Captain Canuck Season 1: Aleph

Captain Canuck Season 1: Aleph (2015-2016): written by Kalman Andrasofszky with Jason Loo; illustrated by Kalman Andrasofszky, Leonard Kirk, Jason Loo, and Adam Gorham: Created by Richard Comely and Ron Leishman, Captain Canuck's first comic book appeared in 1975. This reboot's first issue arrived in 2015. 40 years!

The first storyline offers competent and sometimes inspired storytelling without throwing out the original series' idea that Canuck works for a non-partisan peace-keeping agency (here dubbed 'Equilibrium') or that Canuck tries to use non-lethal force when battling his foes. 

The comic also emphasizes the Captain's reliance on his team, with more focus on those coordinating things back at the Nunavut base and on fellow operative Kebec, now a female French-Canadian sharpshooter.

Kalman Andrasofszky offers a solid script and occasionally shaky but mostly solid art, with Leonard Kirk taking over art duties a couple of issues into the run. Kirk is also perfectly competent, though there are a few pages in which it's somewhat unclear what's happening in some panels, a problem that may lie at either the script or art level. I'd prefer sharper inking of both artists in the mode of classic X-Men Terry Austin on John Byrne. The story seems to cry out for a crisp line.

Many of the enjoyably wonky aspects of the original Captain Canuck return here, including super-villain Mr. Gold (now with vastly enhanced powers!) and the Captain's alien origin for his more-than-normal strength (a crashed UFO in the Arctic). This is still a comic of the moment, however, complete with an opening rescue mission/battle set in Alberta's tar sands.

Captain Canuck is his usual humble, hyper-competent self. His brother is now much more of a factor in the story, his motivations questionable for much of the book. Some of the back-and-forth between Canuck and the non-super-powered members of his tactical team recall Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.. And like Hellboy, Canuck really doesn't want to let people die, even his enemies. The Deadpool-like hilts on Cap's back aren't swords -- they're non-lethal Taser batons. Cap's major other power, besides enhanced but not ludicrous super-strength, is a personal force field. Yep. A CANADIAN SHIELD!!!

Well-played!

The back pages of the graphic collection reveal that Chapterhouse, the Captain's new publisher, has ambitious plans for him and a number of other Canadian superheroes new and old. None of these new books are out yet, however, though the creative teams for the books appear in the back of the volume. Too ambitious? We'll see. 

Shared universes are fine, but it's good to get the first book off the ground, and promptly, before plotting out a whole group of interconnected titles. While the second story-line (Season 2) of Captain Canuck has begun in the 'floppies.'* it has been two years between series and counting.

But I hope Captain Canuck, at least, is a success. Chapterhouse may be too ambitious, but at least it has a comic-book-loving Canadian celebrity as its front man (Jay Baruchel). Recommended.


* Traditional 32-page comic books.

Nelvana of the Northern Lights

Nelvana of the Northern Lights (1940-1947/ This edition 2014): edited by Hope Nicholson and Rachel Richey; story and art credited to Adrian Dingle: War-time importation restrictions left Canada without American comic books for six years. In their place rose "the Canadian whites," mostly black-and-white comic books that offered the same sort of superheroes and action heroes seen in the American comics of the time. 

The "Whites" would die off quickly once American comics returned to post-war Canada, killed by economies of scale. But Nelvana would live on in the memory of some, to the extent that the Canadian animation studio founded in the late 1970's took its name from her.

Who is Nelvana of the Northern Lights? Well, the daughter of a god of the Inuit, loosely based on actual myth. For an Inuit goddess, she looks a lot like a Caucasian movie star of the 1940's. Her brother looks even more Caucasian, even Aryan, and his ability to transform into a magical Great Dane seems mighty peculiar for the Canadian North. What, no Husky?

Nelvana predates Wonder Woman as a female superhero and post-dates some forgotten American female costume crimefighters. When the series begins, Nelvana protects the interests of the Inuit from a mythical invading nation that seems to be an odd combination of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Change came quickly to all superheroes in the 1940's, Canadian or American. Soon, Nelvana fights the Axis along Canadian soldiers and RCMP officers. 

But she also fights lost civilizations hidden beneath the Arctic Ice and, once the war is over, an invasion of Radio-men from the Ether. And there the stories end.

Adrian Dingle was certainly the equal of most American superhero chroniclers of his time, and superior to many. There's a pleasing touch of Noel Sickles and Milton Caniff to his art, and the stories themselves move at breakneck speed. They have to. They're generally less than 10 pages long. Nelvana mostly handles things herself with an ever-changing array of powers, her male companions mostly forgettable. 

Hope Nicholson and Rachel Richey should be thanked for bringing back the complete adventures of Nelvana in this labour of love. A Table of Contents that cited the specific issues and publication dates for each story would improve the volume, but that's mainly an academic quibble. Kudos. Highly recommended.