Bell, John. Guardians of the North : The National Superhero in Canadian Comic-Book Art. Ottawa: National Archives of Canada (Canadian Museum of Caricature), 1992. 53 pp. 

Review by Mark Shainblum

This book, by John Bell (author of CANUCK COMICS), was published in 1992 by the Canadian Musuem of Caricature a (now defunct) division of the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa. This was actually the program book or brochure (published in both English and French in a sort of "Ace Double" comic book sized format) of an exposition of comic art by the same name, curated by John Bell.

The exposition, and thus the book, covered much the same ground as THE GREAT CANADIAN COMIC BOOKS and CANUCK COMICS, although in somewhat greater depth and with a narrower focus. Bell emphasized superhero characters with a strong Canadian national flavour: including JOHNNY CANUCK, NELVANA OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, three different versions of CAPTAIN CANADA, Richard Comely's CAPTAIN CANUCK, and well as my own NORTHGUARD and FLEUR-DE-LYS characters. This led, not indirectly, to Canada Post's 1995 Superhero Stamp Series, which included most of the above characters and Superman (co-created by Canadian-born Joe Shuster). As an aside, John Bell also wrote a historical introduction encapsulating much of the same historical material in NORTHGUARD: MANIFEST DESTINY, a collection of the first five issues of NORTHGUARD, published in 1991 by Caliber Press.




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