While Kate Beaton is largely known for her very funny comics about literature and history (notably in her collections Hark A Vagrant and Step Aside Pops) and is loved for her humourous comics about visiting her family over the holidays, my favourite of her works is Ducks, a short series that explores Beaton's time working in the Canadian oilsands (by every account I've read and from friends who've worked there, a terrible place).

The work balances really well the largescale environmental issue with the individual personal dramas that swallow everyone regardless of their exterior contexts.

It will probably take you ten minutes to read. Maybe less. It's worth that time.

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