Tag Archives: Canadian superheroes

True Patriot

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True Patriot comicIf you know anything about Canadian comics, you know how invaluable the anthology has been to Canadian creators. This website alone is a testament to that by the sheer quantity of comics anthologies released over the last 70 years! Anthologies allow creators to get their work into the public eye who might have otherwise struggled to do so. This is usually due to lack of funds, distribution, or publicity in general and is the problem that has always plagued comics publishing in Canada. Here is the opportunity, again, to change this! It’s history in the making with the project True Patriot!

True Patriot is a “comic book anthology featuring Canadian superheroes written and drawn by some of your favourite Canadian comic book creators.” The advantage this anthology has is an already quite public and well-known cast of creators that will be working on it such as Ramon Perez, J. Torres, Adrian Alphona, Scott Chantler, Jack Briglio, and Faith Erin Hicks! Projects like this are so important to the cultivation of Canadian popular culture, and needs the public support! Please check out the indiegogo page and consider purchasing a copy. Cheers!

Orb Magazine

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Orb #2 featuring Northern Light on the front cover.

In 1974, the honeymoon of the science fiction and comics marriage, James Waley published Orb Magazine from Toronto, Ontario. This is three years before Andromeda was published, and is very much Andromeda’s predecessor. Both lasted only six issues, featured many of the same artists and writers such as Don Marshall, John Allison, George Henderson, Gene Day, Peter Hsu and Jim Beveridge. They both focused on similar content, that is, science fiction genre common in the alternative comics scene of the 1970s with a touch of the adult themed including nudity and other mature content.

The comic has more to give in the way of just science fiction. This is the magazine that is known to produce one of the many Canadian national superheroes, Northern Light. Originally scripted by an American for an American audience, the character was adapted for the Canadian magazine. Later, James Waley resumed writing duties for the character, but, like his many brethren in red and white, the character was very short lived.

Norther Light wasn’t the only regular story line in the magazine. There was also the Electric Warrior, Kadaver and Dark Ninja. This magazine did also feature some coloured pages, mainly those given to Northern Light. Never fewer than 50 pages per issue, some contain more than 10 in colour. The series ran from July 1974 until April 1976.

Orb #1 Cover by John Allison

Orb 1 – 1974

  • The Ride: Stanley Berneche
  • The Astounding Origin of Kadaver: James Waley
  • Devil’s Triangle: John Allison
  • Belial: Paul McCusker
  • Meta-Morphosis: Alexander Emond
  • Whirls of a Numb-a; Matt Rust

Orb 2 – July 1974

  • Plague: Gene Day
  • Galactic Queen: Paul Savard and John Allison (Script) Paul Savard (Pencils) Gene Day (Inks)
  • Musical Roulette: Ronn Sutton
  • The Seeker: Matt Rust
  • The Guardian of Mars (Northern Light): T Casey Brennan (Script) John Allison (Art)
  • No-Man’s Land: Paul McCuscker
  • Salvation: James Waley
  • Reeve Perry: Bruce Bezaire
  • Small Talk:

Orb 3 – December 1974

  • Lepers: Paul McCuscker
  • Half-Life: John Allison
  • Cheezy-Nuggets: Alexander Emond
  • Super-Student: Ken Steacy
  • Northern Light: The Lone Guardian Strikes: T. Casey Brennan (Script) Jim Craig (Art) Matt Rust (Colours) and James Waley (Colours)
  • Escape the Truth: Richard Robertson
  • Karkass: Matt Rust
  • A Shroud of Tattered Grey!: Gene Day
  • The Rescue of Raniff The Fair: Ronn Sutton

Orb 4 – November December 1975

  • Electric Warrior: Ken Steacy (Art) Kerri Ellison (Script)
  • Encore: Matt Rust
  • Gothic Glitter: Peter Hsu (Art) George Henderson (Script)
  • Dark Ninja: Vincent Marchesano
  • The Horror of Harrow House: Gene Day
  • The Astounding Origin of Kadaver Continued: James Waley
  • Child Slayer-World Saver?: Art Cooper (Art) James Waley (Script) Matt Rust (Script)
  • The Origin of the Northern Light Part One: Jim Craig (Art) Jim Craig (Script) James Waley (Script) and George Henderson (Script)
  • Space Scouts: Matt Rust

Orb 5 – January February 1976

  • One Man’s Madness: Gene Day (Art) T. Casey Brennan (Script)
  • Dark Ninja: Harbinger of Doom: Vincent Marchesano (Pencils) Bill Payne (Embellishments) Russell Wallace (Script)
  • Retribution: Gene Day (Script and pencils) Peter Hsu (Inks and tones) Matt Rust (Tones)
  • Man O’ Dreams: Don Marshall (Art) George Henderson (Script)
  • The Origin of the Northern Light Part 2: Dénouement: Jim Craig (Art) James Waley (Script) Matt Rust (Script)
  • Kadaver: My Will Be Done!: Art Cooper (Layouts) Jim Craig (Finishing) Matt Rust (Tones) James Waley (Script) Matt Rust (Script)
  • Back Cover: Don Marshall

Orb 6 – March April 1976

  • Cosmic Dancer: Jim Craig (Art) Augustine Funnell (Script)
  • Woof! Woof!: Matt Rust (Art) George Henderson (Script)
  • Gyk the Barbarian in Escape: John Sech (Script) Paul McCuscker (Pencils) Jim Craig (inks) Gene Day (Colours);
  • Trojan Horse: Gene Day
  • Dark Ninja in Dawn of Darkness: John Sech (Script) Vincent Marchesano (Pencils) Gene Day (Inks);
  • Flame of El-Hamman: Bill Payne (Art and letters) George Henderson (Script)

Orb #6

You can check out more about these comics in either of the John Bell books, but also here and here for some basic information.

Captain Canuck Part One

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Captain Canuck #10

In celebration of the new Alpha Flight release today (I’m genuinely excited), I’ve decided to take a look at another famous Canadian superhero, Richard Comely and Ron Leishman’s Captain Canuck.

Designed and created in 1974 and 1975, Ron Leishman created the original look for Captain Canuck. After this though, the main comic team consisted of Jean-Claude St. Aubin, George Freeman and Richard Comely. During that year they released only 3 issues under the publishing title Comely Comix in Winnipeg. For the next few years, Captain Canuck, or Tom Evans, took a haitus, as Comley tried and failed at running a newspaper business. During these three issues, though, many artists and comic contributors assisted the team in creating one of Canada’s greatest silver age heroes. Owen McCarron came on for an issue, as well as Dave Abbott.

From number 4 to 14, Captain Canuck was published in Calgary, changing publisher titles to CKR Productions. This was to be their most regular run, even though they weren’t always regular, from July 1979 to April 1981. This series witnessed a cover page format change in number 13.

Number 13 itself was a special issue. Also in this issue, the the final installment of the Chariots of Fire arc was dedicated to Harold Town and the frontispiece contains a touching memoir of Terry Fox and his accomplishments.

Sadly, like all the other times Captain Canuck has ended, financing the comic was no longer an option. Although a 15th issue was almost completed, it never went to print.*

The last thing I’m going to include in this post is the Summer Special published in July 1980. This 64 page special contained three Captain Canuck comics, as well as a preview for the Captain Canuck newspaper strip. Interestingly, it also includes a Dave Sim rendered Captain Canuck as well as one by Gene Day, Vern Andrusiek and Tom Grummett. Definitely worth having in your Canadian comic book collection.

More information on Captain Canuck can be found here and here is a nifty little blog entry on the subject.

*It eventually published as a collectible in 2004.