One of the more
quirky mysteries in the north is how and why a suit of Samurai armour wound up
in a Fort Smith museum. Richard Van Camp, who also hails from Fort Smith, has
fun with this fact while composing a quick action story with a few loftier themes.
The Eisner Award nominated graphic novel A Blanket of Butterflies tells the story
of Shinobu who has traveled to Fort Smith to return the ancestral suit along
with a family sword. The sword, unfortunately, is not being held at the museum
but a notorious local group led by "Benny the Bank." They are not as
willing to hand it over.
After some intense fight scenes, it is an elder woman who
saves the day through her powerful storytelling. She is able to get to the root
of and deflate the anger. Soon the sword, too, is back in its rightful hands.
Clearly the healing power of stories is a theme, but I also
enjoyed the parallels between Shinobu's struggles to reclaim familial artifacts
and the struggles that many First Nations have had in reclaiming their ancestral
artifacts from museums.
I appreciated Henderson's art, especially the montage of
fight scenes. He uses a lot of hatching and cross-hatching to achieve shadow
and enhance expression that could have gotten lost had they chosen to go with
colour, but fortunately it's done in black and white. Also, of course, black
and white lends a historical vibe which is perfect for a story such as this,
one entrenched in history.
1 comment:
Oh, a new Richard van Camp story...with pictures. THanks for reminding me that this needs to me on my stacks!
Post a Comment