Louis Riel (comics) - Publication History

Publication History

Louis Riel was originally meant by Brown to be published in book form, but was convinced by his publisher, Chris Oliveros, to serialize it first. Drawn and Quarterly published the ten comic-book instalments from 1999 until 2003. Brown was granted CA$6000 by the Canadian Council for the Arts in 2001 to assist in its completion. The full volume was published in hardcover in 2003 and softcover in 2006. The book sold out its first printing in two months, went through multiple printings, and had sold fifty thousand copies by the beginning of 2011. The original serialization sold poorly, making the book's success a surprise.

The comic book and the collection both came with an extensive appendix, and the collection came with a bibliography and an index, all tightly hand-lettered by Brown. The collection's appendix came to 22 pages.

In the original serialization, as the series progressed the influence of Harold Gray became stronger. The characters' heads became smaller while their bodies and hands grew larger, with Riel appearing "like the Hulk in a wool suit" after his hilltop religious revelation. Brown redrew many of the earlier drawings to make them consistent with the later ones in the collected edition, adding backgrounds or redrawing entire panels. He added or deleted many panels to improve page rhythms or make chapter divisions cleaner. Some of the word ballons were reshaped or relettered. Dialogue remained intact for the most part, although the slur "frog" for the French speaking Métis was replaced with "half-breed".

In 2012, Drawn and Quarterly first began offering comics in e-book format, prompted in part by Brown. His Louis Riel and Paying for It were the first two books made available, though Brown is a print-lover who professes little interest in e-books, or computers in general. The non-exclusive deal was made with Toronto-based Kobo Inc.