They Stand on Guard!

I'm afraid I don't have much of an origin story. I'm Canadian and I like Canadian super-heroes!

I started collecting comics as a kid in the early 80's, maybe late 70's, but I've been reading them for as long as I can remember. My first exposure was to black and white French reprints of Spider-Man, Captain America and the Fantastic Four.

I do recall getting Captain Canuck #4...


...seemingly the starting point for many Captain fans, for some reason. My grasp of the English language (being my second language) was not far along at that point so I struggled to follow the story but I thought the art was cool and enjoyed having a Canadian version of Captain America, even at that age (about 10 or so).

Finding subsequent issues of Captain Canuck proved difficult but before long, Alpha Flight appeared on the scene. I picked up the first few issues of their ongoing series, but looking back, I was too young to appreciate them. I was into the Vindicator character but disappointed when he was killed off (little did I know then that he would be resurrected four or five times). From time to time I would get curious about the team again, but they were so badly mishandled that I would invariably lose interest. Fortunately most recent appearances have been more respectful.

During Alpha's long stretches of craptitude, I scratched the patriotic hero itch by finding the rest of the Captain Canuck books and enjoyed them a great deal. I also collected the Northguard books and eventually the "west" version of the Captain.

I read the final issue of the most recent incarnation of Alpha Flight yesterday. Since it's looking like the last appearance of this bunch for a while, I decided to look around a bit for options.

I stumbled into Red Leaf Comics and first heard about something called the Canadian Legion. Then I remembered a mini series called Northern Guard that I began picking up a few months back, as well as the announcement of the Heroes of the North getting picked up by Ardden. It struck me that there are options out there if you're willing to seek them out.

This blog will serve as my personal notebook as I grow and/or organize my collection. Sometimes I'll post about (much) older books that I'm finally getting my hands on, or that I haven't touched in years, other times about new releases, or reprints.

Bottom line, I'll post whatever comes to mind about Canadian superhero characters and if others happen to share the interest, all the better!