Ottawa Memories
Plus! Daredevil 11!
Okay, first up, a bit of a meandering…
TOUR UPDATE!
Ottawa was a lovely time! Thanks to everyone who came out!
I never lived there, but Ottawa has a a weird place in my life. In March of 2012 I took a train there to cover the charity boxing match between Member of Parliament Justin Trudeau and Senator Patrick Brazeau. I was working for the National Post under my real name of “Steve Murray” as … uh, a bit of everything? I started as an infographic artist, but by this point I was an illustrator, video maker, humorist, reporter and, believe it or not, advice columnist. It was a fun job! But also it was starting to feel a little stale. This trip to Ottawa lit a fire in me to start something new. On the train ride in I emailed Matt Fraction that we should make a comic together. Just something fun and stupid for us. He wrote back with this:
So, for the rest of the trip, and the train ride home, all we did was send each other emails with ideas about what SEX CRIMINALS could be. In the meantime, this happened:
I covered the boxing match and learned something about myself in the process. If two men are punching each other in my vicinity, my immediate instinct is to stop them. Not a fan!
At that point in time Trudeau was seen as an ex-drama teacher who was drifting through politics on his late father’s name. One commentator called him a “shiny pony” and he was not favoured to win the bout. But he won, stunning the crowd of Canadian politicians and media types. There was a feeling in the room at that moment and I remember looking at him and thinking, “oh shit this guy’s going to become Prime Minister.”
On the train ride home I furiously tried to get my assignment written, drawn and filed while emailing with Fraction. If that drama teacher was going to become Prime Minister then I was going to make comics, dammit.
A few years later Marvel approached me to write a tie-in story for their CIVIL WAR 2 event featuring the Canadian super team Alpha Flight. By this point I was missing my newspaper days, so I decided to turn it into a bit of a media stunt by including our newly elected Prime Minister in the story. His father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, appeared in several Alpha Flight stories in the 80s, so it only made sense to me.
And, of course, I had Justin be a boxer in the issue, sparring with his old friend Tony Stark.
It became a THING. Fellow Canadian Ramón Pérez was the artist on it and both of us received a lot of media requests once news of the story hit. It was the first time I was ever mentioned in the New York Times!
I sent Prime Minister Trudeau a signed copy and his longtime photographer Adam Scotti sent me back this photo:
Shortly after the comic came out, a friend was chatting with Trudeau and mentioned that he knew the guy who put him in a Marvel comic. Apparently Trudeau said, “Steve Murray? Took me a second to piece together that he was Chip.” The fact that this information lives in the brain of a head of state is still a little surreal.
Knowing I was going to be signing books in Ottawa this past week, I sent Trudeau’s communications department an invite to the signing, ‘cause hey, why not? My plan was to give him a copy of BATMAN: FAILSAFE and also Kate Beaton’s DUCKS. I got a response, which was best summed up by my long-suffering wife:
NEXT TIME I GUESS
All this to say, regardless of whether you like our work or not, both Justin and I have definitely had interesting careers and absolute glow-ups from when we first met:
And yes, I’m wearing an “I’m Liberal” thong. It was a different time!!!!!
But back to the TOUR! Here are my next two stop, with Sudbury happening TODAY!
MAY 8 (Monday) 4-7
SUDBURY, ON! Comics North Hidden Level Games
MAY 11 (Thursday) 12-3
THUNDER BAY, ON! Hill City Comics
Come on out! I’ll be good!
Also, while I have you, this week DAREDEVIL 11 is out! After the devastating events of last issue, we head back to New York city for a deadly reckoning! Deadly, I say! Rafael La Latorre joins us one last time for a trip down memory lane!
ALSO! This is super fun: Jason Loo is in the same issue! He wrote a Daredevil & Iron Fist backup story that’s super fun and beautifully illustrated by Lynne Yoshii and Yen Nitro!
We’re nearing the end. Things are going to get a little wild.
Bye!!!
-Chip
Wow the Trudeau thing is so crazy to me on every level just made the guy seem even cooler to me. As a former boxer and a liberal always respected the guys politics and walloping of Patrick Brazeau but as a life-long comic book reader absolutely love that he took that picture and knew who you were. Choosing a coronation of a king over coming to the signing however seems... pretty WACKY
Damn damn damn! Ah nothing like realizing it’s a DD week for new comics. Always puts a smile on my face.
I’m actually on a re-read of your entire run right now, and just finished up Devil’s Reign a little bit ago. Every time I read that story, I’m awed at how, I believe it’s Marco, manages to draw characters like kingpin, rhino, and especially doctor octopus.
Also that mob scene with kilgrave being carried by the thralls, that always creeps me out seeing that guy, so unhinged as he is. Shame he never made more of an appearance in your run till the DR event.
So back to the big apple we go. Does this mean catching up with the stromwynns again? Cause before u finish up those two need to be handled. Desperately.
Hey also, any chance of catching up with Butch and seeing how he’s been doing as new Kingpin of NYC? I kinda wonder now that his dad’s a Krakoa citizen by way of his marriage to Mary, if that means butch also gets citizenship. If it did, wouldn’t it mean he’s protected from prosecution due to the law agreement between the USA and Krakoa? Fun food for thought.
Can’t wait to read 11 chip, and hope the rest of ur tour goes well