Welcome to Giants of the North, a virtual exhibit that celebrates singular, life-long contributions to the art of cartooning in Canada!

2011 Hall of Fame inductee: David Boswell

David Boswell, creator of the iconic underground comics character Reid Fleming: World’s Toughest Milkman, will be inducted into The Giants of the North, the Canadian cartooning Hall of Fame, presented as part of The Doug Wright Awards in 2011.

David Boswell is an Ontario native and graduate of Sheridan College’s film studies program.  Seeking to earn a living in drawing rather than film, Boswell began his cartooning career in 1977, launching his ongoing comic series Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman in 1978.

Based on a childhood bully of Boswell’s of the same name, Reid Fleming is a violent, over-the-top dairy salesman that became a fast favourite of underground and alternative comics fans in the late 70s and 80s. Boswell’s work influenced a generation of alt-comix cartoonists, blazing the trail for independent and Canadian publishing efforts for years to come and presaging the sort of absurdist humour that has shot the ‘Adult Swim’ cartoons to worldwide popularity.

Recently, American publisher IDW has signed on to collect the complete adventures of Reid Fleming in a pair of oversized hardcover graphic novels. The first collection debuted at the end of 2010, with the second collection expected in late 2011.

David Boswell will participate, sign, exhibit, and participate in programming at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival with the support of The Doug Wright Awards and The Beguiling Books and Art.

Previous Inductees

A listing of the previous inductees into our Hall of Fame,founded in 2005 as part of the Doug Wright Awards.