(Anglais seulement) Kingston Whig-Standard – Comic book artist draws Morquio heroes Un texte de Adam Pottier paru dans le Kingston Whig-Standard
KINGSTON — Real life may not have super heroes, but we do have heroes. Sometimes it is nice to reward those heroes by portraying them as super heroes and who better to do so than a comic book artist.
My Life Can’t Wait did just that with the My Morquio Hero campaign.
My Life Can’t Wait is a Quebec campaign to raise awareness of Morquio A syndrome, a rare disease where the body either does not have an enzyme (galactosamine-6-sulfatase) or can’t produce enough of an enzyme (beta-galactosidase) that break up a type of sugar molecule (keratan sulfate sugar chain). The body then has a buildup of glycosaminoglycans and that leads to organ damage.
Morquio A is an inherited disease that affects less than one in 200,000 people. As such it is not commonly known.
There is only one enzyme replacement therapy that is FDA and Health Canada approved, VIMIZIM (elosulfase alfa).
The My Morquio Hero campaign is to celebrate and highlight those helping the cause, from the afflicted to family and friends, teachers, medical professionals, media, and politicians.
The Morquio Heroes got to be depicted as a super heroes as drawn by Yanick Paquette, a Shuster Award-nominated artist who has been drawing comics since 1994. He was born and resides in Montreal, making him a great choice for the Quebec-based program.
He has worked for a few publishers, mostly for DC and Marvel Comics. He has worked with a wide assortment of writers, notables include Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Robert Kirkman. His latest work was Swamp Thing for DC with writer Scott Snyder. He has drawn the upcoming Wonder Woman: Earth One graphic novel written by Grant Morrison.
I first met Paquette many years ago while working a booth at a small, one-day Montreal comic convention. I have met him numerous times since. He is always friendly and pleasurable to talk to. He was more than willing to talk to me be about the campaign.
The My Morquio Hero campaign came at the right time. Yanick had finished the long work on Wonder Woman: Earth One in April and had free time for a vacation for the summer for the first time in 20 years.
Even though he was the obvious choice for the project, he was both honoured and scared about being chosen for the campaign. While he was used to drawing super heroes, he was insecure about the daring task of drawing portraits. It takes different artistic skills.
Yanick thought about the task for a month, drew for about two weeks and took over a week working with his regular colourist to colour.
The My Morquio Hero campaign chose well.
There was a special unveiling event held Sept. 26 in Longueuil, Que., where Paquette was on hand to sign and deliver original portraits of the nominees.
More information on the My Morquio campaign and portraits of all of the 2015 Heroes can be seen on their website http://www.mylifecantwait.ca/my-life-cant-wait/my-morquio-hero/.
Information on Morquio can also be found at http://www.morquiosity.com/.
Yanick’s latest work, DC’s Swamp Thing, was recently collected as a hardcover. DC allowed Yanick to talk and deal directly with the printers. He was able to choose a green colour for the inside of the collection for better Swamp Thing sketches inside the book. He included lots of artwork and made a large new piece for the cover. Wanting the best reading experience, he attempted to have an algorithm worked out for the white spacing on the inside pages but his desires did not meet current capabilities.
His Wonder Woman: Earth One hardcover is due out in April 2016. He does have a few covers coming out for upcoming DC titles and a seven-page story in the upcoming Superman/Wonder Woman annual No. 2.
I highly recommend the New 52 Swamp Thing series and the hardcover is a great collection. The Wonder Woman: Earth One should be a great book and I recommend going to your local comic store and reserving a copy.
Yanick can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/yanickpaquette and www.facebook.com/Yanick-paquette-Comics-and-Music-263150396123/ as well as on Twitter as @YanickPaquette.
Adam Pottier is a manager of Kingston Gaming Nexus at 270 Bagot St. He can be contacted at the store, 613-546-2565.
