A look at the Canadian comics scene in the midst of World War II.
Creative Staff:
Story: Margaret Atwood, Ken Steacy
Art: Ken Steacy
What They Say:
Oursonette, a fictional Nazi-fighting superheroine, is created at the peak of World War II by comic book creator Al Zurakowski who dreams of making it big in the early world of comics publishing. A story that follows the early days of comics in Toronto, a brutal war that greatly strains Al personally and professionally, and how the rise of post-war American comics puts an end to his dreams.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Like most American comic book fans, we’re well versed in the history of our four-color heroes and their journey over the years that now has them dominating the small and big screen. But they’re not the only comics produced in the world and while my knowledge has been more about Japanese comics over the years there was also a vibrant Canadian comics scene from a time far, far, away. The tale of some of that period is what makes up War Bears which has the story from Margaret Atwood, who has some personal experience some of it with friends years after this period, and artist Ken Steacy who collaborated on the story to bring it to life. It’s done in an interesting way to push forward the dual concept of creator and the work produced, which may be a little jarring in some ways but has largely good results.
Taking place in Toronto in 1943, we’re introduced to a young man named Alain Zurakowski who is just managing to wrangle a job at Canoodle Comics thanks to one of their inkers having been put into the Navy to fight the Nazi’s. Alain’s a fairly typical representation here as he’s got asthma, big glasses, and isn’t traditional manly, especially in this period and amid the war. While his brothers are off contributing in different ways, his father isn’t exactly ashamed of him but he can’t understand how comics or artwork might help the war cause or get people to help with metal scrap calls. His mother dotes on him a lot and there’s some aspects of their being from Quebec that comes into it as well as some of those in Toronto simply don’t care much for them. Plus, there’s an obligatory older later that shows up a couple of times calling out people for comics in how they ruin your mind, because there’s a Mrs. Grundy in everyone’s life to some degree.
Alain’s journey is interesting if familiar as he gets to start doing the real grunt work while the more established artist in the company, Mike, handles the main character stuff. Shuffling the grunt stuff off lets him flirt and date the ladies in the office more. For Alain, he works through the hard stuff here and at home with a few tangents to explore but he also gets rather out of control when during a late night he creates a new character called Oursenette, a War Bear that pays respect to their ally in Stalin. It’s no surprise that the boss ends up claiming it for the company with the kind of things we’ve seen litigated in the last twenty years quite often and that provides for a convoluted path before Alain himself can steer his character and chart her path. What’s interesting is that the pages we do get with Oursenette are all done in the yellowed black and white style so we get to see some crazy 40’s style stuff. It looks great but I’ll admit that it’s just not my thing.
In Summary:
War Bears has a lot of potential but it also has a challenge, at least for a segment of fans, as it looks to run in a similar track to a lot of stories about creators screwed over back before there were laws to protect them. With it being a familiar tale in that sense, and one that can really anger because of how poorly so many were treated for so long, that familiarity could be problematic depending on how it plays out. What will help is that Atwood and Steacy are showing a real love for the craft that exists here, Alain comes across well with the things he’s facing in his work and at home, and just the usual trials and tribulations of existence. It also just looks fantastic as Ken Steacy really kind of steals the show here with his artwork that makes so much of this feel lived in while also through the character designs giving it a kind of 50’s Disney character design to it that I find really appealing. I’m excited for the potential of this and hope that it can chart its own path right.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 5th, 2018
MSRP: $4.99
