MOOSE JAW — It’s been 50 years since superhero Captain Canuck — with the iconic Maple Leaf emblem on his forehead — began fighting crime, but his popularity continues even today, thanks to a certain president.
To celebrate the comic book character’s golden anniversary, creator Richard Comely is travelling across Canada, meeting fans and signing comic books and posters. This included a stop at The Comic Book Guy Pop Culture Shop in the Town ‘n’ Country Mall recently.
Some comics feature covers with Captain Canuck going toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, one poster features the superhero grabbing the president by the collar, another poster has the spandex-clad Canadian holding Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, and a third poster sees the superhero shaking hands with Uncle Sam.
Celebrating anniversaries
“It’s hard to believe it’s 50 years. Like, I’ve been married 50 years, too,” said the English-born penciller, inker, letterer, colourist, editor and publisher who resides in Abbotsford, B.C.
“I got married the same year (1975) I started this, and we’ve been married for 50 years, and we say to each other, ‘What?!’ (The time) just went like that.”
Comely began drawing at a young age, while he took art classes as a teenager. After high school, he became a crest designer in Portage La Prairie, Man., before moving to other work.
Continuing, he said in 1971, his friend, Ron Leishman, suggested creating a Canadian superhero. Comely wasn’t doing anything comic book-related, as he was a graphic designer.
“Originally, the idea was he was going to work with me on it. but he doesn’t draw this style, and he’s more of a gamer,” Comely said. “And he also wanted to serve a mission for our church; we’re both Latter-Day Saints.”
Comely began working on the comic, including the production, distribution, printing and other activities. He also set up a publishing house, which, with a chuckle, he said he wouldn’t advise anyone to do.
“I don’t think my work was really all that marketable when I first started out. But because I was self-publishing, (I could overcome those barriers),” Comely said.
Comely was living in Winnipeg when he created Captain Canuck, but he ran out of money and quit. He and his wife later moved to Alberta, where he returned to the comic before running out of money again.
He then worked on magazines, children’s books, greeting cards and editorial cartoons for 10 years, before he and his wife moved to Ontario. There, he worked on Captain Canuck for three years before “you know, the same old story.” He then licensed the superhero to others, allowing them to create new stories.
In 2024, Lev Gleason Publishing purchased the rights to Captain Canuck, with new people writing the stories.
Patriotic fervour
“When I first did Captain Canuck in ’75, I didn’t expect the attention and interest that it got. Media back then was all over it,” Comely said. “It was the first item on the national news.”
Continuing, he said there was an undercurrent of patriotism then, where people knew they were Canadian and not American. So, Captain Canuck was a visualization of what people were thinking and saying, that “it’s about time we have our own superhero.”
Challenges
An issue the artist faced in 1975 was that there were only four comic stores in Canada. Instead, distribution of comics occurred through newsstands in places like drug stores and convenience stores. However, that changed in the late 1980s, when specialty comic shops began popping up. This led to newsstand distribution eventually coming “to a grinding halt.”
Comely noted that colouring comics “was very simple” in the 1970s, as publishing houses used a limited colour palette but not certain pencil shading techniques.
“I wanted a better system and I didn’t want to go where everybody else was going,” he recalled, so he developed his own process that worked well.
Paper vs. digital
Today, illustrators use tablets to draw comics, but Comely said he’s 74 and too old to use such technology. Also, one disadvantage he sees with using technology is the original art isn’t on paper anymore.
Continuing, Comely said he recently attended the San Diego Comic Con — the most famous convention in North America — and saw dealers selling original comic artwork for up to $40,000.
Meanwhile, with Captain Canuck’s original run, the first 15 issues are with Library and Archives Canada. Also, Brigham Young University in Utah has four original issues, which Comely provided after initially giving the comics to a Quebec university.
American support
Captain Canuck has expanded beyond Canada’s borders and appeared on Time magazine’s cover in 1997. Furthermore, Americans are the largest supporters of the superhero, as 80 per cent of sales are in the U.S.
Comely noted that when Trump discussed making Canada the 51st state, Californians made protest signs featuring Captain Canuck saying, “Hands off Canada!”
From that, and at the request of his publisher, Comely released a poster in February of the superhero grabbing Trump with an empty speech balloon, with the illustrator inserting messages such as “Hands off Canada!,” “No 51st state,” “No way,” and “Take off, eh.”
Comely added that his posters attracted media attention in the U.S., Britain and Australia, which he said showed the concern that other countries have about Trump’s actions.
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