be shouted forward from now on." —Helen Kubiw, CanLit for LittleCanadians

Educator Information
This graphic novel is recommended for ages 15+.

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 7 to 12 for Art Education, English Language Arts, Law, and Social Studies.

These stories refer to real incidents and include graphic violence, abuse, and death.

A teacher's guide is available: This Place: 150 Years Retold Teacher Guide

Additional Information
250 Pages

Echo Desjardins, a 13-year-old Métis girl adjusting to a new home and school, is struggling with loneliness while separated from her mother. Then an ordinary day in Mr. Bee’s history class turns extraordinary, and Echo’s life will never be the same. During Mr. Bee’s lecture, Echo finds herself transported to another time and place—a bison hunt on the Saskatchewan prairie—and back again to the present. In the following weeks, Echo slips back and forth in time. She visits a Métis camp, travels the old fur-trade routes, and experiences the perilous and bygone era of the Pemmican Wars.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 12+ by the publisher.

Pemmican Wars is the first graphic novel in the A Girl Called Echo series.

Books in this series include: 
Volume 1: Pemmican Wars
Volume 2: Red River Resistance
Volume 3: Northwest Resistance
Volume 4: Road Allowance Era

The Canadian Indigenous Books for School list recommends this for Grades 5-12 for these subject areas: Arts Education, English Language Arts, Social Studies.

This book is available in French: Elle s'appelle Echo Tome 1: La guerre du Pemmican

Additional Information
48 pages | 6.50" x 10.00"

Echo Desjardins is adjusting to her new home, finding friends, and learning about Métis history. She just can’t stop slipping back and forth in time. One ordinary afternoon in class, Echo finds herself transported to the banks of the Red River in the summer of 1869. All is not well in the territory as Canadian surveyors have arrived to change the face of territory, and Métis families, who have lived there for generations, are losing access to their land. As the Resistance takes hold, Echo fears for her friends and the future of her people in the Red River Valley.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for grades 5 to 9.

Red River Resistance is volume two in the graphic novel series, A Girl Called Echo, by Katherena Vermette.

Books in this series include: 
Volume 1: Pemmican Wars
Volume 2: Red River Resistance
Volume 3: Northwest Resistance
Volume 4: Road Allowance Era

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list as being useful for grades 5-12 with regard to these subjects: English Language Arts, Art Education, Social Studies.

This book is available in French: Elle s'appelle Echo Tome 2: La guerre du Pemmican 

Additional Information
47 pages | 6.50" x 10.00"

A unique collection of graphically reimagined fiction and poetry.

By merging works of contemporary North American Indigenous literature with imaginative illustrations by U.S. and Canadian artists, Sovereign Traces: Not (Just) (An)Other provides a unique opportunity for audiences to engage with works by prominent authors such as Stephen Graham Jones, Gordon Henry Jr., Gerald Vizenor, Warren Cariou, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Richard Van Camp, and Gwen Westerman.

Through this exciting medium, Sovereign Traces beckons to audiences that are both new to and familiar with Native writing, allowing for possibilities for reimagined readings along the way.

Readers will find works of graphic literature, uniquely including both poetry and fiction, newly adapted from writing by Indigenous North Americans. 

Writers
Warren Cariou, Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Gordon G. Henry Jr., Stephen Graham Jones, Sheldon Raymore, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Richard Van Camp, Gerald Vizenor, Gwen Nell Westerman

Illustrators and Colourists
Weshoyot Alvitre, Evan Buchanan, Nicholas Burns, GMB Chomichuk, Scott B. Henderson, Elizabeth LaPensée, Tara Ogaick, Neal Shannacappo, Delicia Williams, Donovan Yaciuk

Content
Preface: Beginnings and Future Imaginings
Foreword: Not (Just) (An)Other
Werewolves on the Moon
The Prisoner of Hiaku
Ice Tricksters
An Athabasca Story
Trickster Reflections
The Strange People
Deer Dancer
Mermaids
Just Another Naming Ceremony

Reviews
“Not just another book for fans of Indigenous stories and comics alike, this collection locates myth not in the past, but in the mundane, drawing on traditional cultures and stories to depict current Indigenous lives in their many complex forms.” — Nyala Ali, Winnipeg Free Press

Additional Information
128 pages | 6.62" x 10.12"