I picked up Ducks because it was nominated by Mattea Roach for the nationwide Canada Reads competition; I knew little else about it, and was surprised to find that a) it was an autobiographical comic, b) written by a Cape Breton native, who c) went to work in the Alberta oil sands, and d) began publishing the excellent webcomic Hark! A Vagrant during that time. To pay off her student loans, Beaton joined the masses from Atlantic Canada heading towards Alberta. The experience was extremely toxic, both for the environment (the title refers to a flock of ducks which died after landing in a tailings pond, causing much PR flailing) and for Beaton personally, who pitilessly details the harassment and misogynism that she faced as one of the very few women in the isolated environment, as well as the huge mental toll that it took on her. Although my own experience in male-dominated workplaces was nowhere near as bad, I still recognized many aspects of the casual workplace misogyny, as well as her unhappy, resigned tolerance of it which mirrored my own; I loved so much the clear-eyed way in which she presented it, even as it hurt to read. I also loved visiting both Cape Breton and Newfoundland as a tourist, and am embarrassed to say that I had no idea of the economic situation that drove so many of the locals to look for work elsewhere. The comics are simple, but poignant and very human; in one exchange, Beaton says to her truck driver from Newfoundland, “were you a fisherman, before?” He responds simply, “I’m still a fisherman. I’m just here.” And then the comic zooms out to show the pickup driving through the snowy mine, against a background of heavy equipment, a steep cliff face, and a black, empty sky.