| Golden Age of Canadian Comic Books | |
|---|---|
| Time span | 1941 – 1947 |
Canadian Whites are World War II-era comic books published in Canada that feature colour covers with black-and-white interiors. Notable characters include Nelvana of the Northern Lights, [lower-alpha 1] Johnny Canuck, Brok Windsor, and Canada Jack. The period has been called the Golden Age of Canadian comics.
For the most part, the "Whites" have colour covers with interiors printed in black ink on white paper, [1] [2] although there are a handful of comics with colour interiors. [1] They proliferated in Canada after the War Exchange Conservation Act [3] restricted the importation of non-essential goods from the United States into Canada, including fiction periodicals. [1] For this reason, this era is sometimes referred to as the "WECA period" and the comics are sometimes referred to as "WECA books." [4]
At least four companies took advantage of the situation by publishing comics in Canada, sometimes using imported scripts. Anglo-American Publishing of Toronto and Maple Leaf Publishing in Vancouver started publishing in March 1941. Later, two other Toronto-based publishers joined in: Hillborough Studios that August, and Bell Features (originally Commercial Signs of Canada [5] ) in September. [1]
Some of the more notable "Whites" creators included Ed Furness, Ted McCall, Adrian Dingle, Gerald Lazare, Jon St. Ables, Fred Kelly, and Leo Bachle, all of whom would later be inducted into the Joe Shuster Award's Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame. [2]
This period has been called the Golden Age of Canadian comics, [6] but the age of the "Whites" did not last long. [2] When the trade restrictions were lifted following World War II, [lower-alpha 2] comic books from the United States were once again able to flow across the border.
In their depictions of heroic positive role models, the Canadian Whites served an important propaganda function for Canadian readers during the war years. [11]
The animation studio Nelvana took its name from Adrian Dingle's creation, and one of the studio's first productions was a documentary about the Canadian Whites, The Great Canadian Comic Books. [12]
The rediscovery of these comics by a new generation in the 1970s inspired a slew of new Canadian superheroes over the next decades, including everything from obscure fanzines, to webcomics, to graphic novels by bestselling authors like Margaret Atwood and Ken Steacy's War Bears. [13]
The 2014 documentary Lost Heroes: The Untold Story of Canadian Superheroes began by covering this era. [14]
The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known characters were introduced, including Superman, Batman, Robin, Captain Marvel, Captain America, and Wonder Woman.
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded in July 1971 by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith, it was named after Nelvana of the Northern Lights, the first Canadian national superhero, who was created by Adrian Dingle. The company's production logo is a polar bear looking at Polaris, the North Star.
Captain Canuck is a Canadian comic book superhero. Created by cartoonist Ron Leishman and artist/writer Richard Comely, the original Captain Canuck first appeared in Captain Canuck #1. The series was the first successful Canadian comic book since the collapse of the nation's comic book industry following World War II.
Patrick Loubert is one of the founders of the Canadian animation studio, Nelvana Limited, along with Clive A. Smith and Michael Hirsh. He has produced, and executive-produced, much of the company's most memorable fare.
Michael Hirsh is a Belgian-born Canadian producer. He has been a significant figure in the Canadian television industry, or more specifically children's programming, since the 1980s, with his most well-known role being the co-founder of animation studio Nelvana.
The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards are given out annually for outstanding achievements in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, and comics retailers and publishers by Canadians. The awards, first handed out in April 2005, are named in honour of Joe Shuster (1914–1992), the Canadian-born co-creator of Superman.
John Adrian Darley Dingle, known professionally as Adrian Dingle, was a Cornish-Canadian artist. In the 1940s, he was a creator of comic books, including Nelvana of the Northern Lights.
The Great Canadian Comic Books is a 1971 book from Peter Martin Associates. It was written by Nelvana founders Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert, with partner Clive Smith as designer and illustrator. It looks at the "Canadian Whites" series of comic books made during World War II, with some focus on Nelvana of the Northern Lights, the genre's first superheroine, and Johnny Canuck, as well as their publisher, Bell Features. It was accompanied by a two-year travelling tour of the art, the National Gallery of Canada's "Comic Art Traditions in Canada, 1941–45".
Leo Henry Bachle, a.k.a. Les Barker, was a Canadian comic book artist in the era of the Canadian Whites, and later became a comedian.
The Brain is a fictional character created by Leo Bachle for Bell Features, a Canadian comic company in the 1940s, and first appeared in Active Comics #1.
The Wizard is a superhero created by Will Harr and Edd Ashe Jr. for MLJ Comics, which later became Archie Comics. He first appeared in Top-Notch Comics #1 in December 1939, and he was one of the headliners of that title until its cancellation in 1944. He was one of the earliest superhero characters to appear after the debut of Superman in 1938.
Edwin Reid McCall was a Canadian journalist, and a comic strip and comic book writer. He was best known for creating the first comic strip based on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Men of the Mounted for the Toronto Evening Telegram and the war hero Freelance for Anglo-American Publishing.
Nelvana of the Northern Lights is a Canadian comic book character and the first Canadian national superhero, debuting in Hillborough Studios' Triumph-Adventure Comics #1. She is also one of the first female superheroes, debuting before Wonder Woman, but after Fantomah, the Golden Age Black Widow, Invisible Scarlet O'Neil and others introduced in 1940. Nelvana of the Northern Lights is Canada's first distinctly Canadian female superhero.
Hillborough Studios was a short-lived Canadian comic book publisher, founded in 1941, most notable for publishing Adrian Dingle's Nelvana of the Northern Lights.
Canadian comics refers to comics and cartooning by citizens of Canada or permanent residents of Canada regardless of residence. Canada has two official languages, and distinct comics cultures have developed in English and French Canada. The English tends to follow American trends, and the French, Franco-Belgian ones, with little crossover between the two cultures. Canadian comics run the gamut of comics forms, including editorial cartooning, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, and webcomics, and are published in newspapers, magazines, books, and online. They have received attention in international comics communities and have received support from the federal and provincial governments, including grants from the Canada Council for the Arts. There are comics publishers throughout the country, as well as large small press, self-publishing, and minicomics communities.
Bell Features, also known as Commercial Signs of Canada, was a Canadian comic book publisher during the World War II era. They were the most successful of the publishers of "Canadian Whites", and published comics such as Adrian Dingle's Nelvana of the Northern Lights.
Anglo-American Publishing was a Canadian comic book publisher during the World War II era. While they published a number of Canadian creations, they also printed Canadian reworkings of scripts bought from American publisher Fawcett Comics.
Iron Man is a Canadian fictional character, created by cartoonist Vernon Miller for Maple Leaf Publishing. A superhero, the character's debut was in the first issue of Better Comics in March 1941, a colour title, unlike most of the other Canadian comic books at the time which were printed in black-and-white and known as "Canadian Whites".
Harry Joseph Brunt was a Canadian cartoonist who made significant humorous contributions during the era of the Canadian Whites. He is the father of Stephen Brunt, a sports columnist for The Globe and Mail.
"WECA" is an acronym for the War Exchange Conservation Act brought into being by the parliament of Canada on Dec. 6, 1940 prohibiting the importation of "non-essential" materials into the country including magazines and comics from the U.S. This produced a comic vacuum in our country and before March (though the cover dates were indeed March, we well know that comics physically appear on newsstands at least a month ahead of their cover dates) of the next year a few enterprising young men in Toronto and Vancouver had Better Comics No. 1 and Robin Hood Comics No. 1 in the hands of eager kids across the land.
These comic book heroes were role models that gave unique hope to their avid readers.
An ad agency actually said the name "Laff Arts" was too wacky to be taken seriously, so Hirsh, Loubert and Smith all decided to found a new studio in 1971 called Nelvana, named after the Canadian superhero Nelvana of the Northern Lights, created by English-Canadian cartoonist and illustrator Adrian Dingle and the first female superhero from Canada.
I knew a lot about comics history, knew a lot about the trials and tribulations of creators and their relationship with their publishers and their relationship with the characters that they create and the intellectual property they create. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to expand on that. I contacted Margaret and pitched the idea of doing more with it. She was intrigued and we had spent a lovely afternoon brainstorming what was initially a three-issue mini series, which then became the graphic novel.
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