4 ISSUE CAPTAIN CANUCK MINISERIES PLANNED FOR SUMMER

[MattBrady]

Press Release

Over 30 years have passed since the first issue of Captain Canuck was launched in May of 1975. This summer he’ll don a new trademark red and white costume, leaping onto shelves (with Magno boots, of course) in the first of a four-part series titled Captain Canuck Legacy.

The story weaves characters from Canada’s east coast, Ontario and the United States in an international intrigue of illegal weapons smuggling. The guns are en route from the US to Canada and only Captain Canuck has what it takes to stop the scourge from reaching the streets of our peaceable nation.

The comic’s author and illustrator, Richard Comely, feels Canuck’s relevance today lies in part in both the medium and the theme of the story. “Things can be said and stories can be told in comic books that resonate with Canadian and American readers and that can't be expressed in another medium. Captain Canuck can deal with very current issues, ” says Comely.

Orders for Diamond Comic Distributors from comic specialty stores will soon be tallied for the late July early August shipping date for the first issue. A very limited supply of advertising spaces remains in this historic return to print for Canada’s cultural icon. With over 200,000 search returns for “Captain Canuck” on the Internet, it’s clear devotion to this character has not waned.

The re-launch coincides with further development work on a Captain Canuck feature film and an animated TV series for the not-too-distant future and is a featured teaching tool in Comely’s upcoming position as instructor in Canada’s first and only post-graduate Comic Design and Scripting program at Mohawk College in Brantford, Ontario.

The first edition of Captain Canuck, dated July 1975, hit newsstands May 1975. More than 2.3 million copies over 24 issues have been printed since the first issue. In that year, it was the first and only full colour independent superhero comic book in the world. Canada Post issued a Captain Canuck postage stamp in 1995.

With the exception of a 3-part mini-series produced under license in late 2004, this is the first issue of Captain Canuck released in a decade.

Richard Comely is an artist, illustrator, writer, producer and instructor. He will soon begin teaching a new generation of comic artists in Canada’s first and only post-graduate Comic Design and Scripting program at Mohawk College in Brantford, Ontario. He lives with his wife and one of his eight children in Cambridge, Ontario.

www.captaincanuck.com

[ColourMan]

I'm Canadian. I ought to buy this.

[MurrayC]

Originally Posted by ColourMan

I'm Canadian. I ought to buy this.

Me too!

If there is to be a next mini-series, I would like to see Captain Canuck go the the US on a good-will tour and lecture to congress about the messed-up health care system they have (ie. all the US citizens who come to Canada for cheap prescription drugs and free health-care that is becoming a drain in Canadian society - yet when a Canadian requires emergency medical attention while visiting the US, he gets charged through the nose ).

And in the shadows, the pharmaceutical companies get together to try and have Captain Canuck assassinated by a gun-toting republican (because if CC is successful, there go the profits)!

Let the backlash begin!

[CitC]

I still have my set of Canadian comic heroes stamps. Captain Canuck. Superman and two others. I found them in one of my long boxes last year. I used half of them, but I still have one of each.

[sloria13]

Despite the fact I am Canadian, I will not be getting this. Not interested in the character.

[shady878]

I had a couple of issues of Captain Canuck and they were not that great. It also didnt help that Marvel had Guardian who looked almost exactly like him minus the maple leaf on his forehead.

and oh yeah, I probably wouldnt get this either. No disrespect "Cap"

[SmileOnADog]

I am the son of a Newfie so I don't know if I should buy this or not. I love classic Alpha Flight and I don't think you can top that.

What ever happened to Northguard?

[BamaRainbow]

Originally Posted by shady878

I had a couple of issues of Captain Canuck and they were not that great. It also didnt help that Marvel had Guardian who looked almost exactly like him minus the maple leaf on his forehead.

and oh yeah, I probably wouldnt get this either. No disrespect "Cap"

Just for the record, Captain Canuck (and his uniform) predated Guardian by 3 or 4 years. Captain Canuck, in fact, was the inspiration for Guardian when he made his first appearance in Uncanny X-Men (issue 109, IIRC). If memory serves, Byrne was a big fan of Captain Canuck when the first series came out, and suggested the character to Claremont. At first, the character was going to be called Major Maple Leaf, but I think that name only appeared in a joking context within the story. (Byrne, in an interview back around the time that Alpha Flight was starting as a monthly book, admitted that Guardian had been created to be a Marvel version of Captain Canuck. He also noted that most of the "original" Alpha Flight characters--those who first appeared as a team in Uncanny X-Men 120 & 121--were based either on earlier Canadian super-hero comic characters or Canadian legendary characters.)

Having posted all that, I was also disappointed with the mid 1980s version of Captain Canuck (which seemed mostly to try cashing in on Alpha Flight's success), and I don't really see myself getting this new mini-series. I do wish Comely success in this venture, but, unless his artistic skills have dramatically improved since my last exposure, he'd be better off having someone else illustrate the series. (Of course, considering the way nostalgia works, there may be a greater audience for Comely's style than a newer artist.)

[Not From Around]

I recall seeing Captain Canuck as a kid--on a spin rack in a grocery story in Arkansas no less! Years later I found some back issues and bought one or two. I might still have one somewhere. I recall there being a backup fantasy series in the book about some stock heroic fantasy types on a quest.

[shady878]

Originally Posted by BamaRainbow

Just for the record, Captain Canuck (and his uniform) predated Guardian by 3 or 4 years. Captain Canuck, in fact, was the inspiration for Guardian when he made his first appearance in Uncanny X-Men (issue 109, IIRC). If memory serves, Byrne was a big fan of Captain Canuck when the first series came out, and suggested the character to Claremont. At first, the character was going to be called Major Maple Leaf, but I think that name only appeared in a joking context within the story. (Byrne, in an interview back around the time that Alpha Flight was starting as a monthly book, admitted that Guardian had been created to be a Marvel version of Captain Canuck. He also noted that most of the "original" Alpha Flight characters--those who first appeared as a team in Uncanny X-Men 120 & 121--were based either on earlier Canadian super-hero comic characters or Canadian legendary characters.)

Having posted all that, I was also disappointed with the mid 1980s version of Captain Canuck (which seemed mostly to try cashing in on Alpha Flight's success), and I don't really see myself getting this new mini-series. I do wish Comely success in this venture, but, unless his artistic skills have dramatically improved since my last exposure, he'd be better off having someone else illustrate the series. (Of course, considering the way nostalgia works, there may be a greater audience for Comely's style than a newer artist.)

Thanks for the character history, didnt mean to mislead anybody reading this as a character rip off, but more of they both had similar costumes and I didnt know who came first. Marvel being a bigger company had more of an audience to Guardian as opposed to Capt. Canuck (although popular in his own right).

I also agree with you on Comely illustrating, he should get someone else to draw. Not only that but probably put a different twist on the character, nothing too dramatic but something to distinguish him from other superheroes.

[shady878]

[shady878]

[BradyKiller]

Originally Posted by shady878

This was the ONLY reason to buy the original Captain Canuck - the awesome George Freeman art.

If there is a new interesting hook for a Canadian superhero then I'll try it - if its just Captain Amercia in Canada forget it.

Vindicator/Guardian and Alpha Flight works for Canadians and non-Canadians because they looked neat and gave Canadians a hope that our secret service was as cool as the Americans and gave the Americans a tast of something foreign but familar. OK the Wolverine connection didnt hurt either.

The American from Dark Horse was a nice new take on the Captain America story...Alpha Flight was cool because it wasnt about pro-Canadian sentiment or patriotism it tapped into the myth of Canada which was neat for any reader. So both original takes on the "Captain Country" character.

Which way the new Captain Canuck goes we will have to wait and see!

[shady878]

Originally Posted by BradyKiller

This was the ONLY reason to buy the original Captain Canuck - the awesome George Freeman art.

If there is a new interesting hook for a Canadian superhero then I'll try it - if its just Captain Amercia in Canada forget it.

Vindicator/Guardian and Alpha Flight works for Canadians and non-Canadians because they looked neat and gave Canadians a hope that our secret service was as cool as the Americans and gave the Americans a tast of something foreign but familar. OK the Wolverine connection didnt hurt either.

The American from Dark Horse was a nice new take on the Captain America story...Alpha Flight was cool because it wasnt about pro-Canadian sentiment or patriotism it tapped into the myth of Canada which was neat for any reader. So both original takes on the "Captain Country" character.

Which way the new Captain Canuck goes we will have to wait and see!

Amen. He probably should have tapped someone with a mainstream name to do art and then hit em with a Richard Comely story...bada bing! you got people like me with an excuse to check it out.
Hopefully its not a Captain America riff though, that probably would be the worst you can do with this character.

[kalorama]

I remember reading Captain Canuck as a kid. (Grew up in Detroit, just across the river from Canada.) I like it in part because it had a different "feel" than American superhero comics at the time. Hopefully the reboot will preserve that. And, hopefully, Comely's art has improved. It was really hit-and-miss artistically until George Freeman came on board.

[Dwight Williams]

Whoops. Someone already addressed the Capt. Canuck/Guardian history.

[Dwight Williams]

Originally Posted by SmileOnADog

I am the son of a Newfie so I don't know if I should buy this or not. I love classic Alpha Flight and I don't think you can top that.

I don't think that will ever stop people from trying.

Originally Posted by SmileOnADog

What ever happened to Northguard?

His creators, Mark Shainblum and Gabriel Morrissette, are still around and both are still freelancing in their specialties. Shainblum's working off and on on Canadiana with Sandy Carruthers, as Carruthers' schedule permits.

[SD Johnny]

I take it this will be available in "the States" from my local store?