cover image The Loxleys and the War of 1812

The Loxleys and the War of 1812

Alan Grant and Clause St. Aubin. Renegade Press (www.renegadeartsentertainment.com), $19.99 (176p) ISBN 978-0-9868200-0-7

2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, a conflict little remembered in America and Britain, but one that irrevocably set the Canadian colonies on the path to Dominion. A young Union, believing the British to be distracted by the war with Napoleon, outraged at British provocations related to that war, and under the misapprehension the Canadians might welcome liberation from the British, declared war against Britain on June 18, 1812. This work uses the Loxley family—United Empire Loyalists originally from the American colonies who were forced to flee to Canada thanks to the American Revolution—to provide a settler’s-eye view of the conflict, from rumors of war to the brutal reprisals both sides indulged in and the final peace. The art by St. Aubin is clean and skilled, but the script by Grant (best known as a writer on Judge Dredd) often veers into parodic extremism, even taking into account the clear imperialist villainy of the Americans. What could have been a glorious illustration of a defining moment in Canadian history sadly falls short. (June)