For City Explorers
Über unterwegs: Part 5 Cosmopolis (Toronto)

In "Über Unterwegs: Cosmopolis", Barbara Yelin describes how the radius of life widens. She shows downtown's skyscrapers in twelve pictures - and points out that fewer than 2,000 buildings are still particularly tall there. Yelin shows Niagara Falls - and, next to it: the bizarre casinos, wax museum and the honeymoon kitsch 500 meters into town.

The picture "Toronto":

About the artist Barbara Yelin:

She has drawn for the Frankfurter Rundschau and the Tagesspiegel, publishes books and conducts workshops all over the world. Barbara Yelin is one of the best German-language comic artists.

Travelpedia: Toronto

© Barbara Yelin (Detail)
Toronto is situated on Lake Ontario. In several films, it is disguised, staged as New York: sedate red streetcars and buses, many Victorian houses, cold winters, home of Margaret Atwood and comic-book stars such as Jeff Lemire, Francis Manapul and Bryan Lee O'Malley ("Scott Pilgrim").
© Barbara Yelin (Detail)
The US calls itself a ‘melting pot’ and requires you to adapt. Canada sees itself a ‘tossed salad: not a homogeneous mass but a mixture in which every newcomer can retain his or her shape and form. Since 2016, more than half of all Torontonians have belonged to visible minority groups: white people no longer amount to the absolute majority.

Stefan Mesch about "Über Unterwegs: Cosmopolis"

Yelin’s art begins with drawings, lines in pencil optics. Where other graphic novels go the extra mile and use ink to clearly and cleanly define, demarcate and perfect lines, silhouettes, a range of contrasts, Yelin’s auxiliary lines leave open swirls."

Review

More Comics for city explorers

"Havanna"

In 2008, the German graphic artist, Reinhard Kleist, spent a few weeks in Cuba researching his graphic novel on Fidel Castro. In the process, he also produced a multifaceted travelogue with drawings and sketches.

"Delhi Sketch-Book "

"I think it was the sheer size of this large Indian city, and then the otherness of the visible structure and society compared to here that initially blew my mind,’ says Barbara Yelin, recalling her stay in New Delhi, a city she travelled to for a week in late 2012 at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut.

Tim Dinter: Museumsquartett | Kunstmuseum Basel

"Operation Läckerli"

Travelling to Basel as a member of Monogatari in the 1990s, Tim Dinter is used to fast-paced Berlin. In Basel, he visits museums.

More about Graphic Travelogues

About the artists

Learn more about our well-known artists, including Barbara Yelin, Reinhard Kleist and Sarnath Banerjee. All with proven comic expertise and sometimes with more, sometimes with less travel experience in the respective country.

About Graphic Travelogues

Graphic Travelogues presents travel experiences by comic artists from different countries, illuminates and identifies recurring topics. From sketches to graphic novels, graphic diaries and travel drawings, we collect treasures here and question concepts and motivations, techniques and experiences.

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For City Explorers Über unterwegs: Part 5 Cosmopolis (Toronto)