By Kian Samavati

We’re regularly (often daily) faced with a social media onslaught of the biggest headlines and gossip from across the world. This global focus can give the impression of declining interest in – and coverage of – the more down-to-earth buzz around one’s local community.

Such was the plight of Jeremy Klaszus, founder and chief editor of The Sprawl, an independent media outlet founded and operated in Calgary. The Sprawl was awarded the 2023 Alberta Magazine of the Year by a panel of industry experts, and was also winner of this year’s 2023/24 Innovation Award for their Curious Calgary zine series.

Jeremy has been heavily involved with Calgary’s media industry for 20 years, writing for Fast Forward Weekly, Calgary Herald and Metro, and even working as a radio reporter for CBC. As a result, he’s had a lot of experience dealing with the hustle of fast and snappy journalism over his career.

Jeremy created The Sprawl in 2017 as a “slow journalism” alternative, an “antidote to non-stop breaking news.” The Sprawl aims to go beyond a brief glance at its subjects to deliver deep and informative content.

These stories, delivered through the articles on The Sprawl’s site as well as via their award-winning podcast, are focused on important issues such as water supply, local wildlife, and municipal policy. A major emphasis and theme is journalism that goes beyond surface-level observations and opinion pieces, and focuses instead on in-depth and meaningful coverage.

Perhaps the best example of The Sprawl’s ideologies put into practice is its aforementioned Curious Calgary series.

Sam Hester is the graphic artist behind the Curious Calgary zine (a small-circulation, non-commercial publication), which focuses on informing readers of various odd, interesting, and important historical landmarks and features of the city. Subjects of these comics include the Firestone Tower in Deerfoot, the abandoned J Lead railway line on Blackfoot Trail, even the (since demolished) largest drive-in theatre in Canada, among others. Her teenage son Alec does the research for these stories, and they stick with historical subjects so the zines aren’t time-sensitive and can be enjoyed at any time.

Sam describes Curious Calgary as “little bite-sized stories [that] could spark curiosity about the city. Curiosity is a first step toward empathy, and that’s something we all need more of!”

One of the defining features of Curious Calgary, and part of the reason it won the Innovation Award, is how each story can be downloaded and printed out, designed to be folded into small, easy-to-carry zines. Every Curious Calgary story on The Sprawl website includes a short video of Jeremy showing the viewer how to make their own booklet and pass it around.

This printable feature was a creative response to online limitations that prevented The Sprawl from continuing to share the comics across social platforms. Such an innovation allows these stories about Calgary’s history and cultural significance to be shared across the city, by hand, harkening back to the days when local stories were spread by the act of physically sharing it with others. One Sprawl member has even used the zines in her work with young new Canadians, as an engaging way to learn about the city.

“When we started this series, I didn’t really believe that an old-fashioned medium like a paper zine could make much of an impact, so it’s cool to discover that this medium could be considered an innovation!” says Sam. “The Innovation Award really makes me think about how important it is to be creative with the way we share and consume stories in 2024.”

In a time where journalism is becoming more and more of a fast-paced production line, focused on the forceful grabbing of the reader’s attention, Curious Calgary perfectly embodies The Sprawl’s mission statement of slow, in-depth news – inspiring curiosity about a city and its people.

If you’re interested in other zines about Alberta stories, Sam shared with us the series Ganky Comix by Charles Agopsowicz. There’s also an indie comics community in Calgary called Panel One, with many other comics makers who cover local subject matter in their work. “There are lots of zines about local stories in Alberta – Curious Calgary is just the tip of the iceberg!”