Chester Brown reading

Chester Brown at TPL, originally uploaded by squiddity of toronto.

Here's Chester Brown reading from Louis Riel at the Toronto Metro Reference Library yesterday. Another packed lecture -- standing room only! Brown, for those of you unfamiliar with his work, is a prolific Canadian cartoonist best known for his full-length biography of the nineteenth-century Metis mystic and rebel leader. You can see a page from the book in the overhead projection in this photo; if you'd like to read it, the Toronto Public Library has copies. The library is your friend!

Brown has drawn comics on a whole range of other subjects, from Bible stories to scatological humour. He sees no contradiction in this, and defended his eclecticism during the Q&A: "One can have religious beliefs and still enjoy drawing mountains of feces." Religious Comic Jammers, take note.