Cartoonist brings Labrador childhood to life in 'visual memoir'

An artist is putting pen to paper to revive his boyhood memories of growing up in Labrador, filled with berry picking, firefighting and hijacking.

Snowden Walters has drawn more than 200 comics, called Sculpin Tickle, based around his life in 1960s and 1970s Labrador, which he posts to social media.

Walters, who had a career in shipbuilding as well as music and illustration, recently started the comic. He attributes the work to having more free time.

"I just thought maybe I'll start writing down some of my memories," Walters told CBC Radio's Weekend AM. "It's kind of a visual memoir."

Walters now lives in Maddox Cove. His stories touch on familiar themes like berry picking, wildlife, vacations, trains, bottle returns, high school and the hijacking of QuebecAir in December1972, when he was 14 years old.

"Little old Wabush Airport? A hijacking?" he said. "It was incredible."

Another series of comics recalls his memories about forest fires. When he was 12, he and fellow Boy Scouts were given water packs with hoses to help fight a blaze.

"They'd drive into where the fire had been and we'd all hop out and start hosing down hot spots and then head back to the truck to refill and do that until our water was gone and do it again until the wind changed basically," said Walters.

Another comic was on an annual raffle held around the same time as the winter carnival. Walters said a local social club would get an old vehicle, drain it of its fluid, and tow it onto a frozen lake. People could buy tickets and guess when the vehicle would go crashing through the ice.

"You wouldn't do that now," he said.

His family moved north of Labrador West in 1960 and then relocated to Labrador City in 1962, where he started kindergarten.

"I went right through high school and lived there on and off for a few years afterwards while I attended college. And so the last time I lived there permanently, it was 1983," said Walters.

His comics have prompted renewed connections over social media with people he knew growing up.

"We're in a very unique place in time and our history because it was the leading edge of the mining technology that started when the Iron Ore Company got us going up in Labrador West," said Walters.