ICYMI Art: Polka Dot Pirate by David Cutler

This is a fun piece of artwork I found on Twitter earlier today. While subsequently doing a little digging for details, I found the same image on David Cutler's deviantart page as well, along with his comments which I've copied below.

My favorite of the lost superheroes of Canada's comic book golden age, I guess Polka Dot Pirate only had a handful of appearances, but one of the greatest costumes of all time. I always thought she'd make a great superhero for the Atlantic provinces.  

If you want to read her adventures, you can't. The books are incredibly rare and lost to time. Luckily, my friend Hope Nicholson--responsible already for reprint revivals of Nelvana of the Northern Lights and Brok Windsor, two great volumes you should totally check out--is including the Pirate's adventures in her next kickstarter project. I can't wait to read them!

And therein lies the reason for my digging. I could have sworn I'd located and read the stories a few years ago but damned if I can find them now either in my own collection (digital, of course, I certainly don't have the originals) or online. So Mr. Cutler appears to be correct on that point and he's certainly correct about the Nelvana and Brok Windsor compilations.

As for PDP, here are a couple of images from her original appearances in Bell Features' Dime Comics and Slam-Bang Comics (from 1945 and 1946 respectively). I'm a little surprised that, at least from my recollection, she did not make an appearance in Northern Guard, being that Mr. Cutler drew that book about updated versions of WW2 era Canadian comics characters. Ah well. Maybe another day.