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.

Barbalien Emerges!

Does the name "Barbalien" ring a bell at all?

It appeared again today in a Bleeding Cool article about an upcoming Dark Horse comic book by writer Jeff Lemire entitled Black Hammer. Here's what that's about:

The series follows the former heroes of Spiral City — Abraham Slam, Golden Gail, Colonel Weird, Madame Dragonfly and Barbalien – as they work to escape from the small farming town they’ve been trapped in for a decade.

The article displayed a number of variant covers drawn by Lemire himself, including one which featured that very character.  That's the one below.

This idea had been conceived in 2007 or so and eventually scheduled for a late 2014 release. However the artist suffered an illness, causing significant delays. But it's apparently on its way now.

There is no blatant, or even subtle, Canadian content as such. But reading about Barbalien again recently raised an eyebrow. That was the name of the character that Lemire was going to use in the second volume of True Patriot. When asked, in late 2013, by Comic Book Resources what he would bring to the True Patriot table, Lemire provided the following teaser:

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.

Judging from the rather neat "Who's Who" style fact sheet below, there isn't much cause to think that the RCMP portion of that is still in play, but who knows? There is nothing to definitively identify Spiral City, or the farming town the characters are trapped in, as American either from the small sampling of preview material I've seen. Maybe Lemire will sneak in some Canadian goodness.

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.

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.

Halloween 2014 awesomeness!

Confession: Every time I see some local kid dressed as Captain America for Halloween, a small part of me dies. :-(

But when I see great Halloween outfits such as the ones below, I could come back to life more often than James MacDonald Hudson! :-)

All are lifted from Facebook groups, and each respective group is linked through the picture.  I take credit for nothing, I display only because I dig.

First off, Captain Canuck West.

The above is actually from Winnipeg's Central Canada Comic Con (but it was taken and posted on Halloween, so it counts). It's cool to see that version of the character still have some legs. You know what else would be great? Check out what Marvel is doing with Spiderverse and transfer that over to the Captain. All versions of the character in one book/story line. How much fun would that be?

Next, we have Nelvana:

The lady is named Amy Kenny.  Not sure about the dog. ;-)  As far as I'm concerned, that's her brother Tanero.

Last and certainly not least...The Red Ensign from True Patriot!

This was credited only to "a fan from Ottawa".  I love seeing a more recent character with a limited publication history get this kind of treatment if only to add a little exposure.

Good on ya, folks!  For what little it's worth, I appreciate the effort and the originality!

Final Week of the True Patriot 2 Campaign!

The fundraising campaign geared towards bringing the second volume of True Patriot to life is in its final seven days and well within reach of being successful.  In order to get themselves over the proverbial hump, the team has made a new perk available.  Feast your eyes:

The above image, featuring the vast majority of True Patriot characters, is available as a 13"X19" giclee print.  It is by Tom Fowler with colours by Jim Charalampidis.

For those who missed out on the first volume earlier this year, there are options by which you can obtain both books either in hardcover format and/or as pdf files.

I'm keeping a close eye on this one.  I'm not too terribly worried about the team's ability to meet their goal, but it's not going to happen on its own.  But even if they do, I would love to see them meet their stretch goal, because they add content.

If we hit our main goal of $20,000, we humbly submit the following stretch goals.

$22,000 - To add 8 pages to the book upping the page count to 112

$24,000 - To add 8 more pages upping the page count to 120

$27,000 - We print a TPB of Volume 1 for wider distribution

But the original goal has to be met first, so let's make that happen.

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.

2rue Patriot Cover Reveal

The image below was posted on the True Patriot Facebook page.  The TP2 team is preparing a launch party for their fundraising campaign on November 1st at The Comic Book Lounge and Gallery (587A College Street, Toronto).  The book's cover was partially shown as a teaser on October 16th and now a full view is displayed on the event page, although it is apparently not yet fully completed.  It is the work Tom Fowler and Jay Stephens.

When it was first revealed that a second volume would be forthcoming, I was told (on Twitter) that if I enjoyed the first book, I would be very happy with the line-up of the second.  Evidently so; the five characters above are all making return appearances.   Clockwise from top left we have: Arrowhead, Grey Owl, Raven Girl (Did that name hold up?  It's actually not used in-story), Dominion Jack and Superhero Girl.

A couple of the stories in the first volume concluded with a "next issue" blurb.  It'll be interesting to see whether those were actually applicable or just included for effect.

I admit that I'm a little worn out on Indiegogo and Kickstarter campaigns but I can't wait for ths one to begin.

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.

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! :-)

From Gold to Grey

The following was posted on the True Patriot anthology Facebook page.

We're all about being Canadian, so J. Bone's Golden Owl has been renamed Grey Owl! Whatever you call our fine feathered friend, he looks great in colour...

Makes sense.  In fact, it's kind of surprising that no one has thought to name a Canadian superhero Grey Owl to this point (that I know of).  Here's part of the image being referred to:

That's J. Bone's work above.  That page is one of several preview images on that Facebook page.  If you plan to follow the progress of this book, which has a tentative release date of July 1st, that's the place from which to do it. 

Here's another piece, this time by Tom Fowler, featuring several other characters from the book.

Left to right, we have Dominion Jack, Thunderbirch and The Red Ensign.

This thing can't hit my mailbox fast enough.

True Patriot Christmas Card

Though I was a contributor to the True Patriot campaign earlier this year, the image below was an unexpected inbox surprise this morning.

What we have here is Dominion Jack (and his daughter), as drawn by Ron Salas.  Jack is among the characters to be featured in the True Patriot anthology.

The campaign ended some time ago, but the book can still be ordered from this page.

The "True Patriot" Campaign is Underway!

You can click the banner above to be taken to the campaign itself, but here are the basics:

True Patriot is a comic book anthology featuring Canadian superheroes written and drawn by some of your favourite Canadian comic book creators. Most of us working on this project grew up reading Alpha Flight, Captain Canuck, or Wolverine comics and we’ve always thought that there should be more Canadian superheroes out there. So, we're putting together a 100-page, full-colour anthology for your reading pleasure (and ours)!

"We" being: Adrian Alpona (Runaways), Andy B. (Kill Shakespeare), J. Bone (Super Friends), Jack Briglio (Scooby Doo), Scott Chantler (Two Generals), Tom Fowler (Hulk: Season One), Agnes Garbowska (Girl Comics), Faith Erin Hicks (Adventure Time), Tim Levins (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes), Ramon Perez (A Tale of Sand), Ron Salas (28 Days Later), Jay Stephens (Secret Saturdays), J. Torres (Teen Titans Go), Howard Wong (After the Cape).

The return or The Family Dynamic is a pleasant surprise. Originally published, but bungled, by DC Comics in 2008, apparently J. Torres has obtained the rights to use the characters.

Torres hinted at their return a little while prior to going public with the True Patriot project.  As True Patriot was being built, the spotlight was turned over to some of the other characters and creators that will be featured so I began to wonder if one even had anything to do with the other after all.  I don't believe that Family Dynamic is even mentioned on the project's Facebook page, for example, so their inclusion in the Indoegogo page's gallery was great news.

I would love to see this become a regular event used to showcase Canadian talent.  Let's get the first one done and work from there.

Masked Mosaic; Canadian Super Stories

Superheroes! Supervillains! Masked vigilantes, superpowered antiheroes, super scientists. Adventurers into the unknown, costumed crimefighters, mutant superterrorists . . . we want to see any and all permutations of the superhero genre, but with a uniquely Canadian perspective. Stories must involve a Canadian element — setting, politics, culture, history, characters, etc. Any genre-mashing goes: alternate history, crime, horror, romance, SF, fantasy, surrealism; we want a variety of tones, approaches, subgenres, cultural perspectives, etc. We’re especially interested in submissions where setting (a specific city, region, or province) plays an essential role, but we’re open to other types of stories, too.

The above was the "pitch" for Masked Mosaic, an anthology from Tyche Books scheduled to be available in February of next year.  Editors Claude Lalumiere and Camille Alexa have reviewed the submissions (the period for which opened June 1st and closed August 1st) and the following selections were announced early last week.

E.L Chen – Nocturne
Kristi Charish - Canadian Blood Diamonds
Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Iron Justice versus the Fiends of Evil
Jonathan Olfert – Never the Twain
Kevin Cockle – Circe and the Gunboat
David Nickle - Knife Fight
Derryl Murphy – On-to-Ottawa
D.K. Latta – The Secret History of the Intrepids
Emma Faraday – The Man in the Mask
Mike Rimar – A Bunny Hug for Karl
Emma Vossen – “Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not an Imaginary Story!” The Lost Years of Joe Shuster
Patrick T. Goddard – Giant Canadian Comics
A.C. Wise – Kid Wonder
Rhea Rose – Leaf Man
David Perlmutter – Octopi Bleakly Corners
Lisa Poh – The Seamstress without a Costume
Marie Bilodeau – The Kevlar Canoe
Rhonda & Jonathan Parrish – Sea and Sky
Chantal Boudreau – A Face in the Wind
Michael S. Chong – The Creep
Jason Sharp – Lonesome Charlie Johnstone’s Strange Boon
Alyxandra Harvey – The Shield Maiden
Michael Matheson – The Many Lives of the Xun Long
Jason S. Ridler – Revenge of the Iron Shadow: A Tale of Kingstonia

See Tyche Books' announcement for links to some of the writers' blogs, websites, etc.

Sounds like a rather eclectic collection.  I am not familiar with most of these writers so this should make for a good introduction to their work.

Along similar lines, finding out about this superhero anthology reminded me that Cloudscape Comics were planning one of their own.  There had been little news about their version of All-Canadian Comics in recent weeks, so I wrote to Cloudscape president Jeff Ellis to inquire as to its status.  Mr Ellis was kind to confirm that the project is still underway and to expect news soon.

Also, writer J. Torres has planned a similar anthology called True Patriot.  He first announced it last week and has begun naming some of the talent/characters involved.  This link will take you to the True Patriot tag on his blog so that you can follow the project's progress.  Torres plans an Indiegogo campaign next month in order to help fund the project.