True North believers, it’s Captain Canuck!

Captain Canuck is back! Here’s the first episode.

Read our Q&A with the Creative Director, Dean Henry.

You can help reboot Captain Canuck! Q&A with Creative Director Dean Henry

On July 1st, the “first” Canadian hero will make his return in a reboot courtesy of a dedicated group of creative-types. But they need our help.

As of this writing, there are only 5 days left in the Captain Canuck Indiegogo campaign. The people behind the project are raising funds to launch a new animated Web series featuring our good Captain. I suggest you pop over there now to join and then read the rest of this article.

You’re back? Great. To whet your appetite on this project, we have a Q&A with Creative Director Dean Henry. Before we jump in, a couple of things:

• To read about the history of the storied character created by Richard Comely in the mid-70s, there is a good primer on Wikipedia

• Between when I spoke with Dean and today, it was announced Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, V) would join the cast as the voice of the new character Blue Fox.

• There are a lot of people involved in this project, scroll to the end for the names.

Okay, here is the main event. Enjoy!

CBJ: So, why Captain Canuck?
Dean: It all started with a sandwich. Our business partner is also part owner of The Lakeview Restaurant at Dundas and Ossington (in Toronto). They were doing a kids menu and wanted to make a sandwich called the Captain Canuck. So they reached out to creator, Richard Comely. He was into the idea and then over the course of time we found out the rights were becoming available.

CBJ: There have been a number of different incarnations over the decades. What’s different this time? 
Dean:  This captain is distinctively Canadian. He never wanted to be the hero. He’s not a guns blazing, no questions kind of character. He’s a thinking man’s hero. The mantle was thrust upon him and now he has the power to make a difference. He’ll apologize for breaking someone’s arm, if they force him to do it. He has a very Canadian sensibility.

I was a fan of Alpha Flight and Wolverine growing up. Through the years I’ve seen different depictions of Canadian heroes in comics, but the language and the characters were a little off. For instance, Canadians don’t use the word patriot. Little things like that. We wanted to create something that feels authentic.

When you add the amazing pool of talent in Toronto, both comic creators and artists, it’s surprising no one had done anything sooner.

CBJ: So how are you going to keep relevant without falling into kitsch?
Dean: We want him to be funny without this being a comedy. There is definitely a fine line we walk in the writing process. We aren’t lampooning Canadian culture. It’s more about showcasing that sensibility I mentioned – he’s not the boyscout but he’s not the dark, brooding vigilante. He has a strong moral centre, strong ethics but he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

CBJ: I have maybe one or two old Canuck comics buried in my long boxes. How are you going to make this character relevant for the audience today?

Dean: I remember picking up the comic as a kid too and was just excited that it was a Canadian character and published here.

At the time the character launched in the 70s, Richard was doing the writing and art and he was running the business until George Freeman came along. [Freeman joined as penciller in 1979.] He was doing all this before indie comics were big.

Storytelling has evolved a lot since then. If you watch The A-Team or Magnum P.I. now you might think ‘Wow, that’s really lazy writing’ by today’s standards. What Richard did in the 70s started something. There’s a lot of unrealized potential with Canuck.

As for how it ties to the original books, we’ve taken the Battlestar Galactica approach to the story by making it relevant now. And you’ll see that as the setting for this series is revealed. I can’t say much except that it’s a modern-day Canada with a slightly altered history where new technology is shaping the world very quickly in unpredictable ways. It’s rooted in current events and science but without getting too political.

Here are the people behind the project:

Fadi Hakim – executive producer for Captain Canuck Inc.
Dean Henry – chief creative director for Captain Canuck Inc
Paul Gardner – creative director for Captain Canuck INC
Mike Valiquette – head of development at Smiley Guy studios
Jeremy Diamond from Smiley Guy Studios is a writing partner on the series
Kalman Andrasofszky (big in the comic doing covers) – lead artist and character designs
On animation  are Sam Chou and Al Jerek Torrijas (a recent grad from Sheridan)

The Silver Snail (both in Toronto and Ottawa) has been a big supporter as well as Big B Comics (Hamilton, Barrie, Niagara Falls)

So that’s it. Thanks to Dean for taking the time to chat. Head over to the Indiegogo campaign page and help out if you haven’t already.

Captain Canuck – he’s back!

That’s the teaser for a new Captain Canuck animated Web series announced on March 8. It’s being produced by Fadi Hakim and Alex Sengupta of Captain Canuck Inc., and Smiley Guy Studios. Look for an Indiegogo campaign to launch in a couple of weeks on March 28 to help raise some funding for the project. (see press release below)

I’m not all that familiar with the character. I mean, I’ve read a handful of the comics from his different incarnations over the years. But I couldn’t tell you a thing about those stories. I don’t even know his origin. And a quick image search will return a list of variations on the character. One of my favourite comics collectibles (for nostalgic reasons) is a set of stamps Canada Post put out in the early 90s (I think) featuring five characters created by Canadians: Superman (naturally), our man Captain Canuck, Johnny Canuck, Nelvana, and Fleur de Lys.

However because I came of age in the 80s, whenever I think of Canada and superheroes, the first and only thing that pops into my head are John Byrne’s Alpha Flight. Such a great book, at least the first 24 or so issues while Byrne was still on the book.

Here’s hoping the new creative team can give Captain Canuck the treatment he deserves. Good luck Fadi, Alex and Smiley Guy!

Here is the press release from the announcement:

A Canadian Icon leaps off the Comic Book page and into Animation!

Toronto, Canada – March 8, 2013 – As superheroes dominate the big screen, Canada’s own iconic champion, Captain Canuck, created in 1976 by Richard Comely, has been reinvented for 2013 and is stepping into the limelight in an exciting new 5-episode animated web series.

Comely feels strongly about his character’s place in Canadian culture. “This is an important project and fans are letting us know. Captain Canuck is part of our collective identity, with roots in a period when our country was taking its place on the international stage. We imagined a future where Canada was an enlightened superpower, and Canuck was an extension of that.”

The project has been in development by Captain Canuck INC and their animation partner, Smiley Guy Studios. A sneak peek was released at Fan Expo last August, where new character designs were unveiled, directing fans to the updated captaincanuck.com website.

Voicing the Captain is Kris Holden-Reid (Lost Girl, Underworld: Awakening, The Tudors). “It’s a privilege and a joy to be playing Captain Canuck!” says Kris. “As a comic book lover myself, I’m thrilled to be part of re-creating a Canadian super-hero and bringing him to life on the screen.” Joining him as Canuck’s arch-nemesis, Mr. Gold, is Paul Amos (Lost Girl, Murdoch Mysteries, Warehouse 13).

Toronto-based comic book artist, Kalman Andrasofsky (NYX: No Way Home, X-Treme X-Men, X-23) worked closely with Captain Canuck INC in reshaping the look of Canada’s hero. “This is a ground-up revamp,” says Kalman. “We’re trying to take all the best elements of the classic and also layer in new elements that speak to the way hero mythology has evolved since Canuck was created in 1975”.

Also on the project is animation director Sam Chou (Style5.tv). “Sam was the first call I made when I saw Kalman’s work,” says Mike Valiquette, Director of Development at Smiley Guy Studios. “You only get one shot to do a project like this right. That comes down to having the right team. Sam is the only guy I can imagine doing this and we’re extremely lucky to have him.”

With fan interest growing, Captain Canuck INC and Smiley Guy are launching an Indiegogo campaign for the web series at an exclusive event on March 28th. “Crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo allow you to reach out to your audience at an early stage,”  says Fadi Hakim, President of Captain Canuck INC. “we are reaching out to Captain Canuck’s loyal fan-base and getting them involved from day one. Fans old and new can get themselves drawn into the series as animated characters, and a choice few will even be able to face off against the Captain in battle.”

More information at the official site.