July 1st is Canada Day. I thought I’d post a couple of Canadiana posts in celebration of Canada’s 140th.

For years, the Canadian government has a website celebrating Canadian comic book history, but until recently, I didn’t realize ow few people knew about the site.

The Guardians of the North: The National Superhero in Canadian Comic-Book Art website is based on an archival exhibition of the same title that was originally mounted at the National Archives’ Canadian Museum of Caricature in 1992. Curated by Canadian comics scholar and archivist John Bell, the original exhibition drew upon the holdings of the National Archives of Canada, the National Library of Canada and various private collections in order to explore the history of Canada’s national superheroes – costumed comic book heroes that personify the Canadian spirit and identity.

Guardians of the North will have served its purpose if it encourages Canadians to remember their own superheroes and to celebrate the careers of the comics artists and writers who dared to offer us visions of a powerful, transcendent heroism that was uniquely Canadian. Hopefully, here in cyberspace, our national superheroes will soar.

I really felt like I learned a lot from this site. For example, Canadian superheroine, Nelvana, pictured above, first appeared months before Wonder Woman saw print. It’s a fascinating look at superheroes with a Canadian heritage, and I encourage every Canadian comic reader or anyone curious about comic book history to check it out.

Links:

English: The Guardians of the North: The National Superhero in Canadian Comic-Book Art

French: Protecteurs du Nord : Le superhéros national dans la bande dessinée canadienne

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 1st, 2007 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Comic Books, Industry, Internet, News & Views, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.