Our Semi-Regular Look at Marvel and DC's Upcoming Offerings

We've known for some time that some original members of Alpha Flight were going to appear in this most recent volume of Captain Marvel. The first issue hits shelves on Wednesday but Comic Book Resources filled us in a few days ago when they displayed the preview material below.

It shouldn't bother me as much as it does, but why the hell are Alpha Flight's names so hard to get right? Marjorie Lu botched Northstar's in her X-Men book, and now these writers get Aurora's wrong.

It's Jeanne-Marie. "Jean" is a male name.

I know it doesn't affect the story and is largely irrelevant. But it would have taken 30 seconds to Google her "real" name to ensure you have it right. As it is, it shows a lack of care. And if you don't care, I don't.

And yet they got Langkowski right. Go figure.

Three editors credited on this book, by the way, in addition to two writers. Five people combined whiffed on that error.

Meanwhile DC has decided that if you can't beat them, join them. Marvel leans on its wars, whether Secret or Civil? Well, let's recreate some of our past events too, such as...Bloodlines!!

Written by J.T. Krul
Art and cover by V. Ken Marion
On sale APRIL 6 • 32 pg, FC, 1 of 6, $2.99 US • RATED T 

When a meteor crashes to Earth, bringing with it an unspeakable alien presence that terrorizes a nearby small town, the lucky ones die first. As for the rest, they find themselves locked in a hellish struggle for control of their bodies and their minds. This isn’t just an invasion. It’s an infestation. What would you do if the greatest threat to humanity was hidden away inside you? 

Award-winning writer J.T. Krul (Teen Titans, Green Arrow, Jirni) and superstar-in-the-making V. Ken Marion (All New Soulfire, Jirni) bring you their dark and horrifying science-fiction epic about tortured souls who are cursed to a fate worse than death...much worse.

You remember the original Bloodlines, right? It was intended to launch a whole bunch of new characters and...it failed miserably to do so. But for TSOG purposes, it did deliver some Sparx!

See what I did there?

I've posted about this character a bit in the past. Her real name is Donna Force (nice and easy to remember) and she came from a family of Superheroes based out of the fictional town of Timberton (I believe) in British Columbia.

The above cover to the first issue of Bloodlines certainly seems to indicate that we'll be seeing a redesigned version of her in the book. Honestly, while she's appeared sporadically here and there since her first appearance in 1993, I was convinced we'd seen the last of her.

But who knows if her original origin will have stuck? They made Adam and Alana Strange Canadian, they can certainly decide that Sparx is American, right?

That could be a Canadian setting on that cover. But the infestation is said to hit a particular town. Are all the characters from that one town? If so, I find it hard to believe they'll place it in Canada.

Hey, maybe Donna's just on her way to a shopping trip or concert in Seattle! Whatever works.

Big(gish) News From The Big Two

I was expecting a big announcement from Marvel and/or DC to come out of Fan Expo, similarly to how a new Alpha Flight book and Justice League Canada were announced at past Expo events. Of course, Alpha Flight was scaled back to a mini and Justice League Canada was stripped of much of anything that made it Canadian, so any news would be looked at with a suspicious eye anyway.

Instead, the news came within the last 24 hours or so but predictably involves both of those properties.

First things first, Justice League United is done as of December.

Written by JEFF PARKER
Art and cover by TRAVEL FOREMAN
On sale DECEMBER 9 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • FINAL ISSUE 

Artist Travel Foreman returns for this “trippy” trip to the House of Secrets to reveal at last how Adam Strange came to be trapped in the Zeta Beam! And just what will that mean for the mysterious, reality-warping Breakers that have brought so many disparate heroes and villains to the team?

Can't say I'm crushed, but I'm somewhat surprised. That I knew of, the book was selling well and DC had just installed a new creative team with issue #13. Perhaps early reactions to that new team and direction were not encouraging?

In any event, Equinox ultimately feels like a huge bunch of wasted potential and while I loved the Adam/Alanna Strange designs, I couldn't really think of them as Canadian. I'm sure they'll pop up again somewhere at some point but I won't agonize over it in the meantime.

And following JLU's exit comes yet another comeback by Alpha Flight. In some form, anyway. The Captain Marvel News Twitter account shared some info gathered at the Long Beach Comics Convention.

Let's get some specific quotes from the Comic Book Resources article referred to in the top tweet above.

"[Marvel] wanted to give her a specific mission," (co-writer Michele) Fazekas continued. "I think they wanted to give Carol her own thing that was hers, separate from the Avengers." 

This mission involves Carol being on a space station above Earth -- with some unexpected teammates. "One of the things that's exciting about the space station," (co-writer Tara) Butters said, "is Carol is starting to be Earth's first line of defense -- on the station with Alpha Flight."

Some familiar members, some new ones. Marvel's record with new Alpha members hasn't been very good over the past 20 years or so (Murmur, Flex, Radius, Yukon Jack, Centennial, Earthmover, etc, etc), so I can't help but be a little apprehensive there too.  But honestly, I'd pretty much given up on Alpha Flight so the bar is set pretty low at this point.

Ironically, as Marvel bends over backwards to provide "diversity", Alpha Flight is probably the most diverse team they've ever had. Yet they have been given little attention or respect throughout Marvel's newfound age of enlightenment. Go figure.

Justice League Canada concludes

Justice League United #4 came out yesterday, closing the fledgling book's initial Justice League Canada storyline.

I was originally excited about the book when it was announced as Justice League Canada last year, less so when the name was changed to JLU and the JLC handle was shifted over to the first story arc.  Now the team won't even carry that name going forward so I think we can pretty much set it aside altogether.

Yes, of course it would.

I can't say I hated the book entirely.  Not at all.  In fact, if the expectation of a Canadian team had not been set well before its release, I'd probably be pretty happy with it.

But as I read it, I can't help but notice how little Canadian content there actually is and it irritates the hell out of me.  I'm reading Amazing X-Men right now for the Alpha Flight appearance and even that team has Canadians Northstar and Wolverine among its lineup, so as many Canucks as the JLU includes.

There may be third but without giving too much away to those who have yet to read #4, the story makes it sound like we'll either get her OR Adam Strange.

Admittedly, Alanna Strange could be quite cool.  And of course, there's also our new, much-celebrated Canadian rookie in Equinox...

...who was by and large non-existent throughout the entire story.  In issue four, she appeared in a little more than three pages, which sadly is pretty much her recent average.  Mind you, she does finally get a spotlight in issue #5, due in October, including (main) cover treatment. Her previous cover starring moment was in a variant.

This issue (#5) spotlights the newest member of the team: Equinox of the Moose Cree First Nation! As a rite of passage, Equinox must take down a mystical beast that’s terrorizing her people!

Speaking of covers and the likely disappearance of the JLC name, I won't complain if we lose the so-called Justice League Canada variants.  I made no effort to acquire them because in my opinion, they're weak.  All right, they changed the logo to read "Canada" but so what?  It's otherwise just the same cover with a different background colour, and often not even including the very few Canadian characters in the book.  Big damn deal.

On the flip side, I admit to getting a huge kick from this variant:

It's fun, it's entirely different from the original, it includes a little Canadiana...And it figures, it was done by Montreal's Karl Kerschl.

So what can we look forward to from this team?  Well, September's issue is a tie-in to Future's End, a story which speculates as to the DC Universe's status five years from now.

In the concluding chapter of the epic story that began in this month’s JUSTICE LEAGUE: FUTURES END #1, the armies of Mars rise against the unsuspecting population of Earth – and only the combined might of the Justice League and the Legion of Super-Heroes can stand against them!

Oh, look!  Alanna Strange disappears!  Just like nearly every Canadian aspect from this title!

That's followed by #5 in October, described above, along with an annual.

The Infinitus Saga begins as the Legion of Super-Heroes arrive with the shocking news that the 31st century has been destroyed! Now it’s up to the Justice League United to save the future!

The November solicitations should be available soon, and we'll see what that brings but at the moment I don't know if I'll continue with this book, at least on a regular monthly basis, beyond #5.  I've enjoyed the portrayal of Martian Manhunter and Stargirl but the characters that I buy the book for have too little of a presence for me to bother.

I'd be all over an Adam/Alanna Strange book though...

"Look What I Found!"

I can't pretend that I'm totally caught up in Justice League United.  I find it awkward for the same reason (well, one reason, anyway) that I hated Astonishing X-Men with Northstar and (of course) Wolverine two years ago; There doesn't appear to be a reason for this group to be, or stay, together.  And still along the same lines, I'm not a fan of most of the non-Canadian characters.

But this I enjoyed:

The more I see Adam Strange's updated look, the more I dig it.  That's pretty sleek right there.

Now he does appear to be something of a dork.  Shortly after that panel, he loses control of his flight and crashes.  As he should; I doubt he has much experience with jet packs.  Done well though, watching the hero grow into his role can be very entertaining and hopefully we get to see that play out.

I'm even more hopeful that we get to see Equinox in the next issue since she is a no-show in this one after a well-hyped debut last month.  Puzzling, and frankly, disappointing.

Anyway...We need to acknowledge the possibility that those criticisms will get sorted out later in the story.  Maybe Equinox becomes more prominent.  Perhaps an actual reason for being for this team will be identified.  But early in the game I'm the furthest from being blown away.

Final note: For those who are into such things, Bleeding Cool reported that the second and third issues of the series will also have Justice League Canada variant covers.  Would have been nice to get those in the digital version too, but no dice.  I would at least hope then to have that option with the trade paperback down the road.  We'll see.

We Have a "Justice League Canada" Option of Sorts

Ah, I hate coming across this stuff at work.  I end up distracted the rest of the day because I so badly want to find out everything I can about whatever news I've just heard.

I first saw the cover at right on Bleeding Cool.

...what of those who got all excited about the Justice League Of Canada publicity?

Well, with no restrictions, retailers are now able to order a recoloured version of the issue 1 cover by Mike McKone with a relogoed version as well, reading Justice League Canada rather than Justice League United.

So that’s all right then! And just in time for Niagra Falls Comic Con.

Oh, what a lucky break!

There seems to be a trend of announcing news at Canadian conventions that will undoubtedly be met with great enthusiasm only for plans to change later.  I believe Marvel announced the last Alpha Flight ongoing series at a Canadian Con, but in no time reduced it to a mini.  Justice League Canada was announced by DC at a con in Canada, only for it to be changed to Justice League United a few months later.  The "con" abbreviation is starting to take on a whole different meaning.

But...This is still pretty damn nice, even if the most prominent character is covered in stars. ;-)

While looking for a larger version of the cover, I found a preview of the zero issue on comicbookmovie.com.

I'm embarrassed to note that it's from several days ago.  I have no idea how I missed it.  There's one page below, which you can view in larger form in a separate tab, and clicking on the image will take you to the page from which I copied it to check out the rest.

Got to admit, Adam Strange looks pretty damn cool in that shot.

Justice League United #0 hits stores next Wednesday.

Meeting Equinox

Because this blog is so awesome ;-) you've known for a while what DC's new Canadian character to appear in Justice League Canada United would look like (roughly, because it was quite a small picture).  Sure, DC Women Kicking Ass got credit for it, but I posted it about it more than a week before they did (but their image was far better, granted).

In any event, the young lady in question, code-named Equinox ("real" name, Miiyahbin), was introduced to the world this morning in a CBC article. And damned if she doesn't seem pretty great.

Oh, if you click on the CBC article link, avoid the comments section.  Just the standard narrow-minded sarcasm from the miserable people who frequent those areas of the cbc.ca website.  Trust me on this; your brain will thank you.

Comic Book Resources' Kevin Melrose describes her thusly:

Code-named Equinox, Miiyahbin is a 16-year-old from Moose Factory, Ontario, whose power comes from the Earth and changes with the seasons.

And I love that. I can't think of another character who has an ability with that specific "limitation".

With this revelation, the cover to the issue #0, due in stores on April 23rd, has been updated accordingly.

Supergirl is far less prominent now, which might explain her absence from the cover to #1.  It may be that her involvement is actually quite limited but that's just a guess.

I admit to still being disappointed in the name change from Justice League Canada to Justice League United and with the scarcity of Canadian characters on a team based in northern Ontario. Our new Cree teenager was really the main source of my optimism in regards to this book (I couldn't care much less about most of the rest of the cast) and in that regard, the creative team has nailed it, in my view.  I can't wait to get her complete story.

One last thing: Bleeding Cool clearly has no clue as to what the word "Keewatin" means, apparently because it is spelled slightly differently in the preview material (note the extra "h") and because if Google can't answer the question, no one can (since it's obvious that was the extent of their research).

It means "north wind", which appears to be entirely appropriate to the character, and makes for a nice touch.  Pleased to meet you, Equinox.

Mid-March Leaflets

There are a number of subjects I want to touch on but for which I might not have enough material to build a whole post around, so they're going to get sort of a "bullet-point" treatment.

-- First, congratulations to Jason Loo and his Pitiful Human Lizard project for reaching their Kickstarter funding goal with almost two weeks to spare. For the time being, the campaign header will remain at right in order to (hopefully) help Jason achieve his stretch goals, but the main one has been reached and that's great.

Finances permitting, I may even give my own contribution a bump.  I originally ponied up $15 for the 52 page first issue (shipping included).  I debated increasing that to $30 in order to get a print as well from one of these artists: Kalman Andrasofszky, Evan Munday, Vince Sunico, Eric Kim, Brian McLachlan, Shane Heron, Christopher Yao, Paris Alleyne, Te'Shawn Dwyer, Jahnoy Lindsay or Matt Simas.  The one at right is the Eric Kim one and I dig it plenty, but I have yet to see all of them.  Anyway, it might be a nice addition to the Canuck Hero Shrine.

-- Had a pleasant surprise this morning while looking over the most recent items on Newsarama.  One article featured early June solicitations from DC comics, including a few from their Future's End summer event. Shortly after writing about Plastique's role in that company's universe, she's specifically mentioned in a teaser for the seventh issue of that series.

THE NEW 52 – FUTURES END #7
Written by BRIAN AZZARELLO, JEFF LEMIRE, DAN JURGENS and KEITH GIFFEN
Art by AARON LOPRESTI and ART THIBERT
Cover by RYAN SOOK
On sale JUNE 18 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T 

The two halves of Firestorm encounter big troubles: some personal, some potentially deadly! And Plastique comes face to face with the DC Universe’s horrifying future! Five years from now, the DC Universe is reeling from a war with another Earth, leaving the world unprepared for an approaching evil that threatens to destroy the future. Can a time-traveling Batman Beyond help a massive cast of the DCU’s finest avert the impending apocalypse? Find out in this new weekly series that will forever alter the direction of The New 52!

How about that?  I know very few people care aside from myself, but for those who do, there are big zings ahead for our girl!

-- I stumbled into Saint John, New Brunswick based Water Front Studios recently.  Their Facebook page is quite active, and one recent wall post included an image of Red Leaf's flagship character.

Thought I would share a little project we are working on,..the Leaf!..with writing by Paul Beale penciling by Kinosuke Bintuo Edan and inking by yours truly!..this is Red Leafs main character who meets Paul's own character Stun Ray and of course a battle of forces ensues!  This will go along with our newest story that will be featured in Manga Ganda #3.  This is a long way off but since my artist did such a bang up job on the pin up pages of the character I wanted to give you a preview of our up coming project!

The first issue of the Manga Ganda book was published by Red Leaf, I believe late last year.  There are two versions; the original, which can be bought digitally here, and the Hal-Con 2013 exclusive version with a different cover, available here.

The Official TSOG Plastique Appreciation Post

Plastique.  Based on her basic description as a French-Canadian terrorist, a completely lame character.  But she's actually had a fair amount of impact (pun not originally intended, but also not avoided) on the DC Universe and is a far more complex character than she might appear.

Upon starting this blog a couple of years ago, I wrote individual posts about the Canadian characters in the DCU.  Most had only appeared a handful of times and among them, to my knowledge, Plastique is the only one to transfer over to the New 52.

She first appeared in Firestorm #7 (cover-dated December 1982).  Frankly, she seemed like little more than a throwaway villain, but she resurfaced in later issue of the series (33 to 36 in a story in which the other members of her terrorist group attempted to break her out of prison).  When blackmail failed to achieve the desired results, a colleague infiltrated the prison in which she was being held and injected her with a liquid that gave her the ability to cause explosions with a touch (as opposed to wearing explosives as she did previously).  She used her new power to escape, and teamed with Killer Frost briefly before being captured by Firestorm again.

Her next prominent appearance was in the Captain Atom series (1987), starting in issue two.  Captain Atom was drawn by Pat Broderick at the time, who had also drawn the Firestorm issue in which Plastique was introduced.

In this issue, Atom attempts to infiltrate Plastique's terrorist group.  He fails, but he does manage to uncover Plastique's plans to bomb New York and Ottawa and, of course, prevent it from happening.

But while Atom stopped her with a metal-covered punch to the face (well, she HAD strapped explosives to him earlier, so...), she earned a certain amount of respect for him when they met again in issues 7 and 8.

They faced off while on similar missions in Cambodia (working for different sides towards the same goal). Plastique was responsible for a distraction which caused Atom to be critically injured, but she also found herself in a position where her survival depended on his. While she took care of him, and he reciprocated, a relationship developed between them.

They were engaged and briefly married.  During that time, Plastique partnered with Captain Atom in the Extreme Justice team (which also included Firestorm.  Awkward!).

Their marriage did not last long, however, and Plastique returned to her villainous ways, usually as a member of the Suicide Squad, appearing in books such as Checkmate, Birds of Prey, Manhunter and Justice League.

Now I knew that she had since appeared in the New 52.  She was among the villains who ganged up against Firestorm in issues 19 and 20 of his book last spring.

She is not identified as being Canadian as such but she did display the traditional ridiculous French accent that finds its way into comics, so we assume that her background as a Québec terrorist remains regardless of how outdated it is.

I was more impressed with her appearance and degree of involvement in the Trinity War and Forever Evil storylines.  In the first chapter of the former, which takes place in Justice League #22, she is anonymously sent to take Madame Xanadu out of circulation.

Guess what happens next?

As the villains begin to rule, she makes the occasional cameo in the Forever Evil mini-series, but apparently she will be further involved in the ARGUS and Rogues Rebellion spin-off minis as well over the next month or two.

She's also been animated, looking rather hawt with short hair in Justice League Unlimited...

...and made a few TV appearances in episodes of Smallville. Although I believe her background was significantly different in the show, the actress portraying her, Jessica Parker Kennedy, is appropriately Canadian.

So our girl may not may not quite get Wolverine levels of exposure, but she does make her presence felt. It may be a while until we see her again after Forever Evil runs its course but sooner or later, maybe in the rumoured Suicide Squad video game,or in the Ontario-based Justice League United, she'll be back to cause trouble.

A small look at DC's new Canadian character in JLU.

DC Comics released their May 2014 solicitations earlier in the week, including the cover to Justice League United (previously Justice League Canada) #1.  I was excited to have a look at the Canadian character writer Jeff Lemire had promised, but she was blacked out on the cover I saw displayed.

Yet oddly enough, she is not blacked out on the DC Comics website (and there she is at bottom right). Unfortunately, I have yet to be able to find a larger picture than the one at right, but it gives a pretty good idea of her appearance.  I don't why she remains a mystery; hopefully it's because they plan on making a big deal out of her introduction.

Got to say, Adam Strange looks pretty cool in this image.  And I know it's somewhat irrelevant, but...I can't help but notice that Supergirl is not on this cover as she was on the cover of #0.  Perhaps our noob takes her place?  We'll find out in April/May.

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.

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.

Jeff Lemire's "Barbalien" to appear in True Patriot 2

The Kickstarter Campaign for the second volume of True Patriot, launched earlier today, revealed a couple of surprises.

Most of "Crew Patriot" are returnees, for which I'm grateful because I was hoping that the adventures of the characters if the first volume would continue.  But there have been a couple of additions to the roster.

New patriots joining us this time around include Paul Rivoche (Mister X) and Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth)!

That cracks me up a bit.  Lemire is working on that Justice League of America book, too (soon to be Justice League Canada, at least for a while).

No knock though; I know the people responsible for the campaign can't very well list every single credit for each creator.  It must have been hard to pick a single one for each individual.  Here is Paul Rivoche's line-up and Lemire's is right here.

This project is getting some good buzz early (and is already about 25% funded in less than a day, as I write this).  Comic Book Resources interviewed Lemire and J. Torres (Family Dynamic.  Huh...And a bunch other stuff.  It really IS hard to pick just one) about the project and Lemire revealed some details about his plans for both True Patriot and JLC.  Read that after the boss Grey Owl image below.

Jeff, why did you agree to be part of "True Patriot 2," and what will your contribution be?

Jeff Lemire: I loved the first volume, and I'm a huge fan of all the cartoonists and creators involved. Also, anyone who reads my work knows I'm a proud Canadian boy, so I couldn't resist.

My contribution will involve a new superhero I'm creating called Barbalien. He's -- well, he's an alien barbarian. He crash landed on Earth in the '60s and posed as an RCMP officer by day, fighting crime in the north by night -- sort of a mash up between Dudley Do-Right, Martian Manhunter and Conan.

You write a lot of superhero stories already for DC, and when you take over JLA next spring it will be (temporarily) retitled "Justice League of Canada" due to some roster additions from the Great White North. Why is it important to include Canadian characters in this lineup, and what makes them special?

Lemire: Well, like I said, I'm a proud Canadian. I love my country. It's a complex, diverse and beautiful place. And I love to reflect our identity in my work whenever I can. Adam Strange will be re-imagined as a Canadian, but I will also be creating a new teenaged superhero from Northern Ontario who is Cree.

I really wanted to create a character that reflects our First Nations, an often-overlooked part of the Canadian identity. And I wanted to create a character that wasn't just a stereotypical First Nations character as well.

I'll be going up to two remote Northern Ontario communities, Moose Factory and Attawapiskak, later this month to visit the local schools and talk to the kids about comics and drawing. I'll also be involving the kids in the creation of this new character. Details on that should be coming soon...

Read the full interview here.

Frostbite, the Young Hero In Love

Yet another Canadian character on DC's roster that most people aren't aware of.

I found out about Frostbite a few years ago, but well after the Young Heroes in Love series was being published (in 1997 and 1998, for 18 issues in total).  Mind you, a book focused on the romantic relationships of the various characters doesn't appeal to me a great deal, regardless of Canadian content, so I doubt I would have picked it up even if I'd known.

Frostbite was not included during the rundown of DC's heroes characters last year because I believed that he was outside of the company's regular continuity (such as it is).  Turns out that's not the case, apparently the Young Heroes met with Superman (the electric blue version of the time).

Why mention him now?  A gentleman named Matthew Peterson wrote a thorough recap of the series for Major Spoilers.  The page below is among several that were scanned for the article.  Open it in a new window if you find it difficult to read.

Oh, right.  There was some question as to whether Frostbite was gay.  Maybe it was the double nipple rings.

You can probably accurately guess at his power set.  We get a bit more of his background among the final pages of the series.  It is also confirmed that he's "a horny monkey".

So there you have it.  The team has hardly been seen since the conclusion of the series and according to Wikipedia "It has been rumored that DC has returned character rights to (creators Dan) Raspler and (Dev) Madan".  That I know of, there are no plans to bring them back.

Justice League Canada!

I'm still struggling with accepting that this is not an April 1st type of situation.

I've abbreviated the article below.  Click on the Star link to read the ful version.

Toronto Star: ...On Friday afternoon, at Toronto’s sprawling Fan Expo convention, DC Comics will announce that its flagship superhero team — which has included such celebrity superheroes as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern — is going to uproot from the U.S.A. and be headquartered north of the border in the spring of 2014. The ongoing Justice League of America series will be renamed and feature a new Canadian character alongside some of the world’s best-known heroes.

Better yet, it will be written by Toronto’s own Jeff Lemire, who has become one of DC’s superstar writers, and now gets the chance to bring those heroes to his familiar stomping ground.

Much of the action will take place in Toronto, Lemire says, but the actual team will be based around James Bay and Moosonee.

...

“It’s not really like Alpha Flight, as we’re not creating a bunch of very Canadian characters,” Lemire says.

“Like those characters are all almost clichéd Canadian archetypes. This is still very much set in the regular Justice League universe and the team will still have some of the bigger named superheroes, but they will actually be located in Canada now, and there will be a couple of new members who are Canadian. So obviously as a Canadian, and as a Canadian storyteller, it’s something I’m very proud of.”

Lemire said the idea initially came from Dan DiDio, DC’s publisher, and he admits that he, too, first thought it was a joke. But when he realized his boss was being serious, he gladly accepted the challenge and “has kind of gone crazy with it.”

The northward migration will come after the ongoing crossover comics event Trinity War, in which the current three Justice League teams clash, and the ensuing Forever Evil, in which the villains of the DC Universe take over.

“As a result of that, without spoiling any of that story, there will be major changes in the Justice Leagues, and in the spring, the current Justice League of America team goes through a dramatic change and some of the pieces that are left behind will evolve into this new Justice League Canada team.”

Lemire says that the new Canadian character is going to be a big story point, and he can’t reveal too much, but he says: “I’m trying to make a character that reflects a real part of our cultural identity, who could be a real Canadian teenager. That’s what I’m really after with that.”

In addition, Lemire says that he will be bringing back Adam Strange, a Silver Age DC character, a swashbuckling archaeologist who is transported to the far-off planet of Rann. In this new incarnation, he will also be Canadian. Comics continuity can be a mind-bending thing to try to explain, but one of the reasons Lemire has a free hand with characters is that DC relaunched all of its titles two years ago in an initiative called The New 52, giving all of their long-standing characters a fresh start.

Lemire can’t say who will make up Justice League Canada, but says it is a “dream team” of A-list DC characters and some of his favourite oddball and more obscure heroes.

“It really is just trying to make an honest portrayal of the places and the country and people that I know. That’s why I’m setting it in Toronto and Northern Ontario, because those are the places that I really know well,” he says.

“I’m just trying to create a genuine backdrop for these stories that are big and cosmic in scope, but are still really grounded in a real place. As long as I keep that focused, I’ll probably avoid clichés, but sometime those clichés are clichés because they’re true, so I’m sure some of that will slip in there.”

So it's more Justice League IN Canada than a true Canadian Justice League, but assuming that we're not getting punked, it's still pretty damn cool.

Never thought of Adam Strange as Canadian, but I don't know that his nationality was ever a huge factor in his stories.  It may have never been stated, for all I know.  I've always liked him as a guest appearance character but have never read books specific to him, that I can recall.

So between Booster Gold supposedly being Canadian (can we assume membership?) and Sandman on Earth-2, DC now has a few "converts".  I would prefer new characters, or existing Canadian characters fleshed out since most have had limited exposure, but I'll take what I can get.  I have a feeling this is a temporary change for the series, so let's enjoy it while we can.

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.

Maginnis of the Mounties

It's been a little over a year now since I began focusing on Canadian comic book characters and started this blog.  Maginnis is one of my most recent and surprising discoveries.

When posting about a book or character, I'm often concerned that I'm treating common knowledge as though I've broken the Da Vinci Code.  I've seen very little information about Maginnis so I don't believe that's the case here.

Maginnis first appeared in New Comics #4 in early 1936.  His adventures continued until the 12th issue of the book, at which point it changed names to New Adventure Comics.  New Comics was published by National Allied Publications, one of a number of companies that would eventually become DC Comics.

Maginnis' was tasked with travelling to "St. Pierre Country" for a little undercover work.  Trappers were being assaulted and robbed and Maginnis was to investigate the matter and put an end to it.

I've tried to get my hands on copies of this book online but have not been successful to this point.  However, the DC Comics Artists site provides a scan of the first page of the story which I've copied below.

DCmania offers a more detailed synopsis of Maginnis' adventure and I need to express some gratitude towards ecksearoh.com for making me aware if the character through this blog post.

Canadian Heroes all over the map

Added a new toy!  Hope it works!

There's a new button at the end of the bar under the banner.  It is rather unimaginatively called "Map".  If you right click to open it in a new window, you will be taken to, well, a map which displays the birthplace and/or base of operations of a number of Canadian comic book characters.  They are separated by categories at the bottom left, that you can choose to isolate or remove from view using the legend at top right.  Use the scale at top left to zoom in and out.

Some notes:

• Daydreamer is not a member of Alpha Flight but I couldn't have her in the Indy category either, so she's with the Marvel team.
• Credit to Heroes of the North for eschewing the obvious choices for home towns.  For example, Acadia is in New Brunswick, but rather than make her a Moncton native, she is from Bouctouche.
• Look WAY up to find Snowbird.
• The old South Park gag about "downtown Canada" could well have been based on DC Comics.  Not a single character has a defined place of birth.  Plastique is clearly from Quebec, but where?  And in the case of a character like Sparx (whom I suspect has faded out of continuity with the New 52 anyway), her home town of Timberton is in British Columbia, but fictional.

There are some glaring omissions due to lack of info, or perhaps of clarity of that info.  Even though he is bar none the most prominent Canadian character in comics, Wolverine's actual birth place is actually quite vague.  I have seen it referred to as both southern and Northern Alberta, making it somewhat hard to guess.  I've also found one source which claims he was born in New York state.  Strange that this wouldn't have been determined by now.

In many other cases, there is consensus, but not specification.  Marrina was born (hatched?) on the coast of Newfoundland, but I don't know where on that coast.

Anyway, I have 30 characters currently listed, but it's still being worked on.  If the map does not display properly for you, please slip me a word at jf4nier@gmail.com to let me know.

Blackbird and Little Wing!

I arrived home from work yesterday to discover that the perk I'd "bought" during an indiegogo campaign run but J. Torres and Jack Briglio had arrived. No better way to start the weekend!

This one was the 3-part Family Dynamic mini-series published (half-heartedly, mind you) by DC Comics in 2008.  All three books came to me signed by Torres and artist Tim Levins, as advertised.

I won't dwell much on the "immediate" Dynamic Family because, well, I have before. But because the same four characters (mom, dad and the two sons) were displayed on promotional/preview material, I hadn't stopped to consider the possibility of an "extended" family.  It is revealed early on there are additional clan members fighting crime in Storm City, and that previous generations have done so as well.

Here's a look at a couple of the other characters sharing the Dynamic Universe.

I don't know the extent to which The Family Dynamic will appear in the upcoming True Patriot anthology.  The book will be 100 pages long, but will include several stories.  On the average, they should each be about 15-16 pages in length.  So there may not be a lot of room for Blackbird and Little Wing, but my limited exposure to them in this mini-series makes me hopeful that there'll be more opportunities to read about their adventures in the future.  True Patriot, volume 2, perhaps?

Why Does Everyone Know Centrix?

Okay, "everyone" might be an exaggeration...But I've been surprised at how well known this character is despite appearing in only one book.  And within that book, it seems like he appeared in only one panel!

In the ongoing and never-ending DC vs Marvel debate, I am firmly in the DC camp. That may seem odd since Marvel has far more prominent Canadian characters, but aside from that bunch, Marvel offers very little else that appeals to me.

A lack of Canadian characters has long been an areawhere I've found DC Comics lacking.  From time to time, I would search for DC Canucks in the hope that one was introduced without my knowledge (this is how I found Dark Crow and Freight Train).  And in doing this, I always seemed to stumble into Centrix.  People discussing the subject of Canadian DC characters would miss Flying Fox, or Sparx, but invariably, there was Centrix.

So what's the deal with this guy?  Well, he first (and last) appeared in Justice League Quarterly #17, a book in which the Global Guardians get decimated in an attack from a long-time nemesis of one of the team members.  I don't own the book, but my understanding is that once the threat is disposed of, the Guardians replenish their ranks with some noobs, Centrix among them.

I believe, however, that the extent of his appearance is an image displayed on a video screen as existing members discuss the newcomers.  The page scan below is from the Crisis on Earth Prime blog, which dedicated a few posts to chronicling the adventures of the Guardians (post-crisis, pre-flashpoint).

Centrix hasn't been heard from since, which may actually be to the character's benefit.  As COEP points out, being a Global Guardian often leads to a pretty lousy fate.  DC writers seemed to use them an the comic book equivalent of wrestling jobbers (or how Brian Michael Bendis uses Alpha Flight).

For all that Centrix in-story adventures are quite...limited, somehow a few sites have managed to nail down his history and abilities.  Here's comicvine's take:

Mark Armstrong was a very successful advertising executive. He was so successful that he was able to retire at a young age. Thanks to his retirement, he was able to practice and hone his meta-human abilities. Centrix is one of the few public Canadian superheroes that used to fight small crimes until he was introduced to the Global Guardians by the Martian Manhunter...

Due to his wealth, he was able to finance the Global Guardians during his stay on the team.

Centrix can project invisible, energy force waves from his body. He carries projectiles with him that he uses to throw with his force waves, making them formidable weapons.

Presumably, the above was copied from the DC Encyclopedia as comicvine lists that book (and the updated version) as Centrix's only other appearance.

It's pretty easy to speculate that there is little future for this character when he arguably has not had a present.  Still, there are plenty of examples of little-known characters resurfacing to varying degrees, so who knows?  The mention of Centrix financing the Global Guardians reminded me of what Angel did for the Champions of Los Angeles years ago.  Centrix could do something similar with the handful of Canadian characters in the DC stable.  Or perhaps he could be behind the funding of the Sandmen, members of the World Army on Earth-2.  If someone at DC wanted to create a book based around its universe's Canadian content, Centrix could make a great instigator.