Graphic Artists illustrate American Indian Legend - by Uben Yerkenoff

While constantly on the lookout for alternative forms of entertainment that don't involve something that needs to be plugged in, I couldn't help but notice the press release earlier this week from Fulcrum Press announcing Trickster, one of their latest "graphic novels" (err um… dare I say, comic book).

The book pairs 21 American Indian story tellers with the talents of graphic artist editor Matt Dembicki to produce a spectacular anthology of trickster tales.

A trickster is an animal, usually a coyote, rabbit, raven or an animal in the form of a man that loves to create chaos. Common to legend among many Native American tribes, the trickster is usually a slippery character to define, this being part of his power and appeal. The trickster can be foolish, greedy, venal, impetuous and disruptive, wrecking both his schemes and the plans of others.

In contrast to the greedy, narcissistic figures in Aesop's fables, who always come to ruin, tricksters sometimes win, walking away with meat they didn't deserve. A good example of this is a story from the book is a tale about a Yu'pik Eskimo called "Raven the Trickster," illustrated by Jason Copland. The legend recounted here feels like the hard-earned wisdom of people who know that nature doesn't always play fair.

Trickster is the first anthology to illustrate Native American folk tales in comic form. In a recent interview with NPS's Liane Hansen, Dembicki says he got the idea for the book from reading about the mischievous creature.

"I just became fascinated with it," he says. "Coming from a cartoonist's point of view, I started doodling and seeing what I could do."
As he tried to incorporate Native American styles, it dawned on him that this would be "perhaps a really interesting collection."
He collected tales from Native American storytellers and matched them with illustrators. It was an intense project. "It's rather easy to put together a comics anthology if you're working with people who are familiar with comics," he says. But the storytellers were skeptical.

Suffice it to say, Dembicki undoubtedly put up with a ton of shit from the purist, Native American powers that be, but ultimately he got the job done. "It wasn't easy convincing everybody," Dembicki says. "Some people really couldn't see it being done this way. Other people had some cultural issues. They were very adamant — these were mostly oral stories; they were told orally, and they should be told orally."

Some storytellers went to their tribe and got approval. "With all the competing media for people's attention, I think they felt they were losing a hold of their storytelling tradition, and they wanted to preserve some of these stories in a different format.

"It wasn't the ideal format for them, but they wanted to make sure that it was there to preserve for their own children, and for everyone else as well."

As many cultures acknowledge, the trickster is woven into the fabric of our world. Sometimes his actions have created our world.
In "Coyote and the Pebbles," told by Caddo Nation member Dayton Edmonds and illustrated by Micah Farritor, frantic Coyote trips at just the right moment to mess up the sculpting of light (i.e., placement of stars) in the sky, giving us the celestial hodgepodge we have now. In "Waynaboozhoo and the Geese," told by Anishinaabe language teacher Dan Jones of Minnesota and illustrated by Michael J. Auger, the young trickster's attempt to snare a flock of geese for supper results in an entertaining explanation of why the birds fly in a V pattern.

Rabbit stars so often as a trickster in these tales it makes me see Jimmy Carter's killer-rabbit incident with more sympathy. In "Rabbit and the Tug of War," he bests a pair of buffalo; in "Giddy Up, Wolfie," he vies for a gorgeous wolf bride; in "Rabbit's Choctaw Tall Tale," he learns a lesson about ice fishing the hard way.

For a reminder that we are not dipping into the Western Romantic tradition here, read Eirik Thorsgard's "When Coyote Decided to Get Married," illustrated by Rand Arrington. Coyote's search for a bride shares elements with Cinderella's story, but the story's chilling ending makes it unlikely that Disney will be calling for an option any time soon.

From the cartoonish artwork of Jerry Carr and Pat Lewis to the arty realism of Farritor, the illustrators offer a pleasing variety of approaches, styles and color palettes. Special visual nods go to Cherokee artist Roy Boney Jr. for his painterly desertscapes in "Horned Toad Lady & Coyote," and Paul Zdepski's hallucinatory Hawaiian demons in "Puapualenalena, Wizard Dog of Waipi'o Valley."