War Bears

If you don’t think that Margaret Atwood can do whatever she wants at this point in her career, then consider this:  She’s following up her science-fantasy series “Angel Catbird” with “War Bears,” an intimate look at the Canadian comics scene during WWII.  We see it through the eyes of one Alain Zurakowski — half Quebecois, half Polish, all aspiring comics artist — as he gets a job at small-time Toronto comics publisher Canoodle Comics.  With American comics under embargo, they’re putting out lots of war-themed B&W comics to an appreciative audience. All under the auspices of take-no-guff editor Gloria Topper and lead artist Mike Mackenzie.  Alain starts off inking Mike’s work, but he’s got his own ideas about the kind of comic he’d like to draw: A were-bear named Oursonette who fights the Axis Powers alongside the Allies.

That Oursonette’s adventures become something of a minor hit shouldn’t surprise you.  Yet Atwood and artist Ken Steacy are very much aware that they’re chronicling a footnote in comics history.  Alain and the rest of the Canoodle crew are also under no illusion that they’re working on borrowed time until American comics are let back into the country, and that’s even as they deal with the everyday shortages and drama that the war brings.  That the creators know how to keep the story grounded leads to “War Bears” being a small-scale charmer. Alain’s struggles grew on me and I liked seeing the twists and turns that his relationships with Gloria and Mike took along the way. Especially when we find out something about Mike near the end and a tired trope becomes fresh again for me.  Steacy’s impeccably detailed art also captures the era quite well and I was ultimately left wishing that I’d got to spend just a little more time in this story.