Chapterhouse Expands in 2017

The news from Chapterhouse Books earlier this week was simultaneously exciting and frustrating. I found out about it while at a cottage with limited internet access so I wasn’t able to get at information as quickly or thoroughly as I would have liked.

On the other hand, tackling it several days later, I can refer to various sources for details.  And it all sounds pretty damn sweet.

For those who missed it entirely, Chapterhouse is expanding its output to include more books about (mostly?) Canadian characters, from the past, all of which will share a universe with Captain Canuck (in fact, it’s referred to the “Chapterverse”). The announced projects on tap include:

Fantomah by Ray Fawkes and Soo Lee. Comic Book Resources referred to this one as “joining the Captain Canuck serial” so perhaps this will take the form of a back-up story. 

Agents Of Pact: An all-female super team including Red Coat and Kebec from the modern-day Captain Canuck book.  Canuck writer Kalman Andrasofszky and Blake Northcott will write it.  

Freelance:  The Golden Age era character, re-imagined by Jim Zub and Andrew Wheeler with art by Vaneda Vireak. This book is described by Geekpron as a “globe-trotting adventure series”.  

Northern Light: Van Jensen and Eric Kim will restore the character in a sci-fi tale.

Additionally, Captain Canuck will cross over with the Pitiful Human-Lizard and the Northguard book will continue with a new story arc.

Again according to Geekpron, Freelance and Agents of Pact will kick things off in January and run for four issues at which point two other new books will replace them (presumably for four issues as well, and also presumably Northern Light and Northguard, since I’m not sure Fantomah will have her own title right away) and so on and so forth.

Now add the regular Captain Canuck / Human-Lizard content to this, as well as the bi-monthly True Patriot book, and you’ve got a regular source of Canadian characters and (for the most part) creators to look forward to. This is fantastic news.

I’m only vaguely familiar with Freelance and Fantomah but will be looking into them a little more over the next few days.

Let's Talk Team-Ups

Jeff Burton, creator of Auroraman, sent out an update earlier today in regards to the Kickstarter campaign he ran successfully for his book this past spring.

The campaign included what I thought was an excellent perk; A Canadian Creators Digital Omnibus featuring material from several other publishers.

The cover for that compilation was revealed to backers today and since it appears on the campaign page, which is not backer-specific, that I know of, I don't think there's any harm in displaying it here too. It is the work of Sabastian Van Esch.

I'm going to assume that Captain Canuck needs no introduction. Working clockwise from him, we have Impact from Canadian Corps, Auric of the Great White North, Axiom-Man and of course, Auroraman himself.

We potentially got some even better news earlier today on social media. The following image was posted from the Expired Comics Twitter account. The caption was attention-grabbing.

Who Wants a Team-Up?

Oh, I think I could get into that...Auric and Auroraman, mentioned above, are joined by Expired's Big Nick, who only recently joined the scene as well. Apparently the team-up is "in the works", which is probably all Expired Comics could tell me at this point.

They also suggest we stay-tuned. No issues on that level. And hopefully you guys kick off a trend. Or a tradition. Or a team book. You have options. :-)

Chapterhouse's Surprise o' The Month! Northguard!

Every month, I review solicitation material from as many publishers as I can locate in order to (hopefully) help fill these pages.

Landing on Chapterhouse's upcoming releases always creates a bit of a charge. There's always a moment of anticipation before clicking the link. It's been said here before but I find Chapterhouse has developed an ability to surprise fans on a regular basis now, whether it be through collecting past, now hard-to-find material, or re-releasing recently-published books such as The Pitiful Human-Lizard and True Patriot.

Their March 2016 solicitations are no different. Unexpectedly (at least from my perspective), Northguard apparently returns in the spring. Not only in the form a compendium reprinting his earlier appearances (we knew that already) but as a guest-star in the regular Captain Canuck series.

(Story) Kalman Andrasofszky
(Aart) Leonard Kirk
(Cover) Kalman Andrasofszky 

Who is Northguard? Is he friend or foe? And how does his sudden arrival affect last issue’s shocking revelation about Redcoat?

If I recall correctly, Northguard creator/writer Mark Shainblum had stated in interviews that there was a possibility that his character would return at some point.

Now frankly I come across such statements fairly frequently. The best example is Captain Canuck himself, really. How often has he "returned" (Reborn, Legacy, etc...) only to fade away again just as quickly? I had no reason to doubt Mr. Shainblum, but sometimes circumstances derail plans and intentions. Nothing was written in stone. Nothing could be.

So this was very nearly a coffee spit-take type of surprise for me this morning, as I'd heard nothing about the possibility in several months. But when Chapterhouse gives Northguard his own series, I'll be better prepared. ;-)

ICYMI Art: Pitiful Human-Lizard and "Friends"

How great is this?

The image was used in this First Comics News review / interview with Human-Lizard creator/writer/artist Jason Loo. It's a great blend of classic Canadian Whites characters and more current ones in Grey Owl and Dominion Jack.

I absolutely love it and I may not be the only one. When I first came across the interview this morning, the image was thumbnail-sized. 12 hours later, as I prepare to share it here, it's the entire width of the post. It may well be that First Comics News generated some positive feedback on it.

Speaking of positive feedback, I've said it before and I'll say it again: First Comics News is very friendly to independent creators and publishers. They are very good at announcing Chapter House's monthly solicitations, for example. So if you have some news to share and want a little exposure, you may find them quite accommodating.

The Pitiful Human-Lizard to be Published by Chapterhouse

I have praised First Comics News in the past for their willingness to spotlight small independent publishers and will continue to do so. Perhaps others are doing it and I'm not aware of it, but FCN is the only site I've seen that regularly includes Chapterhouse Publishing's monthly solicitations.

In fact, they're better at it than I am, since I've completely neglected to include teaser text and covers for the fourth issue of Captain Canuck, due in August! Here it is:

CAPTAIN CANUCK #4   
(W) Kalman Andrasofszky, Ed Brisson
(A) Leonard Kirk, Scott Hepburn
(CA) Kalman Andrasofszky, Scott Hepburn  

Site ALEPH lies hidden deep in the Canadian Arctic.  

To save the life of his brother Michael, Captain Canuck must venture back to the place that made him and nearly destroyed him!  

Plus: Classic Canuck must defeat The Hammer in a back-up story by Ed Brisson and Scott Hepburn!  

In Shops: 8/26/2015
SRP: $3.99

Get a load of the Fiona Staples variant below, featuring Bluefox.

Now then...FCN shared Chapterhouse's September solicitations earlier today. Let's have a look at Canuck #5 which is focused on Kebec.

CAPTAIN CANUCK #5
Writer: Kalman Andrasofszky & Ed Brisson
Artist: Leonard Kirk & Simon Roy
Cover A: Kalman Andrasofszky 

Captain Canuck is in the clutches of Mr. Gold, Michael Evans is still missing, and the Equilibrium forces have been decimated. Lucky for them they have Kebec, the most notorious sharpshooter of the Afghanistan War, on their side and she believes revenge is a dish best served fast. 

In Shops: 9/30/2015
SRP: $3.99

Beyond Canuck, there was an interesting "guest appearance" of sorts in the Chapterhouse solicitations this month. The first issue of Jason Loo's Pitiful Human Lizard is being released again by the publisher.

THE PITIFUL HUMAN-LIZARD #1
Writer: Jason Loo
Artist: Jason Loo
Cover A: Jason Loo 

Toronto’s got a new superhero! And he’s pitiful! 

Lucas Barrett is a 9-to-5 office lackey during the day and a struggling superhero on evenings and weekends. He’s also broke. While his job salary is not enough to support his crime-fighting hobby, Lucas finds an alternate plan that may heighten his superhero status. 

This is the 52-page, full-color debut issue of The Pitiful Human-Lizard! 

In Shops: 9/30/2015
SRP: $3.99

Good news for me, because I had yet to order issues two through four (those released to date) for the simple reason that shipping costs were pretty brutal. If I can get my hands on them from my not-so-local comic store, then all the better.

If you want a preview of future Human-Lizard solicitations (previews of previews?), you can have a look at the character's storenvy page and for more variant covers for the first issue, and for the 5th issue of Captain Canuck, head on over to First Comics News.

Captain Canuck #3 solicitation

The folks behind Captain Canuck's revival wrote about the Compendium on Facebook a few days ago, but of course the third issue of the regular series also comes out in July.

The solicitation for that book is copied under the main cover below, but be sure to take a look at Marcus To's variant cover beyond that.

CAPTAIN CANUCK #3(W) Kalman Andrasofszky
(A/CA) Leonard Kirk 

New regular artist Leonard Kirk (Fantastic 4, X-Factor, JSA) joins the team! Captain Canuck’s brother, Michael Evans has vanished. It’s up to Canuck and Equilibrium to mount a rescue op and find him. All the clues point to the mysterious Site ALEPH! Plus: Classic Canuck faces an all new threat in a back-up story by Ed Brisson and Scott Hepburn!

The book will be in stores on July 29th.

Coming in July: The Captain Canuck Compendium

As stated on the Captain Canuck Facebook page...

Releasing this summer: Captain Canuck Series One Compendium - featuring Richard Comely, George Freeman and Claude St. Aubin with a full colour issue #15 and new, never before seen extras! The complete original series.

Gah...I'm a little torn here...

A couple of years back, I bought IDW's Captain Canuck: The Complete Edition and thought that overall, it was quite well done. I'd managed to gather all the individual issues many years before that, save for the elusive #15. IDW was reprinting that issue and since some of my copies of the earlier issues were in lousy shape, I went ahead and dropped a few dollars despite having the majority of the material on hand already.

Do I want to buy it all a third time? It'll depend on those "never before seen extras". I won't do it for the sheer hell of getting #15 in colour.

I'll decide once more information about its content is available. This is good news regardless in that the book is being made available by a Canadian Publisher in Chapter House.  Their website is still in the process of being built but if you were a fan of the backup features in the original series, you might want to have a look at its other upcoming projects.

Captain Canuck #2 solicitation

In stores June 24th!

Writer:  Kalman Andrasofszky
Artists: Kalman Andrasofszky, Marcus To 

The Oilsands are burning! Captain Canuck must fight his way through the inferno to find out what has turned the workers into zombified puppets, while getting the survivors out alive and uninfected.

Across the country, Canuck’s brother, Michael Evans is tested on whether he can put loyalty, to his brother and to Equilibrium, before an opportunity for revenge.

Captain Canuck #1 solicitation!

In a way, this has come out of nowhere. The first major mention of an ongoing Captain Canuck book was a little over a year ago now but, not counting the Summer Special, things had been kept fairly quiet on the comic book front in recent months. Then all of a sudden, here it is!

CAPTAIN CANUCK #1 

(W/A/CA) Kalman Andrasofszky

Captain Canuck is a reboot of the classic Canadian comic book hero created in 1975 by Richard Comely and Ron Leishman. 

This all-new series re-imagines Canuck as a kinetic and accessible 21st-century icon. Born of the true north and tested in war, Captain Canuck is thrust into battle at the head of the global crisis intervention agency called Equilibrium. He must find his way as warrior, leader, and ultimately, hero to save humanity from the machinations of Mr. Gold, Blue Fox, and the even more menacing forces that watch from the shadows. 

Item Code: MAR151150
In Shops: 5/27/2015
SRP: $3.99

I believe First Comics News was the first to reveal the news, so credit to them. They also included a look at a sharp variant cover by Cameron Stewart (below) and an article about the Mego style action figures.

A zero-issue is still scheduled for free comic book day as well.

The only downside for me is that I may struggle to get my hands on it but I've got time to work that out. Wishing all involved massive amounts of success.

Captain Canuck: Utopia Moments

Does this happen to other people who update a blog semi-regularly?  You go a few days or weeks struggling to find something you feel like writing about, then as soon as your time becomes limited you stumble into a boat load of material that you can't get to right away. Frustrating.

Such was the case last Sunday when, while looking for details about out Superhero Universe: Tesseracts Nineteen, I found Captain Canuck material that I was convinced was no longer accessible.  I was unable to look into it further at the time because I was leaving for a business trip roughly an hour later, but I can now finally sit back and enjoy it.

I had heard of this Mark Shainblum/Sandy Carruthers (of Northguard fame, which probably goes without saying by now) attempt at bringing back the good Captain in the late 90's, but had never located any of the material except for small versions of the cover (seen at right). Browsing through Shainblum's (new?) website for information about Superhero Universe, I discovered that he has made the three-part, 27-page, story available online.  It can be accessed from this page.  Mind the capitalization in the password provided.

This was the first crack at modernizing Captain Canuck by someone other than co-creator Richard Comely.  It was written in such a way that material from the original series could be worked in, or discarded, for that matter, with minimal disruption.  New characters were introduced while Redcoat, Kebec, Bluefox, etc, were brought up to date.  Pages eight and thirteen are included below as examples.

Exciting stuff.

My unpleasant customer service experience with the current Captain Canuck team had affected my overall interest in the character to the point that I neglected the Captain Canuck Legacy page I started last year. Finding the Utopia Moments story has restored my enthusiasm for that little project so there will probably be a fair amount of information added to that blog over the next few days, for those who may be interested.

Captain Canuck (classic edition) in Gold City

Sweet find right here, for which I take absolutely no credit.

The comic strips below were posted on the Facebook page for David E. McClain's Graphyc Rythmic Productions.  You should be able to view the full-sized versions of the images after downloading them, or by opening them in another tab or window.

Here's what Mr. McClain had to say about hem:

A 6-part Captain Canuck comic strip that ran in a few Canadian papers back in 1980 in conjunction with a local retail promotion. Classic Comely & Freeman fo' sure!

There a few (too few, in fact) newspaper strips included in IDW's Captain Canuck: The Complete Edition, but they are from 1995.  The above are not included in that book.  I don't recall coming across these in the past, so much gratitude to Mr McClain for displaying them.

What We Learned from the Captain Canuck Summer Special

The 2014 Captain Canuck Summer Special was made available for free just prior to Canada Day in comic book shops all over the country.  I wasn't able to get my hands on one right away, but a friend was kind and considerate enough to snag one for me.  He handed it off to me this past Friday night, so I finally got to read it at TSOG Secret HQ on the weekend.

Were you also unable to obtain a copy initially?  If that's the case, allow me to share some details about the book and future plans for our favourite square-jawed Canadian protagonist contained within.

THERE WILL BE A 2015 EDITION.  That might have seemed obvious, but since the last summer special came out in 1980, one probably should not have assumed.

THE 2015 EDITION WILL FEATURE RESULTS OF A FAN ART CONTEST.  There was such a contest held on deviantart.com some time ago, but this one is a bit more official.  There will be several judges and ten selections will appear in the 2015 Summer Special.  The submission can include any Canuck cast member.  Send entries to fanart2015@captaincanuck.com between now and March 15th.

THE COMIC BOOK SERIES IS SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 2014. We first heard about it in January, but at that point I don't believe a tentative release date had been stated.  July 1st was the obvious target date but evidently plans have changed.  Now keep your fingers crossed for a merry Canuck X-Mas.

THE GOOD CAPTAIN DIGS BOOSTER JUICE.  As he should, Booster Juices are delicious.  My personal favourite is the Soymilk Slam.  Not only is it healthy and filling, it sounds like something a superhero (or perhaps a pro wrestler) would drink.

WE GET REDCOAT AND KEBEC BACK STORIES.  Both characters make only brief appearances in the animated series, but we get to find out a bit more about them in this book.

TATIANA MASLANY IS FRIGGIN' AWESOME.  No wait...Everyone knew that already.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER ISSUE 15.  Being a Canuck fan can require patience (and no, that's not a dig at how long it took for them to send out Indiegogo campaign perks).  Issue 14 was published in early 1981.  The 15th issue saw limited release only, according to Wikipedia, but not until 2004.  Fortunately it was included in the Omnibus published by IDW in 2011.

Well, one of the two stories in the 2014 Summer Special continues the tale that began in 1981.  The story concludes with a caption that this was "not the end" so we'll get the next installment in a little less than a year, assuming everything goes according to plan.  By comparison, the time should fly right by.

Captain Canuck Summer Special covers

Much like Heroes of the North, Captain Canuck hardly needs my help in promotional matters.  From what I can gather the CC team has a significantly larger following than I do.

Yet I can't help but share these covers for the upcoming Summer Special book, to be released on Canada Day (or thereabouts) for free in participating comic stores, the list of which is forthcoming.  The first was revealed on Facebook this past weekend...

...and I believe the second was only freshly unveiled this morning.  The ratio between primary cover above and variant below was not stated.

Get a load of the credits at top left of the main cover.  Some of those names should be quite familiar to fans of the original comic book series. Nice to see a continued blend of new and old ("old" said with the utmost respect, of course...).

Speaking of that, I dig that they are using the original Summer Special logo within both covers.  Again, a nice way to move forward with a respectful salute to the past.

And now speaking of that...I didn't start this blog, two and half years ago now, to criticize people.  But I did grow frustrated with the Captain Canuck gang earlier this year when they failed to communicate with their supporters during the struggles to honour their indiegogo commitments.

This product goes a long way to correcting a number of wrongs for me.  The Captain Canuck team has offered to mail a copy of the book to its contributors who may not be able to get it for themselves, a group I happen to belong to.  Grateful for the option to receive the book by mail instead, I offered to pay for shipping and was turned down.

That Team Canuck is willing to make that extra effort to ensure that I get my hands on the book goes a long way for me.  I complained about them publicly, so I want to express my appreciation and gratitude in the same manner as well.

It's not me, Captain. It's you.

On March 11th, I wrote about the difficulties I and several others were having in obtaining the perks we purchased during the Captain Canuck animated series fundraising campaign.

At the time, I was trying to remain patient out of an appreciation for the character and the work done to modernize him and bring him back to the public eye (see the before and after version of Kébec at right for a good example).

But I'm done.  While I occasionally hear about people finally getting their perks, I have no confidence that I'll ever receive the goods I paid $100 for on the day the campaign began (March 28th, 2013).

A major issue is how often contributors have been told that their purchases were being mailed out, only to later find out that it didn't happen.  There's a list of such promises in the March post, which I won't copy here.  Since being asked to hold on another two weeks from late February, we were then told...

If you haven't got them already, you will within 1-3 weeks depending on where in the world you are.

...in mid-March.  And today, on May 1st, I (and several others) still have nothing.

I'm in Ottawa, so location shouldn't be an issue.  There is no way that it should take six weeks to reach me from Toronto.  None.

So once again, we have been misled. That's bad enough in and of itself, but it goes against the one positive I was hoping to see come out of this experience, which was:

I hope that lessons have been learned by the Canuck team...

Clearly that hasn't happened.  I asked for a specific mailing date a week ago.  I was told to "hold tight" on the basis that other people were now receiving their perks.

That doesn't answer my question.  And that's just it.  There's no getting through to this group and they continue to make the same mistakes over and over.  They ask people to contact them by e-mail, then often don't respond to those e-mails.  Or when they do respond, they don't provide the requested information.

Their communication is terrible and it's infuriating. They can not grasp that a little honesty would go a long way.  Delays can be out of their control.  We all understand that.  But what they tell people is totally up to them, and all they do is jerk them around.

I still want to support the characters, even if some members of Team Canuck are incapable of understanding the above, simple concept.

But I will not pre-pay for anything from them anymore.  For that matter, I'm not even sure I want to buy anything from them that requires mailing.  They obviously can't handle the responsibility.

It's extremely disappointing in light of how excited I was to get behind this project, but I feel like my enthusiasm and interest have been taken advantage of.  I have countless other projects that I can support without feeling like a sap, so that's where I'm going to direct my attention until the Captain Canuck crew have displayed that they have a clue.

I Still Love Ya, Captain!

Yesterday, the team behind the Captain Canuck animated series released the fifth and final (at least for the time being) installment.  The shows are a blast and if you have yet to view them you can (and should) do so here.

It hasn't been all rosy of late though. The Canuck crew is coming under a little fire for their tardiness with the delivery of the fundraising perks.

And to be honest, I've been among those giving them a hard time.  In my defense, I had tried numerous times to reach them by e-mail, without receiving a response.  And in fairness to those that have expressed their frustration publicly, here's a recap of campaign contributors have been told since last summer.  It is important to note that the expected delivery date, set by the Captain Canuck team, was said to be June 2013.

8 months ago: Here is some news I am sure you have been waiting for.  Your Indiegogo Perks will be shipping out July 31st. Expect a 2-3 week delivery time.   

7 months ago: There has been a delay in the delivery of the following perks from the manufacturers: buttons, patches, coffee mugs and t-shirts. I have been informed I should expect these items to arrive in 2 weeks. 

 ...

8x10s and posters will be ready for shipping in September after Fan Expo comic con 

6 months ago: The delivery of the merchandise for Perks are beginning to arrive now.  We have received the mugs and tshirts. The rest should be following in the next couple weeks and we should be ready to start shipping to you there after. 

4 months ago: Shipments will be going out on Fridays starting November 22nd, 2013.   

4 months ago: The packing has begun! The only merchandise I have right now are the T shirts and coffee mugs. I have been told the patches and buttons are another 2 weeks away. 

Early January: We will have shipped all perk bundles by Thursday January 23 (Scout's Honour). 

Early February: So you should be receiving your packages later this week or early next.  

February 28th (approx): There has been a glitch in some of the fulfilment (sic) and we are working on getting out the perks that were missed. We went through a shift in administration and quite frankly, it could have been handled better. If you haven't received anything yet, please hold tight for 2 more weeks tops.

And yet, so far I've received a desktop wallpaper and...well, that's it. Oh, they did try to mail a mug out to me, but it arrived in five pieces due to a poor packaging choice.

So is this frustrating?  Absolutely.  Because of similar experiences with other fundraising campaigns, I had nearly reached the point of giving up on them altogether. But a few others were honoured late last year which restored my faith in that support method somewhat.  The Captain still has me, and many others, waiting despite several promises that the items were being shipped in a few days, however.

But...There is a clear love for the character among those involved, made all the more obvious in articles such as this one from Metro last week.  And there are plans to continue to bring the character to us in different forms, an approach I appreciate from Heroes of the North, The Red Panda and a number of others.  For example, Kalman Andrasofszky shared the first three pages of the upcoming comic book on his tumblr account.  They were revealed during the Toronto ComiCON this past weekend.  Get a load of this (blow it up in another tab).

Because the ultimate goal is to make the various aspects of this project successful, withholding my support (limited though it may be) is counter-productive despite the shoddy customer service at the crowd-funding level.  I hope others will also be tolerant of "rookie mistakes" and continue to get behind the various Captain Canuck offerings.

More importantly, I hope that lessons have been learned by the Canuck team because if they need to rely on a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign(s) again any time soon, they might find themselves struggling.  And that would be unfortunate in light of the talent, imagination and enthusiasm behind this latest version of the character.

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.

Awright! It's Classic Captain!!

One of the perks offered during the True Patriot fundraising campaign was a sketch featuring a Canadian superhero drawn by one of the several artists involved in the project.  It was offered at little extra cost and I very much wanted the project to be successful, so I ponied up for it.

And I'm very pleased that I did.

The True Patriot team sent e-mails just prior to mailing out the books to ask for artist preferences.  That's a little awkward, and I changed my mind a few times, but I eventually decided on Ron Salas, the illustrator for the Dominion Jack story.

Having received the pdf version of the book earlier, and lacking the willpower to "save" some of the material to read only once I received the print version, I became eager to get my sketch.  I was now curious on two fronts; would I get my choice of artists and which character would be displayed.

I couldn't be much happier.  The sketch is indeed by Salas and it's of the good Captain.

Obviously, there aren't many other characters I would have preferred.  I would have been equally happy with Guardian from Alpha Flight and, from within the True Patriot book itself, Dominion Jack (which was part of the reason I selected Mr. Salas).

The only choice which may have been disappointing would have been Deadpool, and it occurs to me now that among all the sketches that were previewed on the True Patriot Facebook or fundraising page, he was never shown.  I don't recall seeing him, anyway.

Wolverine would have been a bit of a drag too.  I could probably buy a new book with Wolverine in it every week if I were so inclined.  He's the opposite of every other Canadian character; we see too much of him.

But my top artist choice combined with a one of the top three characters I would have selected given the opportunity?  That's a sweet conclusion to the True Patriot project at my end.  Hope to hear news of a second volume soon.  You can still get a copy of your own through this link.

2013 Joe Shuster Awards poster

The Joe Shuster Awards website revealed the image below earlier today.  It was announced as poster #1, implying (hopefully) that there are more to come.

Most of these lads require no introduction, but in regards to the three along the left side, we are told...

The three bubbles on the left side spotlight some of the great creations of our Hall of Fame Inductees for 2013 — The Iron Man, the first Canadian superhero as created by Vernon Miller for Better Comics, Neil the Horse by Katherine Collins (formerly known as Arn Saba), and finally Thunderfist, by Murray Karn.

I haven't talked about Thunderfist much, simply because I haven't had the opportunity to read his stories.  So for a better look, here's the cover to Active Comics #16 (from, I believe, 1943) on which he gorilla presses...a gorilla.  I guess that's appropriate.

The International Heroes website has a pretty detailed write-up on this character.  Let's check that out while we wait for another Shuster Awards poster to be revealed.

TSOG expansion (or something)

This post was actually going to be written on Canada Day upon my return from my lovely cottage.  But there were so many other goodies to talk about that day that I focused on those instead.

For the past few months, I've been working on two other blogs, each dedicated to characters I particularly like and neither of which will come as a surprise to anyone who has visited this site for more than 30 seconds.

The first...

Let's quote the very quotable John Byrne for a moment.  This is in relation to the story in which Guardian was killed (huh...the first time...)

...I did that particular story because I felt Mac was the least interesting of all the members of Alpha, but realized that from his death I could generate a whole flock of interesting subplots and arcs. In my constant quest to make the members of Alpha more three dimensional, I was always looking for anything that could be used to generate depth in their personalities. Mac's death -- and their reactions to it -- was such a way. So, no, I've never regretted killing him.

No, of course not...

Here's the part that Byrne overlooked, in my opinion.  What made Guardian the "least interesting" character is also what made him the most relatable.  I can not relate to a Native medicine man.  I can not relate to a Plodex alien water creature.  I most certainly can not relate to a demi-goddess.

I can much more easily relate to an ordinary guy reluctantly putting on a power suit and trying to do the best he can to serve his country.  For that reason, Guardian has long been a favourite of mine throughout his goofy history and I continue to hold out hope that someone at some point will treat him with respect for an extended period of time.  In the meantime, I'm trying to sort out the finer points of that goofy history and that blog is my notebook of sorts.  So if you also happen to like the least interesting member of Alpha Flight, feel free to check it out and I hope you enjoy it.

The second...

Well, yeah...Information about the Captain isn't that hard to come by, but I was not aware of a resource that combined the several different versions, so that's what I'm up to.  That one is still very much a work in progress.  This will be rather obvious if you happen to visit as many of the pages are clearly incomplete.

Other characters may get the same treatment down the road, but probably not until the Captain Canuck blog is closer to completion.  Once the publication history is pretty well taken care of, I want to get into merchandise, art, magazine covers and articles, things of that nature. There are a lot of obscure appearances by the Captain out there so that could take a while.

Canada Day gifts

Canada Day is not normally a gift-giving holiday, but as a fan of Canadian comics, it might as well have been Christmas in July.

I'd been out of town, without TV and internet, since Friday afternoon.  Within 15 minute of being home, I found I'd received an e-mail from Jack Briglio on behalf of the True Patriot team.  They had already stated that the hardcover version of the book was not ready to be shipped yet, so I had no expectations in regards to that project.  But the pdf version of the book was good to go.  Mr Briglio was sending out the Dropbox download link.

I wasn't disappointed at all with the final product.  For all the preview material that had been provided, there were still still some surprises in the book's 100 pages.  I admit that there were characters I was looking forward to reading about more than others, but some of the less anticipated ones turned out to be more entertaining than I'd expected.  Faith Erin Hicks' Superhero Girl was one, as was Arrowhead (above) by Jay Stevens.

The next two surprises did not involve immediate delivery.  Heroes of the North announced on Facebook that the long-awaited 20th episode of their web series would be available on July 8th, as well as a couple of other interesting bits...

Believe it or not, but Episode 20 is finally coming July 8!!!
First official appearance of Hornet, last appearance of Nordik (in the episodes, she will live on in comics), a SHOCKING ending and the introduction of the NURSE IN CHIEF and ACADIA...

Good to hear that Nordik will still have some sort of presence, but that doesn't come as a huge surprise.  Acadia's appearance does and its quite welcomed.  If my memory is sound, only Pacifica (right) will have yet to appear among season characters though both she and Acadia have had their origins told in Omnibus books.

The other future-dated news item came from Glass Monkey Studios.  I've known about a character named The Incredible Conduit for some time (then published by Legacy Comics) but have not written about him for the simple reason that I have not been able to get my hands on his books.  This may fall in the "good problem to have" category for writer/artist Tony Gray; the first issue of the book was sold out (and unavailable digitally, unfortunately).

Now the following item was posted on Facebook on Friday.  I only came across an additional mention of it earlier today on Twitter.  Here they are, in order.

Time to start getting pumped-up for the all-new "Tales of the Incredible Conduit" #1 coming NEXT MONTH from GlassMonkey Studios! Look for a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT SOON regarding a RELEASE PARTY featuring an in-studio TOYS/COLLECTIBLES AUCTION!

All-new "Tales of the Incredible Conduit" #1 coming THIS MONTH! Forget all you think you know.

Won't be hard, I knew little other than what's I'd read on the Legacy website's promo pitch, and that Conduit is based out of Windsor.  Here is a newspaper ad from a few years ago.  At the time, the Windsor Star was publishing a newspaper strip of the character.

Perhaps now that the books are being published by Glass Monkey, the character is getting a full reboot., or it may be that there was far more going behind the scenes of his origin than readers were told.  I have no idea, but look forward to finding out.

Last, and certainly not least, I found out about a half hour before it was added to the website that the first episode of the Captain Canuck animated web series was going to be released. I was happy to contribute to it several weeks ago and for what it's worth, am very pleased with the results. It is embedded below.  You can also check out captaincanuck.com for news, merchandise, etc.



Happy Canada Day indeed! :-)