Comic Canucks - Derek of Bras d'Or

They say they grow them big in Texas, but no one grew them bigger than Angus MacAskill, the true life giant of Cape Breton who served as the inspiration for Triumph Comics' Derek of Bras d'Or. The legendary feats and gentle demeanor of MacAskill served as a perfect template for writer Glen Guest and illustrator A.L. Alexander's comic book hero.

And this is one case where the comics seem incapable of exaggerating their character's feats of strength!

Triumph Adventure Comics #4,
pub. Hillborough Studios, Nov. 1941.

First, a little background…

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online assures me that Angus MacAskill was born in 1825 on Harris in the Hebrides, Scotland (though the Angus MacAskill Museum page at www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk's page on the MacAskill museum insists he was born "at the north end of the island of Berneray, in the Sound of Harris"). Angus was the fourth child of Norman McAskill and Christina Campbell, whose brood would eventually number either ten or thirteen, depending on the source. Somewhere's about 1831 the whole family immigrated to Cape Breton and settled on a farm on the south side of St Ann's Harbour. The district was dubbed "Englishtown" because the current inhabitants "had not the Gaelic".

As a baby, Angus was so small he was not expected to survive but he would more than confound that prediction. Though a normal-sized child, Angus soon sprouted. By 14 he was large enough to have earned the nickname Gille Mor (Gaelic for Big Boy) and by his twenties was so tall his father lifted the roof of the family home and raised the ceilings of the kitchen and living room. Kind of a seventeenth century Extreme Makeover: Home Edition without the helpful sponsors.

MacAskill and Major Tom Thumb,
in a publicity photo contrasting
the two human marvels.

By the age of 22 Angus had reached a full-grown height of 7 ft 9 inches, weighed between 425 to over 500 lbs., depending on your source and time period cited, and the palm of his hand was about a foot long. MacAskill’s gentle nature was such a contrast to expectations of one so large, that he “…endeared him to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance", according to his obituary in The Acadian Recorder obituary of Aug. 16, 1863, by way of Wikipedia.

As with any tales passed on partly through word of mouth, the specifics vary, but the basics stay pretty consistent. One thing all accounts agree on is that Angus was unique in that that he was perfectly proportioned despite his size, with none of the usual growth abnormalities associated with such stature. TheHumanMarvels.com, a website devoted to amazing examples of the human race, explains:

In 1981 the Guinness Book of World Records recognized MacAskill as the largest true giant to have ever lived, the strongest man who ever lived and the man with the largest chest measurements of any non-obese man.

The distinction of his status as a ‘true’ giant hinges on the fact the Angus was purported to be free of any growth abnormalities. His stature was proportional in every way and his immense size and strength was due only to his natural genetic gifts.

MacAskill worked on his family's farm and as a fisherman to make his way. In a time when strength was respected above most else, the Gille Mor earned the respect of all and came to be known far and wide as the Cape Breton Giant or simply, Giant MacAskill. Though MacAskill’s immediate family were of normal dimensions, this article by Abagael MacAskill, one of MacAskill’s descendants reveals there was a precedent for Angus’ massive size.

During my travels I learned that Angus is not the only giant in the family line. His grandfather was called Neil Mor (Big Neil) and matched Angus in size. Written records are sketchy back that far so this is not "officially" documented- just passed down through the generations.

Still more fascinating is the history prior to this. The MacAskills were not a clan, but rather a sept of the McLeod clan. It is written that the McLeods considered the MacAskills the most favored servants because the whole tribe was known for their unusual size and strength back to their Viking roots!

…Almost two centuries have past since the birth of Angus and there have been no more giants. I can confirm from the family reunions that the present MacAskills are all of average stature.

MacAskill’s feats grew in renown long before crop failures and an economic downtown in 1847 and 1848 forced him to tour as a curiosity to earn money. Such demonstrations stemmed mainly from doing his chores as only he could accomplish them. This living, breathing “tall tale” could tip a half-ton boat to empty bilge water (a task that normally took six men) and set a 40-foot mast into a schooner “as easily as a farmer set a fence post in a hole”.

He could could jog down the street with 300 lb barrels of pork under each arm or hold 50kg kegs by two fingers. People also claimed to have seen MacAskill lift a full-grown horse over a four-foot fence and once silenced taunting sailors by carrying a ship’s anchor (weighing in excess of 2700 pounds) down a wharf.

In the late thirties and early forties, young painter Adrian Dingle and his artist friends likely picked up many such tales and local colour as they traveled around to paint. The adventures of folk heroes like Giant MacAskill were oft repeated in magazines, newspapers, books and through word of mouth. So at the dawn of 1941, when Dingle conscripted those same friends into forming Hillborough Studio and launched the proudly canuck Triumph Adventure Comics, it made perfect sense to use some of that folklore to create a uniquely Canadian features.

Dingle famously combined elements of Inuit legends with a dose of science fiction to create Nelvana, the most beloved Canadian comic book character that no one really knows much about. For their contribution to Triumph, writer Glen Guest and artist A.L. Alexander recast MacAskill’s adventures into a modern setting and Cape Breton Island’s handsome young Derek MacGregor of Bras d’Or was born.

Sketches of Angus MacAskill and his comic book
progeny, Derek MacGregor of Bras d'Or.

I’m not sure when Derek debuted in Triumph Adventure Comics, I haven’t seen issues 2 or 7 (the last of the Hillborough issues before selling the title, minus the Adventure part, to Bell Features). I can confirm he appears in issues three to five, with a promise of more tales to come. Truthfully, issue 3 sure reads like his first outing.

Other than some modern trappings, Guest and Alexander made little effort to differentiate their character from the real Giant MacAskill in Triumph Comics 3, quickly involving him in an incident taken from real life legend. According to a variety of sources, an American fishing vessel came to St. Anne’s to buy bait, and her Captain challenged the well-known MacAskill to a wrestling match. The Cape Breton giant refused and when the 300 hundred pound visitor verbally lambasted him, MacAskill lost his temper and tossed the brute over a woodpile ten feet high and twelve feet wide.

In the Derek of Bras d’Or yarn in Triumph 3, the unfortunate braggart is Rex O’Donnell, a champion wrestler from the big city. Guest and Alexander combined the infamous woodpile toss with another famous MacAskill tale; that of intimidating another tormentor by squeezing his hand until his fingers bed! As the city slicker runs off, never to be seen again, we know within the first three pages that Derek is one tough cookie!

In short order, Derek competes at the highland games, winning every event including the caber toss, hammer throw, hundred-yard dash and the broad jump. But a prize bull, likely enraged by the bagpipe music, breaks free, scattering the crowd and endangering a wee “Scotch Lassie” competing in the sword dance. Derek staggers the beast with one punch and saves the day.



Hillborough Studio was comprised of very accomplished artists with styles all their own and Alexander was no exception. His work on Derek resembles that of a woodcut, lending an element of verisimilitude to the folkloric storytelling. Despite his odd figure work at times, Alexander's work on Derek is full of detail and elegant etching, lending a real senses of place to its Atlantic Coast setting. It is quite similar in approach to American artist Harry G. Peter’s unique sense of design on Wonder Woman and Heroic Comic’s Man O’Metal feature, although it's unlikely he'd have seen Peter's work at so early a date. Their figures, animals, and action sequences are handled in comparable fashions.

An example of H. G. Peters' work on

Heroic Comics' Man O'Metal...

...And illustrator A. L. Alexander's similar
approach to Derek of Bras d'Or.

That style is well-displayed in Triumph Adventure Comics 4 as Derek joins his friend Captain Angus Trites and his son John on board the Silverqueen for a deep seas expedition to harpoon swordfish. In a rare case of an animal giving as good as it gets in a contest with Derek, the impaled swordfish returns the favour to Derek’s dory, leaving them clinging to the side as the pierced hull fills with water.

On the way back to the harbour, the Silverqueen spots a modern menace in the form of an enemy U-Boat near Lundy’s Head (presumably near Lundy, Nova Scotia, in Guysborough County). Captain Trites signals a patrolling Canadian Corvette while Derek proves he’s crack shot as well as a pugilist by shooting out the U-boat’s periscope with the Captain’s rifle. The corvette’s depth charges force the blinded U-boat to surface. Derek helps take the survivors prisoner and wishes he weren’t too young to join the war effort directly.


I'm unfair to single this one, unusually sensual, page of Derek art by A.L Alexander out, but it does share something else with H.G. Peters Wonder Woman work; the tendency to send mixed gender and sexual messages with awkwardly kinky posing and situations!

Of course, some messages aren't so mixed...



But I digress...

In Triumph Adventure Comics 5, Derek’s storyline keels more toward typical comic stories of the day, while still maintaining a sense of the small, coastal town in which Derek lives. Derek stumbles upon an attempt the rob local bank, largely it seems, through his natural East Coast suspicion of outsiders, or anyone “from away”. Derek tackles the crooks as they flee the scene. Snake Eyes, the gang’s luger-wielding leader, is happy to shoot Slick-Joe, his safe cracker, to get at Derek but the giant is too much for them. He holds two of the gang members while the others disappear into the night with their loot. Still suspicious, Derek sees the remaining thugs pull away from the wharf with money meant to sponsor a dope deal.

The final panel asks, “Will Derek intercept this gangster mob?”

Sadly, I have no idea.

Anybody wanna send me the covers and contents of Triumph 2 and 7 so we can all find out? Pretty please?

Learn more about Angus MacAskill at his Wikipedia entry here, and at www.TheHumanMarvels.com.

More info on the Angus Macaskill Museums can be found here for the one on the Isle of Sky and here and here for the one in Englishtown, Nova Scotia.

A pic of MacAskill's grave in Nova Scotia can be found on Flickr, here.

Beavers Up!

The Pursuit of Dan Cooper RCAF: FBI explores link between DB Cooper and comic book hero

© Dan Cooper – Albert Weinberg, Le Lombard
(Dargaud-Lombard s.a.), 2009.

In 1971, a nondescript man calling himself Dan Cooper paid cash for a one-way ticket from Portland to Seattle aboard Northwest Orient Airlines. Shortly after take-off, Cooper informed a stewardess that he had a bomb with him and wanted her to sit by him. He opened his briefcase long enough for her to catch a glimpse of red sticks and wiring inside and made her write down his demands. He wanted four parachutes and $200, 000 cash in twenty dollar bills.

In Seattle, Cooper exchanged 36 passengers for his parachutes and money but kept the flight crew aboard to fly him to Mexico. But somewhere between Seattle and Reno the bold criminal leapt out of the plane with his parachute and his ransom money and disappeared into American legend. A comic book escape, for sure. but what if a comic book inspired Cooper's plan in the first place?

I used to joke that famous air pirate, D.B. Cooper, was probably Canadian comic book test pilot Dan Cooper. Maybe he'd been drummed out of the Royal Canadian Air Force for going AWOL one too many times to fight off spies and invading aliens. After a dishonorable discharge with no pension the once heroic Dan was forced to use his aeronautical skills to stage a daring robbery so he could have a proper retirement fund.

Who knew that years later my tenuous link between fact and fiction would get a confirmation from no less than the FBI?

FBI sketches of air pirate Dan Cooper (left, centre)
Artist rendition of air pilot Dan Cooper (right). Hmm.

Two years ago the FBI reopened the Dan Cooper case (internally referred to as the NORJACK case, for Northwest hijacking) and posted what few details they could on their website here (also referring back to an earlier posting on the case found here). It was a calculated appeal to the public for help with one of its most famous unsolved cases.

The agent assigned to the case, Larry Carr, was inspired by the amount of speculation the robbery continues to create on chat rooms, websites and internet forums. Though the FBI had interviewed hundreds of people and found what evidence they could, most of the FBI case fits into a small file box according to this LA Times article on the announcement.

Previous agents failed to turn up many additional leads over the years (they were able to extract a DNA sample from the hijacker's tie, which he removed before leaping out of the plane), so Carr got creative and opened the case up to Joe Citizen, offering up evidence that until then had remained under wraps in the FBI files. Since the FBI couldn't commit resources to a long-cold case Carr began to think outside the (evidence) box. If he could harness these interested people and create an army of investigators, more clues could be found.

So far, it seems to be working.

Tom Kaye, a paleontologist, has been working with a team of scientists and Cooper searcher Brian Ingram, who found $5,800 of the ransom money along a Columbia River sandbar when he eight years old. The team is conducting various experiments, like examining pollen found on Cooper's tie to see if it is found only in certain parts of the country. They are also trying to pinpoint exactly where Ingram found the money and, using satellite maps, determine if it was buried there by Cooper or floated to the location over time. As Kaye put it on the FBI's latest update:

“The FBI threw out the challenge,” he said, “and we've taken the bait.”

But what of our potential link to our comic book Canadian? The FBI update knows a good hook when it sees one.

© Dan Cooper – Albert Weinberg, Le Lombard
(Dargaud-Lombard s.a.), 2009.

Here's how the Bureau website explains the connection, accentuating the fun aspect to encourage press write-ups and intrigue. It's a tease to get people interested and helping.

...as it turns out, Dan Cooper is very much alive-on the pages of a French comic book series that was popular when the hijacking occurred. In the fictional series, Royal Canadian Air Force test pilot Dan Cooper takes part in adventures in outer space and real events of that era. In one episode, published near the date of the hijacking, the cover illustration shows him parachuting.

Seattle Special Agent Larry Carr, who took over the Cooper case two years ago, believes it’s possible the hijacker took his name from the comic book (the enduring “D.B.” was actually the result of a media mistake). That’s important because the books were never translated into English, which means the hijacker likely spent time overseas. This fits with Carr’s theory that Cooper had been in the Air Force. Carr discovered the comic book connection on D.B. Cooper Internet forums, where fascination with the case is undiminished.

So, the potential for a legitimate connection is there.

This post was inspired by the delightful, improbable story that appeared here in yesterday's National Post under the headline "Did a Canadian comic book inspire the FBI's greatest mystery?". Technically, the answer to writer Randy Boswell's question is no, since Dan Cooper is, in fact a French comic book series created by Belgian artist Albert Weinberg. But the character of Dan Cooper is, indeed, a strapping Canadian.

© Dan Cooper – Albert Weinberg,
Le Lombard
(Dargaud-Lombard s.a.), 2009.

After studying law, Weinberg entered comics and spent his early comic book career as an assistant for Victor Hubinon before flying solo on Hubinon's Joe la Tornade, then drawing Luc Condor for Héroïc Albums. In the 1950's he worked for Tintin magazine, for whom he created the heroic Dan Cooper of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Cooper starred in a lengthy run serialized in the weekly Tintin in 1954 according to the awesome site, coolfrenchcomics.com.

The series always dabbled with sci-fi but Weinberg also made an effort to link his tales with the news of the day, even stationing his hero at the real RCAF Station in Marville, France while serving in 1(F) Wing, Canada's first NATO fighter wing. The character proved enduring enough to remain in print for decades. Long enough to potentially inspire one of the world's most famous hijackers, it seems.

If you read French you can enjoy an entire Dan Cooper adventure here, thanks to this 1(F) Wing home page in memory of former RACAF Ren L'Ecuyer.

© Dan Cooper – Albert Weinberg,
Le Lombard (Dargaud-Lombard s.a.), 2009

Although I think the real Dan Cooper would have learned about parachutes from any number of sources, being inspired to take the name of a comic character is quite plausible. It certainly fits the cheekiness of the hijackers style. Heck, Elvis Presley's performance outfits (with the capes etc.) were inspired by Captain Marvel Jr.! And the link is government approved, so you now have your newest bit of party trivia ready to go.

As for me? I wonder why an FBI agent would give such credence to a theory that, really, is a bit of a reach. Then I realized the answer was staring me right in the face. I am convinced that Dan Cooper the comic character is alive today and searching for the man who muddied his name... as FBI Special Agent Larry Carr!

Don't believe me? Check out the proof and decide for yourself!


FBI Special Agent Larry Carr, assigned to the
Norjack (Dan Cooper) case two years ago...

...Comic book test pilot Dan Cooper,
forever linked to a popular criminal.

Special Agent Carr, Dan Cooper. Separated at birth?

I wonder.


*The speed of the internet never ceases to amaze me. Less than a day after mentioning this to Comic book Resources' Brian Cronin, a link to this article appeared in his terrific Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed column. Brian does a great job of exploring those dark corners of the industry where innuendo, assumption and tall tales diverge from or converge with the truth.

For a new blog like this, a tip of the hat from Brian means a lot. Thanks so much!

Beavers Up!

Nelvana of the Northern Lights - The Action Figure!

Oh for what might have been.

One aspect of the rise of the action figure into the collectible market is the sad fact that not all the characters a comic fan might love will get their own toy. But customizers don't let that stop them. They build their own versions of the figures using parts from other toys. So even the most obscure characters are no longer out of reach.

Victor Kraven is a crackerjack toy customizer who takes great delight in custom building action figures. He recently completed a Nelvana of the Northern Lights for my e-friend Ray over at Phil Latter's Canadian Comics group. And it was too fantastic not to share!

Man, how could I but dream about a whole line-up of beautifully crafted Canadian heroes from the forties along my shelves?

Victor's website is here. His Nelvana page is here. The talented dude is open to commissions too.

I went through the extensive examples of other customs he's done, looking for some Canadian content. He's working on an All-Star Squadron (a team of World War II-era DC Comics heroes encompassing most of the heroes featured in actual DC wartime comics and some original characters) line-up that will hopefully one day include Roy Thomas' Flying Fox, one of the DC Comics Universe's few canuck superheroes.

However, in early issues of All-Star Squadron, the team did act as bodyguards of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on his trip to meet with US President Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.

In issue #8, Churchill is attacked by a Nazi killer, The Black Assassin, in the Ottawa halls of Canadian Parliament. Victor's Black Assassin page is here.

Later, on a Canadian train, Churchill is again attacked, this time by Kung, a shape-shifting, Japanese assassin who originally appeared in Wonder Woman #237. Victor's Kung page is here.

So while these two nefarious characters are not Canadian, they were certainly operating on Canadian soil in the early days of the war. I wonder how long they would have lasted against Captain Wonder, Nelvana, Freelance and Brock Windsor?

Thanks to Micheal Bailey for keeping his abandoned but still informative All-Star Squadron site (The Perisphere) up after moving to other things (like ). Micheal's site was designed to give us the lowdown on the entire All-Star run but only made up to issue #8. Lucky for me that was the exact the exact issue I needed to check! The cover scan above was also borrowed from Micheal's page. I claim no copyright over the characters depicted here.

Beavers up!