Captain Canuck is a Canadian comic book

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

. Created by cartoonist Ron Leishman and artist/writer Richard Comely, the original Captain Canuck first appeared in ''Captain Canuck'' #1 (July 1975). The series was the first successful Canadian comic book since the collapse of the nation's comic book industry following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Three characters have worn the maple leaf costume of Captain Canuck. The first Captain Canuck patrolled Canada in the then-future year of 1993, where "Canada had become the most powerful country in the world". He was the costumed agent of the "Canadian International Security Organization" (CISO). In 1995, Captain Canuck was honored with a Canadian postage stamp, along with

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

Johnny Canuck Johnny Canuck is a Canadian cartoon hero and superhero who was created as a political cartoon in 1869 and was later re-invented as a Second World War action hero in 1942. The Vancouver Canucks, a professional ice hockey team in the National Hoc ...

Fleur de Lys The ''fleur-de-lis'', also spelled ''fleur-de-lys'' (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a common heraldic charge in the ( stylized) shape of a lily (in French, and mean and respectively). Most notably, the ''fleur-de-lis ...

and

Nelvana of the Northern Lights 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 (August 1941). She is also Superhero#Growth in diversity, one of the firs ...

. Like most

independent comics Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream su ...

, Captain Canuck's adventures have been published sporadically.

Publication history

First published in 1975, Captain Canuck's original adventures were published on and off until 1981. There were several iterations since. Captain Canuck Reborn, Captain Canuck Unholy War (also called West Coast Canuck) and Captain Canuck Legacy. In 2012 Richard Comely entered into a partnership with Toronto businessman, Fadi Hakim to relaunch a new, updated and modern version of Captain Canuck, which was designed in part by

Kalman Andrasofszky Kalman Andrasofszky (born August 21, 1975 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian comic book artist, writer, inker, letterer, penciller, and designer. Kalman is a native Torontonian and resides there still. Career Much of his work has been i ...

(

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

). An animated series was crowd funded and it aired between 2013 & 2014. A second series of the animated adventures was set to air between 2015 & 2016. The first episode premiered at

Hal-Con Hal-Con Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Comic Convention, commonly known as Hal-Con, was founded in the 1970s and revived in the 2010s. It is traditionally an annual weekend event held in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Atlantic Canada during the middle of fall. O ...

during Halloween.

Tom Evans

Canuck's first appearance was in 1975, published by Comely Comix of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. The story followed Tom Evans, a Canadian secret agent who gained superhuman strength from contact with extraterrestrials. This first version of the Canadian

ran for three issues before going on hiatus in 1976. In 1979, it came back, with Comely being backed by CKR Productions, and publishing 11 more issues, plus a summer special, concluding in early 1981; it was drawn mostly by George Freeman, taking over from Comely, who did the writing and lettering. He was pushed out of CKR after issue #12 was completed and issue #13 and #14 were outlined. The completed issue #15 (written and pencilled by George Freeman and inked, lettered and coloured by Claude St. Aubin) was finally published in 2004 as a limited edition by Comely.

Darren Oak

Since the original, two newer incarnations of the Canadian icon have appeared: Comely launched a second version in 1993, under the imprint Semple Comics. Set in the present, ''Captain Canuck: Reborn'' featured a new Captain Canuck, Darren Oak, who fought a global conspiracy. This title lasted only four issues (#0–3) and was written and drawn by Richard Comely,

Leonard Kirk Leonard Kirk is an American-born comic book artist living in Canada. He has worked on such properties as ''Supergirl (comic book), Supergirl'', ''Justice Society of America, JSA'', ''Star Trek'', ''Batman (comic book), Batman'', and ''Witchblade' ...

and Sandy Carruthers with inks by

Éric Thériault Éric Thériault (born 1967 in Trois-Rivières, Quebec) is a Canadian comics artist, writer, illustrator and blogger living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Biography Éric Thériault began as a teenager publishing comics in a fanzine called '' ...

. That incarnation continued as a newspaper comic strip for a short while.

David Semple

A third incarnation (sometimes called the "West Coast Captain Canuck"), edited by Comely but written and drawn by brothers Riel and Drue Langlois, appeared in 2004 under the banner of Comely Comics, entitled ''Captain Canuck: Unholy War''. Yet another man,

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

David Semple, adopts the guise of Captain Canuck, to take on a biker gang called the Unholy Avengers. "Unholy War" was slated as a three-issue

mini-series In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

, the third and final installment being published in January 2005, but the series came out with a fourth issue (under the ' Hot Hail Comics' banner) in August 2007, which fully concluded the character. A trade paperback of the series was published in 2015 and reissued in 2023.

''Captain Canuck: Legacy''

A miniseries, written and illustrated by Comely, ''Captain Canuck: Legacy'', began in the fall of 2006. It contained two continued stories: one detailed the efforts of the second Captain Canuck to prevent illegal weapons from reaching Canada, whilst the second chronicled the continued adventures of the third (West Coast) Captain Canuck. While the series has remained in limbo for some time, the official Captain Canuck website stated that the remainder of the series would be completed in 2009. ''Captain Canuck Legacy 1.5'' was published in August 2011 as a limited edition of 5,000 copies only distributed in Ontario.

Captain Canuck collections

IDW Publishing published two volumes of collected editions of the 1975-1980 ''Captain Canuck'' series. Its first release in June 2009 contained issues #4–10. Volume two, released in December 2009, contained issues #11-14 and the 1980 Summer Special. In November 2011, IDW released ''Captain Canuck The Complete Edition'' as a 375-page trade paperback with issues #1–15, the Summer Special, the newspaper strips, sketches and ''Captain Canuck: Legacy'' #1.5.

2014–present

The success of the web series allowed for a one-shot comic book, the 2014 ''Captain Canuck Summer Special'', which was released on Canada Day, July 1, at comic shops across Canada. This is the first time since 1981 that the Summer Special was released. In 2015, a ''Captain Canuck'' #0 issue was released on Free Comic Book Day, which is the first Saturday of May each year. This issue preceded the new ongoing ''Captain Canuck'' series published by

Chapterhouse Comics Chapterhouse Comics was a Canadian comics, comic book publishing company that publishes books featuring classic Canadian comics, Canadian comic book characters such as Captain Canuck and Northguard in a unified comic book universe. In 2020, Cha ...

, the first issue of which was available in comic shops worldwide on May 27. In 2025, Captain Canuck became more popular amid the trade war with the United States. That year, a special edition depicted the character facing American president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

In other media

Proposed film

The Canadian company Mind's Eye Entertainment announced at the 2011

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

that it planned to develop a Captain Canuck feature film. No scriptwriter or director were attached. The following year, Mind's Eye revealed that it had selected

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

-based screenwriter Arne Olsen to script the feature. Olsen was chosen from a solicitation of pre-selected, accredited Canadian writers, who submitted treatments. The final two choices submitted copies of sample scripts.

Web series

In 2013 Captain Canuck was reimagined for a five-episode animated

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

by Captain Canuck Inc and

Smiley Guy Studios Smiley Guy Studios is a Canadian television production company founded in 1998 by graduates of the Canadian Film Centre including Jeremy Diamond, Adrian Carter and Denny Silverthorne; Jonas Diamond joined in 1999. It is one of the most prominent cre ...

. Kris Holden-Reid voices the Captain and Paul Amos his antagonist, Mr. Gold. Several other actors voiced roles in the series including

Tatiana Maslany Tatiana Gabriele Maslany ( ; born September 22, 1985) is a Canadian actress. She rose to prominence for playing multiple characters in the science-fiction thriller television series ''Orphan Black'' (2013–2017), which won her a Primetime Emmy ...

as Redcoat and

Laura Vandervoort Laura Dianne Vandervoort (born September 22, 1984) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Lisa in the ABC science fiction series '' V'' (2009). She also known for role as Sadie Harrison in the CTV teen drama series '' Instant ...

as Blue Fox. A second series was announced for 2015.

Live-action TV series

By 2023, a live-action Captain Canuck project was in development. The project is a collaboration between Lev Gleason Studios, VVS Films and Muse Entertainment.

Animated series

By 2023, an animated series based on the Comic House universe called Camp Canuck was in development. The series is an adaptation of the superhero mentoring the future heroes and villains of the world as a camp counsellor. The project is a collaboration between Lev Gleason Studios, Little Blackstone Studios and Big Studios.

References

External links

The Official Captain Canuck Page

at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Captain Canuck (Tom Evans)
at the International Catalogue of Superheroes

at the International Catalogue of Superheroes

at the International Catalogue of Superheroes {{Canadian comics Canadian superheroes Comics characters introduced in 1975 Comics characters introduced in 1993 Comics characters introduced in 2004 Culture of Winnipeg Fictional Canadian people

Canuck ''Canuck'' ( ) is a slang term for a Canadian, though its semantic nuances are manifold. A variety of theories have been postulated for the etymological origins of the term. The term ''Kanuck'' is first recorded in 1835 as a Canadianism, ori ...

Canadian-themed superheroes 1975 comics debuts Canadian comics characters