Webcomic Launch

September is a special month for me this year because it marks the launch of my new webcomic Bog-haunter. The idea for this project had been growing a long time. As a kid, I loved Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern, and the appeal of a magical animal companion kept its hold on me. What if, I said to myself, it wasn’t dragons they were riding? What if it was dragonflies? What if it was the fast and ferocious ebony bog-haunter, the emerald-eyed terror of insect world?

Fast forward to March 2020. Artists and writers (like everyone else) were getting hit hard by the pandemic, and in response the Canada Council for the Arts announced a program of micro-grants for art that could be disseminated online. Suddenly it became possible, not just to get started on the project, but to let my dreams expand.

I live in a predominantly French part of Canada, and in French culture bandes-dessinées—a word that encompasses everything from newspaper comic strips, to Marvel superheroes, to serious tomes of graphic documentary or memoir—are a big deal. A really big deal. I wanted to plug into this exciting community so I hired a French translator to make my comic bilingual. Soon we were discussing subtleties of language I never guessed existed. Should the word for “dragonfly-rider” be libellier, to evoke a chevalier, or “knight”, or libellard, to evoke the motards, or motorcyclists? It depends on whether you think an insect is more like a horse or a motorized vehicle!

I also wanted to do justice, despite the fantasy elements of my comic, to the real-life strangeness of insects. My formal training is in biology, so I reached out to find scientists who would talk to me about the insects they study. These include a researcher who has discovered hundreds of new species of parasitoid wasps, and a student who spent an autumn catching dragonflies and gluing tiny radio-transmitters on them. Recordings of these interviews will be posted on the website in the coming weeks.

But at its base, Bog-haunter is a story about family. It’s about Charis, who wants nothing more than to soar through the skies with big brother beside her, and Odo, who is willing to do anything to keep his sister safe. This comic is the start of a journey, and I hope you’ll enjoy taking it with me. Bog-haunter will update with new comics every Tuesday, with bonus insect content most Fridays.