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Sunday, December 29, 2013

JLoC and the Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers

The Toronto Star has been quite supportive of Jeff Lemire's upcoming Justice League Canada work.  It may be coincidental, but the majority of articles that I find in regards to the book (coming in May) are from that publication.

Lemire appears in their "people to watch" section this morning and a few additional details are revealed about JLC.  The complete version is right here.

The action takes place in northern Ontario, in the largely Cree communities of Moosonee and Moose Factory, just south of James Bay. Isolation, a theme that runs through Lemire’s work, is a fact of life in these towns, which are not accessible by road.

Lemire won’t reveal the complete makeup of the superhero team just yet. Animal Man and Green Arrow will be there, and the big three — Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman — won’t. The iconic characters that do appear will be helped by a new Canadian superhero Lemire has created.

She’s a 16-year-old Cree girl attending a Moosonee high school. It’s too early to divulge her powers, name or costume, but a recent trip Lemire made to the area gave him the idea for her qualities.

He discovered what First Nations call the “Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers,” based on the words wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility and truth.

“I thought, Oh my God — that’s the archetype for a great superhero,” he says, sitting in his cosy Toronto studio in Leslieville.

“If I’m going to do something in Canada, addressing our First Nations is important because it’s a side of our Canadian identity that’s often overlooked,” adds Lemire, who has a 5-year-old son. “I also felt that First Nations youth could use a positive role model — they have so many hardships.”
The article goes on to mention that "so far" he has produced six issues of Justice League Canada (or Justice League *of* Canada, whatever). Now I don't know that anyone expected this to be a permanent change, so six is probably the most anyone could wish for. The speculation is, and I hope it turns out to be accurate, that this will lead to a number of regular Justice League books based in different countries / areas. And perhaps Justice League Canada can then become a book of its own.

In terms of the cast, it was announced earlier in the year that Adam Strange would be "reimagined" as a Canadian character so there's no question that he's in the book, if not an official member.

What I'm still waiting to see is whether Booster Gold is involved.  The New 52 version of the character was said by DC Comics editors to also be Canadian but, that I know of, this was never confirmed in-story.

This would seem like a good opportunity to do that, but based on the articles and interviews I've read to this point, only Strange and Lemire's new character will be Canadian.

2 comments:

  1. Seems like those seven virtues parallel the SHAZAM scenario's six powers, don't they?

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    1. Sure does, and looking into more, I came into the following graphic:

      http://mcweb1thumbnails.s3.amazonaws.com/MCI062-L.jpg

      I wonder if the character in question won't have abilities based on the animals showing in that graphic? Seems a bit like duplication if Animal Man is a member, but it would be one way to apply it.

      Like so many fans, I had my own little group made in an RPG years ago. One of my characters had very similar abilities. I just want to say this now because if it turns out that my guess on her abilities is correct, no one will believe me after they're revealed. ;-)

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