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The National Archives of Canada have a website devoted to their exhibition on Canadian superheroes, Guardians of the North. It's a great concise history of Canadian publishers. Of special interest to me is the section on the Golden Age, during which American comics were not able to come over the border. This prompted Canadian publishers to fill the gap and create their own characters, including my favourite Johnny Canuck and Nelvana from whom the famous animation studio took its name. I've always wanted to do a book on that era. Maybe I'll do something for my blog. In the site you'll find tons of creator and character profiles, and scans of artwork.
Canada Post released a series of stamps in honour of Canadian superheroes, including Fleur de Lys, Nelvana, Johnny Canuck, Captain Caunk and Superman.
The Superman/Canada connection has been blown out of proportion, to the point where if I mention that I'm into comics to a non-comic reader they usually shoot back with a "Did you know Superman was Canadian?" The fault for this misconception can be found in this Heritage Minute clip. It is true that there is some Canadiana in the Superman mythos, like the Daily Planet (originally the Daily Star) being based off of the Toronto Star. From the same site, a biography of Joe Shuster and more general info on Canadian comic books and comic strips.
There's quite a few "scenes" in Canada, the two largest being Toronto and Montreal. Cameron should have a good idea of who comprises the Toronto scene. There are a huge number of internationally known artists based in Quebec, which even I don't know anything about because they're in French and aren't generally available outside of that province. The Montreal site is run by Salgood Sam. I've just been asked to place my blog in their collective, even though I don't know a damn thing about Montreal comics. Sorry for the blatant plug, but I try to cover as much Canadian content in my blog as I can. Right now there's an overview of a panel discussion with Michael Palin and Montreal political cartooning legend Aislin up there.
There are a fair number of creators from Canada. I won't list them all. I've only listed ones that I know are from Canada, as opposed to those who were raised or are living here ie. John Byrne. Many of these artists have their own sites, or pages on their publishers sites like D & Q. if you want any info on any of these artists, just ask. Harold Foster, J. Torres, Chester Brown, David Collier, Seth, Julie Doucet, Travis Charest, Dean Motter, Ken Steacy, Chris Bachalo, Ty Templeton, Arn Saba, David Boswell, Troy Nixey, Dave Sim, Gerhard, ahem, Steven Wintle, Lynn Johnston, Dave Cooper, Paul Rivoche, Todd McFarlane, Bernie Mierault, Jay Stephens, Alan Hunt, Marc Bell, etc.
If you can find them, there are a few book written on the subject. The Great Canadian Comic Books, Canuck Comics: A Guide to Comic Books Published in Canada, and the companion book to the exhivbition I mentioned, Guardians of the North: The National Superhero in Canadian Comic-Book Art. I've taken all these books out from libraries, but then again, I live in Canada.
That's it for now. More when it comes to me. |
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