You Might Be From British Columbia IF…
September 28th, 2015
Dan Murphy started his West Coast cartooning career doing political cartoons for leftist periodical, The Western Voice. In his 29 years with The Province, he has depicted B.C. manners with his illustrated column ‘Mr. Pundit’. The titles of his two books of cartoons are indicative of this transition towards the mainstream. He first published 101 Uses for a Severed Penis (Serious Publishing, 1994). His charming new collection of classic B.C. attitudes and behaviours is You Might Be From British Columbia If… (MacIntyre Purcell $19.95). Most of the cartoon humour depends on the visuals, but each single, full-page cartoon requires the book’s title as an unseen preface. For instance, You Might Be Be From British Columbia If… You reckon it’s all gone downhill since they cancelled The Beachcombers. You Might Be Be From British Columbia If… You know it will take one heckuva lilting ballad by Sarah McLachlan for B.C.’s noble geoduck to get the respect it deserves. Journalist Geoff Olson’s succinct foreword to Murphy’s collection of mirthful satire makes the following claim that is only refutable if you are old enough to remember Norris cartoons: “…to date no humourist has summed up this beautiful, baffling province with such an economy of line and wit, in one volume. If you catch every cryptic (and cryptid) reference in these cartoons, you will no for certain you are a true British Columbian.” The Nova Scotian press of MacIntyre Purcell has previously published Vancouver Book of Everything, Vancouver Island Book of Everything, Vancouver Island Book of Musts and Vancouver Island Imagine. In 2013, Dan Murphy was himself a newsmaker when his video about Enbridge was censored by his brass at the Province. He since resigned from the Vancouver tabloid. 978-1-927097-88-5
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