Jeff Lemire's acclaimed comic book, Essex County, will arrive on television soon, thanks to an upcoming adaptation by First Generation Films for the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
Essex County arrived in three volumes — "Tales From the Farm," "Ghost Stories" and "The Country Nurse" — as a collection of stories about life in a farming community in Canada. Each volume focused on a different character and told its story by switching from past to present and back again and dealt with issues such as family, belonging, identity and more.
The first Essex County story arrived in 2008. The trilogy won several awards, including the Doug Wright Award and the Joe Shuster Award, and became a selection in 2011 for Canada Reads: The Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade. Lemire received a nomination for a Harvey Award for Best New Talent in 2008 for his work on the series.
"Jeff Lemire's Essex County trilogy represents one of the most remarkable recent achievements in indie comics: three interlocking graphic novels about the mysteries and melancholy of a small Canadian farming community, rendered in a distinctive style and turned out surprisingly quickly," wrote The AV Club.
At the time, Essex County stood out in a sea of comics and graphic novels, mostly for its rural setting, something Lemire feels is important to the story.
"I just prefer to tell rural stories," said Lemire to Titan Books. "The landscape reflects the kind of characters I like to create and the way I like to tell stories, slow and sparse. Plus, there are already so many comics and stories set in cities and urban centers ... I like giving a different point of view with my work."
Lemire went on to work on Vertigo's The Nobody and Sweet Tooth, as well as DC's Animal Man, Agents of S.H.A.D.E. and Frankenstein. Upcoming projects include Old Man Logan and Moon Knight.
Serving as executive producers on the Essex County television adaptation are Ted Adams, Chris Staros, Christina Piovesan, Aaron Martin and Lemire.
