3 out of 5

Since I’m not a history guy, or a Canadian, assessing this fictionalized account of troubles along the pelt trading lines in the late 1700s – with the goal of discovering a direct route via the titular Passage kicking ’round amongst the primaries – is out of my wheelhouse.  I definitely buy artist / writer Scott Chantler’s claims of hefty research in his annotations, and have no doubt that mentions of notable Canadian history would indeed make me nod with approval if, again, I had interests along those lines.

Instead, let me cover this from a perspective with which I’m comfortable: i.e. Is Northwest Passage a good comic?

Yes.  Northwest Passage is a good comic, building up to a thrilling last chapter clash, and setting up characters and concepts that, sadly, we’ve yet to see added to, almost 15 years on.  That ‘setting up’ bit is one of the bigger nits, though, preventing the story from really breaking out until its final sections; not just because that’s a big action sequence, but also because it’s when the leads are finally able to step beyond narrative chess piece constraints and become more engagingly fleshed out.

Chantler’s simplified character designs, of the Brian Hurtt mold, belie a very precise sense of choreography and acting, which keeps the book clean and easy to read, allowing for the story points – an overrun fort; a disbanded A-Team of explorers getting the gang back together; double-crosses and escape attempts – to roll on unabated as Scott puts all his people and pieces in place for that aforementioned scuffle.  Which, it should be said, is when the book becomes magic: the way characters suddenly come to life, and how Scott allows things to conclude on a darker note, makes for some great historical fiction.  Again, I’m sad we haven’t seen more happen after this.

Chantler’s annotations cover the entire 6-chapter collection sorted into page chunks at the back of the book.  They’re not majorly informative, but there’s definitely enough content – historical notes, mentions of previous drafts – to make it worth a read.  And it is interesting to have it pointed out that Scott stressed over expressing the time differences between the various plot threads he’d written, when I can say I definitely didn’t notice and didn’t feel that it mattered…  But this is the kind of stuff I think it’s important for writers to fret about, because if they don’t, maybe it’s the missing element that keeps us from wanting to come back.

(Hint: I want to come back to more of Chantler’s stuff.)