WGTB Reviews Philip Slayton's Bay Street: A Novel

Having just finished the exams one needs to pass to become a lawyer in Ontario, I recently went looking for legal fiction to relax with and let the summer finally begin. But unlike most times when I'd typically reach for a John Grisham novel, on this occasion I went with the spirit of my jurisdiction and picked up Bay Street: A Novel, the debut fictional work of Canadian lawyer Philip Slayton. I first encountered Slayton’s writing when I reviewed Mighty Judgment, an accessible introduction to Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Mighty was an enjoyable read and great primer for anyone looking to start learning about Canadian constitutional law. But novels are very different from non-fiction and picking up Bay Street was also due to a curiosity about whether Slayton could make the transition.

Bay Street: A Novel, Philip Slayton, Oblonsky Editions, 2014, pp. 264, $15.99

Bay Street: A Novel tells the story of Piper Fantouche, the daughter of Latvian-Canadian immigrants who is now a lawyer at the prestigious Bay Street firm Dibbet & Dibbet LLP, a fictionalized member of Canada's leading and most prestigious law firms, all of which are based in and around Bay Street in downtown Toronto. Piper could be any one of those women I see at my regular spin classes: smart, ambitious and beautiful. She works in her firm's corporate group with its sleazeball Managing Partner, Jim Watt, and the story begins with Watt inviting Piper to join him and others to do the legal work for a hostile take-over of Liberty Insurance by one of the firm's largest clients, Canadian Unity Bank. Watt knows Piper is both a capable member of the team, but also has ulterior motives, as is repeatedly shown when he "invites" her out for Martini lunches. Of course, being ambitious and knowing billable hours are what it takes to make partner, Piper joins the team and gets ready to work. Soon afterwards Watt is found dead and Piper's world is thrown into disarray. With this, she engages a prominent criminal defence lawyer she encounters at a law school reunion and two Toronto detectives are called in to investigate the crime -- all while Bay Street catches wind of the merger the whole ordeal threatens not only Canadian Unity Bank but Dibbits as well.      

Admittedly, I'm not a big consumer of legal fiction, and when I am, the diet consists mostly of American author John Grisham. So inevitably as I read Bay Street I compared it to that seasoned master, and because of this, I can say that while Slayton has some work to do, Bay Street is never-the-less a comparable work and a fun and enjoyable novel. Piper is a very likable protagonist and a laudable change from the usual male lead that one would find in Grisham's work. As a future lawyer, I also identified with her and while I'll probably never have to deal with managing partners grabbing my knee, I can never-the-less empathize with the pressures she faces to both perform and advance in a competitive and cut-throat environment. Having been a lawyer on Bay Street for many years, Slayton clearly has the pulse of legal Toronto and taps into this for much of the book. Toronto itself is also a key character in the work, (much like the American south in Grisham’s books) and seeing my city utilized to this end was very enjoyable. Indeed, High Park Gardens, Liberty Village and College Street are all parts of Toronto that were featured and places I frequent quite regularly. That said, if you're from Manitoba or Nova Scotia, or even Scotland or New South Wales, the themes of this story are a common thread of the business and legal world, and the fact that it's Canadian shouldn't stop you from reading it. 

My biggest criticism with the book is that the plot of the villain isn't very good. Now I know "It was him!" twists are very hard to write and even John Grisham novels can be hit and miss in this respect. So I won't harp on this point, except to say that in any future work, Slayton needs to practice this aspect of storytelling and tighten up the points that build to a story's climax. And I sincerely hope he does because the lead up to these moments was very rewarding and he's built quite an interesting world populated by great characters.  

The seat of power of Canada's legal and financial world is Bay Street. Here is the view from outside the Law Society of Upper Canada.

That issue aside, Bay Street: A Novel is an enjoyable, fast-paced and fun summer read and very commendable first novel by Philip Slayton. So if you're looking for an enjoyable yarn these coming months for the cottage, beach or airport, and want something different from the usual American legal fare that one finds in Canadian bookstores or online, then I highly recommend you give Bay Street: A Novel a try. Piper Fantouche is a great character and while the story left with strong hints that there might be another novel about her forthcoming, I hope this is the case because there's a lot more than can be done with her. 4/5 STARS  

The Slacker's Option: An Old Comic Book Cover

Dear Readers,

Our sincere apologies for not writing this past month: your humble blogger has been busy with a major life event this June. But things should be back to relative normality within a few weeks and once this happens, WGTB should be back at the pace of one or two postings per week about comics, books and the occasional film. First up will be a review of the new legal thriller Bay Street by Canadian author Philip Slayton.  

In the meanwhile, please enjoy this cover of Pep Comics #1 featuring "The Shield". Pep is the predecessor of Archie Comics.

Cheers,
WGTB

Pep Comics #1 (Jan 1940) Reprinted in Supermen: The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941, Edited by Greg Sadowski (Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2009)

Exploring the Nebulas Runners-Up Edition: A Song of Ice and Fire

Always a bridesmaid never a bride: that seems to be the story of A Song of Ice and Fire, the epic High Fantasy series by American author George R.R. Martin. With five books available and two more expected after 2015, Martin has two more shots at winning a Nebula Award for Best Novel. But as of now, Martin has yet to take it and this blog entry will discuss the first three novels of the saga: A Game of Thrones (1996), A Clash of Kings (1999), and A Storm of Swords (2001) all of which were short-listed for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in the year of their publication but did not win. Welcome to the first ever "Blogging the Nebulas: Runners-up Edition"!  

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, (Bantam Spectra, 1996). This book lost the Nebula Award for Best Novel to The Slow River by Nicola Griffith.

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (Bantam Spectra, 1999). This book lost the Nebula Award for Best Novel to Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler.

A Storm of Swards by George R.R. Martin (Bantam Spectra, 2000) This book lost the Nebula Award for Best Novel to The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro. The fourth and fifth book of the series, A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons, were both nominated for the Hugo Awards but not the Nebula Awards and are not discussed in this blog entry. 

To call A Song of Fire and Ice epic is an understatement. With A Game of Thrones clocking in at over 800 pages, A Clash Of Kings at 1000, and A Storm of Swords at 1100, these books are not for the faint of heart or attention-span deficient. The series tells the story of the familial relations and geopolitics of the Seven Kingdoms, a large imperial body located on the fictional continent of Westeros, and the drive of its major houses to rule from its "Iron Throne." The principal protagonists are members of House Stark, the house paramount of the largest kingdom-province named simply and appropriately, the North. The head of House Stark at the beginning of the story is Ned Stark, the dutiful, stoic and honest "warden" of his sparse yet peaceful province. Among the Starks key rivals is the wealthy House Lannister, led by the ruthless and diabolical Tywin Lannister. Tywin is Warden of the West and rules the Westerlands, an area of the Seven Kingdoms that is rich with gold and mineral deposits. House Lannister also features the dwarf, Tyrion Lannister, who at first engenders ambivalence but soon becomes an important and entertaining protagonist in his own right. Other important houses of Westeros include the Tullys who govern the Riverlands, the Tyrells who govern the Reach, the Baratheons who govern the Stormlands (and amongst whom includes the King of the Seven Kingdoms himself), and the Martells who rule the largely independent and separate region of Dorne. The northern marches of the Seven Kingdoms is bordered by a massive 700 foot high ice wall which is manned by a quasi-monastic order called the "Night’s Watch." These brothers serve the important role of keeping the "wildlings" and others who live north of the Wall from invading the Seven Kingdoms. 

Image from George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, Volume I. Adopted by Daniel Abraham with art by Tommy Patterson (Bantam Books, 2012)

Heading a large family of six children (which includes one bastard son who becomes an important character to the story), Ned and his noble wife Catelyn (née Tully) deal with the same issues that most parents do and their lives are otherwise peaceful. This all changes however when it's announced at the beginning of A Game of Thrones that Ned’s old friend and ally King Robert Baratheon, plans to visit Winterfell, the Stark's seat of power. Robert is married to Cersei, daughter of Tywin Lannister, so a visit from the king is not entirely a welcome thing for the Starks. And this proves to be exactly the case, when the Stark's second son Bran mysteriously falls and severely injures himself and the king further asks Ned to move to the capital city and serve as the "King’s Hand" a role analogous to prime minister. Robert won the throne decades earlier from the exiled House Targaryen, who themselves conquered and united the Seven Kingdoms three hundred years before after invading Westeros from the ancient (and now ruined) city of Valyria, off the larger continent of Essos. The final exiled issue of the last Targaryen king is a young woman named Daenerys and she eventually becomes a key character of the saga as she travels throughout Essos in search of an army and allies as she prepares to mount her claim for the Iron Throne. Daenerys biggest weapon is the same that were brought by her ancestor centuries earlier and a long-time key to House Targaryen's power – Dragons! 

Image from George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, Volume I. Adopted by Daniel Abraham with art by Tommy Patterson (Bantam Books, 2012)

Naturally, this review has only covers a fraction of A Song of Ice and Fire but I hope it gives you a sense of the massive scope of these books. And they’re very good books too. Being a long-time fantasy reader, I really enjoyed them because they speak to me as both a lover of the fantastical, but also someone who loves fictional history too. Indeed, the quasi-medieval politics is so carefully constructed and impressively coherent that at times it often seems like real history. And I think this is what makes them so popular and accessible for mainstream readers who may be interested in modern or historical fiction too. Indeed, indelible marks of medieval France and England and Renaissance Italy are all over these tomes and despite their being dragons and other fantasy themed beasts, A Song of Ice and Fire remarkably straddles genres and cannot be boxed into a corner. I know this isn’t at all scientific, but I’d offer up as two example of readers who don't enjoy fantasy but loves these books as my -- father and sister. Both have read portions of the larger saga but are not at all interested in overtly fantasy titles like The Lord of the Rings no matter how much I tell him they should be. Each chapter is divided not by numbers but by the principal character which it discusses which also makes the book more manageable. Of course, because there is so much "history" to the book, and I do recommend having a tablet computer or map close to get a better sense of what is going on. George R.R. Martin is a remarkable world-builder and sometimes this is the most daunting part of the books!    

Image of the Iron Throne from the hit HBO program Game of Thrones. Image from HBO's website.

In recent years A Song of Ice and Fire has exploded onto other mediums, most notably the highly popular HBO television program Game of Thrones. This show which recently entered its fourth season in April 2014 has exposed the source material to legions of fans who might otherwise may have missed it in the late 90s. Evidence of this is the fact that A Game of Thrones made it onto the New York Bestseller list in 2011 – 15 years after its original publication. Game of Thrones has proven popular across a number of key demographics and has increased viewership for its premier episode each year going forward, with women also making up a significant portion of its audience.  Less scientifically, it has also been the source of a number of Twitter trends and been cause of a number of pop-culture, perhaps most significantly the (in)famous "Red Wedding" which occurred in the penultimate episode of the third season in 2013. A Song of Ice and Fire has also spawned comic books, video games and a number of time wasting online activities, my favourite being linked here.

On the whole A Song of Ice and Fire is a very good read. They’re long books and take time for average-speed readers like you humble blogger. But they’re worth it and watching the characters and geopolitics unfold is a truely enjoyable experience. So if you've seen the HBO show but have yet to read the source material, I highly recommend you give these books a shot. They may be Nebula runners-ups, but they're all fantastically good books regardless!

WGTB Reviews Morrissey's Biography

Morrissey has long been one of the most polarizing figures in alternative/indie music: at least that's the sentiment I've encountered over the years of being a fan of both him and the Smiths. I remember one day decades ago, humming "Everyday is like Sunday" in my elementary school classroom when the most popular girl in school walked by and snarkily remarked: "You like Morrissey? He's terrible." I was mortified: this type of thing could have really limit my social standing! It didn't, of course, but it would only dawn on me years later that if <name> could recognize my inaudible humming she must have been a fan herself! A year later when I arrived at high school it was like a falsetto breath of fresh air. Away from my hick town were legions of Smiths fans -- and after this almost everyday I could be seen sporting a Morrissey or Smiths t-shirt under my school uniform. Being a fan of Moz became a 24/7 thing!

Biography, Morrissey, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2013, pp. 459, US$30.00 C$34.95

So when Morrissey finally published a biography, I knew it was something that needed to be read. The book arrived here in North America a few months after its release in the UK, which is the reason for this relatively late review. The writing straddles between prose and poetry and reading Biography is in many ways like reading one long Morrissey song. (The text is even punctuated by an intermittent smattering of his remarkable and memorable lyrics.) Reading a 400 page song does take some time getting used to, but once one gets the hang of it, the book picks up and is easy to get through. An oddity that also takes some getting used to is that the book is devoid of chapters to assist the reader through the process. But like the tone, once the first 50 or so pages are read, it becomes somewhat normal.

But the book is so much more than its stylistic presentation and it's fascinating to see the world through the eyes of Morrissey. Biography starts with Morrissey's familial history: from his Irish roots to what can only be described as an upbringing in a very bleak mid 20th century Manchester.  From here it's onward to the certain hell that was his schooling experience and then his early career as a music fan. Along the way we learn interesting and mind-bending facts such as him being interviewed for a job in Denver, Colorado during a long-term visit (Imagine Morrissey as an American!) We also learn of his well known affection for the New York Dolls and his first hand experience with the Mancunian and early UK punk rock scene. All of these experiences clarify and explain lyrics like the Smiths' "Headmaster Ritual" or "Paint a Vulgar Picture" and later solo tracks like "Bengali in Platforms". If Morrissey experienced an injustice or oddity in his early years, he wrote about it during his peak and this has made for some of music's most remarkable lyrics.  

As someone who is legally inclined, the most interesting aspect of Biography was Morrissey's handling of the trial Royce v Morrissey & Others which was heard in the late 1990s. Here Morrissey saves serious scorn for the English legal system in general and Deputy Judge Weeks Q.C. and the Smiths drummer Mike Joyce in particular. In this legal case Joyce sought more than his originally allotted percentage of recording royalties and in Morrissey's opinion presented himself as a hapless and uninformed victim to win his case. This portion is obviously written from the perspective of someone who lost a significant amount of money as a result, but Morrissey's insights into England's justice system is very astute and not to be missed.  

Your humble reviewer with the ubiquitous Morrissey t-shirt on under his school uniform. This was uploaded from Facebook so the photographer is unknown.  

Biography is a good book. At times it drags and much of the latter portion is spent discussing Morrissey’s late 2000’s tours to a degree that is unnecessary. But that aside, the book contains the essence of who Morrissey is and although I've never conversed with him myself, this is how I would imagine him speaking. He is candid about the politics that has often found its way into his songs, his detestation of the monarchy and, naturally, the strident veganism of which he has long been a proponent. His personal relationships are also discussed, but very much in the not in the over-the-top way that so many have speculated about over the years and that was fine with this writer. I’ve never felt Morrissey's personal life was much of my business anyway.

And along the way we learn some very cool things. For example, did you know Moz was offered a cameo on Friends? He was to play Phoebe's weird boyfriend. Or that he was nearly kidnapped while being driven home after a gig in Mexico? These are only small aspects of the fascinating life of Steven Patrick Morrissey as he tells it in his own words. Of course, fans of our protagonist may approach this book hoping for an answer to the longstanding question: will the Smiths ever get back together? Well, Biography gives you the unfortunate truth that the damage done in that London courtroom is almost certainly irreparable. But this disheartening news aside, it's an enjoyable book and will be enjoyed by both fans indie rock, Moz and popular culture alike. 4/5 STARS

The Avengers, Omega Flight & Westminster style Executive Government

While rereading Avengers Vol. 5 #10 recently I noticed (remembered!) how the story took the Avengers to Canada where we had an alien force take over Regina, the capital city of the province of Saskatchewan. Canada's Department H had reluctantly called in S.H.I.E.L.D. and the US-based Avengers for help when this little gem of dialogue appeared: 

Image from Marvel's Avengers Vol. 5 #10 (June 2013) Written by Jonathan Hickman, Pencils by Mike Deodato, Colours by Frank Martin, Letters by Cory Petit.

Image from Marvel's Avengers #10.

A military department with nuclear weapons that "his government" (and by this I presume the elected politicians) doesn't know about. Could this even happen in Canada? Could there be such a disconnect between a government department and the elected leadership that, as Logan suggests an "old school" government agency could have access to nukes that nobody knows about? And if so could this thing even be legal? This piece will examine this issue using the history of both the Canadian and British parliamentary systems as well as the current law that governs the Department of National Defence to explain how this in fact could not happen. Legal issues aside, this was an enjoyable story is not an indictment of the actual writing or art in any way. 

Canada is what can be called a Westminster democracy because it is modelled after the UK’s parliament located in Westminster, London. The British parliament has been a model for many democracies around the world, not just those 16 states that share Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. Naturally, as these different states have evolved they have made subtle changes to better reflect the realities of their geographic and political realities, but in essence Westminster systems tend to remain quite similar. Examples of such changes include Australia, which while sharing the Queen has an elected upper chamber, whereas members of their British and Canadian equivalents, the House of Lords and Senate of Canada respectively, are appointed by the Queen on the advice of their prime minister.  Since 1982 Canada has also had an entrenched constitution with a Charter of Rights and Freedoms which is a legal document that while allowing for both the federal parliament in Ottawa and the provincial legislatures to pass laws, also serves as an entrenched check against these legislatures and their laws have been found to be unconstitutional and struck down by the courts. Westminister style states can also include republican countries such as Israel or India who have presidents yet operate in a similar fashion as their monarchical cousins and have prime ministers who make the political decisions and are elected members of parliament. 

The UK's MI: 13 (The MI stands for "Military Intelligence" and dates back to WWII) would follow a similar chain of command as Canada's Department H, as Canada's system of governance was largely modelled after the UK's. Image from Marvel's Revolutionary War: Alpha (March 2014) Written by Andy Lanning & Alan Cowsill, Art by Rich Elson, Colours by Antonio Fabela.

History

While the history of parliamentary governance reaches back further than the Norman invasion of England in 1066, it's here where we’ll begin our discussion. It was that pivotal year that the Normandy-based duke William conquered England and took the kingship of the realm. Not knowing the country as well as he might, the new king and his descendants set about inviting England’s landowners to join in the governance of the consolidated kingdom. Over time these aristocrats grew robust in the defence of their newly acquired rights and responsibilities and by the early 1200s were in rebellion against one of William's lesser decendents, John. So it was in 1215 that John was made to sign Magna Carta, which subjected him to the law and disallowed him from raising taxes or an army without their consent. From John onwards, certain favourites or competent individuals would assume positions of power and influence and the early stages of ministerial government developed.

But it was in the seventeenth century that things came to a fore. In 1603 James VI of Scotland became the King of England upon the death of his cousin Elizabeth I and this brought a different tone to the governance of England. James was influenced by continental rhetoric that envisioned a more centralized and monarch-centred ideal and soon set out to implement this as policy. This thinking became even more pronounced when James' son Charles assumed the English throne and would culminate when parliamentary and royalist forces went to war in the English Civil War (1642 to 1651). This war ultimately led to Charles’s execution, but when the republican experiment failed, Charles's son (Charles II) was invited to become King. When he died, his brother assumed the throne but being Catholic, was unacceptable to England’s largely Protestant aristocracy. So when James II finally became unpalatable for English nobles, they invited the Dutch Prince William of Orange (who was married to James’ daughter Mary) to become co-regent with his wife. But in order to become King, William was made to sign a contract of sorts – called the Bill of Rights of 1689 – containing a number of provisions of which the king had to adhere. These included a prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, jury trials for criminal matters and other such things.

The marker denoting the site in Westminster Hall where Charles Stuart, King of England was sentenced to death. Photo by Blogger.

Westminster Hall. This is the oldest party of the Palace of Westminster. The above shown plaque is on the stairs. Photo by Blogger.

Giving the crown to William and Mary under such conditions represented a seismic shift in the constitutional status of England. By setting conditions, the nobles and the representative body of parliament ascended into an arrangement with the King that changed the legal landscape. Henceforth, it was the "King-In-Parliament" that had sovereign power in England and not only could the King not act unilaterally (as per Magna Carta), if a law was passed in parliament it was indisputably the law of the land and the only thing parliament could not do is pass a law that bound itself. The Crown's prerogative powers – which was the body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, that was the sole prerogative of the sovereign and included defence, foreign affairs and keeping the peace – were largely maintained and would remain considerable until gradually chipped away by parliamentary statute. But the legal Rubicon had been crossed and parliament was now a sovereign body that could make laws as it decided. Mary died in 1693 and William in 1702 and eventually the crown passed to Anne, Mary’s sister. But when Anne died without an heir, the closest protestant candidate was George, Elector of Hanover, a German who could not speak English. Because of these linguistic issues by the end of George’s reign, much of the responsibilities for the governance of the realm were on the shoulders of a parliamentarian named Sir Robert Walpole and he is largely considered Britain’s (and therefore the Commonwealth’s) first Prime Minister. 

A century and a half later in 1867, when the three colonies of British North America came together to form Canada, its establishing act from the British parliament called the British North America Act stated in its preamble that the newly formed Canada was to be a federal union of "One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom." 

Ministerial Government

Which brings us back to the question at hand: could a Canadian Prime Minister or Minister of Defence not know that the department which he or she ultimately controls has access nuclear weapons? Currently, the Prime Minister of Canada is selected by the Governor-General of Canada (the Queen's representative in Canada) to become PM. This is usually done after an election in which the party he or she leads wins the most seats in parliament. Once this happens, the Prime Minister-elect sets about deciding on who will join him or her to form the Canadian Ministry, which over time by constitutional convention (these are not laws but conventions that have evolved) has taken the prerogative powers of the Crown and become their sole exerciser. These are typically other Members of Parliament and are chosen not just for their competence but other politically calculated considerations which include but are not limited to province of origin, ethnicity, city or constituency.  

All of these Canadian government resources are ultimately under the control of a minister who must answer to the House of Commons. Image from Marvel's Avengers #10.

Once a minister is chosen, he or she is sworn into the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada. The Privy Council's active component are those individuals who are responsible for running or assisting with the operations of government departments such as the Ministry of Finance, Justice Canada or the Department of National Defence. Leaders of the Opposition are also sworn into the Privy Council so they can have access to secret information, but they do not head a government department and actively oppose the government in the House of Commons where each minister is held to account. Because of this, it is ultimately the minister who is responsible for its bureaucrats and employees. So if Department H were to acquire nuclear weapons without the Minister of National Defence knowing, this would be counter the National Defence Act, 1985 which reads in Section 4:

 

The Minister holds office during pleasure, has the management and direction of the Canadian Forces and of all matters relating to national defence and is responsible for

• (a) the construction and maintenance of all defence establishments and works for the defence of Canada; and
• (b) research relating to the defence of Canada and to the development of and improvements in materiel.

Remember this law was passed by the heir of the sovereign parliament of 1689 and is very clear: the Minister of Defence is responsible for all matters relating to national defence. So even if Department H was created by a separate statute by the Canadian parliament (to my knowledge Marvel has never stated which statute created Department H) it would most likely be governed by similar language as the NDA and would ultimately have a minister responsible for it. Because of this, Logan's "old school" friends with their secret arsenal are clearly operating outside of the law and counter to centuries of both historical negotiation and constitutional and legal development.

WGTB Reviews The Life and Times of Conrad Black: A Wordless Biography

Few Canadians are more polarizing than Baron Conrad Moffat Black of Crossharbour. Born in Montreal, Quebec to beer baron George Montegu Black Jr., and his wife, the daughter of an insurance magnate, Jean Elizabeth Riley, Black was educated in such bastions of the Canadian establishment as Upper Canada College and the Trinity College School (both Toronto in the area) before completing degrees at Carleton, Laval and McGill universities, finishing in 1973. Education notwithstanding, it was seven years prior that Black started down the road towards what he is best known for – being a newspaper proprietor – when he purchased the fledgling Quebec-based Eastern Townships Advertiser in 1966. This would lead to Black and his family starting the investment company Ravelston Corporation and the systematic acquisition of newspapers across the globe over the course of the next three decades. Black and the companies he controlled would eventually go on to own such influential broadsheets as the Chicago Sun-Times, The Jerusalem Post and Britain's Daily Telegraph.
 

The Life and Times of Conrad Black: A Wordless Biography, George A. Walker, The Porcupine’s Quill, 2013, pp. 221, C$22.95

But all this would change in July 2007 when – after a very public trial – he was convicted in a Chicago court of corporate fraud and sentenced to six and a half years in a US federal prision. He would go on to serve only three and a half years after which he returned to Canada where he currently resides in a tony Toronto neighbourhood. The Life and Times of Conrad Black: A Wordless Biography by George A. Walker is an unorthodox treatment of the above story done through 100 prints of wood engravings. So while this book is not a graphic novel in the conventional sense of the phrase, it is nevertheless a very interesting take on one of the most loquacious and controversial Canadian exports of recent memory.

Lord Black, the Baron of Crossharbour was given a Life Peerage by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2001. This was opposed by Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who citing the 1919 Nickle Resolution, a motion in the Canadian House of Commons that prevented Canadians from recieving British honours, forced the two parties to go to court. The case Black v Chretien in the Ontario Court of Appeal saw Black lose his case and subsequently give up his Canadian citizenship. All images from The Life and Times of Conrad Black.    

The book starts with a well written introduction by the author who explains the purpose and goal of the book, making it clear this is not a hit piece and should not be viewed as one. Rather, the book tells the story of Conrad Black's life through masterfully crafted images and transitions one image at a time from his earliest beginnings to his resettlement in Canada after prison. As a long-time reader of comics, I have often heard that the panels of graphic storytelling should be thought of as the highlight moments of a longer narrative such as a TV show, film or novel and this book takes that to an extreme. In 100 images you see such mountains as Black being made a member of the Order of Canada and valleys as his incarceration by the US government. Other significant images include meeting Pope John Paul II, a significant event for a convert Roman Catholic and Black sweeping the floor of a prison cell. 

Conrad Black after purchasing the Daily Telegraph. The "Torygraph" was an extension of Black's conservative ideology in the UK.    

Pope John Paul II was a towering figure in conservative politics of the 1980s and Black, having been received into the Church in 1986, would not have missed an opportunity to meet the pontiff.

But it would all come crashing down in 2007 when Conrad Black was convicted of fraud in a Chicago court.

This is an interesting book and as mentioned, a very unorthodox telling of Conrad Black’s story. As a work of art it is a very well done and an accomplishment in so many ways. It does lack as a work of history; not having the information to give readers a sense of who this man is. But that's clearly not the point, and the book in so many ways is a superlative expression of Black's flawed and complicated humanity. And in this respect it's very good. When Black achieves, he is represented as doing such. When he fails, he is fairly represented as well. In this reviewers mind, the above cited image of Baron Black of Crossharbour sweeping a prison floor remains the most potent and is emblematic of not only Black's failings, but how fleeting each and every one of our own successes can be. With a $22 price point it is an expensive purchase for what amounts to a half hour read, but it is still an interesting and well crafted work of art. Read in conjunction with a solid history, it would certainly be valuable at highlighting the key moments in Conrad Black's life, giving the reader a much better sense of who Lord Black is.  

Admittedly, before his fall from grace, I was an admirer of Black and this is what attracted me to the book. Having read his books on US presidents Roosevelt and Nixon, I continue to admire him as an historian, but as a convicted felon the lasting image I'll have of him is that of carrying Bankers Boxes of corporate documents from his Toronto office. Nevertheless, like the subject of the book or not, The Life and Times of Conrad Black: A Wordless Biography and its 200 images is a remarkable account of the life of a remarkable individual and a very interesting "read" overall.  4/5 STARS

Does It Stand? The Death of Captain Marvel

With the January announcement that comic book legend Jim Starlin was returning to Marvel to write a new graphic novel titled Thanos: The Infinity Revelation to be released in 2014, I got to thinking about one of his marquee works The Death of Captain Marvel and an exchange at a Marvel panel of FanExpo Canada 2012 between Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso and a fan. The floor had opened for questions and the fan asked when was the real Captain Marvel coming back. Of course, the impressive sales Captain Marvel #1 (July 2012) were still on the Marvel minds and that's what probably led to Alonso's curt response: "We have a Captain Marvel in the Marvel Universe and her name is Carol Danvers."

Axel Alonso (far left) and other "House of Ideas" dignitaries at Fan Expo Canada 2012

The fan, not taking the hint, persisted and subsequently launched into an ill-thought-out diatribe about how Danvers wasn’t the same as Mar-Vell. Alonso’s tone immediately changed from fan-obliging editor to ticked-off expert and he proceeded to dress the fan down (in as polite a way as possible) explaining how he watched his father die of cancer and would never disrespect such an important part of the Marvel Universe. Alonso also saw Starlin's story as an important tribute to all those who have been taken by cancer and if Marvel were to resurrect Mar-Vell, it would seriously insult those people. As a cancer survivor myself I could not have agreed more with Alonso's statement and afterwards approached him to express my thanks. In my opinion Mar-Vell's death remains both an important moment in the Marvel Universe and in comic book storytelling generally.

The original cover of Marvel's Death of Captain Marvel Marvel Graphic Novel Vol.1 #1 (April 1982) by Jim Starlin. The volume was reprinted in a 2013.

But what of the telling of the death of Captain Marvel itself? Does this early graphic novel stand the test of time? It's over 30 years old now, and we've all read late Bronze age material that isn't quite as readable as today's books. Does The Death of Captain Marvel stand up to today's discerning comic book reader? The following piece will look at this question but also do so through the eyes of a cancer survivor as this aspect of the book is such an important part of the story itself. 

Pain, self-pity, frustration and fear are just some of the emotions Mar-Vell goes through when coming to terms with his cancer diagnosis. All subsequent images from Marvel's  The Death of Captain Marvel (April 1982)

I'd say that The Death of Captain Marvel does stand up for today's reader. Starlin’s writing could be counted in the "gifted" category even back in the early 1980s and while script does have some self-reflective bubbles that one normally doesn't see in today's books, the dialogue does not have too "Uggh the 80s" of a feel to it and could match contemporary comic book storytelling. 

The sentiment is similiar for Mar-Vell's friends.

Moreover, the basic storyline – one of reflection and contemplation – is still very poignant. The story begins with Mar-vell on a spaceship, recording his thoughts about the life he has lived. We then track back to his days when as a hero he was exposed to a canister of nerve gas while fighting a villain named Nitro. This happened seven years prior, but now the exposure's legacy has finally come out of remission and presumably metastasized (become a secondary tumor of similar cells) and is killing him. It also becomes apparent that the Negabands which had previously held the cancer at bay, were no longer effective and the inevitable would soon arrive. Once the reader learns that it's the "Inner Decay" (call that by the Titans), the "Blackend" (Kree) or cancer, we are then introduced to Mar-Vell's efforts to come to terms with his impending death, his friend's efforts to use their considerable talents to save him, his final good-byes before one last challenge from his old foe, Thanos. When that is all completed Captain Marvel dies.

Mar-vell of the Kree dies surrounded by heroes in The Death of Captain Marvel.

As mentioned, I read this book through the lenses of a cancer survivor. My personal experience with the disease started in May 1995 when I threw a baseball and twisted my leg, experiencing a pain that I never quite experienced before. From there I met with a many different doctors who eventually referred me to one of the biggest research hospitals in Canada where I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer. With that I immediately started an intense regime of chemotherapy. This went on for three days at a time with three weeks between each session. After the third, I had an operation to remove the infected tissue and have a titanium prosthetic inserted to hold my leg together. After three more chemo sessions, I started the long road to recovery and 18 years later, I'm still here. I now walk with a slight limp and cane, but otherwise live a relatively normal life. 

Very much like Mar-Vell's experiences in The Death of Captain Marvel, the external reaction to my own illness was quite mixed. Some friends walked away not sure how to deal with the gravity of my condition. Others did whatever they could to make me feel better. Again some other friends simply sat with me and were quietly and patiently my friends. Indeed, I think Captain Marvel is a story that most people who have been diagnosed with cancer can relate to and Starlin does an excellent job taking his readers through the journey of feelings and emotions of so many people who have undergone treatment. Pain, self-pity, frustration and fear is all very normal for anyone who has cancer and not even the greatest of us – superhero or mortal – is immune to them. Being a long-time volunteer with numerous cancer organizations and currently in a position where I sit on a committee of fellow survivors who advise doctors who treat cancer patients, I can tell you from personal experience that Jim Starlin hit on some universal feelings when he wrote how Mar-Vell saw his own life slowly slip away and how powerless he felt about it.

A Marvel-616 Universe without cancer would be unfair to  both the heroes and us readers. In this scene Starlin makes it clear that even the greatest minds in the Marvel Universe cannot stop cancer. 

In fact, I would go as far to say that The Death of Captain Marvel is an important comic reading experience and most certainly stands for the reader in 2014. The art is typical of what you would see in the early 1980s, but the real power is the experience of watching a formerly (near) invincible individual, reflect on his passing and then die. Fortunately, this is something I have yet to experience, but reading this graphic novel did remind me of many of my cancer-related trials and is valuable for anyone wanting to understand what it's like for someone living with cancer. Kudos to the list of Marvel editors who have keep this book so powerful by not resurrecting Mar-Vell (on a permenant basis at least) and to Axel Alonso for coming to its defence in 2012. As always, thank you for visiting WGTB and below are some links to cancer organizations you might consider supporting. They're from countries where the readership of this blog is greatest but if you would like to suggest another, please leave a comment with its website below. 

Sarcoma Cancer Foundation of Canada 
Sarcoma UK
Sarcoma Foundation of America 
Teenage Cancer Trust (UK)
Australian Youth Against Cancer