The Many Lives of Captain Canuck: Nationalism, Culture, and the Creation of a Canadian Comic Book Superhero

RYA N E D WA R D S O N

with Canadas very own superheroFCaptain Canuck! (C.C. 1).1 Captain Canucks 1975 release was the rst Canadian comic book success since the collapse of the Second World War comic book industry. Captain Canuck, clad in a red and white suit and maple leaf emblems, used his strengthFderived from a healthy diet and tnessFto ght for Canadian peace, order, and good government. He avoided violence when possible, prayed before missions, and dedicated himself to protecting Canada and the world from evildoers. Canadian readers enjoyed the familiarity of national images, symbols, and locations infused with the action-adventure format established by American comic books. Yet, despite its popularity, the comic collapsed several times due to the economics of publishing in Canada and the problem of American cultural dumping. Captain Canuck is more than a comic book relic, however; it is a cultural artifact, a key item in the construction of modern Canadian cultural identity and consciousness. While in print, the comic presented popular cultural characteristics, myths, symbols, and stereotypes that legitimized the national identity and reinforced the conception of Canada as a peaceable kingdom. Following the comics publication run, Captain Canuck was revived by the Canadian government and incorporated as a national icon valuable for fostering national awareness and pride. It is an example of perpetual nationbuilding, an item of popular culture presenting national signiers that,
ZINE,

ANADA FINALLY HAS HER OWN HONEST-TO-GOODNESS COMIC MAGA-

The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 37, No. 2, 2003 r 2003 Blackwell Publishing, 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and PO Box 1354, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK

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following its demise, was resurrected and recycled into a national signier itself; it was fostered in a period of nationalism, empowered the national identity, and later was integrated into the national mythsymbol roster. Nationalism, according to Ernest Gellner, is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist (169). Benedict Anderson has furthered this idea, arguing that nations are imagined into existence because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion (6). Comic books, as a visual medium, engage this act of imagination, in turn facilitating the mental construction of the nation and national identity. It is an act that may be an essential part of being Canadian. Canadian cultural historian Daniel Francis has argued (perhaps too generally but a valid observation nonetheless) that because we lack a common religion, language or ethnicity, because we are spread out so sparsely across such a huge piece of real estate, Canadians depend on this habit of consensual hallucination more than any other people (10). National identity, it can be argued, is also consumed into existence. Commodities can embody and popularize social identities and lifestylesFsuch as Nike and Just do it or the Body Shop and environmentalismFwhich are in turn conrmed through the consumption of those products (Klein). Through the consumption of commodities proposing certain myths, symbols, and values, national identities can be popularized and validated. In the area of Japanese national identity, Kosaku Yoshino has made some interesting insights into a market process where by ideas of cultural differences are produced, reproduced and consumed (9). By drawing on Jean Baudrillards argument that consumption is a whole system of values, with all that expression implies in terms of group integration and social control functions (81), one can see how cultural consumption provides a basis for identity construction. The material consumed carries a series of meanings that are either accepted or rejected by the consumer. Consumption is, in Baudrillards complex arrangement, an order of signications in a panoply of objects; a system, or code, of signs; an order of the manipulation of signs; the manipulation

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of objects as signs; a communication system (like a language); a system of exchange (like primitive kinship); a morality, that is a system of ideological values; a social function; a structural organization; a collective phenomenon; the production of differences; a generalization of the combinatorial processes of fashion; isolating and individualizing; an unconscious constraint on people, both from the sign system and from the socio-economico-political system; and a social logic. (15) Consequently, in mass culture one can nd mass national identity. Captain Canucks red and white costume adorned with maple leaves signied his Canadianness, while his moralism, natural strength, and self-sacricing persona reinforced conceptions of Canadians as polite, kind, moral, heroic peacekeepers. Distinctively national comic books, then, are vessels for transmitting national myths, symbols, ideologies, and value. They popularize and perpetuate key elements of the national identity and ingrain them into their readersFespecially, given the primary readership, younger generations experiencing elements of that identity for the rst time.

All in the Family: Captain Canucks Comic Book Lineage

Late nineteenth-century Canadian newspapers often explored social, political, and cultural issues through comical caricatures, not only to highlight the editors view, but to use as an aid for those lacking reading abilities. In the tradition of Miss Britannia, Canada often was cast as Miss Canada, the young daughter of the British Empire, or joined other masculine charactersFincluding Britains John Bull and Americas Uncle SamFas a youthful and sprightly Johnny or Jack Canuck.2 Political parties, for example, attacked each other through newspaper cartoons that depicted Miss Canada in jeopardy, her virginal Victorian morality threatened by the older, seedy Uncle Sam. Jack or Johnny Canuck, on the other hand, embodied the youthful national spirit, ready to take on the world or, more often, confront Uncle Sam over an issue of trade or natural resources. Comic books rst appeared in the early 1930s, bringing together collections of reprinted comic strips. By 1938, stimulated by the popularity of Superman and similar superhero gures, they often included full-length original stories.3 From the very beginning, the lack of a Canadian publishing industry and the cheap cost of American

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comic overruns ensured that the Canadian market was dominated by American comics. Stories of American heroes and villains supplied entertainment through exciting and spectacular gures, including Superman, the Flash, and Batman. They were a part of the American monomyth that secularizes Judeo-Christian ideals by combining the seless individual who sacrices himself for others and the zealous crusader who destroys evil (Land and Trimble 158). Yet Canadians share those youthful, physically vigorous and morally upright heroes, not only because their popular ction is predominantly American in origin, but because their national, social, and economic developments have been similar. Thus, while the comics were of American origin, they engaged the imagination of Americans and Canadians by drawing on a shared North American monomyth of individualism, self-sacrice, and personal humility. The fact that the superheroes existed in American cities like New YorkFor, at best, an undened or imaginary Anywhere, USA metropolisFwas a requisite part of reading comics in Canada. In 1940, however, the American comics in Canada faced a challenge they were powerless to overcome: political policymaking. American comic book dominance was delivered a swift blow by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie Kings War Exchange Conservation Act, which limited the importation of nonessentialsFincluding comic booksFas a means of conserving American dollars for the war effort. Canadian companies, previously unable to compete against the dumped American comics, prospered in the protected market. Maple Leaf Publishing, Anglo-American, Hillborough Studios, and Bell Features and Publishing lled the Canadian demand for comic book entertainment. They produced superhero gures in mass quantities, relying on established American character types and war-inspired storylines. Out of the numerous heroes emerged Canadas rst distinctly Canadian superhero, Nelvana of the North. The product of Hillborough Studios, Nelvana drew on the powers of the Aurora Borealis to ght super-powered Nazi agents. Nelvanas name came from an Inuit legend, but she was drawn as an Anglo-Saxon and clothed in a cape and miniskirt. In Guardians of the North: The National Superhero in Canadian Comic-Book Art, John Bell, Canadas foremost comic book historian, describes Nelvana as coming from the same mold as the many white queens and goddesses that had appeared in popular ction (7). Nelvana was joined by Johnny Canuck in 1942,

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taking care of Nazis with his fast sts and solid jaw in adventurepacked (if slightly monotonous) comic book stories. Lacking superpowers but endowed with wit, charisma, and a strong right hook, Johnny Canuck traveled the world ghting Nazi tyranny. The wars end, however, brought the return of American comic books and the end of comic book Nazi antagonists. Canadian production quickly ended, once again unable to compete with the cheaper American material. Until the 1970s, Canadians were limited to American comic books. There was little to ask for in the way of quality, as the comics supplied elaborate plot lines, skillful artistry, and exciting characters. The comics were very American, however, in their symbols, gures, myths, and locations, right down to advertisements and the spelling of words. In Bells assessment, what all Canadian comic-book readers of the 19501970 period had in common was a sense of alienation. For English Canadians, comics had become an American medium: the heroes were American, the settings were largely American, and even the alluring comic-book ads for toy soldiers and sea monkeys were American. Like U.S. television, comics seemed to contain an implicit message: Canada was a backwater bereft of heroes, bereft of guardians. For French Canadians, the medium was also dominated by the European francophone publishing houses. (Guardians of the North 19) Indeed, in Canuck Comics, Bell notes that Life in America, we just knew, was more exciting. Superman might visit his Fortress of Solitude in our Arctic from time to time, but never Toronto or Montreal, let alone Halifax where I lived (13). It was a common experience for many Canadians. Reecting on his own experience, Francis has described how in the universe I inhabited as a boy, there were no Canadian stars. There was no room; the skies were lled with the super novas of American history, politics, and pop culture. . . . When I was looking for role models . . . I found them on American television or in the myths of the American West or the comic books about U.S. marines in World War II. (112) American cultural dominance increasingly came under criticism in the late 1960s, as a Canadian nationalist boom sparked an intense interest in cultural identity and concern over the lack of domestic cultural products. While American comics utilized ideas of heroism and self-

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sacrice common to both Americans and Canadians, the dominance of American symbols and references drew scorn. Nationalists were especially keen to distinguish between conceptions of the American melting pot, tarnished by race riots and Vietnam violence, and the Canadian mosaic, a peaceable kingdom and multicultural haven of pluralism and understanding.4 They called for cultural products reecting distinct Canadian values, myths, and symbols.5 Where were the Canadian songs, movies, books, and even comic books? they asked.

Up, Up, and Away, Eh?: The Birth of a Canadian Superhero

Ron Leishman, a teacher and amateur cartoonist living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, rst sketched a character he called Captain Canada in 1971. About a year later, Leishman met fellow comic book fan Richard Comely at a meeting of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They talked of creating a Canadian-themed comic book based on Leishmans Captain Canada, but the venture did not look promising. They were unable to get funding through government programs or loans, and in 1974 Leishman left to work in Alberta, followed by a two-year church mission in Belgium and France (Comely 2001). Despite Leishmans absence, Comely did not give up on the plan. There were trademark problems with the name Captain Canada, so Comely changed it to Captain Canuck. The similarity to Johnny Canuck, however, was accidental; Comely was not aware of the national Nazi ghter until after the rst issue of Captain Canuck was published (Comely 2001). Canuck, the slang term for a Canadian, was distinctively national but not without its drawbacks. As one fan wrote into the comic, I thought it was some kind of a joke. Who would seriously think of naming a heroFeven a comic book heroFCaptain Canuck? Even if he is Canadian? (12). The editor responded that Canuck was just a casual term, and like Yankee, it depends on how and when you say it. By placing the slang in a culturally positive context, Captain Canuck empowered the term, helping to popularize it as a valid nickname for a Canadian. The rst issue of Captain Canuck was published in 1975 with Comely as editor, artist, writer, publisher, production manager, and oor sweeper. Comely was, however, aided by Dave Abbotts writing

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assistance, and he consulted Leishman on aspects of the comic. By the third issue, he was joined by George Freeman and Jean-Claude St. Aubin on penciling and coloring duties. Its release is regarded as the beginning of English Canadas Silver Age of comic book production (Bell, Guardians of the North 39). It was a milestone in Canadian comic book production. Captain Canucks very existence, Bell notes, underscored the paucity of indigenous heroes that Canadian kids had experienced throughout the fties and sixties (Canuck Comics 39). Captain Canuck was set in the future of the early 1990s, with Canada as the dominant world superpowerFcertainly a situation that could only occur in a comic bookFfacing evil forces seeking world domination. Tom Evans, a Mountie recruited into the Canadian International Security Organization, was of British descent, clean cut, strong and stocky, part Indian blood,6 bilingual, and an ardent nationalist: a suitable candidate to protect Canada. As Captain Canuck, he literally embodied the Canadian ag, clad in a red and white costume adorned with maple leaves. Joined by the French Canadian bec and the super-Mountie Redcoat, Captain Canuck was agent Ke the rst line of defense against supervillains seeking world domination. From futuristic Mounties to a maple-leaf emblazoned snowmobile, Comely incorporated numerous Canadian references. Nelvana of the North may have fought superagents in the arctic while Johnny Canuck was overseas, but, in the rst three issues alone, Captain Canucks travels included dog sledding across the arctic, ying over the magnicent Rockies, strolling across the rooftops of scenic Montreal, and being abducted from smog-ridden Sudbury (Issues 13).7 Comely was moved by the nationalism at the time and proud of the comics origin (Comely 2001). Were 100% Canadian, the rst issue announced, with the letters column in the third issue describing national pride and patriotism [as] worthy attributes. Captain Canuck tapped into the nationalism of the period, and readers responded with great enthusiasm to having a distinctively Canadian comic: as a Canadian I am proud to see our nations greatness recognized, heres to success in making Captain Canuck 100% Canadian, and Captain Canuck has brought out the nationalistic spirit in all its readers, a pride this country now needs (Issues 2, 3) are a few of the comments mailed in. He tried to make the comic as Canadian as possible, right down to the advertising. It was not easy, however. He contacted over 600

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Canadian and 250 American companies, but had more success with the American advertisers. Hopefully, Comely noted in the second issue, it wont be too much longer before Canadian companies realize that it would be to their advantage to advertise in a 100% Canadian magazine like Captain Canuck. The lack of a Canadian publication industry posed problems, so distribution was handled by a U.S. company (TIME 1975, 10). The myths and symbols were Canadian, but Comelys interest in conspiracy theories and his Mormon beliefs shaped the comics content. Were proud to say that there is nothing within that is degrading or offensive, the introduction to the rst issue stated. Radical Communists bent on world domination were dealt with swiftly and with as little violence as necessary.8 Captain Canuck prayed before missions and fought with God on his side. His abilities came from his moral character and natural health, a strong contrast to the supernatural powers of the American comic book characters. Captain Canucks tremendous strength and endurance come from a good wholesome diet and lots of exercise, Comely explained in the second issue. His alertness and determination come from having a strong, clean mind. As the Canadian edition of TIME magazine noted in its 1975 review of the comic, What distinguishes Captain Canuck from his American counterparts? Answer: The Canadian is polite and Godfearing and, although immensely strong, is not noted for his speed (10). Concerned about the impact of excessive violence in society, in issue 2, Comely reprinted a four-page article on How do movies and TV inuence behaviour? from a Mormon magazine. Comely was concerned with establishing a greater moral standard than existed in many mainstream comic books. He told TIME that we need some moral ber today and U.S. comics are tending more and more to violence and sexual innuendo . . . [Captain Canuck] will give thanks to God from time to time. [But] I dont want people to think Im out to subvert them through a comic (10). At thirty-ve cents, it was signicantly more expensive than the popular twenty-ve-cent American comics, yet Comely tried to provide plenty of value for the money. The early issues used a higher quality glossy paper and more complex coloring than their American counterparts. The issues contained a Captain Canuck story as well as a second feature story, often featuring two of Comelys other hero gures: Jonn, a space commander stuck on a planet of iron-age

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warriors, or Catman, a costume-clad vigilante. Occasionally there was Beyond, a comical adventure series set in the Middle Ages. The early issues also included lessons on drawing and illustrating comic characters, a gallery for reader-submitted art, and small comic strip ller. With fewer ads, at least 30% less than most super hero comics, issue 2 boasted, and a lower comic-to-ads ratio than the American comics, Comely offered a graphic-packed comic. Captain Canuck was a source of inspiration for many Canadian comic book artists. Bell has noted that the comic served to demystify the comic book business. Suddenly, the dream of creating Canadian superhero comics, which so many young artists and writers obviously harbored, became attainable (Bell, Canuck Comics 39).9 Yet Captain Canuck could not maintain production. Comely Comix, as the business was called, described itself as a small struggling company with grand and lofty ideas (C.C. 3)Fan accurate claim for many Canadian publishing houses. Although Canadian content was fostered in television and radio through broadcasting regulations, and the arts community beneted from the Canada Council for the Arts, publishing had very little protection or domestic support.10 The extensive coloring and higher quality paper added to the cost of production, but the biggest problem was the cost of producing a comic book in Canada. The market was small, funding sparse, distribution difcult, and printing expensive. As Comely explained to the readers in issue 2, Im sure youre . . . aware that C.C. cost [sic] slightly more than U.S. comics. Sure, the higher quality increases the cost, but this is not the main reason. The small print runs and the fact that printing costs of comics are higher in Canada, cause our magazine to cost more than twice as much to produce than the U.S. comic magazines. Im trying my best to bring cost down. One of the ways is to increase sales by distributing through out the U.S. as well as Canada. Besides funding problems, the comic suffered from rigid characters, poor detailing, and unsophisticated plots with little tension or hook. In its review of the rst issue, TIME magazine criticized its amateurish quality and often clumsy artwork and story line (Canuck to the Rescue, 10). Issue number three was released in 1975, leaving the reader hanging on as Captain Canuck, badly wounded, was abducted in an ambulance by evildoers. Unfortunately, Comely Comix folded,

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unable to bear the costs of publishing Captain Canuck. It was a storyline cliffhanger that lasted for four years. In 1979, Comely and partners, as CKR Productions in Calgary, Alberta, restarted the series at issue number 4. Comely wrote the stories, Ken Ryan was the business manager, George Freeman did the artwork, and Jean-Claude St. Aubain took care of the inking and coloring. Although this allowed Comely to focus on improving storylines, it isolated him from the aesthetic side of the comic. As of issue 5, Freeman was editing the comic with Comely as editor-in-chief. This next generation of Captain Canuck maintained the focus on Canadian content. When confronted with the possibility of a Canadian civil war, for example, Captain Canuck announced that it would be stopped by the War Measures Act! Then the Army would be everywhere! (C.C. 6). Issue 11, set in Quebec City, had characters speaking French without translation for much of the issue, to the delight of some readers. One fan told the comic that he had been interested in Captain Canuck over these years because of its potential to voice Canadian traditions and attitudes but, never in all that time, did I ever expect you to venture into such a sensitive area as Canadian bilingualism, especially when your magazine is so dependent on popularity for its existence (13). Captain Canuck traveled to Halifax dockyards, Labrador ice elds, and visited his brother on a western Canadian ranch, interspersed with trips to more exotic places, including a lost South America city of gold and a multinational space station. It is nice to see some Canadian landmarks for a change, a reader remarked, such as Ottawa and Halifax. It is better than seeing New York and Washington all the time (C.C. 9). Under the new team, however, the revamped series integrated aspects of the established American comic book genre while shedding the elements that gave Comelys rst three issues a grassroots feel. The religious undertone disappeared, and the conspiracy-driven plot lines were replaced by superhero supernaturalism and space-oriented themes. Captain Canuck no longer derived his strength from diet and moral cleanliness; history was rewritten, making him the product of an alien ray-beam that doubled his strength and speed (C.C. 5). Although this moved Captain Canuck in line with the established superhero genre, one fan complained that the change lowers him to the level of the American super-heroes (9). In addition, Captain Canuck became a freelance operative, serving both the Canadian government and a

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science-ction style international antiterrorist organization called Earth Patrol. Along with hoods and crooks, the Captain increasingly fought supernatural creatures and space aliens. Finally, perhaps in an attempt to spark circulation among American readers, Captain Canuck was removed from the future of the 1990s and, like most other superheroes, was relocated into the contemporary timelineFby that point, the early 1980s (13). Business manager Ken Ryan told readers that the time shift was for the best, as a whole new lifestyle has been opened up for Captain CanuckFone that was not possible in the connes of the semi-futuristic period of the mid 1990s (13). The revitalized Captain Canuck was quite successful. In Bells assessment, Captain Canuck was transformed into one of the most accomplished alternative superhero comics ever published (Canuck Comics 41). One fan confessed that at rst I only bought the comic out of Canadian pride, but now, who can resist? (Special Summer issue 1980). In 1979, it was the bestselling comic book in Canada (C.C. 7), even though, at fty cents an issue, it was still more expensive than many forty-cent American comics. A year later, Captain Canuck was the rst Canadian comic to be distributed coast to coast in both Canada and the United States (10). There was even a Captain Canuck comic strip in the Winnipeg Tribune. Yet in 1981, with thirteen issues completed, Comely left Captain Canuck, returning to freelance design. In 1982, he released a new comic book titled Star Rider and the Peace Machine, but it only lasted two issues. With Comelys departure, Freeman was to take over the writing duties. Captain Canucks time shift and the impact of Comelys departure did not have a chance to come to fruition, however, as CKR Productions only produced one more issue before nancial difculties caused it to shut down; Captain Canuck once again came to an end. If Captain Canuck proved his heroism by never giving in to defeat, it reected Comelys personal dedication to producing a Canadian comic book. In 1993, Comely and a new production staff released Captain Canuck Reborn, a new series with a different cast of characters and a new origin for Captain Canuck. The comic provided Comely with the opportunity to return to his original conception of Captain CanuckFa national superhero of natural strength and health in a comic with plenty of Canadian references and conspiracy theories. In the new series, Darren Oak, along with his Native Canadian friend Daniel Blackbird, uncovered an international conspiracy to take

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over the world, led by none other than Darrens brother, Nathan, and his New World Order conglomerate. As a Captain Canuck Reborn commemorative trading card, released in 1993, explained, In a desperate attempt to rally a nation against an international conspiracy, Darren Oak becomes Captain Canuck. His big brother, Nathan, is involved in a devious plan to ignite civil war. Canada is to be HQ [Head Quarters] for a New World Order, but rst they must gain complete control of Canadas government. Darren, armed only with truth and tremendous courage, must conceal his identity while he exposes the conspiracy. Inspired by a comic book, he becomes Captain Canuck. Aided by Blackbird and other pro-Canada freedom ghters, Captain Canuck fought the New World Order on Parliament Hill, inltrated a white-supremacist group in Lucyville, Alberta, and recovered from wounds at his home in Ourtown, Northern Ontario (C.C.R. 03). Comelys skills as an artist, storywriter, and businessman had matured in the two decades since he rst released Captain Canuck. Unfortunately, Captain Canuck once again fell victim to an enemy he could not defeat: the problems of publishing a comic book in Canada. The new series lasted for only four issues, ending in 1996 and taking with it a Captain Canuck newspaper strip that had started to run in various newspapers. Captain Canuck was not only comic book entertainment, it was part of Canadian consumer culture. From the very rst issue, readers were offered a barrage of items, including T-shirts, posters, iron-on crests, pens, pins, and doodle posters. Issue 7 introduced a series of merchandise with New Captain Canuck paraphernalia to please even the pickiest patron! There was even a Captain Canuck fan club, including a membership card and special merchandise for members only. The sale of Captain Canuck merchandise eventually made its way from the comic book and into Eatons department stores in western Canada (Comely 2001). This was a key part of keeping the comic book going. According to Comely, Captain Canuck merchandising made more than the sale of comic books. Printing costs were too high. The C.C. club, T-shirt licensing deal and other merchandise kept us aoat (Comely 2001).11 CKR Productions even went so far as to offer shares in the company to the readers. This share bonus is not a gimmick!

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the advertisement stated. Weve consulted the appropriate representatives of the Government of the Province of Alberta and weve received their cooperation and approval for our proposal to let you, the readers, actually own a part of the company (14). It may have been a last ditch attempt to keep the company aoat, however, given that the offer was in the last issue of Captain Canuck to make it to press. This Canuck commodication was supported by publicity campaigns. Comely drove around Winnipeg in a yellow AMC Pacer with Captain Canuck emblazed on the side. As well, a 210-pound, 6 0 300 karate expert was hired to dress in a Captain Canuck costume and make public appearances at shopping centers and special events. Comely thought the events were quite successful (9, 11).

Post-Comic Book Life and the Transition from National Defender to National Icon
Nations need heroes, even ctional ones.12 Not surprisingly, governments that lay claim to popular heroes, instituting them as representatives and manifestations of national might, validate the national identity and add cultural depth to an institutional hegemonic agent. Embracing popular culture, the Canadian government created a public showing of its comic book superheroes. From February 13 to June 7, 1992, the National Archives of Canada held Guardians of the North: The National Superhero in Canadian Comic-Book Art, exhibiting Canadian comic books and paraphernalia, and detailing the development of Canadian comic art and superheroes. Canadian superheroes, the exhibition explained, were the embodiment of our national spirit and identity (Bell, Guardians of the North 50). Captain Canucks natural strength and abilities, for example, were cited by the exhibitions catalogue as Canadian characteristics:

. . . typifying Canadian reticence in so many things, some of these heroes possess no actual superpowers, relying rather on superior physical and intellectual skills to enable them to combat their enemies. . . . In a sense, Canuck was the appropriate superhero for a middle power that was somewhat distrustful of heroism and very much aware of the limits of power. (v, 2526)

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The exhibition claimed that comics were much more than adventure stories: they probed Canadian society and reected the issues within a national context. Why superheroes? Why comics? These are not just entertaining fantasy gures. They are important to our history because they are symbols of the Canadian identity. Their creators were probing issues of great concern to the Canadians of the dayFWorld War II, national identity, our relationship with the United States. (v) There is certainly some truth to this. As Alphons Silbermann has noted, comics mediate, even as pure entertainment, certain mental values. Since the fact is that entertainment and information do not exclude each other, comics are latently or overtly open to any ideology (21). The National Archives exhibition was followed by Canada Posts recognition of ve Canadian comic book heroes, institutionalizing them as important cultural icons. On October 2, 1995, Canada Post issued a booklet of ten stamps containing the Canadian crusaders Superman, Nelvana of the North, Fleur de Lys (who appeared in the late 1980s comic Northguard ), Johnny Canuck, and Captain Canuck. Ironically, the government that would not provide funding for Captain Canuck two decades earlier now provided a different form of investment: a symbolic one. The Captain Canuck stamp commoditized his image in a new way, as an ofcial national commodityFforty-ve cents of federal currency added to the hats, pins, and pens Comely sold to keep the comic aoat. Canada Posts inclusion of Superman as a Canadian superhero reects an interesting part of the Canadian cultural psyche. Striving to establish strong cultural mythologies and heroes, it associates the nation with an internationally recognized, culturally important icon. This has been supported by some cultural nationalists, including Marsha Boulton, who gives him a section and a predominant place on the cover of Just a Minute: Glimpses of Our Great Canadian Heritage. Superman cocreator Joe Shuster was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1914, and that alone was sufcient for Superman to be deemed Canadian. Shuster left Canada for the United States when he was eight years old, and Superman was not created until a decade later with his friend Jerry Siegal. First a comic strip reecting American New Deal politics and social consciousness, it was later recongured into a comic book action-

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adventure format. Lets not forget that Superman defended Truth, Justice, and the American Way, not Canadas motto of Peace, Order, and Good Government. Heritage Canada reafrmed the governments claim to Superman through historical tampering, releasing a Superman Heritage Moment as part of its series of sixty-second television commercials that dramatize a moment in Canadian history. The spot showed a young Joe Shuster boarding a train, ranting about a new type of superhero he was creating, and passing a drawing of Superman to his friend Lois as she laughed about you Canadian kids! It was pure fabrication. And, as author Will Ferguson has slyly noted, Captain Canuck is from Canada, Superman is from Krypton (175).13 The image of Captain Canuck has become so associated with Canada that the nation itself has been placed in the costume. The April 28, 1997 Canadian edition of TIME magazine cast Captain Canuck on its cover, along with a banner declaring that Canada is the new superhero of global trade (and even Superman is being produced in Winnipeg these days).14 Inside the issue, CanadaFas Captain CanuckFlifted bar graphs and hurled pie charts detailing Canadas economic strength. In the context of TIME, Canada became Captain CanuckFCanada was strong and powerful. The magazine detached Captain Canucks image from the comic book and resituated it in a new context and narrative, constructing a new denotative meaning that drew on the established connotation of heroism and strength.15 Soon after these developments, Captain Canuck was recongured yet again, his status as a national icon attracting the interest of the arts community. Featuring artwork from the Captain Canuck Reborn series, Canadas Own Captain Canuck: Inked Drawings by Richard Comely was exhibited at the Burlington Art Centre in Burlington, Ontario during the summer of 1998. By exhibiting the artwork as individual pieces instead of as part of the comic book whole, the segmented, paneled aesthetics separated the artwork from the storylines. Captain Canuck was no longer just a comic book; it was now popular art and material for aesthetic critique and display, the images providing content for the exhibition. Captain CanuckFcomic book superhero and national protector, embodiment of Canadian values, forty-ve-cent postage stamp, Canadas alter ego, and, nally, popular artFsurvived not only ctional supervillains, but, perhaps even more heroically, the dangers of the Canadian publishing industry. Captain Canucks history is a story of

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grassroots cultural production and a distinctly national superhero who became valuable to the government it ctionally protected. The comics demise, however, may once again be temporary. In 1999, Mark Shainblum (writer and cocreator of popular 1980s Canadian comic book Northguard ) and Sandy Carruthers, both contributors to the early 1990s Captain Canuck newspaper comic strip, attempted to bring back Tom Evans as Captain Canuck in Captain Canuck: Utopia Moments. Plans were made for a four-issue miniseries, but these have yet to come to fruition. An issue was compiled and released on a trial promotional run limited to one hundred copies, but has not progressed any further. Comely returned to the comic book scene in 2000 with a plan for yet another Captain Canuck. Establishing media contacts and setting up an Internet Web page, his project is still in the works. Things look hopeful, though. The Canadian publishing industry is not as weak now as it was twenty (even ten) years ago. Captain Canuck may again provide a generation of Canadian comic book fans with a sense of national identity in a cultural arena where New York overwhelms New Brunswick, and one rarely sees a maple leaf.
NOTES
1. Captain Canuck citations will be listed by issue number, not page number. 2. For examples, see J. W. Bengough, A Caricature History of Canadian Politics. 3. For a solid overview of the transition from comic strips to comic books, see Ian Gordon, Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, 18901945. 4. William Kilbourn popularized the term in Canada with the title of his edited collection of nationalist writing, Canada: A Guide to the Peaceable Kingdom. 5. Dening just what constituted Canadian, however, was a more difcult task. 6. In issue 12, Captain Canuck slipped back in time and encountered a group of Micmac Native Canadians. In hopes of ingratiating himself with them, he pulled off his mask, showing them his Indian blood, and was welcomed by them. 7. The location of issue 3 was identied in issue 4. 8. Interestingly, the Communist leader in issue 1 was drawn so similar to Lenin that a fourteenyear-old reader wrote into the comic about it in the second issue. 9. For an interesting look at comic books and fan mentality, see Matthew J. Pustzs Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers. 10. The 1972 Ontario Royal Commission on Book Publishings Canadian Publishers and Canadian Publishing noted that there may have been Canadian publishers, but that did not necessarily mean that there was Canadian publishing (60). Commercial realism and protability prevented many Canadian publishers, foreign-owned or not, from publishing large quantities of distinctly Canadian content material (63). 11. Comely puts the number of C.C. club members at 1,2001,500. The phenomenon of comic book commodication rst took hold with Detective Comicss trademarking of Superman and the extensive merchandising of products during the 1940s, including a toy ray gun and

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12.

13. 14. 15.

wristwatch. Ian Gordon explains that In the hands of a corporation, Superman was more important as a business asset than a ctional character (134). Merchandising hit a high point in the 1990sFwith the fusion of comic book characters and global media productionFwith characters such as Batman commoditized into billion-dollar industries. For more information, see Ian Gordons Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, p. 13335 and 15257. Much can be said about the role of ction in the stories of nonctional heroes, of course. History is far from a precise science and, especially in the case of national history, is quite positive and supportive of its heroes. History, after all, is not only written by the victors but also by the heroes. See Will Ferguson, Why I Hate Canadians, p. 175. Part of the colorization process for Superman was handled in Canada. Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussures semiological work showed how a signier (the communicative) is connected with a signied (mental concept, object, and so on) to construct a sign (the arbitrary signifying construct). Roland Barthes produced the most inuential work on semiology and culture, rst outlined in Mythologies (1957), Elements of Semiology (1964), and The Fashion System (1967). Extending Saussures work on the denotative, Barthes explored the connotative, a subjective meaning produced by the meeting of the sign and the viewer. It is within the connotative that emotions, values, and so on are expressed.

Works Cited
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. London: Verso, 1991. Baudrillard, Jean. The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. London: Sage Publications, 1998. Bell, John. Canuck Comics. Downsview, Ontario: Eden Press, 1986. Bell, John. Curator, National Archives of Canada. Guardians of the North: The National Superhero in Canadian Comic-Book Art. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1992. Bengough, J. W. A Caricature History of Canadian Politics. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1974. Boulton, Marsha. Just a Minute: Glimpses of Our Great Canadian Heritage. Toronto: Mcarthur & Co., 1998. Canada Post Corporation. Press release, 26 Sept. 1995. Comely, Richard. Correspondence with author, summer 2001. Captain Canuck. Issues 13. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Comely Comix, 1975. Captain Canuck. Issues 414. Calgary, Alberta: CKR Productions Ltd, 19791981. Captain Canuck Reborn. Cambridge, Ontario: Comely Communications, 19931996. Francis, Daniel. National Dreams: Myth, Memory, and Canadian History. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1997. Ferguson, Will. Why I Hate Canadians. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997.

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Gellner, Ernest. Thought and Change. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1964. Gordon, Ian. Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, 18901945. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998. Klein, Naomi. No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2000. Land, Jeffrey, and Patrick Trimble. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? An Examination of the American Monomyth and the Comic Book Superhero. Journal of Popular Culture 2 (1988): 157 73. Ontario Royal Commission on Book Publishing. Canadian Publishers & Canadian Publishing. Toronto: Queens Printer and Publisher, 1992. Pustz, Matthew J. Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1999. Silbermann, Alphons. The Way Toward Visual Culture: Comics and Comic Films. Comics and Visual Culture. Ed. A. Silbermann and H. D. Dyroff. New York: K. G. Saur, 1986. 1127. TIME. Canuck to the Rescue. Canadian edition, 9 June 1975: 10. TIME. Captain Exporter. Canadian edition, 28 Apr. 1997: Cover. TIME. Super Exporter. Canadian edition, 28 Apr. 1997: 34 40. Yoshino, Kosaku. Rethinking Theories of Nationalism: Japans Nationalism in a Marketplace Perspective. Consuming Ethnicity and Nationalism: Asian Experiences. Ed. Yoshino Kosaku. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 1999.
Ryan Edwardson is a doctoral candidate in history at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. His thesis explores the construction of a distinct Canadian culture in the post-Second World War period.