Friday, April 29, 2016

Lost Heroes: The Untold Story of Canadian Super Heroes

 
 
 
I found this great documentary today about Canadian Superheroes that you can see for free by following the link. Most of these no one has ever heard of, especially my generation of comic fans. I only know marginally about some of these because I have read a lot of books on comic book history. I have few Canadian comic books in my collection because, frankly, they can't be found outside the major cities like Toronto or Vancouver. No way they would ever be sold in a small town gas station.
 
 
(click to enlarge)
 
That isn't to be said that we don't have our own rich history but many of our heroes are retreads of lesser known American heroes despite the fact that the greatest hero of all time, Superman, is a half Canadian creation.
 

 
There’s an odd complaint amongst Canadians and outsiders looking inward that the country’s pop culture identity seems to be comprised of scraps of British, American, and Native cultures with little discernible creativity of its own. And while there are few things that are more intrinsically associated with American pop culture than the superhero comic, it’s easy to forget that even Superman was created by a Canadian. However, it’s much more surprising that nearly an entire generation’s worth of Canadian bred heroes and heroines have all but been wiped out in favour of preserving their “cooler” American counterparts. Will Pascoe’s engrossing and incredibly well researched and laid out documentary Lost Heroes: The Untold Story of Canadian Superheroes seeks to preserve and restore a legacy of Canadian literature that no one back in the 1940s really thought to protect all that much.



 
 

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