Canopus #1

Canopus

by Dave Chisholm (Artist)

Helen wakes up marooned on a lifeless alien planet 300 light years from Earth with no memories beyond a hazy sense of extinction-level urgency to return to Earth. Joined by Arther, her strange robot companion, she explores the planet to find materials necessary to repair her ship. However, circumstances are not as straightforward as they seem. Along the way, Helen's most painful memories return as monstrous manifestations hell-bent on her destruction. Canopus is Castaway meets Annihilation, with a healthy dose of "Phillip K. Dick" thrown in for good measure!

Unknown Binding

About the author

Dave Chisholm is a graphic novelist and musician currently living in Rochester, NY where he received his doctorate in jazz trumpet from the Eastman School of Music in 2013. His expertise in music as well as his formal inventiveness within the comics medium has resulted in a string of critically-acclaimed music-centric graphic novels including Miles Davis & the Search for the Sound (2023, Z2 Comics), Enter the Blue (2022, Z2 Comics), and Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California (2020, Z2 Comics). His most recent releases SPECTRUM (Mad Cave Studios)--a trippy exploration of a funhouse-mirror version of 20th-century music history framed by an eternal battle in the realm of music and sound made in collaboration with writer Rick Quinn--and PLAGUE HOUSE (Oni Press)--an inventive rethinking of the haunted house genre made in collaboration with writer Michael W Conrad--demonstrate his breadth.

Hailed by ComicsBeat as "one of the most exciting comic auteurs working in comics today," Chisholm also has a passion for education and teaches comics and music at the Hochstein School and the Rochester Institute of Technology. 

In his free time, Dave enjoys spending time with his wife, son, and cats.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strange. Reminded me of Southern Cross, with the hallucinations and art style... I have no idea where this is going.

[Matt Graupman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right off the bat, I’ll say that “Canopus” was my Most Anticipated Comic of 2020 and the first issue did NOT disappoint. I absolutely LOVED Dave Chisholm’s last graphic novel, the magical-realistic death jazz fable “Instrumental” (and its accompanying album), so I was practically champing at the bit to see what he’d cook up next. “Canopus” is a surreal space opera about a lone astronaut, Helen, who wakes up on a distant planet and must find her way home while coming to terms with her complicated past. It’s a simple setup that lets Chisholm really cut loose and he takes full advantage of that freedom. “Canopus” is STUNNING! Chisholm is a seriously underrated artist (and an extremely creative alchemist with page layouts), equally adept at depicting sparse intergalactic vistas as he is at finding the subtle emotions in his characters’ expressions; think Nate Powell with a dash of Craig Thompson for flavor and you’re on the right track. If the first few dozen pages are any indication, “Canopus” is shaping up to be a wild, cathartic ride and I am fully on board. DON’T sleep on this series!

[Lisa Hochgraf]

I just read the first installment of canopus... I'm hooked and can't wait for the next in the series to arrive.