Northern Light pinup

If you've ever spent any amount of time looking up Canadian superheroes other than Alpha Flight, you've come across the usual suspects; Nelvana, Captain Canuck, etc.

Many sources will also refer to a character named Northern Light who was first introduced in Orb magazine #2 in 1974. Pretty well any mention of the character will display his one cover appearance for that mag.


Groovy, daddy-o!

I had an opportunity to get my hands on issues 4 and 5 of that magazine, in which Northern Light's origin story is told, so I jumped at it.

The above picture is quite cool, but it fails in one area; it does not properly highlight Northern Light's boss fu manchu mustache. It is displayed a bit better in a full page pin-up in #4.


Seriously, there was a lot to like about this character. He had a dramatic origin, spectacular abilities, a secret fortress "somewhere in northern Canada" and was a part of an alien research organization. It's too bad the bulk of his appearances are short stories in four issues of Orb.

I may also try to land this book. By the time it was published, Northern Light had had something of a makeover, but I'm not sure it was an improvement (though admittedly, the original started to look dated very quickly). Thankfully, the new look did not involve losing the fu manchu.