Louis Riel is a historical biography in comics by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown, published as a book in 2003 after serialization in 1999–2003. The story deals with Métis rebel leader Louis Riel's antagonistic relationship with the newly established Canadian government. It begins shortly before the 1869 Red River Rebellion, and ends with Riel's 1885 hanging for high treason. The book explores Riel's possible schizophrenia—he believed God had named him Prophet of the New World, destined to lead the Métis people to freedom.
The work is noted for its emotional disengagement, its intentionally flat dialogue, and a minimalist drawing style inspired by that of Harold Gray's comic strip Little Orphan Annie. Unusual for comics of the time, it includes a full scholarly apparatus: a foreword, index, bibliography, and end notes. The lengthy, hand-lettered appendix provides insight into Brown's creative process and biases and highlights where he changed historical facts to create a more engaging story, such as incorporating a conspiracy theory not widely accepted by historians. Brown became interested in the issue of property rights while researching the book, which led to a public change in his politics from anarchism to libertarianism.
Although Brown intended it to be published only in book form, his publisher had him first serialize Louis Riel as a comic book, which lasted ten issues. The series was the first comic book to receive a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. It won a favourable critical reception and three Harvey Awards. The serialization sold poorly, but the book version was a surprise bestseller. Its success played a major part in gaining shelf space for serious graphic novels in mainstream North American bookstores.
Background
Brown grew up in the Canadian province of Quebec, where the majority speaks French, and where Riel is often considered a martyr. However Brown, who grew up speaking only English, said he was largely ignorant of Riel's story until he read Maggie Siggins' 1994 biography Louis Riel: A Life of Revolution. Many of Brown's favourite topics are entwined in Louis Riel: anti-authoritarianism, outsider religion, insanity, and accuracy and objectivity in nonfiction.
In 1995, Brown published the anti-psychiatry comics essay "My Mom was a Schizophrenic", in which he examines society's role in mental illness, and questions the medical profession's accepted beliefs about it. The six-page strip came with two pages of end notes gathered from his research. Brown enjoyed this project and thought he would like to take on another in which he could "cram a lot of research into a comic strip". When he came across Siggins' biography of Riel, he had been working on the experimental Underwater series, a project on which he felt he had lost his way. His father died in late 1997, and he decided he did not "want to waste time with projects that weren't working out". In 1998, he turned his attention to Riel, putting the unpopular Underwater series on hold. While researching, Brown came across two books by political scientist Tom Flanagan: Louis "David" Riel: "Prophet of the New World" (1996) and Louis Riel and the Rebellion: 1885 Reconsidered (2000). Brown found "Prophet of the New World" particularly intriguing as it dealt with Riel's religious ideas while reevaluating his alleged diagnosis of mental illness, two topics Brown had especial interest in, as he had previously made "eccentric" adaptations of the Gospel, and comics dealing with his mother's schizophrenia. He also came across books by researcher Don McLean and historian Douglas N. Sprague that advanced the conspiracy theory that the 1885 North-West Rebellion was deliberately provoked by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald to gain support for the building of the transcontinental railway.
Brown had gained a reputation for improvised storytelling by the time he began work on Louis Riel. With Underwater, he had intended to write a script, but in the end chose to improvise. He found the results unsatisfactory, and decided to write a full script beforehand for his next project. The script for Louis Riel came to over 200 pages.
Brown's was not the first depiction of the Métis leader in comics. James Simpkins, a Canadian cartoonist best known for Jasper the Bear, made a mildly anti-Riel two-page strip in 1967, and Pierre Dupuis produced a French-language two-page summary in 1979. A 23-page pro-Riel strip appeared in Canadian History Comic Book No. 2: Rebellion in 1972. In 1980, Italian artist Hugo Pratt created a character called Jesuit Joe who was supposed to have descended from Riel. Publishing house Les Éditions des Plaines published two books on Riel: Robert Freynet's 58-page ("Louis Riel in Comics") in 1990, and Zoran and Toufik's ("Louis Riel, the Father of Manitoba") in 1996, both in French. Riel also played a secondary role in the 1995 comic album ("The Twilight of Bois-Brûlés").
Plot
The government of the new Dominion of Canada (established 1867), under Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, has made a deal with the Hudson's Bay Company to purchase Rupert's Land—vast tracts of land in northern North America. The French-speaking Métis people, who are of both Indigenous and white ancestry, and inhabit parts of Rupert's Land—dispute that their land can be sold to the Canadians without their consent. In the Red River settlement, the Métis, led by Louis Riel, dodge political manoeuverings on the part of Lieutenant Governor William McDougall and some of the English-speaking settlers, while seizing Fort Garry. After an armed standoff at English-speaking settler John Schultz's home, the Métis declare a provisional government and vote Riel their president, with an even number of French and English representatives. Schultz escapes from prison and rounds up a number of men with the intention of freeing the prisoners from Fort Garry, but when Riel lets the prisoners go, Schultz's men set out for home. On the way, a number of them pass Fort Garry, where they are captured and imprisoned. One of the prisoners, Thomas Scott, relentlessly quarrels with the guards, showering them with racial epithets. Eventually, the provisional government convicts him of treason and executes him by firing squad. The remaining prisoners are released, and the provisional government enters into negotiations with Ottawa, which results in the founding of the province of Manitoba. They are unable to get an amnesty for the execution of Scott, however. The Canadian army arrives, ostensibly to keep the peace. Riel flees to the U.S., and the anglophone population assumes governance.
Schultz takes control of Manitoba, and the government of Ontario offers a cash reward for Riel's capture, dead or alive. Macdonald secretly sends Riel money to disappear, as his death would lose him votes in Quebec but allowing him to live would cost him votes in English Canada. Riel flees from town to town in the U.S. as bounty hunters try to track him down. In 1873, he returns to the Manitoba and wins a seat in the federal Parliament in a by-election. He fears actually sitting in parliament because there is still a bounty on his head, and continues to live in hiding. In 1874, he wins his seat again. Schultz wins a seat in the settlement as well, however, and Alexander Mackenzie has become Prime Minister, running on promises not to grant the rebels an amnesty. Riel is expelled from Parliament for failing to sit, but wins his seat again in the next by-election. The frustrated government finally extends an amnesty to the rebels—all except Riel, whose amnesty is conditional on a five-year banishment from Canada. During his exile, he has a visionary experience on a hilltop in Washington, D.C., in which God names him David, the Prophet of the New World, and tells him to lead the Métis to freedom. In 1876, Riel is secretly committed by a friend to a lunatic asylum near Montréal under a false name.
Over the next several years, the Métis, unhappy with the Canadian government's handling of their land rights, move farther west across the Prairies. There as well, they see their petitions to the government repeatedly ignored and their rights trampled on. Finally, after being ignored for too long, the Métis search for Riel in Montana, in the hope that his return will force the Canadians to take their claims seriously. He is reluctant at first, as he has started a family and settled down as a schoolmaster. In the hopes that he will get money from the Canadian government for his tenure administering the Red River settlement (by this time known as Winnipeg), he moves his family to Batoche (now in Saskatchewan) in mid-1884. Macdonald has returned to the prime ministership and conspires with George Stephen, president of the financially burdened Canadian Pacific Railway, to use the situation to gain support for finishing the railway. By inciting a violent revolt amongst the Métis, the government can justify funding the railway to move troops to the Prairies. The Métis under Riel respond with arms as intended. Riel declares "Rome has fallen!" and breaks from the Catholic Church. He breathes the Holy Spirit into his followers, thereafter known as the Exovedate. Tensions build until the bloodshed at the Battle of Duck Lake, where Riel and his followers drive back the North-West Mounted Police. Macdonald takes this as a cue to send two thousand troops to the area. At the Battle of Fish Creek, the outnumbered Métis manage to drive back the Canadians, but at the Battle of Batoche, while Riel is increasingly immersed in religious activities, the Métis finally suffer defeat. In the hope that his trial will provide an opportunity to get the Métis' story to the public, Riel surrenders instead of fleeing.
In July 1885, Riel is put on trial in Regina for his role as leader in the North-West Rebellion. Against his will, Riel's lawyer tries unsuccessfully to defend him on grounds of insanity. He is found guilty of high treason. Though the jury pleads for mercy, he is sentenced to hang. In response to the pleas of Quebeckers to pardon Riel, Macdonald responds, "He shall hang though every dog in Quebec bark in his favour". After reconciling himself with the Church, Riel is hanged in Regina on 16 November 1885. In the aftermath, the remaining rebels receive a pardon, Macdonald and Stephen continue in their success, and Riel's wife dies.
Primary characters
Louis Riel Riel was a French-speaking Métis politician from a devoutly Catholic background. He founded and named the Province of Manitoba (a Cree word meaning "the god that speaks"). He led the two Métis rebellions against the Canadian government: the Red River Rebellion of 1869–70 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Following the latter, he was hanged for high treason. Riel remains an ambiguous and controversial figure in Canadian history, and Brown's depiction maintains that ambiguity.
Riel is depicted as charismatic. He is Montréal-educated and speaks English, which makes him a natural leader to the Métis, though his leadership is flawed—he ignores the military advice of his peers in battle, placing his faith in God that the Métis will defeat the Canadians. Brown depicts him as having a messianic complex and possibly having schizophrenia. He is unsure of himself, averse to bloodshed, and easily convinced to flee to the U.S. to avoid capture.
John A. Macdonald