[LINK] "Meet Jeff Lemire — the next big thing"

[rfmcdonald]

In MacLean's, Scott Reid profiles Jeff Lemire, the comics writer who has become the next big thing. (I like his ongoing team book Extraordinary X-Men, for whatever it's worth.)

One afternoon, 10-year-old Jeff Lemire bounded off the school bus, marched up the drive to his family’s farmhouse in Woodslee, Ont., and announced that he required a secluded place to work. Gathering up plank and nails, the future New York Times-bestselling graphic novelist scaled the huge maple that threw shade onto his father’s barn. With typical diligence, he hammered a seat between two branches.

In the months that followed, young Lemire spent every hour unclaimed by school, chores or sports perched up there—reading superhero comics, sending his mind elsewhere and creating his own stories. “Jeff just liked to be by himself with the quiet,” explains his mother, Mary Ellen.

Almost 30 years later, Lemire still craves solitude. In a modest studio tucked off Toronto’s Queen Street East, he logs eight to 10 hours a day bent over his drawing board. But he’s finding it harder and harder to get people to leave him alone. Success draws a crowd, and with Hollywood, CBC and book publishing giant Simon & Schuster all eager to share his stories, Lemire’s particular brand of success is on the brink of being impossible not to encounter. Soon, it won’t matter if you read comic books or not. You’ll have to climb a tree to get away from the guy.

Giller prize-winning author Joseph Boyden recalls vividly his first reaction to Lemire’s writing, “I thought, ‘Holy s–t—this is brilliant.’ ” Years later, Boyden has become a close friend. He still raves about Lemire’s ability to “take simple, classic stories and put his own stamp on them.”

At a glance, it’s hard to square such superlatives with the 39-year-old husband, father and comic book creator. Bespectacled and unassuming, Lemire seems entirely normal. In fact, he is a mutant. But not the sort with adamantium claws. His superpower is the ability to combine remarkable creative range, a Galactus-sized fan base and enormous critical appeal.