Franco-canadian comic: Paul

[shirubie]

In my last post, I mentioned the "Paul" series by Michel Rabagliati as one of the most successful Quebec comics of recent years. Inspired by the author's childhood memories, this series of slice-of-life graphic novels (now at 7 volumes) follows Paul, a typical young man from a middle-class Quebecois family living in Montreal, from his adolescence in 70s to his adult years.



I managed to get my hands on an english-translated volume, Paul Joins the Scouts. From Amazon.com (because I'm too lazy to write a summary myself):

Montrealer Michel Rabagliati returns to the childhood story of his famous semi-autobiographical character. It’s 1970 and Paul’s family watches the news with anxiety as bombs are going off around Montreal. But Paul is more interested in flying his kite, comics, and his first kiss. Soon Paul joins the Scouts and heads off to camp. Away from his parents and extended family he discovers self worth in a troop of like-minded and enthusiastic boys. Things take a turn, however, when the troop gets mixed up in the terrifying events of the FLQ crisis. Paul Joins the Scouts is a coming of age story which takes an historical approach to both the Baden Powell scouting movement and the October Crisis, but humanizes these incidents for both a YA and adult audience. It is original, sincere, captivating, and a little bit retro.

Like I said, this is a slice-of-life story composed of lots of little scenes of daily life, so some people might find this a little boring. The pages I post today are from the first half of the book, mostly centered around Paul's involvement in the scouts.



First, a silent walk through Paul's neighborhood.





Next, Paul and his family watching the evening news. Also, the trouble with having Grandma live next door.



Since the book is called "Paul Joins the Scouts", here's Paul doing just that. We also meet the members of his troop.









After a few meetings, the troop heads to summer camp! Yay!















I'm skipping a few classic camp activities, swimming in the lake, canoe, nature walks, ect. On the final night, the campers face their biggest challenge: spending the night outside, alone.













(Skipping here a dream sequence that doesn't make much sense if you haven't read the whole book.)







And that's all I'm posting for now, I don't want to spoil the whole thing. In the latter half of the book, Paul witnesses the events of the October Crisis of 1970, and also lives a personal tragedy. I may post more pages later if anyone's interested. I'll also try to get my hands on the other volumes.

Hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading!

Comments

[sagrada]

I for one am extremely interested in seeing more of this! This is great!

Thanks for posting this.

[shirubie]

Glad you like it! I should post more pages next week.

[halloweenjack]

Thanks for posting this; I'd seen this when I stopped by a comics store a couple of weeks ago, but didn't pick it up; I'd gotten one of Rabagliati's previous books, Paul Has a Summer Job, and although it was nice, I thought it was a little lightweight. Now, I'm interested to see how the FLQ figures into the story. (I was in the Scouts in the seventies as well, and sometimes I forget, through the hazy nostalgia I have for (some of) those memories, how messed-up that decade was--the bombing of Cambodia and the subsequent Khmer Rouge massacre, the SLA and Patty Hearst's kidnapping, the energy crisis, Watergate, the Iranian hostage crisis, etc.)