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.

The Crystal Fractal Universe unnecessarily simplified.

In 1596, Natanael de Velazquez gathers members of his secret order to attempt a Crossing.  the goal of the Crossing was to seal off a portal to another world and stop the looming threat of invasion.  It failed...

Instead, Natanael's companions - including friends and family - were scattered through time, space and dimension...

...and the very threat they were trying to stop was made real as the Crystal Fractal - the physical embodiment of the connections to all realms - was shattered into a 1000 shards - each now capable of opening portals anywhere in space, time and dimension.

And such is the premise of the Crystal Fractal universe.

I recently supported two indiegogo campaigns involving Toronto-based Crystal Fractal Comics, neither of which reached its goal.

I'll be honest, but not give examples; I have seen campaigns that were clearly headed for failure for a variety of reasons. I did not expect CFC to be among them.  They had regular updates, a wide range of perks and a solid number of supporters on Twitter and Facebook.

So I don't get it.  But as a result of being a supporter, what I did get was what I ultimately wanted; the whole line of books published thus far. In fact, CFC was more generous than they needed to be, sending several additional goodies which I appreciated greatly.

When initially looking into the FCF, I wasn't sure about the reading order, but once you're aware of the above it's actually quite simple.  Here's what you need to know:

• The description at the top is laid out in the zero issue.  It's not absolutely necessary to obtain it, but it is very beneficial.
• The two "The Crossing" books are collections of short stories explaining why, of 45 or so invitees to the event, only 15 made it.
• Dr. Twilight #1 and Entropy #1 take place in present times and tell us what some of the characters are currently up to.

As long as you're aware of the "hub" event that is the Crossing, the rest of the books are quite easy to follow.  You can even read The Crossing #2 before #1 because it makes reference to different characters.  Basically, I was making it complicated for myself.

Now being that the Zero Issue is so helpful, CFC makes the most significant portion of it available for free on their website.  Click on the image below to read the seven-page story that sets the universe in motion.

The Crystal Fractal books can be ordered online from their blog, however I think I would suggest writing to a member of the team prior to ordering.  The shopping cart function automatically adds $3 per book for shipping so an order for the whole line (including Redorik) would tack on another $15.  You're looking at about $40 for five books, which is probably a little steep for people looking to take a chance on a largely unknown product.  Maybe write in and see if the shipping costs are accurate.

"The Legion: Magic" available very soon

I noticed during preparation that this will be post # 200 for me.  The subject matter couldn't be much more appropriate as the Legion Unleashed comics were among my inspiration for starting this blog in the first place.

And those books are being re-released, after a fashion.  They will become available in prose format (officially said to be "novellas") instead.  Here's a portion of the Amazon solicitation:

Canada’s greatest heroes have been reborn in a brand new, pulp-style novel series!

As gifted men and women begin appearing around the world, Canada becomes the first country to form a team of super-humans dedicated to protecting the lives and freedoms of all humanity. But heroes cannot exist without villains and as the heroes gather together, great evil also begins to rise; not only from ancient realms but inside the hearts of men and women. It will take a Legion to keep the whole world Strong and Free.

...

The characters and stories in this series are based off the comic book series which was cancelled after two issues. The heroes have been redesigned, the stories updated and the book relaunched. Look for more Legion novels soon!

That's a new-look version of Black Flag on the cover.  I've written about him before; I enjoyed his all-too-few appearances in large part because he was the exact opposite of what you'd expect from a Canadian superhero.

I was initially a little surprised by the character's new image, but it grew on me quickly.  Simple reason: When I first laid eyes on him, I immediately thought of a Canadian version of Midnighter from the Authority book.

Truthfully though, I have no idea whether Black Flag was actually inspired by Midnighter.  But if one character reminds you of another so quickly, whether due to design or (and?) personality, that may not be a good thing.  Black Flag's new look goes a long way towards avoiding that, so I welcome it.  In fact, since the pitch implies that the whole team went through redesign, I'd be interested in seeing what the other characters now look like (sound like a blog entry of your own, Rick? ;-) )

So book one is about to become available (as I write this, the Amazon page is up, but no price is pricing information is available).  Can we expect the story to continue?  Sure sounds like it! 

I am not sure how many books will be released but I worked on this series in comics for ten years, so there are at least a dozen issues already plotted out that just need to be written up and expanded as novellas.

Legion isn't the only superhero offering from writer Richard Evans.  He has also penned another novel called Earth Man, also featuring a Canadian character.

In order to protect itself from an alien scourge, the planet Earth chooses a good-hearted Canadian to infuse with great power. Danny Boyle finds himself gifted with superhuman abilities and suddenly his simple life in Kelowna, British Columbia is turned upside down.

Three monsters no bigger than a flea descend to Earth, burrowing into the flesh of the living creatures of the planet and changing them into the perfect hosts. Their hunger has taken the Growth across the stars and they have left a thousand dead worlds in their wake. Mankind has no idea that evil now walks among them and Danny must quickly learn to decipher the strange clues the animals and the trees are sending him.

With the power of Earth’s animals at his command, Danny must find the hero inside of him before everything he knows and everyone he loves is lost.

Click on the cover to be taken to the Amazon page from which you can order the book.

Heroes of the North Novel and Season Two Character Guide

I haven't written about Heroes of the North much lately.  It's sometimes a little tricky with that bunch; Their reach is so far greater than mine that it feels pointless.  Plus, if I wrote a post every time they have something interesting to announce or mention, three quarters of my blog would be dedicated to repeating them.

There are a couple of items that I want to shine my little spotlight onto though in a "in case you missed it" kind of way.

Earlier this week, I received the signed copy of October Dawn that I ordered during the HotN's recent indiegogo campaign.  I'm only a few chapters in, but I'm already struck by how well writer Alan Draven has captured each character's "voice".  For example, 8-Ball's dialogue "sounds" like what I would expect to hear from him in any given web episode (profanity included).  If Draven had no prior involvement with the writing of the web  episodes, then he did a good job of transferring the personalities and relationships to the print format.

There is also a clear intent to include as many (all?) of the large cast of characters as possible.  That's not to suggest that those characters are being shoehorned into the story; They all (at least to this early point) have their part to play, well within the role that has been established already in the comics and episodes.  In particular, it's good to see Pacifica have a significant early appearance in the story.

Let's use the mention of a large cast as a segue to a neat feature the HotN crew have added to their website. They now have a page dedicated to displaying basic designs and bios of incoming Season Two characters.  Check that out here.

While I enjoy seeing the costume designs a great deal, I'm particularly excited at the hints at upcoming material.  Borealis, for example:

Origins: Find out in the upcoming Season 2 minisode and the Season 2 comic book story POLAR OPPOSITES by Christian Viel and Daniel Wong. Coming soon!

Will do!  Among those, the one I fond most interesting is for a character named Yellow Knife. 

Origins: Find out in the upcoming SEASON 2 minisode guest-starring Crimson called THE SWEETEST CUT, coming soon!

Guest-starring Crimson indeed!  A while back, it was pointed out that the back-story between these two characters goes back some ways.  An early photograph of Crimson displays a specific, eye-catching item tucked in her belt.

I don't believe it's appeared in any other story or promotion, but nonetheless, it's a neat set up.

The Heroes of the North team recently wrote (on Facebook) about the a busy week ahead in preparation for the Jackpot Origins episode.  While they create all the Season Two goodness, their Legacies graphic novel should be available in the first couple of months of the new year.

The Misfits

MISFITS is the story of a ragtag, disorganized superhero team trying to get its act together. This is proving to be difficult when they spend more time at the bar than they do fighting crime.

Things get even worse for the Misfits when their most powerful member, Demonman, leaves the team to pursue a "regular life."

In this issue Demonman's new job interferes with his first date with a girl he's had a crush on for a long time. He also has problems with his landlord regarding his rent.

Oh yeah - and the Misfits battle a drug-addicted gorilla.

Misfits was produced by an international team of comic book creators.

Writer/Creator Brandon Rhiness and fellow Misfits creator Adam Storoschuk live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

www.thehigheruniverse.com

I don't know what caused me to check for Can-Con when I first spotted the cover for Misfits #1 online.  Perhaps it was the inclusion of beer as a key story aspect that tipped me off to the possibility. ;-)

Reading the book, I'm reminded of the tagline for the movie Shaun of the Dead: "A Romantic Comedy.  With Zombies".  Though it contains its fair share of action, Misfits is primarily a "slice of life" type of book.  With superheroes.  And a zombie, come to think of it.

The story takes place in New Edmonton City (what happened to the original Edmonton??) shortly after Demonman has left the Misfits.  The creator biographies include a mention that the book was originally called "Demonman" and he is without a doubt the primary character. 

This first issue very capably does what it should; set the stage.  We now know what constitutes a standard day for Demonman and The Misfists and what challenges they face in reaching their respective goals.

Demonman tries to get a job, he tries to get the girl, but the aspect of his former team trying to get by without him is interesting as well.  Their difficulties are exacerbated by a local "Super Team" that is far more marketable to the general public than a gathering of beer drinkers and potheads like the Misfits.

Scripts for future issues of the series, and other projects by Higher Universe, are available on their website.  Among those other projects is a seven-part (at least to this point) series about a Misfit member named Grindcore and a solo issue about the previously-mentioned zombie character, and annoying mirror-enthusiast neighbour to Demonman, Elvis Brewer.

But first, the second issue of Misfits should be available sometime in the next few weeks  Here is the solicitation for that book.

The Misfits move into their new home and headquarters and it looks like the place might need some repairs.

A telepath from another planet joins the team and goes on a double date with Demonman.  Things do not go as planned.

The introduction of Telex coming in Misfits #2.

Hey, doesn't that guy look familiar..? ;-)