Fan trip

Abe drives his old sales route in 1975 in Clyde Fans.

Last week I read Clyde Fans. It's good and I recommend it. Most graphic novels I've read - and I admit it's not many - aren't novels, but merely extra-long comic books. On the cover Seth calls Clyde Fans a picture novel, and I agree with his assessment. I'm not going to dive into a discussion of plot and themes and characters, just note a few random things that struck me as I read.

Clyde Fans is clearly in the Southern Ontario Gothic genre even though many scenes happen north of there. The story takes place in the second half of the 20th century, and is set amongst Ontario's buildings and places that were formed in the early 20th century up until around 1960. I have mixed feelings about that setting. Although I was a boy in the '60s - as was Seth - the home I grew up in wasn't of that era, and neither were my parents. Looking back, our home life and surroundings were more like an amalgam of the '40s and '50s, but with better technology and without the grim reality of war and economic depression. I found the objects and buildings of that era somewhat dreary, and as I got older I developed an attraction for the newer buildings that were appearing as Canada prospered: The Ontario Science Centre, The Motorola Building, The TD Centre, The Toronto Reference Library, The Canadian Museum of Civilization (now the history museum), and Scarborough City Hall to name just a few that come to mind. And there were all the great gaudy illuminated signage of commercial buildings and malls. 

Seth ruminates on Canada in IAGLIYDW

But, on the other hand, now that the dowdy world is almost gone I have a bit of nostalgia for some of it. So, it's mixed feelings all the way down.

Walking, walking, walking. There's a lot of walking in Clyde Fans. And there's driving. And there's some train travel, streetcar riding, and out-of-body astral travel (!). There's a lot of motion in the story, but it seemed to me walking had a favoured place. There's also a lot of walking in It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken. It seemed like the walking made the grey nature of the world worse. Motorized travel allows one to speed through it.

As well as walking, there's a lot of love for those pre-war buildings evidenced by the quantity, detail, inventiveness, and care taken in their drawings. They dominate the book. In Clyde Fans those buildings and towns and cities are a character in their own right. 

Well, that's it for random impressions. No doubt I'll be reading this book a few more times. I think there's much I've overlooked.