Captain Canuck returns to comics!

Sweet!  There were rumblings of new Captain Canuck comics from time to time during the build up to the animated series, but writer Kalman Andrasofszky talked about the project at length on this interview with g33kpron.com.

As a way of connecting the legacy classic Canuck to our reboot, each issue has a main story featuring new Captain Canuck, which is the one I’m doing, along with a short back-up featuring a brand new story about classic Canuck drawn by a rotating cast of Canadian artists. Our mandate is to keep all the creative Canadian. There is a lot of Canadian comic book talent that a lot of people don’t even know are Canadian. We want to use this as an opportunity to showcase some of them and to keep it a home-grown product like the original Canuck was. 

... 

It’s a six issue arc that breaks into three 2 issue mini-arcs. It starts out with Captain Canuck and his newly formed organization Equilibrium addressing a crisis in the oil-sands where there’s some crazy things going on and everything’s on fire. That’s a two-part adventure to get us in the groove with the status quo and the cast.

... 

That leads to a bigger mystery/crisis that relates to how Tom (Captain Canuck) got his powers. So the next two issues are his origin in flashback, which ties in directly to the conflict at hand.  Similar to the original Canuck, aliens are involved.  Unlike the original, that is definitely going to be running through the series, whereas in the original it was a bit throwaway. 

Unlike the shorts (so far, anyway,) another major character in our series is Tom’s brother Michael. He existed in the original comics, but wasn’t particularly important. In this, there’s very much a Thor/Loki dynamic between the two brothers.

Forget "Canada", the Justice League is now "United".

24 hours after convincing myself to remain excited about Justice League Canada, I admit defeat.  The more I hear about this title, the less I care.

The image posted yesterday was still identified as a "Canadian-based team" by writer Jeff Lemire.  I didn't pick up on the fact that he didn't simply call them Justice League Canada.

And that's because they aren't going by that name anymore.  They are now justice League United.  This was revealed in an article in USA Today...huh...today.

In addition to telling a big honkin' superhero story with his new comic book, Jeff Lemire wants to teach everyone there's more to his native Canada than hockey, poutine and maple syrup.

DC Comics' Justice League of America series ends in April, and then later in the month Lemire relaunches it as Justice League United with a zero issue and a diverse superhero team that will split its time between Northern Ontario and cosmic locales.

Split time?  I gathered there would be some of that with Adam Strange as a member, but now time is split to the point that "Canada" is removed from the title.  Splendid.

"It keeps the book fresh when you have those two very different settings or landscapes to go between," says Lemire, who's working with artist Mike McKone on the new effort.

"It's very much a swashbuckling, world-jumping space adventure."

Lemire was going to call the book Justice League Canada but as he worked out the series with DC co-publisher Dan DiDio and others, "we decided it was a good idea to expand the scope of the series."

There has never been a Justice League team based in Canada, let alone northern Ontario.  How much more "fresh" can that get?

United kicks off with celebrity superheroes Animal Man and Stargirl signing autographs at a convention in Toronto, but duty calls for both up north in Moose Factory and Moosonee near the James Bay coast, just below the Arctic. That's where the main adventure starts and also where the United team will be based after the first arc.

...

"One thing I wanted to do with the book was really touch on every corner of the DC Universe in one team," Lemire says. "Thus the United title."

...

Lemire didn't want to make the mistake that a lot of "cosmic" comics make in that they're too disconnected from the main universe "or what's happening on Earth, basically," the writer says. So United will act as a bridge between worlds — much of the first arc takes place on the planet Rann, which acts in contrast to the heroes' "very stark, rural Northern Ontario location."

And the second arc sends the team off to Thanagar for a story line revolving around Hawkman and his past, Lemire says. "The character is going to continue to evolve, pretty dramatically actually."

So based in northern Ontario, but active everywhere but.  Noted.

The rest of the article, which you can read here, is specific to the Cree character the Lemire has planned and who is my sole remaining reason to give a shit about this book.

The only positive I take from this is that the team can continue to be based in Canada long-term, for what that's worth.  It'll be mostly filled with Americans and aliens, but they'll be in northern Ontario.  On occasion.  Yippie.

Justice League Canada line-up revealed!

The source is writer Jeff Lemire's Twitter feed, so a rather credible source. ;-)

This will be DCComics' first Canadian-based team and will feature a brand new Canadian First Nations superhero.

So much for my prediction that Booster Gold would finally be "outed" as a Canadian.  Including the rather youthful-looking Adam Strange, that'll make all of two Canadians after all (though the newly-created one does sound very interesting.  Check the DC Comics labels at right for more about her, if you missed it).  There are as many aliens on Justice League Canada as there are Canucks.

I love the female content, am not crazy about the male content.  Overall the line-up doesn't set the heart racing but I remain optimistic that it'll lead to bigger things.

Kade comes to Canada!

The last time Kade was mentioned on this blog, it was in regards to a "Canadian Northwest" version of the character that had yet to appear in a book (to the best of my knowledge) other than in pin-up form.

Around this time last year, I took advantage of a winter sale by publisher Arcana and bought the first book in the Kade series, entitled Original Sun.  While contemplating whether I should now buy the second (which I believe to be Sun of Perdition), I inadvertently stumbled upon the answer to my earlier question about Canadian Northwest Kade.

Cain, the first son and the first murderer, has spent a millennia trying to clear his name by clearing the earth of nonhumans. He's down to the final few names on his list, and in 1970s-era Canada, he's located one: Kade! Can Kade elude one of the deadliest men in history as well as a horde of demons hellbent on revenge? It has looked dark for Kade before, but never as dark as in the dim light of a Tribal Sun!

Unfortunately, the book is not available until late May (at least from Amazon).  Since my plan was to read Kade's adventure in chronological order, it might be a while until I get around to gettiong Tribal Sun.  But I'm nonetheless encouraged by the fact that there are still Kade stories on the horizon.  It had been a while since the last one was released and I thought perhaps we had hit all the points in time in which Kade had been involved.  Perhaps that's not the case.

Prior to this little find, I also noticed that some of the early Kade books were being published digitally on Comixology as individual issues.  There are a number of previews by which to get a sampling of what the character is all about and the type of talent that has brought him to life.

More good news: While looking up information about the book, I noticed that Intrinsic 2 is scheduled to be released on Free Comic Book Day this year (May 3rd, 2014).  I enjoyed the first series as a sampler of Arcana characters and will definitely be on board with this one as well.  Arcana has hit 2014 running.

The "F" is for French-Canadian!

That's my personal choice, anyway.

Several months ago, I bought the first issue of a book called The Almighties.  Why?  Because (Canadian) artist Mike Gagnon told people to on Twitter.  So I did.

See?  Marketing IS easy!  Gagnon contributed to the script and colours on the book.

So what was I getting into?

What if the greatest heroes on Earth were teamed up to take on the world’s biggest threats?

Or at least whoever was available was thrown together to deal with some shizzle?

In their Avengers-parodying debut, the mysterious WHITE OUT has brought together a dysfunctional bunch of heroes - MAXI-TRON, MS. F, MASON, NITE FANG and...STEFANOS - to take down ‘threats to America’ - sending them on missions that have comedic nods to all the big Marvel events of recent years, from Civil War to Secret Invasion, SIEGE to Fear Itself!

Action! Adventure! Comedy! Werewolves! Testicular Cancer! Playaz! Nazi Robots! And much more await you in the awesome pages of The Almighties!

Fun read, but at first glance it didn't appear as though there was a Canadian character on the team, so I didn't mention it.

But I stand corrected!  Or at least better-informed!

I recently found out about a free book called Almighties Origins.  I downloaded it and was rewarded with the following panel:

So while it was not mentioned in the first issue, Ms F. is indeed Canadian.  In the part of the book that is  dedicated to her, she visits another Canadian character, a guy named The Kruncher who has confidence issues following a devastating defeat.  The story continues on writer Sam Johnson's blog, the banner for which makes it quite clear that Ms F. is Canadian.  I wish I'd have come across it after reading issue #1.

You can show your support and keep up to date on the team's progress on the Almighties Amass! Facebook page.

Two to watch in 2014

Actually, there are a great many projects to look forward to in 2014, but most have been covered here already.  Heroes of the North plan to have the first episode of their second season online at the end of January (entitled Jackpot: Royal Flush), Red Leaf have plans of their own for Johnny Canuck, the original Nelvana stories are being reprinted, the second True Patriot anthology is on the way, Justice League Canada hits shelves in May, and so on and so forth.

There are two more that come to mind at the moment that I have yet to refer to here.

The first is the Pitiful Human-Lizard.  No, I'm not taking a shot at it; "pitiful" is part of its name.  Here is creator Jason Loo's description.

The Pitiful Human-Lizard is a new comic book series to be released in spring 2014

Created by cartoonist Jason Loo, the comic book follows a struggling superhero making the best of his costumed pastime in Toronto. The series also takes a look at Toronto, its people and their perspectives on the masked superhero.

Sounds like fun.  Loo's decription was lifted from the book's Facebook page, which already has over 250 followers since its creation on December 29th, so it's off to quite a nice start..

The other upcoming book that recently caught my eye is Underworld from Renegade Arts Entertainment.

Loosely based on Homer's classic story, The Odyssey, this graphic novel follows Hector as he tries to regain his sanity whilst navigating his way through the criminal underworld on the streets of Winnipeg.  As he puts the pieces of his life back together, Hector rediscovers his wife and children, forgotten through his madness.  Hector battles to save himself so he can make amends with his family, the chance of redemption tantalizing amongst the inner war in his mind and the physical danger he finds himself part of too.

So not a superhero book per se, but it is the work of two Winnipeg-based creators and being released by an Alberta-based (Canmore specifically) publisher.  Click the image above to be taken to the Renegade Arts Press website page specific to Underworld for future updates.

I should mention that I came across Underworld while looking further into Dept. of Monsterology, one of Renegade Arts' other products.  I took a flyer on it recently and thought it was quite cool.  You can purchase it in digital or print format directly from the RAE website.