Via Règnes Modernes, illustrated by Paolo Loreto

Joséphine Savard

Arts & Culture Correspondent

Dawson is comprised of over 1 000 hardworking faculty and staff members. One teacher marking the Dawson community through his creative approaches to education is Yann Brouillette. A chemistry professor of the college since 2009, some students may know him from his ChemCurious YouTube channel, where he makes learning chemistry fun through short-form video content. 

In 2023, Brouillette was the recipient of the Beaumier Award for High School/CEGEP Chemistry teachers in Canada for his devotion to creative pedagogy. His knowledge of chemistry overflows into projects outside of traditional teaching: in addition to his YouTube channel, he dives into the world of comic book scriptwriting. 

A forever passion of his, he owes comics for sparking his interest in science. Throughout his studies, he would turn back to the characters he knew, asking himself, “What would the X-men do with [new scientific breakthroughs?]” Eventually, his general interest in the comic world morphed into a curiosity for what alternate endings to classic stories could look like. This led to pitches of four-page stories, then eight, then 24, and, finally, 48 pages. 

“Scriptwriting, to Brouillette, is about transitioning from being a passive reader of comic books to participating in the process of creation. “

Fast forward to March 27th of 2026: people line up in dozens, awaiting Brouillette’s signature in their personally purchased copy of Règnes Modernes. Released in Québec that very day, Règnes Modernes is a collaboration between Brouillette and comic book artist Paolo Loreto. In the comic, living beings’ roles are reversed: anthropomorphic animals are the dominating beings of the world whilst humans act as the inferior wild species. 

The comic asks, “Si les animaux pouvaient parler, serions-nous aussi cruels envers eux?” The behaviour of the comic’s characters and its world building act as an effective critique of how modern society treats animals. When asked why he chose to deliver this critique through reversing the roles of humans and animals, Brouillete responded, “Since I can’t exactly unleash enraged wolverines on people, I figured I could at least depict that reversal in a comic book.” His aim is to evoke the reader’s empathy for the cruelly treated humans…as if they were animals. 

Indeed, humans evolve throughout the story and eventually become sentient beings, expressing messages similar to those shared by animal rights activists: “Je ne suis pas une chose! On a le droit d’habiter cette planète autant que vous! On est plus que des ressources naturelles à exploiter.” Brouillette imagines that, if earthly animals could talk, they would claim rights to their lands and their freedoms as Kooky/Eugénie, the main character, does in Règnes Modernes. 

The book is also infused with scientific references, from spectroscopy technicians to pandemics. If you look close enough, you may even recognize the university that the main characters visit on page 22! 

Beyond harnessing his experience as a Dawson professor in advising his illustrator on drawings of fictional universities, Brouillette applies his knowledge in chemistry to the stories he scripts. To him, “In science, many concepts are abstract, so storytelling becomes a powerful tool for making them accessible.” Just as Isaac Newton’s discovery of the second law of motion is remembered by the image of an apple falling on Newton’s head, Brouillette hopes that the comic’s visual representations of scientific concepts will anchor the material he addresses in his stories.  
The end of Règnes Modernes leaves readers on a cliffhanger. Well, according to Yann Brouillette, the story is far from over! A second volume will be released in Québec next month. He and the illustrator are also working on future science-fiction projects. His parting words to me were of another project idea: “I also have a project in mind involving an alchemist professor who gives tons of homework to his students, and they transform into monsters if they don’t submit them before the deadline… no, wait, that’s not a script, that was just a bad dream.”