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.

"Holy Maple Leaf!"

In my March 15th post about the Captain Canuck newspaper comic strip, I mentioned that I would use my newspapers.com account to track down old articles about our favourite hero. It's taken me several months to finally get around to it but I poked around a bit tonight and found what I think is a good place to start.

This is the earliest article I could come across. It is from the June 10th, 1975, Ottawa Journal. Being that the first issue of the original series was cover-dated July of that year and was just about to hit the shelves, there can't be that many articles published prior to this one. It may be the very first. It probably doesn't reveal much you didn't already know, but it's interesting on that basis. 

Speaking of newspapers, I've added about a half dozen strips under the, well, Newspaper Strips page above. I'll be working on that over the next couple of nights as well. 

I'll post more of these articles as I locate them.

Captain Canuck Newspaper Strips Rounded Up!

I recently got a membership to newspapers.com for a Canadian football site that I manage. Shortly thereafter, I searched for Captain Canuck in the hope of landing on the old newspaper strips.

My search failed, at the time, but I tried again earlier today and hit the jackpot. I not only dug up the brief one from 1980, but also one that ran in 1995 in the Ottawa Citizen from August to December or so. It seemed to end quite suddenly.

In the case of the former, I had found them on someone's Facebook page years ago but the scans were small and therefore difficult to read. I've been able to make larger versions now and will be updating the Newspaper Strips page above later today. Give this a click.

In the case of the latter, there were some challenges.

For one, the first strips appeared to be released out of order and it could be that one or two were missed altogether. That'll take a little investigating.

Another issue is that the newspaper page scan from which I would copy was sometimes blurry. It's difficult to correct that but I should at least be able to improve on it slightly so that it can at least be read properly.

All told, I have about 120 strips saved so obviously it'll take some time to add all these to page above. Slowly but surely they'll end up there though. Here's a sample (again, click for a larger version).

This strip was, in effect, the Captain Canuck Reborn series (see "Alternate Version" page) re-told, going from memory. I believe that is the first strip in which the suit is worn in anything other than a dream or vision and it was the 60th one published. Kind of an odd way of going about things.

My account to newspapers.com also provides access to articles about the good Captain from when he was launched and the many times he's been rebooted since. I plan on sharing a number of those as well over time, if I can sort those articles out from the one about whomever happened to be captain of the Vancouver Canucks at the time.

Captain Canuck Coin From The Royal Canadian Mint!

Hey, isn't it great that Facebook knows everything about you so they can cater their advertising to your interests? ;-)

Actually, I believe I first saw this item on my timeline because I follow the Royal Canadian Mint's Facebook group. The banner image below, showing the coin and its "maroon clamshell with graphic beauty box" (jeepers...), is from West Edmonton Coin And Stamp's own promotion for the piece.

More than a homegrown comic book hero, Captain Canuck personifies the spirit of Canadians by embodying self-sacrifice, determination, and integrity, and all with a full dose of humility and compassion. This comic book-shaped coin is the ultimate tribute to a Canadian pop-culture icon created in 1975; your coin re-creates elements of Richard Comely’s cover art from Captain Canuck No. 1, which introduced a new, uniquely Canadian hero—one who fights for justice and peace while wearing the colours of our nation’s flag! 

A perfect coin for Captain Canuck comic book fans!

Let's get a better look...

The mint's page about this item states that this is the Captain's first appearance on a coin. In terms of currency, they would know. However while looking for more information about this one, I came across the item below.

Isn't that something? The empire coin company is based out of Brooklyn, New York and they create challenge coins. Presumably, this one is used as some sort of reward for a specific achievement or maybe it was just a gift for someone. I would love to know the story behind it.

The image was uploaded to the company's Instagram account about five months ago.

All-New Classic Captain Canuck #5

Collecting the All-New Classic Captain Canuck mini-series was more of a marathon than a sprint. Based on digital release dates posted on Comixology, issue one came out in April 2016 and issue four finally became available in May 2017. And that's digitally; I'm not sure that the print version reached stores until the fall.

I'd neglected to add info about the fourth issue to the page above specific to the series. While looking for a better quality version of the cover images I'd saved, I located a solicitation for a fifth issue that has not (to the best of my knowledge) been released and likely never will.

All-New Classic Captain Canuck #5 

(W) Ed Brisson (A) George Freeman (CA) Gisele Lagace 

Because you demanded it! The Sonic Squad get their very own issue!

Everybody's favourite team of villains are set to pull off the heist of the century. What could possibly go wrong?

Brought to you by the dream team on The Violent, Ed Brisson and Adam Gorham give you a tale of intrigue, betrayal, and cold hard cash!

The original publishing date was supposed to be August 31st, 2016, so I think we can pretty well forget about this one. To be honest, I don't even recall seeing a solicitation for it, but perhaps I missed them that month. Still neat, though.

September 2017 Chapterhouse Solicitations

Chapterhouse has announced what we can expect from them this September. Let's have a look at the Captain Canuck / Chapterverse material specifically.

ALL NEW CLASSIC CAPTAIN CANUCK #4
(W) Ed Brisson (A/CA) George Freeman 

Canuck’s adventures in time culminate with the toughest battle he has ever faced, in any era! 

In Shops: Sep 06, 2017 

SRP: $3.99

Finally! This has been a fun book and it'll be good to finally have the story conclude. In case you missed it earlier, the book is actually available digitally on Comixology if you're not up to waiting until September (at best).

And now, a double dose of Northguard:

NORTHGUARD TP VOL 01 AURORA DAWN
(W) Anthony Falcone (A) Eric Kim (A/CA) Ron Salas 

Leaping from the pages of Captain Canuck comes Northguard, Canada’s newest super-hero! His first mission: Track down The Aurora Dawn, a mysterious cult hoping to bring about the end of the world!

Chapterhouse Comics’ Captain Canuck reboot has garnered praise and critical acclaim, now see our take on another classic Canadian superhero, Marc Shainblum and Gabriel Morrisette’s Northguard! This volume collects the first four issues of the fan-favorite series and includes never before seen content! 

In Shops: Sep 27, 2017
SRP: $9.99

The good Captain does not appear in this book, but some of his entourage does, Kebec most prominently. Unlike some other Chapterverse books that don't have a clear connection to Captain Canuck, this one is very much connected and Northguard will appear in the Captain's second series as well. So long as he and the Captain continue to run in similar circles, Northguard will continue to be included here.

Which takes us to his second "season"!

NORTHGUARD SEASON 2 #1
(W) Anthony Falcone (A) Giovanni Valletta (CA) Alex Perkins 

Northguard returns with a brand new first issue!

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! 

In Shops: Sep 27, 2017
SRP: $3.99

Good stuff. Welcome back!

Now this last one is a bit of a surprise...

FALLEN SUNS #1
(W) Van Jensen (A) Leila del Duca, Neil Collyer (CA) Miko Maclaszek 

The alien warrior called Pharos came to our world to deliver a warning: The Bo-realis are coming. Instead he has wreaked havoc across the Earth and left death and destruction in his wake. 

Now, he awaits execution for his crimes deep in a H.A.L.O. facility. Can brilliant young Equilibrium agent Parminder Patel unravel Pharos’ history and uncover the secrets behind his dire warning, opening the way to his redemption? Can she convince him to rejoin the fight and save Earth?

Find out in Chapterhouse’s new sci-fi epic series, written by Van Jensen (Green Lantern Corps, The Flash), with art by Neil Collyer (Heavy Space) and Leila Del Duca (Shutter, Afar). 

In Shops: Sep 27, 2017
SRP: $3.99

This was called Northern Light when originally announced. It was believed to be a re-imagining of a 70s character who bore that name, similar to what was done with Northguard. Clearly that's not the case but rather a direct continuation of the Captain Canuck mini series that starts soon.

Can't help but feel like the Captain disappears again for a while after his own book ends, eh? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Difficult Things

In August of last year, I wrote a post about the back up stories that were intended to appear in the Chapterhouse Archives comic prior to its cancellation after only two issues.

In total, six issues had been solicited. Each would reprint an original issue of the Captain Canuck book along with a brief back-up story.  The material that had been scheduled for issues three through six has yet to be published.

But that doesn't mean that some of it isn't available.

Colourist Adam Martin has shared some of the pages on his deviantart page.  The pages below are from the second issue of the Chapterhouse Archives. Martin has some of the pages from the third issue (by artist Gibson Quarter) as well but they are unlettered.

August 2017 Chapterhouse Publishing Solicitations

First Comics News posted the Chapterhouse solicitations for August including what I thought was the last issue of this volume, but then it's referred to as an ongoing still, so perhaps (hopefully) not.

CAPTAIN CANUCK #4
(W) Kalman Andrasofszky
(A) Leonard Kirk, Emmanuelle Chateauneuf
(CA) John Gallagher 

Communicating at last, Captain Canuck and the alien creature now known as Pharos must join forces to confront the power behind the sinister HALO organization. 

In Shops: Aug 16, 2017
SRP: $3.99

The final issue of Fantomah comes out in August as well. That title will be replaced by Northern Light in September.

Now I put in a small order from Chapterhouse earlier today and I was a little disappointed to find out that the fourth issue of All-New Classic Captain Canuck was not available in print format on their online store yet since it has been available digitally for a couple of weeks on Comixology. Shouldn't be long then.

You can, however, order the Free Comic Book Day...huh...book, if you were not able to get your hands on it earlier this month during the actual event. I'm pleased to see that along with the original cover by David Finch...

...you can order one with the East Coast Comics Expo variant by Nick Bradshaw!

Awesome stuff. Looking forward to getting my package in the mail! Chapterhouse never disappoints with mail orders so I expect to have it around this time next week.

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.

Chapterhouse Comics June 2017 Solicitations

As usual, first shared by First Comics News, although if you ever miss them there, you will get them a few days later by joining Chapterhouse's newsletter.

CAPTAIN CANUCK #2
(W) Kalman Andrasofszky (A) Leonard Kirk (CA) John Gallagher 

The Chapterverse continues! The mysterious alien menace continues to tear through random locations around the globe and the casualty count is high. Is there a pattern to the havoc? With Kebec and Northguard taken off the board, who can stop it? 

In Shops: Jun 28, 2017
SRP: $3.99

Collections seem to be appear in these solicitations frequently. I believe in this case the reason is that this is a hardcover whereas the previous versions are trade paperback. The content appears to be the same, but releasing it right around the country's 150th birthday just makes sense. 

CAPTAIN CANUCK COMPENDIUM HC
(W) Richard Comely, George Freeman (A) Claude St Aubin (A/CA) Richard Comely, George Freeman 

In celebration of Canada’s 150th-anniversary, Captain Canuck is back in Chapterhouse Comics’ hardcover Compendium line. This 366 page compendium features all of the issues from the 1975-81 series, including issue #15 in full-color. Never-seen before art and extras by Richard Comely, George Freeman, and Claude St. Aubin make this a collector’s item a must have for fans of the Captain, new and old! (Foreword) by Captain Canuck creator Richard Comely! 

In Shops: Jun 28, 2017
SRP: $34.95

I'll include the following two books as well though their connection to the Captain is still a mystery to me. They are said to take place in the "universe" so that continues to be good enough.

FANTOMAH #2
(W) Ray Fawkes (A) Soo Lee (CA) Djibril Morrisette 

Shaken by the traumatic events of last issue, Paz Gallegos, now the dreaded Fantomah, must race against the clock to track down her missing sisters. But as her powers continue to manifest, Fantomah finds herself pulled in new and deadly directions, sending her down a dangerous spiral from which she may never recover. 

In Shops: Jun 28, 2017
SRP: $3.99

FREELANCE TP VOL 01 ANGEL OF THE ABYSS
(W) Jim Zub, Andrew Wheeler (A) Vaneda Vireak, Cindy Leong (CA) Alex Perkins 

Lance Valiant, John Cabot, and Tasha Kolchak are fearless explorers who delve into hidden secrets of our world and protect us from threats beyond imagination, but the greatest secret of all may be Lance’s own mysterious past! Pulse-pounding action, wit, intrigue, and globe-trotting romance as one of Canada’s original heroes is reborn for the Chapterhouse era by writers Andrew Wheeler (Another Castle) and Jim Zub (Thunderbolts), and artist Vaneda Vireak (51Hundred)! 

In Shops: Jun 28, 2017
SRP: $16.99

Coming "soon", Classic Captain Canuck Sculptures!

Sculptor Richard Nowak shared the image below on Instagram earlier today.

I just finished six reproductions of my Classic Captain Canuck sculpture. Each handpainted by me. For sale soon through www.Chapterhouse.ca. This sculpture was based on the very first appearance of Captain Canuck released in 1975. The author and artist Richard Comely provided me with original hand drawn reference material for this project. It has been over a year of work to get to this stage.

"Over a year" is no exaggeration. Nowak posted a picture on Instagram of the sketch he would work from to build the sculpture. That was 73 weeks ago.

It's a little difficult to tell due to the angle on that picture, but the base is a map of Canada. Nice way to build on the cover from the character's first issue in 1975.

Of course, as a fan, the best news is that these will be available to the general public, at least on a limited basis. While we wait for their availability to be announced, and brace ourselves for the revelation of the price, check out more of Richard's work on his website, including a modern version of the Captain that I believe won a fan art contest a couple of years ago.

To see the step-by-step process and gradual progress made on creating the sculpture above, go to Richard's Instagram account, linked at the top of the page. Thankfully, Richard is not the type to post pictures of his breakfasts so it's easy to follow this sculpture's coming to life.

Chapterhouse February 2017 Solicitations

As usual, First Comics News lives up to its name and is the first site to make the Chapterhouse solicitations available. If someone else does it any faster, by all means draw my attention to it, but I have yet to find another site that does.

Now then...What's going on...

ALL NEW CLASSIC CAPTAIN CANUCK VOL 01 TIME CHASE
DEC161505
(W) Ed Brisson (A/CA) George Freeman 

The Classic series continues will all new adventures of Captain Canuck! Lost in time, Captain Canuck must face aliens, cavemen, Mr Gold, and the new threat of Criterion as he tries to return home.

Ed Brisson (The Violent) teams up with Canuck veteran George Freeman (JLA, Star Wars) to bring you what Graphic Policy calls “A great collection that’s worth the price of admission!” 

Collects All New Classic Captain Canuck #0-4. 

In Shops: Feb 22, 2017
SRP: $19.99

Nice. The third issue of ANCCC was released last week, I believe. Chapterhouse must be fairly confident that they'll get the fourth issue out soon if they are planning to release the trade paperback.

That will be it for Classic Canuck, at least for the time being, sadly. But the supporting cast of the current version will continue to be featured in...

AGENTS OF PACT #2
DEC161502
(W) Kalman Andrasofszky, Blake Northcott (A) Federica Manfredi (CA) Bella Rachlin 

The Chapterverse continues! Barely functioning as a team yet, and the Agents are already outnumbered and outgunned by an army of souped-up Equilibrium agents headed by the Steeltown Hammer! 

Who can even the score? Spoilers: it’s Kebec. 

In Shops: Feb 22, 2017
SRP: $3.99

When I first saw that cover, I believed it was fan art. I may have even referred to it as such on social media, which makes me feel like a dumbass now. Ah well. How the hell was I supposed to know? Unless it started that way and Chapterhouse chose to use it.

In any event, for those of you perhaps newer to this little universe, that would be Fleur De Lys on the left, of Northguard fame. A character by the same name (Manon Deschamps, that is) appears in the Northguard but is significantly older. So there are two possibilities:

1) The cover is not at all indicative of the interior content and simply a pinup. That could well be, artist Bella Rachlin used the pinup hashtag in her Instagram post displaying that same image.

2) Someone else is wearing the suit. The Northguard guard character is significantly different than the original character, the same could be true of Fleur De Lys. And Chapterhouse leaves precious little material unused. So this is something to look forward to.

And finally, we have Freelance...

FREELANCE #2
DEC161503
(W) Jim Zub, Andrew Wheeler (A) Vaneda Vireak (CA) Alexander Perkins 

The Chapterverse continues! 

On the trail of the murderous Apollyon, Lance and his team are led on a journey that takes them from beyond the Nanisivik Rift to the rooftops of Istanbul. 

Debuting in this issue: the mysterious Sidika! But is she friend, foe, or something else entirely? 

Pulse-pounding action, wit, intrigue, and globe-trotting romance as one of Canada’s original heroes is reborn for the Chapterhouse era! 

In Shops: Feb 22, 2017
SRP: $3.99

I admit that I'm not quite into this book. I know that its connection with the other Chapterverse titles will be revealed over time, and hopefully grow, but so far it doesn't grab me. I also personally detest this art style (preview page below copied from, of course, First Comics News).

Not saying it's bad work, just not what I personally enjoy and not what I was expecting.  Nonetheless, I'll get the book and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

My concern now is that when the Chapterverse was announced, it was promoted as being a whole universe for $8 a month. That's OK, but it would suggest that we're not getting any version of Captain Canuck until May at the earliest. That's a long way to go without your flagship character, but we can look forward to his triumphant return. Hell, we've waited much longer between Canuck books in the past, haven't we?

See You In The Funny Papers, Captain!

A little over two years ago, I stumbled into scans of a six-part Captain Canuck series of newspaper strips shared by a gentleman on Facebook. I shared them on the "They Stand On Guard" blog at the time but this seems like an appropriate place to store them as well. Have a look below.

As was the case at the time, I take absolutely no credit for these. They were originally found on David E. McLains's Graphyc Rythmic Productions group though I failed to find them again just prior to writing this post. I was hoping to get an exact date as to when they were shared and whatever other details Mr. McLain had provided at the time. Parts four through six are posted on the newspaper strip page found just under the banner.

Pretty sweet to have additional Richard Comely / George Freeman material to enjoy. According to Mr. McLain, these are from 1980 so they would feature the original version of the character.

IDW Publishing's "Complete Edition" of Captain Canuck included a few strips as well, from 1995, written and drawn by Richard Comely. That Captain Canuck was the Darren Oak version from the short-lived "Reborn" era.

I'm in the process of gathering information about publishing dates and additional details for these. Whatever I manage to locate will find its way onto the page above.

The Loss of the Chapterhouse Archives Series

Gave this sadly neglected blog a big jolt of new content last night, including starting pages for allies, foes, and the All-New Classic series, and adding recent releases to the "Current Canuck" page.

This burst of blogging energy was fueled by a purchase I made from Chapterhouse's online store earlier in the evening. I took advantage of their summer sale to catch up. I got the Summer Special, issue 8 of the main series, Northguard #1 and the first two issues of All-New Classic Canuck. I'm going to be at my cottage all next week so hopefully they are delivered in time for that.

While looking up some information, I came across a news story from June on bleedingcool.com which explained that the Chapterhouse Archives series had been cancelled. Excerpt from that article copied below (The cover art displayed is by Joe Constantini):

I got in touch with (Chapterhouse Comics) who told me that they were “just restructuring our offerings a little. We had some very low orders for early issues of both of the Chapterhouse Archives series as well as the variant covers.” 

... 

“With the Captain Canuck title being behind, Diamond asked us to resolicit it, which has us releasing #9 in September. It was a good idea as it allows us to get ahead on issues so we shouldn’t run into delays again. 

That is why “The Gauntlet” (trade paperback collecting issues 7-11 of the main series) had to be cancelled. The arc wouldn’t be completed in time. I don’t have the exact date, but I believe it will be solicited again in one of the fall Previews.”

Fair enough. You have to appreciate the honesty there. I admit that I had no plans to buy it.  There are only so many ways to reprint old material. And I already own all the originals.

I had been curious about the additional material included in each book, however, and am a little curious as to what will happen, if anything, with the stories that had been planned. Let's have a look at what did reach shelves...

Captain Canuck #1: ...all-new back story, written and drawn by Richard Comely himself! 

Captain Canuck #2: ...an all-new back-up story written and drawn by Claude St. Aubin. (TCCL Note: The Comixology version states: "...an all-new back-up story written by our Publisher, Fadi Hakim and drawn by Mike Rooth!" so it seems plans changed there)

...And what didn't...

Captain Canuck #3: ...an all-new 5 page back story (that takes place between Captain Canuck #3 and 4) by George Freeman. 

Captain Canuck #4: ...an all-new story that takes place in-between issues 4 and 5, written by Fadi Hakim and illustrated by Mike Rooth (Red Sonja/Conan). 

Captain Canuck #5: ...an all-new story by Richard Comely. 

Captain Canuck #6: ...an all new 5-page back story by Davis Dewsbury and Andrew Thomas (TCCL Note: of Auric Of The Great White North fame).

Starts to add up, eh? The solicitation for the Northguard issues also referred to new material by original creators Mark Shainblum and Gabriel Morrissette but the Comixology version makes no mention of it.

But even setting that aside, it appears as though we have about 30 pages of largely unused material. Perhaps it could be compiled and made into a Holiday Special, or next year's Summer Special? Let's not let that go to waste.