Tags: Red Leaf Comics, Heroes of the North, are "it".

As I write this, the most "tagged" publisher in the past year and change of posting about Canadian heroic character types is Marvel Comics with a healthy 26.  That's hardly surprising; Marvel has an all-Canadian superhero team.  They often treat them like moose shit, mind you, but they still have them, as well as several other Canadian characters that aren't necessarily connected.

Next up is DC Comics with 17 tags.  A significant portion of those were the result of trying to change the "DC has no Canadian characters" perception.  They actually have several, though they have little connection to one another and are seldom used.

Next up?  Red Leaf Comics with 12.  Heroes of the North have the same number under the characters/titles category.

For a company based out of Arizona, I sure do talk about Red Leaf a lot, eh?  The reason why is actually quite simple: They make it easy to.  And it's something a lot of small publishers could learn.

The most frustrating thing about trying to be supportive of smaller publishers is when they won't "let" you.  For example, I recently wrote to two Canadians to ask if the publisher they were presently working for/with had other Canadian talent on board.  One didn't respond, the other confirmed there are others but didn't elaborate (the response was about five words long).

Also fairly recently, I offered to buy one publisher's entire line of books if they could give me a grand total price which includes shipping.  I never received a final answer, so that money remains unspent.

What does Red Leaf do differently?  A few days ago, publisher John Michael Helmer provided a digital copy of The Leaf #4 for me before it becomes available for purchase.  John has nothing to lose; I'll buy the print version regardless.  I've also received preview art from Red Leaf in the past.

Now I may not be able to provide John with a huge amount of exposure in return, but there's also no sense (from his perspective) in leaving stones unturned.  Some publishers get this, others don't.  Heroes of the North are friggin' unbelievable at it.  They manage social media as well as anyone I've seen.  Nearly 5000 Facebook fans and almost 30,000 Twitter followers speaks for itself.  They engage their fan base by making them feel appreciated and involved.  A few months ago they asked their fans to come up with names for characters based out of specific provinces, and to vote on uniform designs.  That's fun for fans.

Another example?  Andrew Lorenz over at September 17th Productions has sent me preview art for his Legacy book.  I haven't bought a single thing from this guy, he just appreciates that I'm interested and wants to keep that interest up.  Imagine that concept.

A few months ago I joked with Charlie McElvie, father of the Watchguard Universe, that if he made a Les Superieurs t-shirt available, I'd buy it.  So what did he do?  The obvious.  He called me on it.  Charlie made the shirt available, I bought it. What did this cost Charlie?  Judging from how fast he had the Supérieurs logo up on RedBubble, a few minutes tops.

I'm not sitting here begging for people to kiss up to me.  I know full well that being talked about on this blog is the furthest thing from instant fame and success.

But when you are in a position of selling a product, take any and every opportunity to be seen and talked about, no matter how small.  You never know what it could turn into.  Ignoring or overlooking interest is no way to sell your product.

Tartarus #1 from Mike Campeau Comics

In similar fashion to an earlier post about Pierre Villeneuve's work for Flashback Comics, let's give Mike Campeau Comics a longer look.

Clicking on the above cover will take you to the IndyPlanet page where you just might be able to purchase the book.  I personally can't, and I don't believe the problem is at my end, but maybe I'm wrong and you'll be able to. Good luck!

Campeau was talked about here before for his other book, Krimzon Kaine (see label at right).  This one appears to be significantly different in style.

TARTARUS is a unique supernatural action sci-fi about the co-existence and interactions between ghosts and humans in a fictional metropolitan district area known as Pelican city. This limited series can best be described as a social commentary for young adults, hugely inspired by some of our nation’s most debated issues including: immigration reform, war, and capitalism..

The series mostly revolves around the adventures of VECTOR, a cynical and self-centered ghost with the ability to inhabit people’s bodies and minds. The setback to this gift, or curse, is that if he stays in a human for more than twenty-four hours he loses his memory. In addition to this predicament, Vector tries to survive in a world were ghosts have turned from haunters to becoming the hunted.

Mike's got another project (aside from his work for September 17th's Legacy which, again, was mentioned on the March 2nd post) on the way called Shadowsoul.  Haven't heard much about it in quite some time, but I doubt it's totally shelved.  Here's the cover for that.

Mike is easy to find on the 'net, but probably your best resource is his Twitter account.

Skyfire of Les Supérieurs

Charlie McElvy continues to release pieces of his Supérieurs team as part of his greater Watchguard universe.  See the tag at right for past examples.

Skyfire below is the most recent reveal, although he's been simmering for some time. A work-in-progress image of the character appeared on the Watchguard Facebook page in February 2012.

There is still more to come.  Villains are now being made available, starting with Kodiak, and judging from other past Facebook posting, there is at least one more Supérieur on the way.

Being that these pdfs are detailed bios of characters, including place of birth and/or base of operation, I've taken the time to add the various team members to the map.

Watching this universe grow piece by piece is a lot of fun.  I love how the character designs have similarities, but avoid being near-identical.  Can't wait until the next piece!

Captain Canuck: The Web Series

It's official! We're making a Web Series!
Kris Holden-Reid will be the voice of yours truly and Paul Amos plays Mr. Gold.
Kris and Paul will be signing limited edition posters at the TorontoCon (March 9 + 10), alongside Kalman Andrasofszky and Richard Comely.
Saturday: 1pm at the Silver Snail booth
Sunday: 1pm at the Big B Comics booth
Stay tuned for more announcements

You're damned right I'm staying tuned... :-)

The Red Ensign (Allied Forces)

I may not be able to purchase comics from IndyPlanet, but that doesn't make them entirely useless to me.  I still check the site from time to time to have a look at the new releases.

The following is listed among the new books for March:

I always check international teams for Canadian characters, and was fairly optimistic about this one in light of the subject matter.

Sure enough the "Allied Forces"  appropriately enough have a Canadian character.  Here is her description from a successful Kickstarter project of a couple of years ago.

THE RED ENSIGN. Draped in one of Canada’s historic flags, The Red Ensign can grow to sixteen feet. A towering symbol of her country, she helps bring the Nazis down to size!

Sweet.  I swiped the following image from the Allied Forces Facebook page.

Pretty bad-ass, eh?  Meanwhile, the four gentlemen are, from left to right, The Doomster (Scotland), The Bomber (Australia), Le Coq Gaulois (France) and The Great Briton (England, natch).

Seems like a nice addition to the Canuck pantheon.  Hope to get my hands on this one day, if Sunday Knight Comics makes it available through means other than IndyPlanet.

Pierre Villeneuve and the Flashback Universe

As an addition to the previous post, something else I've seen more frequently than I expected when I began this little project is talent seeking talent, mostly in the form of writers looking for reliable artists.

While this blog is typically devoted to Canadian characters, from time to time I'll try to spotlight Canadian talent in the hope that he or she might benefit from whatever little "exposure" I can provide.  I did so with Mike Campeau and his Krimzon Kaine book last May and it's something I should probably do more often in an effort to be supportive.  it probably won't help, but it certainly won't hurt.

(Campeau, by the way, is working on issue two of his own Kaine book, and has art duties for the Legacy book by Andrew Lorencz's September 17th Productions.  More on that later, but see the expected cover below)

So with that in mind, today I'll direct a little attention to Pierre Villeneuve and his work with the Flashback Universe.

I considered writing about Pierre and the Flashback Universe some time ago, but a post on their Facebook page made it sound like it has been dormant for a few months.  Also, Pierre had not contributed to their blog since November, raising questions as to his current involvement.  Regardless, his talent is still on display on their blog, as well as his Comic Art Fan page.

Among the Flashback Universe's (free) downloads, I would recommend "Same Time Next Year". While not an "adventure" as such, it does serve to display several characters and provide some background information about the universe itself.  The book can also be viewed as a webcomic on this page.  Here is, spoiler free, the final page as a sample.

Pierre's contact information can be found on a fact sheet on his Comic Art Fan page.