Haida Manga

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas combines Haida imagery and the storytelling medium of manga to create a unique genre, Haida manga. The name for this style was coined after Michael travelled to Japan; upon seeing his art, Japanese students suggested he was a mangaka (manga artist).

In telling the stories of A Tale of Two Shamans (2001), Red (2009), and JAJ (2023), Michael utilizes a frameline to great effect. The formline is a versatile flowing black-line separating each panel, interacting with the story, and forming a much larger work of art. The 108 panels comprising Red assemble to form a 5x2m mural. Red was based on a true story, passed down the Yahgulanaas family through Haida oral tradition. It follows a young girl and her brother on the west coast of Haida Gwaii. When the young girl is captured, her brother’s thirst for revenge threatens the well-being of their community.

*Please note that some of these works contain adult/mature content

Michael’s 2023 graphic novel, JAJ, originated as a 2x4m mural commisioned by Berlin’s Homboldt Forum, invoking the image of a woven robe. The Haida manga, comprising this mural, explores the tempestuous history of European colonization and the Indigenous peoples on the Pacific coast.