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. 

Sold on LGP Presents!

It took me a while to warm up to Lev Gleason Publishing's format when the "Lev Gleason Presents" book was first announced. It initially appeared as though I'd have to choose between paying a bit more for product I don't want (such as the reprinted classic Daredevil and Silver Streak material) or to wait longer to obtain single printed Captain Canuck issues or trade paperbacks. 

I decided to give the digital option a look earlier today and am quite glad I did. 

The bonus material drew me in. I already have the "bonus" Captain Canuck issue in print so that wasn't the appealing factor. Getting the four-issue Freelance series along with the rest of the content just seemed like too good a deal to pass up. Freelance didn't appeal to me upon release but as a throw-in? What the hell.

And I'm so glad I did. I read the first two Freelance issues and enjoyed them more than I expected, then had a glance at the Silver Streak story. There is a very direct connection between the two so I appreciate the relevant Freelance material being made available. To be honest, I'm surprised I didn't read more online chatter about that connection when the Freelance books first came out.

Now that I've sampled it, I think I will continue taking advantage of the digital option (whether it includes bonus content or not) to get my hands on the story ASAP then collect the trades at a later date.

Incidentally, you'll note that past solicitation material was incorrect. It originally stated that the third issue of the fifth season of Captain Canuck would be included in this book. You can see that in the previous post, if you're reading chronologically. It's actually the second issue that is included. My guess is that LGP just changed plans after the solicitation went out, no big deal.

LGP Late Winter / Early Spring Solicitations

I like to post the Captain Canuck solicitations as they are made public, but I held off for a bit when I came across the publisher's recent announcements. 

As far as trade paperback reprints are concerned, I've added the most recent attempts at publishing this past material down the right side of the page. This includes the original series from the 70s and 80s separated over two volumes, Lev Gleason Publications' (as Chapterhouse) own mini series featuring the original Captain, and the "West Coast Captain Canuck" mini series from the mid 2000s.

That done, let's look ahead. The following book is scheduled for late April.

Lev Gleason Presents #1

Lev Gleason’s Comic House returns to super-hero publishing after 75 years with Lev Gleason Presents #1. 

This series jumpstarts with Silver Streak: Season 1 Issue 1 by Keith Champagne (Stranger Things) and Stefan Tosheff (Minerva’s Map); Freelance: Season 2 Issue 1 by Andrew Wheeler (Wonder Woman) and Juan Samu (Black Panther); Captain Canuck: Season 5 Issue 3 by Ho Che Anderson (KING) and Felipe Cunha (Cult Classic); plus a classic archive adventure featuring the Golden Age Silver Streak! 

Each mega-sized issue will contain a brand-new #1 issue as well as at least two NEW 20-page stories continuing from the Comic House shared universe! Included in each issue are download codes for digital copies of each issue featured.

Captain Canuck's third issue of season five is included in this?  What if I don't want the rest of the content? Am I "stuck" paying the $9.99 suggested retail price for the one book I do want? 

Apparently not, according to Keith WTS Morris in this interview with First Comics News. 

Yes, standard 32-page single-issue comics will always be for sale for collectors and readers through our demand edition program, Never miss a back issue! Exclusive variants and Retailer programs as well all available through levgleason.com.

All right...Presumably there will be announcements specific to individual issues being released because it doesn't sound like they will be included in regular solicitations. Or if they will, they have yet to, anyway. 

Here is the solicitation for the second issue of LGP, available at the end of May. 

Lev Gleason Presents #2

“The Greatest Name in Comics” Daredevil: Season 1 Issue 1 by Kenny Porter and Iñaki Azpiazu; Freelance: Season 2 Issue 2 by Andrew Wheeler and Juan Samu; Canuck Beyond: Season 1 Issue 3 by Adrien Benson and Esteban Calvi; plus a classic archive adventure featuring the Golden Age Daredevil!  

Blue Fox!! 😀

I think at the end of the day, this gives us a little flexibility. I'll be blunt, I have zero interest in Freelance. Where the good Captain is concerned, I prefer individual issues over trades. I think I would just as soon wait on his own issues to be made available for purchase if that's part of LGP's strategy.

Good for me, but anyone who wants to know pretty well all that's going in the Captain's "universe" can keep up through the "Presents" book for relatively low cost. Makes sense, if my understanding of LGP's strategy is sound. 

Finally, the best news I received was the coming novel by D.K. Latta, also scheduled for late May. 

When Captain Canuck and his team are called to Lunartown to oversee the Space Needle’s completion, what should have been a simple job unearths a plan to sabotage the Needle’s launch. Suddenly, the mysterious disappearance of Captain Canuck reveals a scheme of alien origin. Now, Captain Canuck must choose between duty to his country and possibly the chance at a normal, everyday life. The Space Needle must be finished at all costs!

I'd be interested in any Canuck content, but I have read a couple of Latta's stories in anthologies and found them to be outstanding, so I look forward to reading an entire novel from him. In fact, based on that work and his long-standing interest in the character, if I'd been asked to select one person to write a book about the Captain, D.K. would have been the easy and quick choice. 

He wrote about his upcoming book recently and mentioned that a re-edited version of Neil Dougherty's The Terror Birds is coming down the line at some point. That's good, because that book had huge editing issues. Some sentences are outright nonsensical. It was like a first draft was mistakenly released rather than the final version.

The story itself has potential but it got lost in all the errors. I believe Neil is a better writer than that book suggested, and that a cleaned up version will demonstrate that. 

Transitioning from Season 4 to Season 5

If you're here, there's a very good chance you're already on the Chapterhouse (Lev Gleason Pub) mailing list. If you're not on that list, here's what you missed (and therefore a couple of good reasons why you should be on it) last week.

As has been done for Season Zero with its Redcoat/Kebec origin flipbook, a fifth issue has been added to Season Four.  

The Invasion is over. The Borealis were routed, but the world is left to pick up the pieces and bury the dead. Among those lost, the world’s shining beacon of hope…Captain Canuck. Still working through the stages of grief, the world plans for the future while gathering to mourn his loss…

This one comes with a pretty boss variant cover and an excellent incentive, aside from its awesomeness, to purchase it.

The newsletter specifies that this version of the book is limited to 100 copies and that all proceeds will be donated to the Royal Canadian Legion Poppy Fund. How great is that? Both books will be available to purchase from the publisher's website on November 7th. 

Then on November 18th, A zero issue will be available for Season Five. I believe it reprints the material from the 2019 Free Comic Book Day issue but comes with a wraparound cover. We now get to see what these guys...

...were all looking at.

The Captain's pose isn't quite right based on the shadow on the original cover but we'll assume there was a brief delay between the two images. ;-)

Finally, this wasn't announced in the newsletter, it was just something I happened to notice when I clicked on one of the links. Perhaps it was unintentional but the Season Five trade cover is displayed on the website. 

Good looking bunch. Could we have a team book in the making?

Chapterhou...huh...Lev Gleason Publications January 2021 Solicitations!

That's right, Chapterhouse has indicated that they would be changing their name.

This has probably in the works for some time. The 2019 Free Comic Book Day issue included brief appearances by several characters from the original Gleason books, such as Daredevil, Silver Streak and Captain Battle and judging from promotional material, there's far more to come. Battle was a big part of the 2020 FCBD offering and the publisher has released a biography of Lev Gleason himself. Those things may not lead one to conclude that they'll rebrand completely but the change didn't really come out of nowhere, either.

They'll have a press release about that later but for now let's take a second to record what we can hopefully expect come the new year. We'll be leaving 2020 behind (finally) with the second issue of Captain Canuck, season five. 

As Michael Evans’ new universal power plants begin to go online, he has suddenly gone missing. Where is he and what do Con-13, the paramilitary group outfitted with alien tech, know about it? Kebec and Captain Canuck must investigate. But protecting the world and building a better one through science might be too much for any partnership to handle.

The first issue of season five was solicited for November and in December, as far as new material is concerned, only the first issue of Canuck Beyond was solicited.

My guess then is that they will both be bi-monthly by design and swap out months. "Beyond" will be included in the February solicitation, then the third issue of season five in March and so on.

Wait...I never did post the solicitation for Canuck Beyond, did I? A little late in the game now but here it is:

Tom Evans, known to the world as Captain Canuck, died saving the planet from an alien invasion… or so we thought. Having been flung through an inter-dimensional space engine he now finds himself stranded on an alien world deep within the universe someplace… Beyond. Brought to you by award-winning writer/director Adrien Benson with art by soon to be fan-favorite artist Esteban Calvi.

That is planned for release on December 16th. 

For what it's worth (which is nothing), I love this idea. The new look and setting freshens up the character once again while allowing for the Darren Oak version to be pushed in season five. It's a good way of going about it. Having Tom Evans dormant while the Oak version gets his exposure would serve little purpose. Why not have both active?

There are more reprints of the original 70s and 80s series on the way soon but I want to find out more about them before I post any information.

It feels like this stuff has been published a dozen times already but I believe that's partially because some past attempts to do so have been scuttled and Gleason (that will take some getting used to...) are now following through.

The interesting part of that is that an ad in the 2020 FCBD issue displayed compilations of Captain Canuck Reborn and Captain Canuck Legacy as "coming soon". If you're unfamiliar with those, check out the "Alternate Versions" page above.

The original series fills volumes one (Earth Patrol, at right) and two (to be called "Ruse") of these new "archives" books. Archive number three is expected to be the Reborn series from the mid-90s and archives volume four is Legacy (from 2006 or so).

Much of the material from Reborn and Legacy was hard to track down so having them in trade paperback form, presumably with new material, will be a treat. If Earth Patrol is scheduled for January then hopefully the others aren't far behind. 

Season Five On The Horizon!

This is hardly breaking news, it was revealed about a month ago.

Chapterhouse has been quite good about sharing upcoming products and release dates of late so there doesn't seem to be much point in including this information here, in a way. No one will come here for "breaking news" and it's unlikely that I'll reveal something you can't pick up from their Instagram and/or Facebook accounts but I'll continue for the sake of quick reference.

An all-new Captain Canuck makes his debut in Captain Canuck Season 5!

Following on the heels of the epic Invasion arc that saw a world forever changed, we meet Darren Oak the newest hero to pick up the mantle of Captain Canuck. Meanwhile, Michael Evans, brother of the first Captain Canuck, is about to unleash his newest plan to put Earth on a path to prosperity post-invasion. 

Brought to you by the brilliant mind of Ho Che Anderson (KING, Godhead) with art by Felipe Cunha (Cult Classic: Return to Whisper) and colors by Donovan Yaciuk (A Girl Called ECHO) and cover by Ken Lashley (X-Men).

In Shops: Nov 25, 2020

Well, technically, the new Canuck made his first appearance in the Free Comic Book Day issue from last year, no? That certainly read like the start of his first official mission.

If all goes well, we'll find out in November! I should point out that the second issue is not solicited for December. More on that later, I'm off to build a page specific to Season Five but before I do, here's the variant cover (or at least one of them) for the first issue, by Ho Che Anderson.

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.

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.