CC/Kebec Sculptures by Jake Dowker

Lev Gleason sent out a newsletter yesterday announcing the release of a third Crime Stoppers Special. Click on the cover to purchase. 

A 2024 Crime Stoppers Canada Exclusive! While trying to track down clues to the whereabouts of one of Canada's most wanted, a young security guard stumbles across a car theft ring that puts him in the unexpected position of a teaming up with Canada's greatest hero... Captain Canuck. 

(W) Danny Djeljosevic (A) Mukor Bazan (CA) Angelo Razzano, John Mungiello

Naturally, this put me in a mood to sort through my old content and make some updates to this often-neglected blog.

While looking around for material, I came upon the rather mind-blowing images below.

These were posted on Art Station four years ago, so fans of the Captain and his entourage may well be aware of them already, but I thought I should share them on an "ICYMI" basis.

Click on this link to see more images from Dowker's work on these two characters, as well as one done for Freelance. 

New Page: Neon Mob

Neon Mob was a sort of online trading card community that closed a few days ago, unfortunately. 

About two years ago, Lev Gleason Publishing cleverly used it as a showcase for some of their characters and as an engagement tool. Most, if not all, of the cards displayed cover or interior art from books that were already available.

Since Neon Mob is no longer in operation, it seemed like a good idea to share some of the cards here in the event that the site disappears entirely in the future. I didn't include entire sets, just the main Canuck cast.

Redcoat Year One Art by Ho Che Anderson

Before going on to update some of the pages around the blog some more tonight, there's something I came across that I think fans of the Chapterhouse characters would like to see. 

Not counting Free Comic Book Day issues, most Captain Canuck series and its spinoffs tend to be four issues in length.

Quite some time ago, I saw a cover for Redcoat: Year One. It was displayed as issue five in the Year one series which, because it went against pattern, caused me to question its authenticity. I thought perhaps it was fan art but then it found its way onto the publisher's Facebook group.

From deep-cover ops to espionage, Lt. Olivia Wallace Yeates is the last of the Redcoats. Our double feature origin rounds off with one of Captain Canuck's greatest ally. Redcoat: Year One, story & art by Ho Che Anderson.

Double feature, you say?

That's right, two days earlier, Chapterhouse displayed a different cover for the same issue, this one featuring Kebec! Apparently this will be a flip book.

If you follow Chapterhouse's social media, this will be a reminder at best. What some may have yet to see is that Captain Canuck Season Five writer/artist Ho Che Anderson shared some of the art on Instagram account well before then (October of last year, in fact). Here it is, and his account is here. 

These are a couple of pages from a story I did for Chapterhouse Comics a couple of years ago that, due to scheduling issues, still hasn't seen the light of day...Soon I'm told. I wrote, drew, colored and lettered this job which was a lot of work but also a lot of fun, and it was the first time I got my hands on a company-owned property since my Milestone days. Doing creator-owned work is satisfying in its own way but it's nice to be invited to play with someone else's toys as well—which, I'm happy to say, is something I'll be doing again shortly. Stay tuned.

"A couple of years ago"...The man did this work in 2017.

I don't believe I've ever seen the fifth issue of Year One officially solicited but #4 was, back in early 2018, and #3 was just made available for order in print. Maybe we'll get to see the rest of this book before long!

Another Quality Mike Rooth Variant Cover (Inexplicably Unused).

This bad boy has been making the rounds on social media in recent days so it's quite likely that if you're a fan of the character you've already seen it but I'm posting it here for storage purposes.

(From Chapterhouse Instagram): Here's an unused variant cover for Captain Canuck Issue #1 back in 2015 by powerhouse cover artist (Mike Routh). What a beautiful homage to the original 1975 classic Canuck cover! 

CSIS Agent: Captain Canuck

I've spent the early part of my evening updating the "season 3" and "con variants" pages and while looking for material to add to those pages, I came across a relatively recent image of an alternate version of the Captain.  Specifically, it's from March 2016.

I say it is "relatively recent" because work on this project has always progressed at a pace glaciers would envy. However, in this case, any pace might be positive news.

The project is (or was, it's always hard to tell) spearheaded by Captain Canuck creator Richard Comely's son, Christian. I believed that the emergence of Chapterhouse's version pretty well spelled the end of the CSIS Agent variety above (because I'd basically been told that very thing) but Chapterhouse was well into its publishing by March 2016 and Christian was still talking about it.  Here's what he had to say about the image when he posted it on Facebook.

I am working on it, keep an eye on the FB page that is where i will be updating as i go. I work full time not doing comics, so it is slow going but me and my writing partner have come up with some really good stuff!

Since Richard Comely still appears to be involved with Chapterhouse on some level, then perhaps Christian's version of the Captain could see the light of day at some point. Alternate reality? Back-up story?

Unlikely, but not impossible. It was cool to stumble into new (to me) art regardless and I hope Christian is encouraged to continue with the project. His design for Bluefox is copied below.

Captain Canuck Cast Pin-Up by Scott Dutton

While looking up details on a completely unrelated comics matter, I was taken to Scott Dutton's Catspaw Dynamics page and reminded of a pin up he did of the good Captain.

According to Mr. Dutton, the art itself is from 1995 but the version below appeared in the second issue of the Captain Canuck: Unholy War mini series.

How many of those characters can you name?  Answers below. 

1) Captain Canuck (Tom Evans or Darren Oak), 2) Nu-Enoch, 3) Marcel, the monster, 4) Lowell Michaels, the monster, 5) Fen, 6) Brant, 7) Lady Elodil, 8) Rion, 9) Splatter (Manny Ferrara), 10) Officer Nyro-Ka, the alien, 11) The Alien Commander, 12) Heather Michaels, 13) Nathan Oak and the World Government, 14) Jonn, 15) Mister Gold, 16) CISO Shuttle and Boosters, 17) General Sunn, CISO, 18) Lord West, Earth Patrol, 19) Stardance, 20) Daniel Blackbird, 21) Double Whammy, 22) Jamie Oak, 23) Kebec, 24) Redcoat, 25) Bluefox.

Boy...As much as I enjoyed the Captain's books at the time, this really underscores how much Chapterhouse improved the cast. I know not everyone is into "reimagining" material but I can't think of one misstep in this case.

Speaking of Unholy War, I'm restructuring some of the pages above and that will include moving CC West to the Alternate Versions page in order to make more room to display more art, whether in the form of sketch covers or various...huh...variant covers. No ETA on that at the moment but I'm chipping away.

Also, while I was working on this post, the Captain Canuck Twitter account promised big news on Wednesday. Any chance it involves an animated series, as speculated earlier? We'll find out within 48 hours.

Edit: Incredible. I posted the above image today for the hell of it, and now I see that the Captain Canuck Fan Page also posted it on June 9th.  A coincidence, I assure you.

Odds And Ends

While we wait for the Chapterhouse Publishing July solicitations to made available (and likely first posted on First Comics News, as usual), let's go over a few minor news items that I've gathered over social media.

Whatever Happened To ANCCC #4?

Remember this book? The first two issues came out relatively punctually, if I recall correctly, then the third was delayed by several months. I got my copy of the third issue in early January, I believe, and it had already been out a few weeks by then.

Yet, as I write this, the concluding fourth issue isn't even available for pre-order on the Chapterhouse website. So what gives?

Well, thankfully this isn't one of those situations like when Moonstone Books cancelled Northern Guard after two issues out of three (yep, still bitter).

The material is completed and the series will be collected in a trade paperback, not surprisingly. But apparently the fourth issue will still be released on its own at some point with additional material. I doubt it'll show up in the July solicitations, that's not why I brought it up, but hopefully some time by the end of the year.

Now for that matter...

Whatever Happened To The Prometheus Protocol?

We had a teaser for the Captain's second animated series, and the first episode was released as well. Briefly. It was pulled and Chapterhouse went rather quiet about the whole thing.

So what's going on? Well, potentially something very, very good. Here's how the Captain responded to a fan on Twitter recently about that very thing.

What? Don't sound apologetic! That would be awesome! Awesome enough to be worth the wait if it falls through. I can live with "just" comics and novels in the meantime, believe me.

Speaking of awesome...

Eric Kim Sketch Cover 

Get an eyeful of this thing:

Kim acknowledges a famous Mike Zeck cover as his inspiration here, for those who are not familiar with the original image. It is from a Captain America annual from 1986.

Great idea and execution. If you are unfamiliar with Eric Kim, you can view more of his work on his website.

I guess that'll about do it for now. Let's go back to waiting for July books to be announced.