Fourth Time's The Charm?

The North Shield is a graphic novel project by William Byrne that's been percolating for some time. Here's its elevator pitch:

They thought they killed him, but they were wrong... Rising from the ashes to be found by a secret government agency under the streets of the Toronto as he struggles to understand and cope with his newfound abilities. 

He will be trained by a battle scarred WW2 French Canadian superhero/spy and armed with an alien battle-suit. 

He will claim back his new home from the dark tyranny that threatens to destroy the city. 

He will become the hero the city/country and the world needs!

Byrne attempted to kickstart it on three separate occasions earlier this year. The first campaign was cancelled for reasons which escape me now and the next two failed to meet their goals.

But...Byrne deserves some credit here, for a variety of reasons.

1) Many people would have called it quits after the first attempt. Byrne believes in his project and persevered.

2) Byrne received quite a bit of press over his project including the CBC, local newspapers and of course a variety of comics sites. That's not always easy to do so clearly he managed to strike a chord with some people.

3) While he didn't reach his goal, he was still able to obtain thousands of dollars in commitments.

Referring back to point one, after the third attempt did not meet expectations, Byrne stated that he and his character would be back soon. Honestly, I've read this claim a dozen times from folks who were never heard from again so I admit I've begun to think of it as the standard farewell speech.

Prior to writing this, I went over the past few months of activity on The North Shield Facebook group to look for news I might have missed since the end of the last fundraising campaign. There are two types of posts by Byrne that stand out; Those relative to his various attempts at improving his product and the more general ones about not giving up on a goal.

Then today, Byrne shared a post from Toronto artist Loc Nguyen which displays a redesign of The North Shield character.

Pretty smooth, eh? It builds nicely on Marvin Law's art above (I don't know if Law was involved in the original design or only as the artist on the book). Nguyen's use of darker colours and the added detail work very well here.

Byrne's own hard work, public requests for feedback, positive attitude and a sleek new look for the main character all indicate that he truly has not given up on seeing his graphic novel published. Don't be surprised if The North Shield appears on Kickstarter once again before long.

ICYMI Art: Dominion Jack by Steve Rude

Jack Briglio shared the image yesterday as part of his Merry Christmas message to friends, family, etc.

As a True Patriot & Dominion Jack treat, thought I’d share an image of a gift I received from none other than the “Dude” himself, Steve Rude! His take on Dominion Jack and Mashup. Cool or what, eh? 🙂 Enjoy! 

I’ll have some shots from the next True Patriot Presents Dominion Jack chapter that Hugh and I are cooking up in the new year! The story is heating up...

No better gift than one you can also share.

The "Hugh" being referred to is no doubt Hugh Rockwood. Hugh has handled art duties on the last couple of installments of the Dominion Jack stories in True Patriot Presents and apparently will continue to do so. He also contributed the cover below to the third issue of Captain Canuck Chapterhouse Archives book. Alas, it never saw print.

Looking Ahead to 2018 Some More!

The last chronological post here displayed the cover for Deborah Daring #4 but as the year comes to a close, I should take the time to mention some of the other great books that are schedule to become available in the early part of the new year.

These three covers are displayed in the order that I remember seeing them in. It is not a reflection of the order in which they might be released or indicative of my affection for the product and/or its creator(s). ;-)

Big Nick #3

Auric #5

It's good to see the Auric cover. I have yet to receive #4 after supporting it in the recent Kickstarter campaign. I have no concerns about it reaching me, as the team behidn Auric and Great North comics has always been reliable in that sense, but seeing work on #5 already being shared makes me hopeful that there will be a little less time between these two issues.

Project I.M.P.A.C.T. #1

More serious fare here. I'd been hoping a coloured version would come quickly after the black and white one was revealed a few days earlier.

I know work continues on North, Oktana @ Co, North Force Alpha, the Lucky Comics version of The Leaf, Psychosis and more as well. One book that met its fundraising goal and that should be coming my way soon is Atticus Drake. Here's the cover for that.

Find out more about that project here. It may end up being a one-and-done, but I'm always all-in for a good war story. I wish I'd been more vocal in supporting it (for whatever little good that might actually do) so I was quite glad to see it meets its goal.

If you are aware of other projects involving Canadian characters, creators, settings and publishers, get in touch with me at jf4nier(at)gmail(dot)com.

Deborah Daring #4 Getting Kickstarted Soon!

I've praised the folks behind the Psychosis book a few times over the handling of their crowdfunding campaigns but Rob McKinnon, the man behind the Deborah Daring limited series, deserves those same accolades as well.

Rob sent a campaign update earlier today in which he apologized to some backers over a delay in shipping the collected edition of the book that they'd pre-purchased. I've backed individual issues and have encountered no such delays. If any of the three books were late, it wasn't particularly noticeable.

The update came with cover art for the next issue which I very much plan to support again. Artist Jae Korim is a great choice for this book.

The Surprising Superieurs

I received an unexpected surprise (aren't they all?) this afternoon when Charlie McElvy, creator of the Watchguard Universe, sent out the following image to those who supported the Kickstarter campaign for his Watchguard and/or Teen Force 5 comics.

The above ass-kicking was provided by Chahine Ladjouze and gloriously displays Charlie's subtly Canadian super team, Les Superieurs. The image will be used for the cover to an upcoming WatchGuard Sourcebook supplement.

My surprise stems from the fact that I supported the WatchGuard campaign...in early 2012.

I did so knowing full well that Les Superieurs were peripheral to it, of course. It wasn't about them, they just happened to inhabit the same setting. The Watchguard characters were interesting enough on their own though and supporting the "universe" could only help the Superieurs material get made, so onwards.

Since then I've enjoyed purchasing character fact sheets for the various team members or some of their opponents. They are reference material for the Mutants & Masterminds role-playing game, is my understanding, which I don't play, but they provide a great deal of background material on their respective subject.

It had been quite some time since I'd had the opportunity to purchase one so I figured this was one of many, many projects I've backed in which the creator(s) lose(s) interest for whatever reason, such as Heroes Of The North and Legion Unleashed.

(No knock, by the way. Life happens. It's all I can do to maintain this blog, let alone create a comic series or write a novel)

Today's teaser confirms that a) the project is still a go and b) I should quit doubting Charlie because whenever I give up on seeing Les Superieurs, they resurface in some way. Hopefully there's still a chance that a comic book will follow as well, along the lines of the one that was produced for Watchguard. Just, you know...Don't go camping out in front of your local RPG or comics store just yet.

In the process of refreshing my memory about this team, I found this character as well.

Defending Canada's provinces and territories from villainy isn't an easy job. Luckily the nation has Red Serge as their national hero! A member of the RCMP that uses a strange, crimson-colored energy to fight the forces of evil, he protects the nation from villainy both within its borders and beyond them.

I have no idea how he fits into all this, in fact I don't believe he does. He may just be a pre-made character for those who want to play the Mutants & Masterminds game but not a part of the Watchguard Universe as such. Still, I dig the design and who knows? Just because he's not in Les Superieurs doesn't mean he can't operate on his own in Watchguard Canada.

We're Getting Closer To Finding Out Who Desbois Is!

All I know so far is he looks damn good when drawn by Mike Rooth.

The crowdfunding campaign for the fourth issue of Auric Of The Great White North reached its goal in a matter of a day or two but you still have a couple of weeks or so to get your hands on that beauty. Check that out here.

All we know  about Desbois so far is that he's a part of Auric's "team" and has historical ties with the main character. And that information comes from the fourth issue's solicitation text.

The campaign perks display an estimated delivery date for the books of December 2017. Hopefully that holds true.

Tommy Gun Banshee

This space tends to be reserved for the mask and/or cape types, but Tommy Gun Banshee looked too cool to pass up.

Introducing Tommy Gun Banshee, the story of a 1920's hit-man for the Irish Mob, haunted by a dreadful spirit- a banshee. Tommy Gun Banshee is a new quarterly full-colour comic. With Issues #1 and #2 complete, that's 64 pages of comics we're ready to give you! 

Meet Nicky, aka, "The Tommy Gun Banshee", a semi-mythic figure of the Prohibition underworld. Some call him a monster, others call him crazy- but everyone's heard the story of the hit-man haunted by the ghost of a beautiful woman. But just what IS the Banshee? Is she the fever dream of a sick man, or something far more sinister? Nicky's gunning to find out- and it seems like the whole world is gunning for him.

Very pleased to meet you, Tommy!

Aside from Decoder Ring Theater's Red Panda Adventures, very few Canadian characters have been placed in that time frame as a setting. I don't know that Nicky himself is Canadian, mind you, and as a hitman for the Irish mob, there's a good chance he isn't. But if the location is Canadian, then at least some of the characters are going to be. The added supernatural element of a banshee haunting the protagonist certainly adds to the uniqueness of this project and the art appears to be ideally suited.

The creators are celebrating achieving 50% financial support for their project with slightly more than three weeks to go in the campaign as I write this. They plan to continue publishing the book quarterly beyond this fundraising campaign and are ready to send the digital version of the first issue at its conclusion so will you will be partially rewarded right away while the print copies are being generated. I like that approach and I hope the project receives the support it needs to forge ahead.

Heroes Of The Home Front

Being deeply interested in Canadian comics history, I backed this crowdfunding project shortly after its launch, hardly needing to give it a second glance in deciding to do so. I'd come across the campaign 's founder's name (Ivan Kocmarek) in the past and the possibility of acquiring up to 300 pages of historical data about 40s Canadian comics publisher Bell Features was too good to pass up.

It is now in its final week and I am truly hopeful that it will meet its funding goal. As I find out more information about it, it becomes quite clear that a great deal of time and effort went into the project and that it is an extreme labour of love.

My initial concern, partially caused by the image of Nelvana on the campaign page, was that I would be purchasing material I already owned from supporting prior reprinting efforts (such as the Nelvana and Johnny Canuck books at the left of the page). I didn't want to pay for a 300 page book just to find that only a couple of dozen of them are new to me.

I referred back to a First Comics News interview with Mr. Kocmarek which put that concern to bed. I've copied Kocmarek's answer to a question about content below. It describes the book better than the Kickstarter campaign page does, in my opinion.

...The book is about the art and artists who worked for Canadian WWII comic book publishing company, Bell Features Publications, which was based in Toronto and which put out original Canadian comic book material between 1941-46. 

The book is a 300-page 9” X 12” volume that reproduces more than 150 pages of original art from the Bell Features collection held by the Library and Archives of Canada in Ottawa. It also reproduces an additional 25 Bell Features original art pages from private collections. Each of these original art pages is reproduced as a full 9” X 12” page in the book and have never been reproduced in this way before. 

The rest of the book is text with photos sharing some of the backstory of the artists who made those pages. There are about 30 sections in the book each one about a different Bell Features comic book artist. The basic structure of each of these sections is: 

-A backstory on the life of the artist 

-An index of his/her work for Bell Features 

-An interview with the artist where possible or an interview with a direct family member. 

-Pages reproducing a selection of that artist’s original page drawings for Bell Features.

Kocmarek states in no uncertain terms in an answer to another question later in the interview that there are no reprints in this book. In effect, this is an encyclopedia specific to that publisher, or at least its talent.

If you have an interest in classic Canadian comics, characters, or creators, I hope you are supporting this project, or will now choose to do so. Instead of duplicating past reprint effort, it appears that this book will serve as a great to complement to them.

Thunder #5 Now Available From Two Gargoyles Comics

In my previous post (August 22nd, chronogically) I mentioned coming across a few surprises from Indyplanet, among them an addition to the Group Of Seven series. The other major one was a print version of Thunder #5 being available.

The book has gone through a number of changes since the last issue was released, including a new artist (Myk Emmshin) and a name change for one of the characters. Nonetheless, this issue continues the story begun in the previous four, but is a bit of a transition issue. Thunder's training continues, he plans a return to Asgard and Vancouver begins to react to the superhero activity within city limits. Here's a glimpse at the new-look Thunder.

Now even though I happened to see the book on IndyPlanet, I would avoid buying it from them unless you plan to do so in digital format. The shipping costs from print books are simply brutal.

When I pointed this out on Twitter recently, writer Michael McAdam offered to ship the books to me if I bought directly from him. There's still a cost involved, of course, but it is reduced significantly.

I doubt McAdam offered this to me because I'm particularly awesome (though it's entirely possible). I'm sure the offer applies to any potential customer. So if you decide to get your hands on individual issues of Thunder, go straight to the source or contact McAdam through the Two Gargoyles Twitter account.

And coincidentally, as I was confirming Two Gargoyles Twitter account name, McAdam happened to post a picture of a new promotional poster for Thunder. Have a look below, and Mike, if/when you read this, remind me to add one to my order when I get Thunder #6 from you some day.

Group Of Seven Returns!

Indyplanet, the online print-on-demand store, has not always been easy to deal with. They were a great resource five years ago when I started looking much harder for Canadian characters in comic books, but ordering from them was quite painful.

Actually, it was impossible; their website would not accept my orders. They've improved, but past experience has caused me to neglect to review their new offerings.

I took a look at them this past weekend and found a few surprises, none larger than the fourth issue of Group Of Seven being available.

This is rather appropriate for the remake of this site as Group Of Seven was one of the first books I found on Indyplanet in 2012. At that time, issues one and three were available. Two was not, but it joined the party a few months later.

Five years have passed and now the story continues. You can purchase the fourth issue individually, or in a compilation of the material released to date.

Just in time for Canada’s 150th birthday, comes the Group of Seven Trade Paperback! This volume collects all four issues of the first book of The Group of Seven, complete with new content.  

With the mysterious return of Canada's founding father, John A. Macdonald, Canada is elevated to a new age of independent national growth, bringing with it a heightened sense of unrest. There have been many assassination attempts on the Prime Minister's life as a result of his revolutionary agendas. Many of these attacks have employed super-humans, resulting in the government's ever growing dependency on Canada's Premier Super Team, The True North Guardians. However, while an appointed meeting between the Prime Minister and the Maple Leaf takes place to discuss the growing superhuman threats, The True North Guardians are eliminated in one fell swoop.

Huh...Spoiler?

I haven't read these in a while (five years between issues will do that) but I recall that the tone was edgier and darker than the cover and preview art might suggest. Not all these Canadians are polite and friendly. :-) The team has a lot of history and baggage.

Speaking of preview material, I just noticed that the first issue is available for free download so if you want to sample the book, you should be able to do right here.

See you again in 2022, GoS? ;-)

CCBA Card Set Forthcoming!

The following information is copied from a Facebook post from earlier today by the Canadian Comic Book Alliance.

Soooo you like Canadian Comic Books? Well you wouldn't be a fan of this page if you didn't! What about trading card? What if the trading cards featured characters by the creators that are members of the CCBA? Well hang onto your beaver pelt hats because coming very soon is exactly that...the first series of CCBA trading cards! Keep your eyes peeled for more information but for now feast your peepers on the triptych checklist cards for the set with art by Justin Shauf and colours and layouts by Donovan Yaciuk! This scene features many characters from the CCBA roster and is actually taken from an upcoming team up comic featuring a plethora of the characters from across the CCBA!!

That last bit about the team up might be the best part. Lots of familiar faces up there, but I admit I'm drawing a blank on the lady second from the right...

Mr. Monster Action Figure Available Later This Year?

How sweet is this thing?

Fresh Monkey Fiction has had some past Kickstarter success with its Amazing Heroes line. They are planning another wave of twenty or so characters, including Mr. Monster.

Toronto's Fred Kelly created Jim Stearne in, I believe, 1946, and the character first appeared in Triumph #31. Stearne then appeared as Mr. Monster in Super Duper #3 the following year.

And...That was about it until Michael T. Gilbert created his own version of the character. Gilbert's wrote the tales of Jim Stearne's son, Strongfort. He fleshed out Jim's background a fair bit as well, though he made him an American that traveled to Canada (as opposed to being Canadian born, raised and educated) in the process.

Still, at his root, Mr. Monster is among the first Canadian superheroes and getting an action figure of him would be a real treat. FMF's next Kickstarter campaign is said to be launching "later this summer" and I very much plan to participate.

Canadianas' Sesquicentennial Struggles

I must admit, when I first saw the announcement below, I thought it was a joke. It was posted on artist Sandy Carruthers' Facebook page.

Coming July 1st: The new adventures of Canadiana! Written by the amazing Mark Shainblum (creator of Northguard to name a few) and illustrated by me! I'm very stoked to see her return (since 2006!), and will post more info/website at a later date!

It's not that the notion of Canadiana's return is so ludicrous, mind you. Quite the opposite.  I've enjoyed her all-too-few appearances to this point. And it has long felt like her return was simmering (at low heat, granted) and just waiting for the right time to happen.

It was more a matter of the above image being a Canadian spin on an old Captain America comic. And when writer Mark Shainblum referred to the cover in a comment to the above post, he called it an "in-joke". This caused me to think that we were just being offered a pin-up of the character inspired by a classic cover. But subsequent comments by Shainblum seem to support that we will indeed have new Canadiana material on July 1st. So...Yay!

Are you new to Canadiana? If so, several of the pages of the web comic, which ran from about 2003 to 2006, are posted on Mark Shainblum's deviantart page so there's your opportunity to educate yourself a bit.

The entire story, at least to the point it had reached (I have 33 pages stored), was posted on a site called Comic Dish for a while but that now appears to have gone dormant. Perhaps her revival will cause those to resurface as well. In the meantime, here are the first two pages by way of introduction.

Early Look at Northguard, Volume 2

Being that I found the image on the Chapterhouse Publishing website, I don't think it's wrong or even premature to share it.

The fan favourite super-spy returns! Still reeling from the events in Captain Canuck, Phil Wise is struggling to adapt to civilian life. But when Phil is marked for death by the deadly assassin Wolf, Northguard is thrust back into action! 

Written by Anthony Falcone
Illustration by Giovanni Valletta
Cover by Alex Perkins

This was the last book listed in the "coming soon" section and is apparently available for pre-order. You'll probably have to wait a while though because even its solicitation text has yet to be released to media.

In all likelihood, the book will be promoted as a September release in a few days. Whether it's actually out on time is a whole other issue. Still, cool to see.

I took a look at Giovanni Valletta's Twitter feed and a couple of months ago he shared the following image, describing it as work being done for Chapterhouse.

I'm going to take a shot in the dark and assume that this is "Wolf" from the book's description above.

The Black Scorpion Collected

Redbud Studio is not based in Canada (I believe they are in Colorado) but they recently sent out feelers about a project they are considering taking on which initially involved a Canadian publisher. The following was posted on Facebook on June 3rd:

The Black Scorpion was a 3 issue mini-series written by Ron Fortier & David Darigo (sic) under a pen-name back in the 90s. We're giving some thought to putting them all together in one volume and making the collection available. Any thoughts?

The Joe Shuster Awards website offer a very thorough biography of Dave Darrigo, including his time as publisher under the Special Studio banner in Brantford, Ontario. It was during this period that Black Scorpion was published. All three issues appeared in 1991.

Darrigo co-wrote the stories with Ron Fortier using the name George Stryker. That name was a not-particularly-subtle nod to The Green Hornet's creators, George Trendle and Fran Stryker. Fortier had written Hornet for Now Comics for some time but that gig had come to an end. Black Scorpion is essentially Darrigo's version of the Green Hornet so few people could be better suited to help write the character than Fortier.

To be clear, for those unfamiliar with the character, Black Scorpion is not identified as being either Canadian or American. I had to refer back to my post about him in my previous blog to be reminded that he operates out of a town called Ravenia. I do seem to recall that some of the names of buildings or streets seemed to have a bit of a Canadian sound to them, however.

If you have any interest in an arguably-Canadian version of The Green Hornet, then I would suggest you head on over to Redbud Studio's Facebook page and make them aware of it. Apparently the project would involve a significant amount of work and Redbud will only follow through if interest appear to be high. At the very least, it would be the restoration of a book created predominantly by Canadian talent at the time.

Canadian Creators Omnibus

New on Comixology as of today for $1.99 (U.S., naturally).

This 280+ page collection of 14 stories sprang to life out of the original Kickstarter for The Adventures of Auroraman and highlights some of the most fun and entertaining Canadian independent comics being produced today! Featuring stories about Auroraman by Jeff Burton, The Canadian Corps from Andrew Lorenz’s September 17 productions, Donovan Yaciuk’s Spacepig Hamadeus, Jason Loo’s Pitiful Human Lizard even makes a brief appearance! A great way to get a taste of some of these comics, characters and creators all in one place.

The original description of the Omnibus, when it was offered as a perk to the Auroraman campaign, also included the following:

Sam Noir and Christopher Yao’s Major North, Gary Boyarski’s Jack Grimm...a piece from Mark Shainblum co-creator of Northguard, the 3D comic Road Trip by Jason Sylvestre, a story by James Zintel, Hockeypocalypse by Jeff Martin, work from Eric Theriault, a story from Ryan Howe and a story from Elaine Will.

Credit to Chapterhouse Publishing for using their platform to promote this talented bunch and their respective characters.

Edit: I bought it as a show of support and unfortunately, Major North is not included.  Evidently something changed after the original solicitation.

Who Is Desbois?

Things have been a little quieter here than I'd like. But it's not you, publishers and creators, it's me. I'm in the process of buying/selling a house. It sucks all kinds of ass, I hate it, and I can't wait to have a normal life again.

I received my copy of the third issue Auric Of The Great White North last week, which made for a nice distraction. However, the Auric Facebook page had me eager for #4 before #3 reached my soon-to-be-former house.

Who's that mysterious masked man? Well, what's a hero without his team? In Issue #4 you will meet and read the origin of Auric's newest team member, Desbois! Who's behind the mask? What's his tie to Auric's history? You'll have to pick up a copy to find out! Beautiful colors by Donovan Yaciuk. Estimated release: September for FanExpo!

He has a brief teaser appearance in issue three to whet our appetites. That issue (and the previous ones, naturally) are available for purchase now on the publisher's website and no doubt will be available on drivethru before long.

Turning Over A New...Nah, Too Obvious.

Based on the name "Red Leaf Comics", you wouldn't immediately assume that the publisher was based out of Pheonix, Arizona (at least first went into business there).

But they are (were?) and damned if they didn't publish more Canadian characters than most of the other publishers I followed throughout the five years that my previous blog, They Stand On Guard ran. That includes flagship character The Leaf, who spanned multiple generations.

Of late, founder/publisher John Michael Helmer has directed much of his attention to Lucky Comics. That publishing imprint is more geared towards classic, public domain characters, some re-imagined, some less so, and their own original material. The most prominent members of their cast include Beetle Girl (granddaughter of the original Blue Beetle) and both a classic and modern version of The Black Bat, the pulp hero from the late 30s to the early 50s.

And now it seems that Red Leaf's own classic character is getting an update through Lucky. A few days ago, writer Mark F. Davis posted the following comment on his Facebook page:

I made a pitch to John Helmer of Lucky Comics for a new Leaf ongoing comic book for his Lucky Universe, and he dug it enough to launch a new Leaf title and give me full creative reigns on writing the book!  

We've got Laudable Luis Rivera staying up nights working hard on the design for the new character. How can you beat that? Watch for The New Leaf, from Lucky Comics!

And Rivera came through with the following:

Helmer further confirms that...

The character is NOT related to the MacSorly clan (the Red Leaf versions of the character) or any of their classic stories. All New-All Different and published by Lucky Comics!

The book is expected to be out in late summer/fall of this year. Presumably it will follow the now-standard Lucky Comics format of an 8-page pdf available from Drivethru Comics and in print from Indyplanet.

Oktana & Ko

There was a sudden flurry of activity on Kickstarter early in the year. I've backed seven projects, six of which featured Canadian characters and/or creators including continuations of series for Psychosis, Auric Of The Great White North, Deborah Daring and Big Nick.

So far, six of the seven have been successfully funded so I'd like to draw a little attention to the last one as it enters the final days of its campaign.

Oktana & Ko is a 24 page full colour science fiction comic book. 

This issue tells the story of a revolutionary marine science team that have found a unique way to research octopus by mentally interfacing with them to create a symbiotic relationship. 

Their ship is hi-jacked by criminals that want to use their abilities and technology for themselves. The team must fight to protect themselves and the animals they have bonded with so closely.

More adventure than superhero, but definitely with a Canadian touch.

I know what you're thinking, but "octopuses" is actually an acceptable plural for octopus now. ;-)

Going over biographies, it is true that the majority of the talent involved with this project is not Canadian. However, a portion of creator Yuriy Levytskyy's own biography caught my attention.

I grew up in Lviv, Ukraine. Studied and got diploma in Civil engineering. Now I live in Ontario, Canada. I (became) interested in comics and met legendary artist Ty Templeton at Fan Expo in Toronto who invited me to his Comic Book Bootcamp, where I have got basic knowledge how to do comics. Since then I have been working on my own book. With talented team I transformed my dream into awesomeness.

And not coincidentally, Templeton contributed the art for the cover above.

The team needs a mere $353 to meet its rather modest goal of by May 2nd. Get a better look at the project on the Kickstarter page and consider contributing. The funds are being raised to print the book; The material is already created. So it seems like the risk is minimal and the rewards should ship relatively quickly.

Good luck the rest of the way, Yuriy and team!

A Great War Needs Great Heroes

Not much to add here, the folks behind Group Of 7 do a fine job of describing the project and its theme briefly.

 

The First World War. 

Vimy Ridge. 

Canada’s baptism by fire. 

While the battle rages topside, Canadian physician John McCrae leads a secret mission underneath the Ridge against a mysterious enemy with monstrous intentions. To succeed, he’ll need a group of unique soldiers. 

A group of legendary heroes. 

A Group of 7.

I very much enjoy a story in which fiction and history are tightly bound. In this case, we get a "League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" of sorts, in which historical figures are used to tell a story.

These are the facts. During the First World War, over 420,000 Canadian soldiers served in Europe, equal to approximately 5% of the country’s population at that time. Among those ranks were the seven heroes you will encounter in this story, all of whom were stationed in Europe at the precise moment in history that this story takes place. All seven would leave a lasting mark on Canadian history. All but one would survive the horrors of the trenches. 

Following the War, there is documentary evidence that some would form friendships, while others crossed paths or corresponded. In 1939, most would answer the call a second time. The historical record confirms this. 

What if these lions of Canadian politics, arts, science, sports, and medicine shared a previously unknown history, a secret past long forgotten? What if, as a group, they played an integral role at a defining moment in Canadian history? What if?

The book was said to have an April release and, well, here we are. I can't wait to have access to it.

For a full list of characters and a greater level of detail about the project and its goals, visit its Facts page.

Coming Soon From A Publisher To Be Determined: Crimson Streak!

When Standard Comics was last mentioned here, it was concerning their version of Commander Steel, renamed General Steel. Their re-imagined version of the WW2-era character had been mentioned across several social platform and so it was hoped that he would make an appearance in the coming Sentinels book that Standard plans to crowdfund soon.

It turns out that a Standard Comics character might very well see publication by a publisher other than Standard before any of that happens, however.

Coalition Comics is a, well...coalition...of seven different publishers, including Standard, each contributing characters from their own line for a team book called Power Company. And one of the Standard Comics characters taking part is the Canadian speedster named Crimson Streak.

I love this character's look. It's simple but still sleek and cool. He's been used in a number of teaser images already including the one below, in which I think he looks terrific. If you knew nothing about him the image would make it clear that he's a speedster type. Great job with the "brake scrape".

This project has been in the planning stages for quite some time but it appears now that the seemingly-obligatory Kickstarter campaign for it will launch in September. So let's watch out for that as we continue to keep track of Standard Comics as well. They (Standard) have at least three more Canadians in their stable of original creations and I'll want to learn more about them as Standard becomes more active as a self-publisher.

Canuckdrum Books, part 1: Peelers

Sometimes, it's easy. You come across an independent small press publisher's book. It's called The Leaf, the lead character is wearing red and white, has a cape shaped like a maple leaf, has a maple leaf in his logo, the publisher is called Red Leaf and you figure "you know what? This dude just might be Canadian and therefore good content for my little blog about Canadian comic book characters".

But it's not always that easy. Not everyone is so eager to identify their product, or even him(or her)self, as Canadian.

I guess Canada is not always considered a "sexy" setting by some and therefore not much of a marketing point in solicitation text.  It's fine if you feel that way, I suppose. I'll never invite you to my awesome cottage then, and that's just something you'll have to live with for making me work harder, doosh.

This is what the "Canuckdrum" series of posts is about. It refers to books that sure seem like they take place in Canada but don't really announce themselves as doing so. Or if they do, they do it quite quietly (perhaps that's just part of stereotypical Canadian humility).

And so we start this mini-series off with Peelers.

I did not know a single thing about Peelers until a few weeks ago when the creator of Deborah Daring: The Private Eye With Attitude contacted his Kickstarter backers (a group to which I belong) to make us aware of his plans for the third issue of that fine, fun series (cover at right, by Jae Korim), subtitled "Russian Face-Off".

To those who are unfamiliar with Deborah, she is a sassy, sexy, private detective with a boring-ass day job but is based on the creator's (Rob MacKinnon) wife, so mind how you speak about her. And if you take a glance at the left side of that cover, it will be quite clear that the book takes place in Toronto (no, not Seattle, smart guy).

But what the hell is Peelers? When the Kickstarter campaign was announced for issue three, it was said to be a "double feature" along with a Peelers book, sub-titled "Double The Fun". I had never heard of such a book in my life.

That's because it isn't a book, but a movie. The book that is being funded is a prequel to the flick.

Clearly this is also some Jae Korim art. His style is rather easily identified.

As for Peelers, the official website for the film describes it as...

What starts out as the last hurrah on the closing night of an infamous small-town strip club, quickly turns into a night of bloodshed when a crew of coal miners shows up and with them a deadly contaminant.  Former baseball player and current club owner, Blue Jean Douglas has decided to hand over her bar to a new owner and leave town for good, but her plans are thwarted when she discovers the magnitude of the epidemic that has been unleashed. With victims piling up, Blue Jean must step up to the plate to protect her family, her friends and her bar before it's too late and she loses everything she holds dear.

It was shot in British Columbia (Coquitlam, I believe) and lead actress Wren Walker is Ontario-born. Hell, IMDB identifies it as a Canadian flick. Plenty to raise a glass of maple whiskey to right there. I just can't quite seem to nail down whether the story actually takes place in Canada. But I can't identify that it DOESN'T, so let's just assume...

The Kickstarter campaign is just over 75% funded as I write this, with two weeks to go, so it seems like a safe bet that it will meet its goal just as the previous two issues of Deborah Daring did. If you missed those and are now interested, the campaign's structure makes it easy to catch up, focus on Deb, or on Peelers. Whatever suits your fancy. There's plenty of preview material there as well.

If you're still unsure, maybe check out a splatterfull trailer for Peelers first.

Spotlight on: Spectrum

Two Gargoyles Comics' Thunder was among the first characters I discovered, and became a fan of, after starting the They Stand On Guard blog in 2012.

Sadly, only four issues of his series have been released to date (and they are available on Indyplanet individually or collected as volume 1) and I believe the last one was in early 2014, perhaps even late 2013.

It appears as though the character has gone through intensive restructuring during that time, however. His appearance has changed, the art chores are now being handled by one Myk Emmshin and pages of the fifth issue are being posted on a weekly basis on the publisher's website, presumably to also be made available in print at a later date. The publisher's renewed commitment to the character is further underscored by the merchandise they now offer with his image.

Here are the basics, if you're new to the character.

In January. Two Gargoyles introduced a new series and character, using the same page-a-week format. Meet Spectrum:

As I write this, page 13 is about to become available. I'd been waiting for him to be seen in costume before sharing a page from the series. At a page a week, it was taking a while. But Two Gargoyles facilitated matters by creating the promotional fact sheet above.

I'm trying to avoid reading too much of that book, and the fifth issue of Thunder, because I plan on getting the print versions at some point. But I do know that you can follow Spectrum's adventures from the beginning on this page.

Crowdfunding For Psychosis, Volume 3, Coming Soon!

Big fan of this series.

The Kickstarter goes live on March 15th and I want to reiterate (while not putting any pressure on unrealistic expectation on the creators) that these guys have been as reliable as anyone in terms of meeting their goals for delivery. 90% of the projects I've backed are late. Psychosis is in the 10%.

If you're new to Psychosis, the Kickstarter will offer the opportunity to purchase the previous volumes as well so it will easy to catch up. Here's some background on those.

The year is 2134. It has been almost a hundred years since society as we know it disappeared. Cities were brought to the ground in days, governments in weeks, and entire countries in mere months. Two thirds of the population had died off before the year's end. This is what is written in the history books as "The Great Purge". 

The Great Purge tore the Earth asunder. Many of the remaining population mutated and gained abilities forming a new species dubbed NewGens. The NewGens rose to power decimating the population of the world and eventually gave rise to SeVeN, Six Newgens and one very rich and powerful human. They make the decisions now. They choose who lives, who dies and who prospers.. 

That was nearly 50 years ago... 

Victor Stevens is a calm, collected and stable young man. He does his best to get by with what life has given him... the short end of the stick. His other side, Psychosis, is cocky, arrogant, and always one step ahead of the opposition, Psychosis relies on no one but himself while Victor trusts his friends to help them through. Despite their differences they stand against the might of SeVeN together. 

Which side will prove stronger in their battle for control? 

(In volume two) Victor struggles to fend off his demons, while the world around him is brought to its knees. Can he hold it together long enough to make a difference?

I see there'll be an option to get slaughtered in the comic among the Kickstarter perks. I've already had my throat ripped out in an issue of Z'Isle so perhaps I'll start a tradition. Let's see how many Canadian comics I can be butchered in!

According to their Facebook Page, Atkinson and Coates plan on crowdfunding volume four in September or so, so there's more Psychosis in our futures!

One More To Watch: The Sentinels from Standard Comics

I regret not including this among the projects to watch in 2017 when rebooting the blog earlier this year.

Almost five years ago now, I stumbled into Roy Johnson's gallery on Comic Art Fans, probably while looking for Captain Canuck material. Like many, I was momentarily suckered by the image below, believing it to be, at the time, yet another attempt at a Captain Canuck series.

Shortly thereafter, the following image was added which not only included Commander Steel again, but this time added Nelvana and The Penguin.

Unfortunately, it was not preview art for an upcoming team-up book (although Chapterhouse might want to give that option some thought). When Mr. Johnson began collecting commissioned artwork, he chose to apply the name of a defunct publisher to it. The final result appears very authentic.

Mr. Johnson has since created a reference guide to the various characters that populate the Standard Universe, mixing updated (to various degrees) public domain characters and his own original creations.

Standard Comics Encyclopedia (Abridged) is where you will find entries on the colorful characters in the Standard Comics Universe, including information on their personal data, personality, history, powers, and abilities.

Interest in his product has proved to be such that Mr. Johnson is now preparing to publish not only a second volume of the encyclopedia but a "real" version of the Sentinels book. And that book might/should include a Canadian character or two (three?) as there are a handful in the Standard Universe. We'll have to wait until the Kickstarter campaign kicks off soon to know which among them will appear and to what extent, but reading the current line-up in the Encyclopedia makes me optimistic.

In the meantime, additional work had been on Commander General Steel, presumably with the intention of putting him to use at some point, if not in that Sentinels book.

Art by Luis Rivera and Escomic! 

A forceful, dynamic man, Steel is a natural leader. He sees the humor in life, and, although his attitude briefly soured after the murder of his family, he has never let it overwhelm him. 

Jack Steel was mortally wounded by a German shell at the Battle of El Alamein (1942). A strange scientist took him to a hidden cave laboratory and injected the "elixir of life" into the dying soldier, reviving Steel and giving him superhuman abilities. Steel had no idea where he was born or what his true nationality was, therefore, he considered himself a champion of all nations against Dictatorships. His activities during WWII included battling Nazi Werewolves with the Grim Reaper in Transylvania (see Grim Reaper, The Grim Reaper #22), freeing German Prisoner of War camps, leading resistance movements in occupied countries, and so on. 

One of the Canadian Standard Universe characters will be appearing in another project that is expected to be launched through Kickstarter soon.  More on that later but in the meantime, you can track Standard's progress on Facebook here.