We’re sorry to report the passing of Canadian Hall of Fame, Montreal-based artist/cartoonist Bernie Mireault, creator of “The Jammer”, Montreal’s own bohemian costumed crimefighter, also described as comics first realistic superhero.
Sadly, Bernie’s passing was by his own hand.
After moving to Montreal in the early 1980s and initially working at Potterton Studios as an assistant animator, furnishing the in-between drawing that connect an animator’s key drawings on projects such as the Heavy Metal movie, his first comics work, was Mackenzie Queen, published by Mark Shainblum and Gabriel Morrissette’s Matrix Graphic Series, as a five issue miniseries, They also ran his strip, “The Jam” as a backup feature in their flagship title, North Guard.
In the middle of all that came Matt Wagner’s offer to draw three issues of his crime comic, Grendel.
“Everything I was doing got put on hold while I worked on that plum job,” Bernie recalled in a 2012 interview with Sequential Highway, archived here on Wayback. “Good times! While Grendel was thematically pretty much at the other end of the spectrum from the light and comedic work I prefer to do, I still had a blast working on the dark, moody story. Matt encouraged experimentation and really facilitated the work, making it all possible. I continued to contribute to that franchise in one way or another for the next decade.”
Despite Matt’s support Bernie’s distinct and innovative comic style meant jobs with mainstream North American publishers proved a rarity, although he did do some work for Dark Horse, Drawn & Quarterly, Slave Labor and DC Comics, including, for the latter, a Riddler strip,” A page from “The Riddler: “When is a Door”, published in the 1989 Secret Origins Special, written by Neil Gaiman, Bernie credited as “BEM”. The strip saw The Riddler’s first appearance in a suit, rather than spandex.
He also worked with Mike Allred on The Everyman.
Bernie instead found some success in comics through self-publishing, his first graphic novel, To Get Her, finally published in 2012 with support from Peter Laird’s Xeric Foundation, republished in 2022 in hardcover by About Comics.
His work is available here on TeePublic, which is still up and running, operated by Eli Schwab, who is aiming to channel sales income to Bernie’s family.
Tributes from Fellow Creators
In a press statement from About Comics, active publishers of Bernie’s work, publisher Nat Gertler says “Bernie was a cartoonist’s cartoonist, better appreciated by his fellow creators than by the comics readership at large. He crafted great work through both hard effort and unique vision; his comics were not a poor man’s version of someone else’s, it was all clearly Bernie. It is not just a sadness but an injustice that the industry was not able to find a proper home for his efforts.This was not helped that his key work was done before collecting storylines into books was the default, and for many years it was just scattered across the back issue bins. As his most recent work had shown, he had lost none of his touch as a creator, still creating lovely work in ink and colour.
When About Comics got the chance to start publishing Bernie’s work, I was both honored to have that opportunity and saddened that it had come to this. (This is a publishing line that subsists not on high investment in creators and generating large royalties, but in keeping both expenses and expectations to a minimum.) Fully warned that the returns would be meager, he still put his effort in, laying out his books by himself, reworking the original The Jam material to avoid some aspects he thought hadn’t aged well, and optimizing the art for the format it’d be appearing in. He brought in new material, fully knowing it would not be financially justified.
“Folks, comics is a great art and a tough business. For those of you who consider yourself fans, particularly of the quirky and outlying cartoonists, the best thing you can do is to support the creator, not only with your purchases, but with your kind words and with spreading the word about their work. The field is filled to the brim with skilled folks who love comics more than it ever loves them back.
“And if anyone out there feels there is no hope, no point to continuing, please reach out for help. Give people the chance to prove you wrong.”
“I couldn’t possibly be sadder than to learn of the untimely death of my one-time friend and Grendel collaborator, Bernie Mireault,” said Matt Wagner. “Bernie and I haven’t been close for many years at this point, but I still marvel at his brilliant talents as a comic artist. His clever, innovative and, indeed, ground-breaking grasp of graphic story-telling mark him as a true genius in our beloved art form.
“Sadly… Bernie was a genius creator who just never quite found the broader audience he so richly deserved. He apparently died in poverty, devoid of much hope. Many readers hailed his talents and held him in a lofty position of artistic honor and respect, but the quirky aspects of his drawing that so delighted the rest of us just never connected with most comics buyers.
“Sadder still, considering the diversity of talent and visual styles that flourish in the industry today… I can’t help but think that if he’d only been born 25 years ago, he’d be a mega-star nowadays – widely read and frequently imitated. I hope that this sad event serves to spark a belated interest in Bernie’s work and exposes his narrative brilliance to an all-new generational audience. But for now, I’m just heart-broken that such a deserved renaissance could only occur too little and too late.”
“[The] proudest thing I ever did in my life was publishing your comics, but also I loved you as a person,” wrote Mark Shainblum, speaking directly to his late friend. “You’re one of the best people I ever knew. I told you that many times, I hope you believed it. Just gutted.”
“I am devastated,” says editor and writer John O’Neill. “I met Bernie in Ottawa in 1985 at a small comic convention, when he was publishing the brilliant Mackenzie Queen. He and Mark Shainblum and Gabriel Morissette used to crash in my parent’s house when they came to Ottawa.
“When I needed a talented and hardworking artist to help me launch Black Gate magazine, Bernie was the first person I thought of. He and Gabriel did half of the art in the first issue, and Bernie was in virtually every issue for the next ten years.
“He was dedicated and funny and immensely talented, and a good friend. We haven’t spoken in a few years, and I haven’t seen him in person this century. If I’d known he was suffering, I would have helped him. I miss him already.”
Above: “Team Jam”, a short story featuring all Bernie Mireault’s characters except Mackenzie Queen and Ududu. “That’s because Ududu doesn’t wear pants and it might upset younger readers,” Bernie explained to Facebook fans
I’m very sorry to hear of Bernie Mireault’s passing,” said artist John K. Snyder III. Bernie inked a lion’s share of my pencil work on Matt Wagner’s Grendel: The God and the Devil story arc, and we were all fortunate to have him on board as part of the team. Bernie was a true comic book genius, I also loved his work on his own books The Jam and Mackenzie Queen and so much more, he will be sorely missed.”
I’m devastated to learn of the death of an artist whom I’d admired and called friend,” commented comic creator Rob Walton. “Bernie’s work on Grendel (a vital page of which I own) inspired my own Grendel story which Bernie then coloured so brilliantly. I’m deeply saddened and shaken by this sudden news. He was a greatly loved talent and person. My heartfelt sympathies go out to his family and closest friends.”
Paying tribute, Montreal artist and Bernie’s friend, Howard Chackowicz, posted the following tribute, inviting sharing…
“I am completely heartbroken to say that my dear, dear friend, the great artist/cartoonist Bernie Mireault has passed away, by his own hand, this Monday.
“I’m devastated, so I will keep this brief (while I hope many out there, fans and comic book historians will never stop writing and talking about him):
“Bernie was a wonderful friend (truly like a brother to me). I can’t tell you how much he’s helped me over the years, what a great, great person, I love him so much. My heart and soul goes out to his two sons and his three sisters, his family and friends.
“Bernie was an incredible, important and influential artist – there should be and there will be lots written about him now, you’ll see. It’s cruel that this happens to great, under-appreciated artists after they die. I think many of us feel that there could have been much, much more support and respect for Bernie while he was alive. Thanks to the many, many of you who did love, appreciate and support him and his work.
“Bernie was a great songwriter, too. One of my great pleasures in life was drumming with him in his band Bug-Eyed Monster (as did the wonderful painter and drummer Mark Lang); Bernie wrote such beautiful, catchy tunes (you can find ’em on Youtube).
“Bernie Mireault, like Henriette Valium (two giants of comix and art in Canada/Québec) died in poverty. That’s one of the main reasons Bernie gave for taking his own life – poor health, no money, no hope.
“Both these great artists did everything right: they mastered their craft, they worked very hard and put out a ton of great and important work over decades, they worked hard at promoting themselves and being good ‘community’ members… it’s criminal that internationally well-known and respected artists like these died in poverty.
“Bernie always championed other artists, too – he was just such a great, great, wonderful human being and all of us who knew him will miss him so, so very much. Bernie’s work was very important to him, so please everyone – feel free to search out his work, read his comics, write about him, talk about him, publish his work, play his music, call his name from the mountain-top… The Great Bernie Mireault, rest in peace my dear pal.”
Our sympathies to family and friends at this difficult time.
Bernie Mireault (1961-2024)
If you are struggling with difficult feelings, you do not have to do it alone. Help and support is available right now if you need it. In the UK, the NHS has a list of contact numbers here
WEB LINKS
• Bernie’s work is available here on TeePublic, which is still up and running, operated by Eli Schwab, who is aiming to channel sales income to Bernie’s family
• Back issues of The Jam and other titles by Bernie Mireault are available from About Comics
• The Jam: Beginnings is available here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) and here from Amazon.com
Gordon Kirby is one laid back individual… but when duty (or boredom) calls, he dons his homebrew hero outfit and patrols the streets and rooftops of Montreal as The Jammer! Collected here for the first time is the original five-issue storyline of Bernie Mireault’s cult favorite alt hero series The Jam: Urban Adventure, newly remastered and enhanced by Mireault himself. As an added bonus, the book leads off with a series of shorter pieces that appeared in New Triumph Featuring Northguard and The Jam Special.
• To Get Her is available here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) and here from Amazon.com
Years after hanging up his hero costume, The Jam star Gordon Kirby finds himself facing something more difficult than any villain that might stalk the streets of Montreal: the complexities of a mature relationship where the romance has faded.
• Bernie Mireault’s The Jam on Facebook
• Grand Comic Database: Bernie Mireault
Words from Bernie
“Humour is important to me because out of everything I’ve experienced in life the entertainment arts are what have given me the most pleasure. I especially enjoy being made to laugh. To make others laugh seems like a worthwhile thing to do. You give people pleasure and help lighten things up. It’s a challenge. Also, I think humour is an effective vehicle for philosophically-based anthropological observations. The truer it is, the funnier. Monty Python has always impressed me more than Aristotle. To be light and heavy simultaneously seems like magic.”
Speaking to Sequential High in 2012, interview archived here
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comics, downthetubes News, Features, Obituaries
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