The ducks make a cameo but are significant. The book is not about ducks, but they represent a manifestation of the damage to the environment in Alberta, Canada, where Beaton was living and working.

What’s most compelling for me is the parallels of degradation of the environment and women in the book. The what and the how is what carried me through to the end. The fact that she could pay off her student loans by working only two years in a tool crib is reason enough to want to read on, but that’s just the why and where of the story. To accomplish this with a story set in massive petroleum extraction plants is fascinating. Entering into the world of this book that Beaton created reveals both the beginnings of her comics artist life and her expansive grasp of the graphic memoir genre. I just knew I loved Kate Beaton’s comics and am a fan of origin stories. I had no idea what the oil sands were and what ducks had to do with them when I started reading Ducks. But to expect them is a reader’s mistake, not any fault of the author. If a reader opens Ducks expecting historically quirky canapès, they won’t find them. Reading her other books, by comparison, is like snacking at an hors d’oeuvre table, perhaps at a clown conference, while devouring Ducks is a full multicourse dining experience, the long French kind that last for hours. I loved both books and was eager for whatever came next.Īt first glance, everything about this new title indicated it promised to be a completely new kind of book: the somber cover art, the heft of it at 432 pages, and, most importantly the fact that it is a graphic memoir rather than a collection of comic strips. Those huge eyes! Step Aside, Pops (2015), the follow up to Hark a Vagrant offered the same wonderful view into human history that is uniquely Beaton’s, drawn with similar spare lines. The loose lines and facial expressions so full of comedic voice.

It’s no surprise, given this book’s genius, that Kate Beaton has become a New York Times #1 Best-selling author. When I discovered Hark a Vagrant (2011), the printed book, having missed the early web comic postings of Kate Beaton, I laughed with utter delight from start to finish as she made history both hilarious and current.

Ducks oil sands