Drawn & Quarterly (@dandq.bsky.social)

Cannon by Lee Lai review – a graphic novel of emotional awakening laced with horror and humour The author of Stone Fruit returns with the story of a young queer Chinese woman struggling to express her emotions and be heard * Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email In the opening scenes of Cannon, Quebec-based Australian cartoonist Lee Lai’s second graphic novel, a flock of magpies sits in a dark, empty restaurant. Tables and chairs are toppled – condiments, cutlery and smashed plates litter the floor. A solitary figure sits among it all, huffing and puffing, unbelieving of what she’s done. It’s a striking way to begin a story, and a hell of an introduction to a character who’s usually not much like this at all. The titular Cannon (Lucy to her family) is a queer Chinese woman on the “uncool side of [her] twenties” living in Montreal in 2017. The narrative winds back to a few months earlier, then Cannon’s adolescence, to reveal what led her to this breaking point. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/sep/26/cannon-lee-lai-review-meditative-graphic-novel-horror-and-humour?CMP=aus_bsky