The new superhero Captain Canuck is coming! And, he’s coming on Canada Day!
original creators of the Canadian superhero © CBC
If you asked people to name some fictional superheroes, they’d likely answer with characters somehow “American” like Batman, Cat Woman, Captain America, Iron Man, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, and of course Canadian Joe Shuster’s co-creation of Superman, but who was also “American”. Some might mention “Wolverine”, a Canadian, but more of an anti-hero than hero.
But now we will have Captain Canuck to fight bad guys. Actually, in a way, he’s coming back. Captain Canuck was a character first created some 40 years ago.
series of stamps which included Captain Canada.
The series was a huge success.
In 1971 Winnipeg, Manitoba artist Richard Comely met another young artist Ron Leishman. In discussions Leishman said there there should be a Canadian superhero. By 1973 the discussions became serious and Comely began working hard on the idea. By 1975 the first self-published indie comic Captain Canuck made its debut.
“It was really big, much more than I expected,” Comely said. “Canadian media certainly was very interested and so was American media. And it sold very well … it just sold out everywhere.”
Now the Canadian superhero is coming back with a new group of creators approved by Richard Comely . Captain Canuck Incorporated and Smiley Guy animation studios.
CC INC was founded by Fadi Hakim and with television industry veterans Dean Henry and Paul Gardner as Creative Directors have re-imagined Captain Canuck for a new audience.
and makes its debut on Canada day © CCI
“This is a ground-up revamp,” says Kalman Andrasofsky, the Toronto-based comic book artist who helped redesign and guide the reboot. “We’re trying to take all the best elements of the classic and also layer in new elements that speak to the way hero mythology has evolved since Canuck was created in 1975.”
Whereas the original 70’s version was set in the 90’s, the new version takes place in the 21st century with Canada a leader in technology and clean energy. The hero, Tom Evans (Captain Canuck) is part of an organization called Equilibrium charged with keeping the world safe from Mr Gold, a holdover from the original, and other threats. Gold is a rich industrialist bent on world domination
The new 5-part version debuts this evening, Canada Day July 1st, at the Silver Snail, a renowned comic store on Yonge Street in Toronto
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