A
million years or so ago, so long ago that my hair almost had some color
left in it, I "promised" my Canadian readers -- all three or four of
them -- that I would do a post specifically aimed at them, one where I tell how
not one, but two modern-day, American comic book characters have their
origins in the Canadian comic books published in the 1940! We'll, after a wait
this long, this post is assuredly going to be anti-climactic, but such are the
chances you take when you read this blog.
I'm
assuming that if you know anything about comic books, you've at least heard
of the X-Men. What you may or may not know is that they've been around since
the early 1960s, and were one of the few Marvel superhero series that never hit
really big, but instead kinda limped along. They were even canceled, and
revived as an all-new team in 1975.
It's
that (almost) all-new team, and its eight million variations and spin-offs,
that eventually took comics fandom by storm. (Ouch! Sorry for the inadvertent
pun, which only X-Men insiders will catch*)
(*Okay, since some people get really ticked off
when they're not clued in on the private jokes around here, the super-heroine
known as "Storm" is a member of the X-men. Get it? You're welcome.)
The
first fifteen issues were drawn by the late Dave Cockrum, and the series was catching on with the comic
fans by the time that Canadian-born artist John Byrne took over and made it a
solid hit.
("Byrne"
is pronounced "bern," by the way. As an employee during the mid to
late 1980s of the Worcester, Massachusetts flagship branch of That's Entertainment, the Eisner Award Winning pop culture &
entertainment emporium, I spent a great deal of time correcting customers who
pronounced it "brine" or "byron.")
By
the way, as someone who has pretensions to being a writer myself, I do not mean to slight the
X-Men's writer, Chris Claremont, for his contribution to the title's
success. Despite his penchant for having so many sub-plots he would
occasionally forget one or two over the course of many months, his
continuing storylines and terrific characterizations made the title a lot
more than "jest purty pictures."
(Besides,
if I did try to get by without giving Mr. Claremont due credit, yet another
John -- not Mr. Byrne, but a close friend of mine -- would no doubt take
me to task for it!)
Okay,
okay, since this is more or less supposed to be a Comical Wednesday feature
about Canadian comic characters, here's some background on John Byrne's
early comic reading days, as related by Byrne himself, in 1980.* Picture it: The
X-Men as a title and the X-Men as a team were becoming "hot" for
the first time in almost 20 years, and on the verge of frequent character crossovers, Wolverine origins,
and spinning off eight million other ongoing titles and mini-series. Fan
Favorite John Byrne is being interviewed about the origins of the super-team
Alpha Flight, who were introduced in the pages of The X-Men itself!
"Snowbird,
the shape-changer... her power is from... well, originally in my mind got her
power from Nelvana, an Eskimo goddess character from the Canadian
Whites, which were the Canadian comics of the 1940s. We'll probably never
say that, unless we find out there really was an Eskimo goddess named Nelvana,
but that's who I figure she got her powers from."
Ever
hear of Alpha Flight's Snowbird? Here she is!
Well,
eventually, Byrne introduced Snowbird's mother, Nelvanna -- not Nelvana,
note the double "N" -- in the pages of Alpha Flight.
And, predictably for modern-day comic books, she
didn't stick around long...
And
now, fellow babies, a special treat for those who care enough about this
subject to wanna see an original Nelvana story! The special treat is, of
course... errr... an original Nelvana story!
Those who don't particularly
care can stop reading now... but please join me for part two of this Comical Wednesday series in another week or so!
The
following eight-page Golden Age comic story appeared in Super-Duper Comics
#3, in 1947 by F.E. Howard Publications, LTD.
Next:
A Mister named Monster! Thanks for your time!
(And for those of you who care about this kinda stuff... Happy New Year!)
