TRAILBLAZERS A Tribute to Canada's WWII Comic Creators

A very special homage by contemporary artists, celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the first published Canadian comic books and their creators. Canadian wartime comic enthusiast Ivan Kockmarek has edited an anthology of tributes to Canada’s original comic creators by some of the best current creators. Contributors include: Michael Gilbert (on Mr. Monster's creator Fred Kelley, naturally), Ken Steacy, Ho Che Anderson, Dave Sim, James Waley (Orb), Eric Kim, Ronn Sutton (of Dark Horse fame), Ron Kasman et al. More contemporary contributors: Joe Ollman, Vince Marchesano, Robert Pincombe, Rob Thibodeau, Rebecca Ann Rosen and many, many more. Each artist does either a full page tribute to one of the artist's best known characters (I love Ho Che Anderson's of The Penguin), or a comic strip about their careers. Emanuelle Princesse Chateauneuf does a wonderful piece on one of the very, very few female artists of the WECA era, and a name new to us, Shirley Fortune. She drew Mono the Air Cobra in Rocket Comics and Circus Girl and Western Caribou Trail for Better Comics, the granddaddy title of all the Canadian Golden Age comics. The 1940s artists include all the best known, from Edmond Good, who ended up moving to the U.S. and doing mainstream American comics, as well as Aram Alexanian, Leo Bachle, Adrian Dingle (who created Nelvana of the Northern Lights, a super-heroine who predates Wonder Woman), Al Cooper (who worked for Lev Gleason on Crime Does Not Pay in 1947-48, after creating The Black Wing and several other characters), John Stables (Brok Windsor), Ross Mendes (The Polka Dot Pirate and Doctor Future), June Banfield and many, many more. I believe we are the only U.S. source.