Graphic Novels and Comics at FNUniv Libraries: FNUniv Libraries Graphic Novel Collection

A new and expanded version of Gord Hill's seminal illustrated history of Indigenous struggles in the Americas. When it was first published in 2010, The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book was heralded as a groundbreaking illustrated history of Indigenous activism and resistance in the Americas over the previous 500 years, from contact to present day. Eleven years later, author and artist Gord Hill has revised and expanded the book, which is now available in colour for the first time. The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book powerfully portrays flashpoints in history when Indigenous peoples have risen up and fought back against colonizers and other oppressors. Events depicted include the the Spanish conquest of the Aztec, Mayan and Inca empires; the 1680 Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico; the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890; the resistance of the Great Plains peoples in the 19th century; and more recently, the Idle No More protests supporting Indigenous sovereignty and rights in 2012 and 2013, and the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. Canadian events depicted include the Oka crisis in 1990, the Grand River land dispute between Six Nations and the Government of Canada in 2006, and the Wet'suwet'en anti-pipeline protests in 2020. With strong, plain language and evocative illustrations, this revised and expanded edition of The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book reveals the tenacity and perseverance of Indigenous peoples as they endured 500-plus years of genocide, massacre, torture, rape, displacement, and assimilation: a necessary antidote to conventional histories of the Americas. The book includes a foreword by Pamela Palmater, a Mi'kmaq lawyer, professor, and political commentator.

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.

Indigenous protectors use language revitalization to save the Earth from evil pioneers and cyborg sasquatches Artist Cole Pauls wanted to reclaim the Southern Tutchone language he had learned as a youth while performing in the traditional song and dance group the Dakhka Khwaan Dancers, based in Whitehorse (YT). 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 the 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.

Fire Starters tackles restorative justice on a contemporary reserve in Northwestern Ontario. When two white teenagers accidentally set fire to a gas station, their Indigenous classmates are wrongly accused. The truth slowly comes to light as contrasting systems of justice are explored--both the traditional ways of the community and Canadian law enforcement. Fire Starters explores prejudice, racism, and what reconciliation could look like, "moving it from a concept to [an] on-the-ground example of what reconciliation could mean, in action, in a small community" (Debbie Reese).

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. Pemmican Wars is the first graphic novel in a new series, A Girl Called Echo, by Governor General Award-winning writer, and author of Highwater Press' The Seven Teaching Stories, Katherena Vermette.

At the request of tribal elders in a southern community, Billy and his Native Movement chapter are called in to assist community members caught in the middle of a manufactured land struggle. The Native Movement, a political and spiritual group, spread far and wide across North America is active on both sides of the Canadian and United States border. Narrated by the wolf, the past is explained as current events unfold around the main characters who find themselves immersed in a bloody range war created by a corrupt band council chief and corporate/government interests. Throughout his journey Billy finds his own physical and spiritual place in the grand scheme of things. Treachery and beauty line the road to enlightenment.

Through the works of North American Indigenous writers and illustrators, Sovereign Traces, Volume 2: Relational Constellation provides a unique opportunity for audiences to hear from a myriad of American Indian and First Nations voices on the meaning of love. Here readers will find works of graphic literature, including both poetry and fiction, that explore how celestial bodies build and share creative intimacies. Through this exciting medium, Sovereign Traces, Volume 2 beckons to audiences that are both new to and familiar with Indigenous writing, allowing for possibilities for reimagined readings along the way.