cover image The Anti-Capitalist Resistance Comic Book

The Anti-Capitalist Resistance Comic Book

Gord Hill. Arsenal Pulp (Consortium, dist.), $12.95 trade paper (96p) ISBN 978-1-55152-444-3

Contextualizing recent civil conflicts, from the “Battle of Seattle” to the G20 in Toronto, by looking at the history of the anticapitalism resistance movement, Hill’s book provides perspective on contemporary examples of civil disobedience. After beginning with a brief history of capitalism, Hill gives a rather matter-of-fact account of locations, dates, and casualties, as well as the strategies and tactics employed both by protestors and law enforcement. Whereas this approach worked quite well in The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book, which details indigenous resistance in the face of colonization, here it is not as successful. Indeed, the book’s promise to provide a “startling” and “dramatic” account of the contemporary confrontations it describes is true only for those readers who aren’t aware that those who protest have deeply held convictions, that police sometimes resort to excessive force when made to look incompetent, and that capitalism is a system in which the many are dictated to by the few. Hill is a talented illustrator, with a perspective as an activist himself that affords him a unique window into the events he is describing. However, the book seems intended for the kind of reader that won’t bother to buy it, and to underestimate the one that will. (June)