Whereas the US and its northern neighbor managed to finally pull again from the brink of an all-out trade war in simply one in all many unhinged moments within the first few weeks of the second Trump administration up to now, the considered a possible, unprecedented battle between America and Canada is immediately on lots of people’s minds. And to excise these ideas, they’re turning to a 2015 comedian that explored precisely that.
A decade in the past this coming June–simply weeks after Donald Trump had initially introduced his candidacy within the 2016 presidential election–Picture Comics launched We Stand on Guard, a six-issue miniseries from Saga‘s Brian Ok. Vaughan and Doc Frankenstein‘s Steve Skroce. Set in a fictionalized 2124, the collection coated the rise of a Canadian resistance to a mechanized U.S. occupation of the nation after a drone strike assassinated the U.S. president. Whereas simply 10 years in the past the extrapolation might have regarded like an outlandish imagining of potential U.S. and Canadian political relations, in 2025 it’s wanting… nicely, nonetheless fairly outlandish, however prefer it’s putting a nerve.
A nerve that apparently has folks studying. Within the wake of the latest political upheaval ushered in by Trump’s return to the White Home, Picture introduced this morning that within the final week, gross sales of the collection in collected codecs have exceeded prior gross sales of the collection for the previous 12 months, with hardcover collections of We Stand on Guard approached a close to promote out. “A lot of my proudest collaborations have been with Canadian creators, and it was a selected thrill to lastly work with legendary artist Steve Skroce,” Vaughan added in a newly-released assertion. “So I’m grateful that readers have been revisiting our nightmarish struggle story, which we hope stays fiction.”
As The Beat reviews, the precise numbers paint an fascinating divide between U.S. and Canadian readers. On Amazon US, We Stand on Guard‘s collected version ranks at 19,856th amongst all guide gross sales as of writing, rising as much as second place within the dystopian graphic novels class, whereas in Canada the identical version currently ranks 1,084th, barely down from a latest excessive of 702nd. In Skroce’s residence nation, the guide is second in quite a lot of classes on Amazon, together with total sci-fi graphic novels and, oddly sufficient, Canadian navy historical past.
Whereas Trump’s weird requires Canada to become the 51st state have died down after a delay on the implementation of tariffs on items between the U.S. and Canada have been postponed on the eve of their implementation, there’s nonetheless loads of time for issues to warmth up on the commerce entrance once more within the volatility of the present U.S. administration. Loads of time to get studying some comics, too, apparently.
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