As Canada's Relationship With The USA Changes, A National Superhero Is Finding Brand-New Life
The rise of Captain Canuckhas officially begun, with Canada's national superhero making all new headlines by taking on President Trump's tariff war face-to-face. Showing the embodiment of Canadian heroism giving the American president a piece of his mind, a bold new comic book cover is speaking loud and clear about Canada's renewed sense of identity.
When the superhero was created back in 1975, Richard Comely didn't intend to make any profound political statements, simply allow his own nation to get in on the fun. If the United States had Captain America fighting battles in his flag's colors, why wouldn't Canada have its own costumed defender? One secretly enhanced to peak human abilties by aliens visiting in the north, of course. The market received it well, and Captain Canuck began a decades-long legacy. One that now sees him facing the most unlikely threat imaginable.
Captain Canuck vs Trump in New Cover Art
The Canadian Hero Takes on The US President in Cover Art by Richard Comely
With the United States/Canada trade war impacting comics like all other industries, Comely has created a new Captain Canuck variant cover depicting Captain Canuck taking President Donald Trump by the shoulder and wagging a finger in his face. Predictably, issues and art prints of Comely's work are (like all other Captain Canuck merchandise) selling better and better to Canadian comic fans. Comely tells Reuters it's thanks to a renewed resolve among Canadians, credited to Trump himself:
"Canada is full of all the resources you could imagine, from water, to minerals, what have you. So I envisioned Canada being recognized for that in my stories. But at the same time, needing more protection from terrorists and other groups that wanted to infiltrate Canada, or destabilize Canada, and take over Canada. So I was already dealing with those kind of issues. Of course, never, never, in any of those stories was it America that was going to be taking over Canada. It was always the Russians, or multinational groups."
"[President] Trump gets into office, and he starts talking about annexations and tariffs. And all of a sudden, Canadians are looking to Captain Canuck as a symbol. To them, Captain Canuck symbolizes independence... We're getting more and more calls from Canadian companies expressing some keen interest in Captain Canuck. Largely because of what's happening between America and Canada... So in a sense, we have Mr. Trump to thank for a bit of a resurgence."
With so much anxiety building in the face of rising prices for comic book printing, given the cross-border nature of the printing industry, any positive news is more than welcome. And while Captain Canuck may not enjoy the same levels of success as the billion-dollar Canadian duo of Deadpool & Wolverine, it won't take much for Comely's creation to get momentum behind him. Especially with no sign that tensions between Canada and the United States will be ending soon.
Captain Canuck Isn't The Only Canadian Superhero To Rally Behind
Comic House Has Expanded The Canuck Universe With Even More Comics
Since more people than ever before are likely to be investigating the identity, values, and publishing history of the hero, the good news is Captain Canuck is not alone in his universe of Canadian superheroes. Canuck is obviously the headlining act in his comic universe, now published in physical, digital, and collected issues under the Comic House imprint. With Tom Evans originally claiming the title of Captain Canuck, the costumed government operative used his alien-gifted powers (but Canada-gifted values) to defend the Great White North from all enemies.
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In the modern age, the character was given an update by artist Kalman Andrasofszky, setting the stage for the current version and Canuckverse. Passing the title to Darren Oak, and planting seeds for multiple other titles, the world spawn by Captain Canuck is now spread across multiple books, leading heroes, and even time periods. The Captain's own book is the first place to start, as the flagship title of the brand, following Captain Canuck and his French-Canadian partner Kebec as they fight on the field and behind closed doors of the agency Equilibrium.
Joining the main Captain Canuck series from Comic House, readers looking for superhero comics of a Canadian persuasion can also dive headlong into Canuck Beyond, the series which revealed the true fate of the original Captain Tom Evans. The series from Adrien Benson and Esteban Calvi finally confirms that Evans was not heroically killed, but was transported to a completely alien world, embroiled in its own war against oppression and tyranny. Will his Canadian heroism translate as well onto alien soil?
Set in the same modern espionage landscape of the ongoing Captain Canuck series, Northguard dives even deeper into the underground world of spies and assassins. The original superhero was created by Mark Shainblum and Gabriel Morrissette in 1984, when the unsuspecting video store worker Phil Wise was recruited by "Progressive Allied Canadian Technologies (PACT)." The series was rebooted as part of Comic House's 2017 relaunch of Captain Canuck, and can now be read in one collected edition.
While the plot synopsis of "a spy, a Mountie, and a former superhero get onto a train" may sound like the setup to a joke, the actual events of West Coast Canuck are anything but. If you're less interested in costumed heroics, and more interested in the unofficial hero of Hamilton, Ontario being recruited to aid CSIS and the RCMP on a covert mission, then this fourth offer from Comic House is right up your alley. All are available through the official Comic House website, including free previews of the first issues in the series.
While these properties may be on hiatus, or characters to someday be returned to, it's hard to imagine a more potent, provocative, and charged market for Comic House's characters. With Canada's most trusted ally now turning to a rival, and harsh words being thrown alongside threats of annexation, when better for Canadian heroes to step up? That extends to Marvel's own Canadian superhero team as well, but Comic House has plenty of shots just waiting to be fired.
If Comely's provocative cover art, or the lore of Captain Canuck has you interested, readers can enjoy the first issue of Captain Canuck free of charge (and place an order for their own copy of the coming issue) via the official Comic House website.
Source: Reuters
