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.

True Patriot Bi-Monthly Series in November!

This news had been brewing for a while but it was finally made official on Facebook earlier today that True Patriot will have its own series published through Chapterhouse.

True Patriot returns in November as an ongoing bi-monthly series from ChapterHouse! The solicitation for the first issue will be in the next Previews catalog. Please stay tuned for more details about what we've got planned...

The image below was posted on July 1st.  I assume it's the cover of the first issue but don't know that for a fact.

Big fan of Dominion Jack so I was a little disappointed to not see him in that second picture but his appearance in the announcement image is encouraging. Being that this is most likely an anthology book, it should be just a matter of time anyway.

The complete solicitation should be available in the next couple of weeks.

A Family Day Edition of "ICYMI art": The Family Dynamic

As is often the case, this is artwork that has been publicly available for some time but that appears to be overlooked, based on view count.

The artist is named Gabriel Guzman and you can view his portfolio here.

Stumbling into that gorgeous image coincided with the announcement through the True Patriot Twitter account that while there will not be a third edition of the book, there are plans to release a True Patriot bi-monthly series later this year. Presumably it will be published by Chapterhouse.

If you're unfamiliar with The Family Dynamic still, treat yourself to artist Tim Levins' deviantart folder specific to them, which includes work from the three-issue limited series published by DC Comics and more recent True Patriot material.

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.

Another Treat from Chapterhouse in October

It seems that every month the Chapterhouse Comics Group manages to toss a nice surprise among its future solicitations. In addition to the compilation of the original Captain Canuck series, they are reprinting (and completing) Beyond, a fantasy story that served a back up feature in the CC book at the time, and will begin publishing the adventures of The Pitiful Human Lizard shortly.

In October, the sixth issue of the regular Captain Canuck series is released, but for the first time the four issues of the "Captain Canuck West" book will be collected as well.

CAPTAIN CANUCK: UNHOLY WAR TP
(W) Riel Langlois
(A) Drue Langlois
(CA) Kaare Andrews 

No one killed his partner; he’s not part of a top secret government project: what if a man became a super-hero just because he knew he could? RCMP constable David Semple dons the guise of Captain Canuck to take on the Unholy Avengers, an outlaw biker gang menacing the Canadian west coast.

Chapterhouse reprints the Unholy War of the West Coast Captain Canuck by Riel and Drue Langlois. Originally released in a 4-part limited series in October 2004 under Comely Comix, this 120-page Trade Paperback includes exclusive interviews and pre-viously unseen extras.

Going on potentially faulty memory, I believe the book was originally intended to be a 3-issue limited series and a fourth "special" issue was later released. Even if that last issue was slightly oversized, a page count of 120 seems high for reprinting four comics so it sounds like the extras will make it worthwhile. I'm in.

This little bit of news led me to a couple of others. Looking for details about Unholy War on Chapter House's website, I saw the promo image in regards to a Northguard Compendium to come in December. I have the original series (I believe five issues) in trade format, as well as the three-issue Mandes Conclusion mini series which followed, but I trust that Chapter House will make the format and extras alone worthy of picking this up. The original material was in black and white so do we dare hope for...colour?

The other image that caught my eye while trying to gather information was displayed on the Pitiful Human Lizard Facebook page.

Pitiful Human-Lizard issue 5 will introduce a brand new suburban superhero by Adam Gorham and Greg Harms. Prepare yourself for the Mississauga Marauder!

Right on. There will be a launch party for that specific issue on August 8th but no doubt it will also be included among future Chapter House solicitations, as will all future issues. PHL creator/writer/artist Jason Loo states as much on the Facebook event page.

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.