Status | Defunct (1942) |
---|---|
Founded | August 1941 |
Country of origin | Canada |
Headquarters location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Key people | Adrian Dingle René Kulbach André Kulbach |
Publication types | Comic books |
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.
In August 1941, Hillborough was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada by Adrian Dingle, the brothers René and André Kulbach, and an anonymous investor. Their flagship title was called Triumph-Adventure Comics, and featured the most famous character of what has been called the Golden Age of Canadian comics—Dingle's Nelvana of the Northern Lights, the first Canadian female superhero, who debuted several months before Wonder Woman. [1]
After seven monthly issues, Dingle brought Triumph-Adventure to Bell Features in early 1942, [2] and was followed by most of the Hillborough staff. [1]
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment since 2000. 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.
Drawn & Quarterly (D+Q) is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, as well as the quality of printing and design. The name of the company is a pun on "drawing", "quarterly", and the practice of hanging, drawing and quartering. Initially it specialized in underground and alternative comics, but has since expanded into classic reprints and translations of foreign works. Drawn & Quarterly was the company's flagship quarterly anthology during the 1990s.
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.
Michael Hirsh (born April 7, 1948) is a Belgian-born Canadian producer, TV executive, entrepreneur, and author. He has been attributed to building from the ground up the Canadian animation industry and, more specifically, award-winning children's programming since the 1980s. He co-founded Nelvana, a Canadian based animation and entertainment studio in 1971 with partners Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith producing numerous cartoons that established Nelvana as a leader in the industry including Little Bear, Franklin, Babar, Max & Ruby, The Magic School Bus, Care Bears, The Adventures of Tintin, Inspector Gadget, Droids and Ewoks, among many, many others. After Corus Entertainment's acquisition of Nelvana, Hirsh became the CEO of Cookie Jar Entertainment, which created numerous highly popular children's shows, among them Arthur, Johnny Test, and Strawberry Shortcake. When Cookie Jar was acquired by DHX Media Hirsh became the Executive Chairman of the company, the largest supplier of kids programming to online streaming services as well as a leader in production and licensing and merchandising for children. Three years after the acquisition by DHX Media, Hirsh left the company to serve as CEO and chairman of WOW! Unlimited Media from 2015 to December 2023.
Fleur de Lys is a superheroine from Quebec and an ally of Northguard, created in 1984 by Mark Shainblum and Gabriel Morrissette in the comic New Triumph featuring Northguard. The name of the character is inspired by the heraldic symbol of the fleur de lys, which is the official emblem of Quebec and a prominent part of the Flag of Quebec. The character was honored with a Canadian postage stamp in 1995, with fellow superheroes Superman, Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Johnny Canuck and Captain Canuck.
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.
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.
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, Johnny Canuck, Brok Windsor, and Canada Jack. The period has been called the Golden Age of Canadian comics.
Maple Leaf Publishing was a World War II-era Canadian comic book publisher active during the Golden Age of Comic Books. They were one of four publishers—along with Anglo-American Publishing, Hillborough Studios, and Bell Features—which published "Canadian Whites"—black-and-white comic books with colour covers that proliferated during the war years when American imports were restricted. Maple Leaf Publishing started publishing comic books in March 1941 and went out of business in late 1946.
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".
Edmond Elbridge Good was a Canadian illustrator, writer and co-author of more than a dozen comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books.