And Then Canada Took Over

You may have seen news recently about Hope Nicholson and Rachel Richey's Kickstarter project to reprint Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Canada's first superheroine. I've known of Nelvana for a few years now, but hadn't seen any full-length stories, so I was eager to see the project successful. (Which it was.)

Interestingly, just as that Kickstarter was finishing up, I go notification of two more projects. A graphic biography of Frederick Douglass by Audran Guerard and a print edition of Xeric-winning creator Jonathon Dalton's webcomic, A Mad Tea-Party. The interesting part is tht both Guerard and Dalton are both Canadian.

Well, I suppose that they're Canadian isn't that interesting in and of itself. After all, there are something like 35 million other Canadians out there. But it's interesting that the Kickstarter projects that are coming to my attention now are primarily from Canadians. Of course, a fair amount of that has to do with Kickstarter recently opening its gates to Canada. Before now, Canadians couldn't start a Kickstarter project, so I suppose that some of this has to do with folks who've been itching to run a Kickstarter but haven't been able to. What we're seeing is perhaps the result of something of a backlog.

But! That's not to say anything regarding these projects' quality! No doubt some are going to be quite good, and some not so much. Some will undoubtedly make their goals, and some will fall short. But as Kickstarter has proved to be a stable and note-worthy way to launch a new project over the past few years, it stands to reason that people outside the United States want in on the game.

I've said here repeatedly that I'm a sucker for Xeric books and I already have Dalton's Lords of Death and Life, doubly proving to me that he can craft a great story. So backing A Mad Tea-Party seems pretty obvious. I'm not familiar with Guerard's work, but I do really like non-fiction comics, especially when they highlight significantly different perspectives than ones I grew up with. Guerard certainly displays talent with watercolors (which, being a media that I am absolutely rubbish with, I have a deep appreciation of) so I'm willing to pledge some money towards him to see his Douglass project completed as well.

But what I'll be on the lookout for are more Canadian-based comics projects that focus on those differing perspectives. Do I want to see a Canadian do another superhero story? Not especially. I want to see creators show me what sets Canada apart from the U.S.? I heard a year or so back that there was some confusion over what constituted a "Canadian identity" beyond "America Lite". Let's see if some more Canadian creators step up and show us what you've got!
 

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