In Search of Charley Butters

by Zach Worton

I really enjoyed The Disappearance of Charley Butters a year ago, so I was looking forward to getting The Search for Charley Butters. Charley Butters was an obscure and unknown artist who went off to live alone in a shack in the woods in the 1960s and was never seen again.  Travis and his friends (I use that word loosely) discovered the cabin in the first book, and Travis became a little obsessed with Butters's journals.

This book opens a year later, and Travis is not in a good place.  He was squeezed out of the documentary about Butters that his friend Stuart made, his girl left him, and he started spending way too much time drinking and venting to strangers.  Travis gets tossed out of a theatre screening the documentary, and his boss forces him to take a short vacation to pull himself together.

Travis creates a scene on Stuart's doorstep, and then heads back to Butters's cabin, where he discovers a few other things about the artist, and finds himself a little refreshed.

This is very much a middle book.  It advances the plot without introducing much in the way of new story elements, instead focusing on Travis's general disintegration.  Travis is not a likeable character, but Worton's storytelling is compelling, and you find yourself rooting for him a little.  Most interesting is the mystery of what happened to Butters, and who is still living in those woods.

Here's hoping that the next volume will be out at next year's TCAF.

The Disappearance of Charley Butters

by Zach Worton

Zach Worton's The Klondike was an excellent collection of stories and vignettes about the famous gold rush that impressed me a great deal.  When I saw that he had a new book out at TCAF this year, I couldn't resist grabbing it, although at the time, I did not know that it was the beginning of a series of graphic novels, and not a self-contained story.

The Disappearance of Charley Butters starts with a death metal trio heading into some remote woods with a camera man to film a video.  We quickly see that the band doesn't really get along with one another, mostly because the band's leader, Mike, and his contrary nature.

While filming, the band stumbles across a long-abandoned cabin, filled with hundreds of paintings all showing the same image, and a collection of diaries.  All of this belongs to Charley Butters, an artist who ran away from the world to this cabin back in the late 50s, and was apparently never heard from again.

As the book progresses, Travis, the main character, can't stop thinking about Butters.  He returns to the cabin to pick up the journals, and begins obsessing over the artist, who was clearly mentally ill (he claimed to hear voices).

Travis ends up quitting the band over Mike's behaviour, and he and Stuart, the filmmaker, decide to collaborate on a documentary about Butters's life and disappearance.

This book was really gathering steam when it ended kind of abruptly, with notification that 'The Search For Charley Butters' will be coming along soon.  This was a disappointment, as I was enjoying the story, especially the way that Butters's influence was changing Travis, who cuts his hair and begins to behave more like an adult.

Worton does a great job of developing these characters in a short amount of space, and he provides just enough information to make Butters's story intriguing.  His art is nice and clear, and he's guaranteed himself a sale whenever the next book comes out.  I hope it doesn't take too long...

The Klondike

by Zach Worton

I love reading decent historical novels, books, and comics, so The Klondike is the type of book that I'm always going to pick up.  When it's made by someone who works at the comic store that I frequent, I'm even more likely.

The Klondike tells the massive story of the gold prospectors, entrepreneurs, and police officers who rushed into the Yukon Territory at the end of the 19th century, during the last large-scale gold rush ever seen in North America.  This was a moment of great importance for Canada, as it exerted its sovereignty in the north, and began to develop one of the last true frontiers.

Worton tells the story in a kaleidoscopic fashion, jumping from character to character, attempting to give the reader the big picture of what was going on in this cold and unforgiving place.  The book is full of interesting historical figures, like 'Lying' George Carmack, who discovered a large vein of gold, and Belinda Mulrooney, a tough woman who opened a hotel in the region.  There is Joe Ladue, who did more than anyone to bring a sense of order to the camps, and "Soapy" Smith, a gangster-like figure.  Also, Superintendent Sam Steele, the most famous member of the Northwest Mounted Police is given some screen time.

What emerges from reading this book is a good understanding of the type of person that abandoned their lives to gamble on becoming rich in this difficult part of the country.  There is a dignity to Worton's characters, as well as a desperation.  The book jumps all over the place in terms of story, which allows for a more nuanced gestalt to form in the reader's mind.  There is some interesting backmatter in the book that explains mining techniques, as well as a who's who of important figures.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, and imagine it will fit nicely on the shelf next to Louis Riel and Northwest Passage.  I love that there is a growing body of good Canadian history graphic novels.