In December 1940 William Lyon Mackenzie King’s Liberal government had banned the import of American comic books, pulps, and “non-essential items” for the war’s duration. Unless you lived along the border there would be no Detective Comics, Action Comics, Adventure Comics, All-American Comics, More Fun Comics, or All-Flash Quarterly. There would be no Batman, Superman or Flash. Cyril Vaughan Bell, “a former Toronto sign painter” told Ross his Bell Features took full advantage of circumstances and “turned out a billioncomic books” between 1941 and 1946.
[4] Three Aces, No. 58
Near the end of the war, with sales slipping, Bell reprinted old issues, slapped new covers and titles on them, and shipped them to England to be sold. Alexander Ross made no mention of the other major entrepreneurs publishing comic books in Canada during the war years; Anglo-American Publishing, Hillborough Studio, Educational Projects Inc., and Maple Leaf Publishing on the West Coast.
Following his new animated web series, Canada’s own iconic champion, Captain Canuck gets the action figure kids have been looking for since his debut in 1975 with a new release from Odeon Toys.
He’s been on a postage stamp, even the cover of Time, but for decades, Superman had one thing over Canada’s Superhero… an action figure. Canadian toy maker Odeon toys in creative partnership with EMCE toys and Big B Comics are righting that wrong. The 8 inch tall figure which will retail for $24.99 will have the look and feel of a toy released when the first issue of Captain Canuck, by creator Richard Comely, hit news stands in 1975.
“We were looking for an iconic Canadian character for our first release, and I can think of none better than Captain Canuck ” said Sam Noir, project coordinator at Odeon. He added “I was one of those kids who looked for a Canuck figure on toy shelves in the 1970s, I must admit, we’re pretty excited to be doing this.”
In December 1940, Canada implemented a ban on luxury goods, including comic books, imported from the United States during WWII. At the time, comic books were only a few years old, with Superman the best known character, appearing in 1938. Children everywhere were devastated. Unless they were the lucky few who went on vacations to the US, in which case they turned a tidy profit trading off their Superman comics for loose change.
Here the are in the order they appear in the article.
In a new interview with Tate, Dark Knight Trilogy director Christoper Nolan reveals how paintings by Francis Bacon inspired the Joker’s smeared make-up in The Dark Knight. Nolan talks about his longstanding fascination for Bacon’s work, and why, when words fail him, he turns to art to help shape his creative vision.
This is a very cool list. A couple I had heard of before but not about the directorial duet of Heath on the set of DK and the deeper references to The Man Who Laughs.
There are custom Lego builds... and then there are CUSTOM LEGO BUILDS. Xenomurphy is a Lego builder who has just completed one of the second ones, a Lego build that is about as epic as it could be. He has spent the last year completing a huge Lego build of the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane of Batman fame, complete with a courtyard and interiors that bring the building from the Batman mythos to life!
Kevin Conroy, voice of Batman from Batman: The Animated Series, was a guest on the latest episode of The Daly Show. In the episode titled “Batman vs. Superman”, he faced off against Tim Daly, voice of Superman from Superman: The Animated Series.
Canada is seeing a resurgence of superheroes both old and new. With the help of Kickstarter, comic books like True Patriot, which is a anthology of new Canadian superheroes, and Nelvana, from 1940 comic books, are coming back to life. Kickstarter is website where people put their projects like films or inventions and ask people to help fund their idea. It is interesting to see people pay to help create new ideas or pay to bring back parts of Canadian culture. For another Canadian superhero regaining popularity. watch the Captain Canuck web series.
The Canadian Golden Age of Comics, as it is now known, came about thanks to government intervention. In December 1940, the feds, responding to a trade deficit with the U.S., introduced the War Exchange Conservation Act, restricting imports of non-essential goods, including fiction magazines and comics, which had become ubiquitous after the 1938 introduction of Superman, drawn by Toronto-born Joe Shuster, and Batman the following year.
hello Canada Jack, Commander Steel, Johnny Canuck and Nelvana of the Northern Lights! These characters thrived for a few years, but after the war ended, the borders reopened to the likes of DC and Timely, as Marvel was then known. This and the waning popularity of superheroes led to our national defenders hanging up their costumes, largely to be relegated to the dustbin of history.
Neil Gaiman becomes professor of creative writing at US college
"Neil is a perfect 21st-century artist, because he works successfully in so many genres," Lester said. "He writes long and short fiction, fantasy, graphic novels, children's literature, screenplays and television scripts with equal finesse. More than almost any other writer, he's also adapted to new technology, reaching millions of readers and fans through social media."
Dark Knight Legacy is a fan film set one year after the Dark Knight Rises, following "Robin" John Blake's heroic journey to protect the symbol of Batman from the lethal, relentless attacks of a masked vigilante known only as the Red Hood.
Some potential details have leaked regarding Ben Affleck's Batman in Zack Snyder's Batman Vs. Superman. There's information on the Batmobile that he'll be driving around and the costume he'll wear, specifically the style of his cowl.
Silodrome quotes Randy Leffingwell’s book Corvette Sixty Years as saying that Batman series creator Bob Kane and executive producer William Dozier approached Jordan about a potential Batmobile. GM was all about product placement, and so Jordan took the easily-recognizable C2 Corvette and turned it into a Batmobile, complete with hood-mounted machine guns and a giant… fan? Nope, that’s just a huge circular spoiler. Jordan also applied a lousy-looking Batman decal for the front of the car with… is that a heart? We think it’s a heart on the chest of the bat with some dudes face. Weird.
The latest Batman: Arkham Origins TV spot is an emotional one. It showcases Bruce Wayne’s journey from the moment his parents were shot, to the funeral, to being bullied in school, and training to become the Dark Knight. The one minute TV spot ends with a fight between Batman and Bane
Jim Lee (famous artist for Batman and DC Comics) posted a couple original sketches from the Heroes and Villains layout. I love the little notes at the bottom of the sketches, "Hush with a blooding axe, Ok?"
