Anyone who’s lived in Montreal for any period of time is probably familiar with, or has at least glanced at, the work of Rick Trembles. He’s a longtime stalwart of the punk/alternative music scene, not to mention a mainstay of English-language underground comics in Quebec. 

When I first arrived in Montreal in the late 1980s – fresh from the wilds of Alberta and looking to make my own mark on the cultural scene – Trembles’ angular, robotic-looking characters were plastered on gig posters, lampposts, and construction hoardings all over Mile End. I myself “borrowed” a couple of these posters for my own tiny apartment on Park Avenue, just above a swanky Greek restaurant. His comic strip, Motion Picture Purgatory, also appeared in the Montreal Mirror, where I was the weekly art columnist before that late, lamented rag vanished years ago. 

I’ve seen his band, The American Devices, play at a few different venues. Trembles was always a slightly grouchy guy who kept to himself, dressed in skin-tight leather and sunglasses. I thought he looked like a member of the Ramones. One of those times his band played in drag. But even in a torn-up dress with Bride of Frankenstein skunk stripes on either side of his pitch-black mop of hair,  it was still easy to guess what subculture he was favouring…

Montreal was once known as an easy city to be poor in and a haven for artists. But times have changed, as they have across much of the continent. Anyone who’s been following headlines, or even trying to survive on their own terms, has read the stories about increasing levels of homelessness, and “skyrocketing” (I hate that word now!) rents. 

Gesticulating Gentrification is Trembles’ tale of his personal housing woes, told in graphic memoir fashion. His father was a noted comic book artist and illustrator in the 1950s and ’60s. Trembles grew up in a family bungalow in a nearby suburb, and hung out in lofts with girlfriends, cockroach-infested “digs,” and other various locales, almost like a punk rock version of Harry Potter.

The book follows our hero through many different precarious living situations. He deals with mouldy furniture, voracious bugs of different sizes, and even rodents. Soft-heartedly, he rescues a mouse from a “sticky trap” in which it had broken a leg, and keeps it, along with its grey, furry companions, in a terrarium.

The reader gets a detailed look at his adventures in a graphic style reminiscent of a construction blueprint. Panels take up a single page and are crowded with figures and events. Villainous landlords show up; with their round heads and moustaches, they resemble the Monopoly mascot. Trembles must face these bad guys, and is often forced to retreat to Daddy’s place in Saint-Lambert or other locales. 

The book bogs down a little in these sections. One confrontation is quite like every other, and while the story seems completely believable, perhaps something more fictional might have been more entertaining… Even I, an English-speaker who has made many trips to the Régie du Logement for various reasons, occasionally found myself confused as to what was going on in certain places. 

Trembles also hints at other stories that I would have liked to read about, such as his encounters with one of the former editors of Vice magazine (and co-founder of the Proud Boys), Gavin McInnis. Still, Gesticulating Gentrification is a harrowing read, and an important cultural record of a difficult time in our history.mRb