How do you pluralize "Fleur-de-Lys", anyway?
During last week's
Heroes of the North panel at the Ottawa Comiccon, the inevitable question came up; Has there been any thought given to a team-up with
Captain Canuck or
Johnny Canuck?
Neither option is particularly feasible at the moment. But one that would appear to be far more achievable, at least in comic book format, would be between these two female characters of the same name.
If required, you can learn more about the
HotN version from her character sheet
here. For those who aren't familiar with the character of the same name who appeared in
Northguard, here's a partial page scan from her first appearance in uniform...
Pardon the slight blurring above. It is a result of my poor scanning, not poor interior art.
Here's FdL in action (as depicted by Gabriel Morrissette). Right click into a new tab or window to see the full-sized version of either image.
I don't know if the
Northguard edition inspired the
HotN one, but there are a number of similarities. Both have hand-to-hand fighting skills and an electricity-based weapon.
The differences in their personalities may be what makes the partnership intriguing. The earlier
FdL is a far more positive character, even smiling while fighting against difficult odds, as seen above. The
HotN character has a rather
Dark Origin and is therefore more, well, dark. That could make for an interesting contrast.
So could this match-up happen? From the outside looking in, there doesn't seem to be that many obstacles if all parties are willing.
Even ignoring the rather fluid use of time and aging in comics, and assuming that the
Northguard FdL character was in her early 20's when the last book came out, she'd be in her mid-40's or so now, right? Even if we assume she retired after the final issue, a threat either large enough in scale, or of a personal nature, could persuade her to put the suit on "one last time".
Could
Northguard and/or
The Canadian appear? Probably. Even with the uniband destroyed,
Northguard seemed to indicate at the end of The ManDes Conclusion that he intended to continue being a superhero. There could be a significant clash of ideology and methodology between the two.
When the
Captain Canuck /
Johnny Canuck questions were being asked, my initial reaction was that, since the
HotN characters are still being established, a team-up of sorts may not be the best idea.
But done as a one-shot (rather than a short story in an omnibus) or two-parter, and involving
Northguard writer Mark Shainblum (or at least his blessing, obviously) and perhaps even artist Gabriel Morrissette (does he still work in this field?), it's easy to imagine a number of positives coming of it.
For those unfamiliar with, but interested in, the
Northguard and
Fleur-de-Lys characters, the series can be obtained from the comics section of
drivethru. Also available there, and partially in the superhero genre, is the short-story collection Playing Solitaire:
PLAYING SOLITAIRE
Rachel Steinberg wasn't really Solitaire. She was just a nice Jewish girl from suburban Montreal. She never asked for superhuman powers, nor the relentless, grinding cycle of violence and alienation that came with them. Rachel allowed herself a glimmer of hope when Carl said he loved her, when he swore up and down that her secrets didn't scare him. But that was before he saw her glowing like the north star, before he ran in terror just like everyone before him.
Probably not the ideal moment for an omnipotent, 3000-year-old evil slumbering under the Island of Montreal to awaken and wonder what it should do first.
