Joe Shuster Hall of Fame 2010 - Richard Comely, George Freeman and Claude St. Aubin

2010's Joe Shuster Awards were handed out this past June 5.

Along with this year's Hall of Fame inductees Deni Loubert, Dave Darrigo and Serge Gaboury, the Shusters also chose to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the creation of Captain Canuck (way back in 1975!) by inducting the three creator's most associated with the Captain's popularity -- Richard Comely, George Freeman and Claude St. Aubin.

Claude St. Aubin's award was presented by Canadian artist Kalman Andrasofsky.

George Freeman's award was presented by Canadian author or co-founder of hardcorenerdity.com, Lesley Livingston.

Richard Comely's award was presented by artist-designer-letterer and font of all 80's Canadian indie comic knowledge, Ron Kasman.

Videtape and posting of the inductions was provided by my oh so patient wife.

Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame 2010 Inductees: Jean-Claude St. Aubin, George Freeman and Richard Comely from Jill Leger on Vimeo.

Since Freeman and St.Aubin were unable to attend, all three awards were accepted by Richard Comely. Comely will hand delivering the awards when he sees Freeman out west in a month or so.

Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame 2010 Acceptance speech: Richard Comely from Jill Leger on Vimeo.

As you can see in Richard's gracious acceptance speech, both he and Freeman were specific about wanting to give Ron Leishman credit for designing and co-creating Captain Canuck. though they made it happen, without Leishman's inspiration, the Captain would never have existed.

You can find write-ups on all Shuster Hall of Famers at the main HoF page.

Claude St. Aubin's Shuster bio is here. Read an extended Comics Bulletin interview with Claude St. Aubin conducted Hall of Fame committee member Phil Latter a. Get a copy of Aubin's "March on Fort Whoop-Up" project here.

George Freeman's Shuster Award bio is here. Check out Freeman's website and get a copy of the first Captain Canuck archive here.

More on Richard Comely and Captain Canuck at the official website. A recent Comely interview can be found Jeffery Klaehn's Pop blog.


Beavers Up!

Joe Shuster Hall of Fame 2010 - Deni Loubert

We continue our video coverage of this years Joe Shuster Awards Hall of Fame inductions from Toronto's Innis Hall last June 5. With special thanks to my wife Jill for her videography and editing skills. This year's inductees included Dave Darrigo, Serge Gaboury and Captain Canuck writer-artists Richard Comely, George Freeman and Claude St. Aubin.

This time we greet the Queen of the Independents. Deni Loubert quite literally helped lay the groundwork for a modern Canadian comic book industry and for independant comics in general.

The publishing, promotion and distribution system she put in place for Aardvark-Vanaheim while publishing Cerebus with her then-husband Dave Sim was adapted and refined by Sim, enabling him to achieve his incredible, uninterrupted 300 issue run.

She then ran Renegade Press for years, featuring an amazing array of talented artists and awesome comics. Watch comics writer-artist-teacher-bon vivant Ty Templeton induct Deni.

Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame 2010 Inductee: Deni Loubert from Jill Leger on Vimeo.

More about Ty (including regular Saturday morning comics and original art sales!) at Ty Templeton's Artland.

I wish I had more time to spend with Deni after the awards. She is smart, insightful and has a very unique and broad perspective on the industry. Her thoughts on how artists represent themselves for better and for worse (based on her experience as an artist's rep in Hollywood) alone is worth a round of drinks.

Deni Loubert's Shuster bio is here. The Shuster Halll of Fame main page is here.

For your enjoyment and edification, here is the short speech I wrote for her induction, which presenter Ty Templeton delightfully threw out in favour of his own unique take on Deni.

Originally hailing from Timmons, Ontario, Deni Loubert grew up living a nomadic existence with her family, crisscrossing the continent as her Dad followed work from the local McIntyre Mine to the railroads of Arizona and northern California and back to the Great White North in the nickel mines of Sudbury. Because her parents frowned on comics as proper reading material she caught up on fave comic book by reading them in the grocery store. The family settled in the San Francisco Bay area long enough for Deni to attend high school and rediscover comics in the form of Gilbert Shelton’s Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

Another family move to Kitchener, Ontario led Loubert to discover science fiction fandom. Inspired by local comic artist and fellow Joe Shuster Hall of Famer Gene Day’s self-published work, she began to self-publish a zine of her own, Cerebus. Loubert met artist and future husband Dave Sim at Harry Kremer’s Now And Then Books, the hub for Kitchener’s local fandom and artistic community. Together, the two budding publishers formed Aardvark-Vanaheim to put out a Cerebus comic book based on their aardvark mascot. Loubert’s reputation as publisher eager to help artists create their best work was born here.

Determined to let Sim create, Loubert took the business reins and learned publishing from the ground up, forging alliances with printers, writing text pages, overseeing the printing and arranging for now legendary Cerebus tours. Eventually, her love of artists and desire to forge her own identity inspired her to expand the Aardvark-Vanaheim line, publishing early work by Image Comic’s Jim Valentino, Arn Saba, Bob Burden and Max Allen Collins. When Loubert and Sim’s marriage ended, the infrastructure she had set up for Aarvark-Vanaheim were the foundation of Sim’s extended run on Cerebus - the longest running independent comic in history.

Already partially responsible for helping a new generation of Canadian artists and publishers to step up to the plate, Loubert moved to Los Angeles to start fresh with her own imprint, Renegade Press. In addition to publishing numerous US artists, Loubert helped shepherd new work by Canadian creators like Dan and David Day (Cases of Sherlock Holmes), fellow Shuster inductee Dave Darrigo and R.G. Taylor (Wordsmith) and Larry Hancock and Michael Cherkas (Silent Invasion).

Loubert closed Renegade’s doors in 1989 but it’s a testament of the wide respect and popularity she held within the industry that the founders of Image Comics first approached her to be their publisher when they broke away from Marvel Comics. Loubert also worked for Wendy and Richard Pini as the Managing Editor at WaRP Graphics and was VP of Comic Book Development for Full Moon Entertainment, overseeing works by Marv Wolfman, Harlan Ellison and others.

For several years, Loubert worked as an artist representative in Hollywood and Friends of Lulu pamphlet, “How To Get Girls Into Your Store”, remains a must-read for comic shops wishing to avoid alienating half the world’s population. In 2003, her comic savvy and natural entrepreneurship continued with NovelGrafx Inc., an early developer of concepts and technology for delivery of comic books to cell phones and is currently laying the groundwork for a new, as yet unannounced comic project.

While we're celebrating all things Deni, check out this terrific and candid video interview with Margaret Liss and Jeff Tundis during the 2008 San Diego Comic Con.

Next Up: The creators of Captain Canuck share the spotlight.


Beavers Up!

Joe Shuster Hall of Fame 2010 - Dave Darrigo Video

More of the Joe Shuster Awards 2010 Hall of Fame Video from Toronto's Innis Hall last June 5. This year's inductees included Deni Loubert, Serge Gaboury and Captain Canuck writer-artists Richard Comely, George Freeman and Claude St. Aubin.

Our next inductee is Dave Darrigo. Dave has a long history of independent publishing and self-publishing through his Special Studios imprint. Despite not seing the same level of public awareness as some Canadian creators, Dave has provided work and a showcase for a great many Canuck artists. He was also one of the original group that founded and got the the Shuster Awards up and running.

The Hall of Fame committee was proud to shine the spotlight on a man who rarely gets such attention and when he does, he usually tries to give it to someone he feels is more deserving!

Though family concerns have taken Dave away from comics creation for a while, he assures us he has some ideas percolating.

Dave's award was presented by Joe Kilmartin, manager of Toronto's Dragon Lady comic shop.

Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame 2010 Inductee: Dave Darrigo from Jill Leger on Vimeo.

Dave doesn't have a big online presence as yet. Time to fix that, Dave! :) His Hall of Fame bio is coming soon though. Keep checking the Shuster Hall of Fame main page.

For more info on the Dragon Lady Comic Shop you can join their Facebook page.

Next up, we'll see the induction of a true founder and builder of the modern Canadian Comics scene. We all owe the very idea of making it as a Canadian Comic artist to this woman and her fellow early movers and shakers. Stay tuned for Deni Loubert!


Beavers Up!

Joe Shuster Hall of Fame 2010 - Serge Gaboury Video

The Joe Shuster Awards have come and gone once again, held this year at Toronto's Innis Town Hall on June 5.

Each year of the Shusters brings surprising and delightful additions to their Hall of Fame and this time around is no different. (*Full Disclosure: I was one this year's Hall of Fame and as usual, debate was lively but respectful.) Inductees included Deni Loubert, Dave Darrigo and Captain Canuck writer-artists Richard Comely, George Freeman and Claude St. Aubin.

I'll be posting video of all the Hall of Fame inductions shot and uploaded by my lovely, talented and oh so indulgent wife.

The night kicked off with the induction of prolific Quebec cartoonist Serge Gaboury. I had the honour of presenting Serge with his trophy and chatting at length with he and his beautiful Mrs. Gaboury after the event.

Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame 2010 Inductee: Serge Gaboury from Jill Leger on Vimeo.

Serge was gracious, humble and quite moved by the event. See more of his comics and animation at his website, www.gabourycartoons.com and at his bdquebec page. If you need a readable Anglais version, here is the Google-translated version.

You can find Serge's Shuster Hall of Fame page here.

For a complete list of Hall of Fame members check out the Shuster's HoF main page.

For those who are interested, here is the text of my speech:

Serge Gaboury was born in Quebec in 1954. By the time he studied Graphic Communication at Laval University, he had already published strips in the Peuple-Tribune and was drawing cartoons for the university’s newspaper. Despite a rise in awareness and recognition of Québec culture during the seventies, the province’s indigenous comics scene was still struggling to find itself when Jacques Hurtibise founded Croc magazine, a hybrid of Quebec comics and satirical humour that became a leading showcase for Quebec’s top cartoonists. Gaboury joined the Croc team in 1979 and never looked back, contributing strips throughout its legendary run.

Since then, Gaboury strips have appeared regularly in comic magazines like Safarir and Les Debrouillards while his cartoons and caricatures appeared in publications as diverse as the Journal de Québec, Le Devoir, Le Soleil and 7Jours, and La Terre dé Chez Nous (Quebec Agricultural Producer’s union newspaper). Gaboury’s animation work has appeared on Radio-Canada and the Canoe website. In the last decade Gaboury’s popularity and renown has only increased with the publishing of his award-winning Glik and Gluk collections. At one point, along with all his comic work, Segre was also designing all the floats for night parade of the Quebec Winter Carnival.

It’s easy to dismiss exceptional, consistent output like that. After years of incredible basketball, we take a Kobe Bryant 50-point night for granted. That’s because someone that good is no longer measured in normal terms. They’re only measured against themselves. That is Serge Gaboury’s legacy. Artist Gabriel Morrisette calls Serge the best gagman in the business and mentioned an old joke about Gaboury, who did comics for every level of government at one time or another… Except for the Ministry of Revenue, because he works for them every time he does a job! Artists and fans admire Gaboury’s versatility – from his caustic humour in Croc and the Lewis Carroll-like adventures of Alys in Titanic to editorial caricatures and children’s books like the funny bees of Zzzzzoé (pronounced hEY!) and his well-known Glik and Gluk series.

Morrisette also points to Gaboury’s generosity with his technical expertise. He was one of the first to move to digital colour and helped teach Gabriel when he needed to learn it for a job. In terms of sheer output, Gaboury is amazingly prolific - the Jack Kirby of Quebec comics, constantly working to support his family. Tonight, since I started this speech Serge has finished another Glik and Gluk collection, an ad for Quaker Oats and a 350 page graphic novel about the history of the pogo stick… all since taking his seat! You might be surprised to find there are very few Serge Gaboury anecdotes. But how could there be? The dude never goes anywhere. He’s always at working. Some might think that a dull life. Maybe… but never dull on the page.

Gaboury’s loose, cartoony style sometimes gets taken for granted but it’s very effective and he is highly regarded by his peers. Pierre Fournier tells tales of everyone at the Croc office gathering around when Gaboury’s artwork came in and laughing out loud at his pages. Even an artist like Henriette Valium, whose extremely underground work is miles from Gaboury’s, used to buy kid’s magazines to read his Glik and Gluk and was terrified to meet the talented Serge in person. As you’ll soon see, Serge is in no way terrifying so that says a lot.

By the way Serge, Pierre requested that I relay a message to you. Usually he meets you at the Quebec Book Fair so you and your wives can catch up. This year Pierre couldn’t make it. He assures me that is because he’s avoiding you, as you suspected.

Fellow Shuster Hall of Famer Jacques Hurtubise did share one anecdote. Croc magazine was the most important Quebec humour/comics magazine of its day. And rival magazine Safarir (or Saf) was very competitive. So when Croc magazine folded, they quickly moved to scoop up three key Croc artists: Pierre Fournier and Real Godbout, who didn’t last, and Serge Gaboury. The Editor-in-Chief of Saf was bragging to Gaboury about the advantages of working for them over Croc and assured Serge that they would never make him draw bloody and violent strips like Croc had him do. Serge happily replied, “They were not forcing me. I love to draw bloody and violent comics!” Dull life? Never on the page.

We are seeing a slow evolution in English Canadian comics. Where once there was a great divide between comic books, comic strips, comic albums, animation, caricature and graphic art, creators are coming to see the link between all these forms. In Quebec that is how it has always been. The meaning of the term “comics” is vast and broad thanks to the versatility of pioneering artists like Serge Gaboury. Gaboury fans were able to find his work not just in comic magazines, but also in newspapers, on TV and in advertisements. The examples set by Gaboury and his peers (like fellow Joe Shuster Hall of Famers Jacques Hurtubise, Real Godbout and Pierre Fournier) inspired a new generation of creators to view comics as an art form with no boundaries.

For over thirty years Gaboury has been a force for Canadian comics in Québec with consistently enchanting, engaging work and we are proud to induct him into the Joe Shuster Hall of Fame. Ladies ad Gentlemen… Serge Gaboury.

(*With thanks to Gabriel Morrissette, Jacques Hurtubise and Pierre Fournier)

Next up, an under-appreciated but potent force in Canadian Comics is inducted -- Dave Darrigo!

Beavers Up!

Joe Shuster Hall of Fame Presentations: 2009

Thanks to my web savvy wife, I have posted video of the presentation of this year's crop of Joe Shuster Awards Hall of Fame inductees.

Ted McCall was inducted in the 2008 ceremony last year but we were able to track the family down this year and finally present the award in person. McCall was the writer/editor mastermind behind the golden age's Anglo American (Double A) Comics line.



This year's 2009 inductees included George Menendez Rae, the key artist behind Educational Comic's Canadian Heroes series. I was called upon once again, to present the award to Rae's family.



Quebec creator Real Godbout's award was presented by Canadian fandom pioneer Bill Paul. Sadly, Real could not attend but sent a heartfelt and classy note thanking those who have supported him throughout his career. A poignant note came when Real admitted that, like many comic creators, he couldn't afford to make the trip. Sigh.



Writer/artist Ken Steacy has had a storied career both in and out of the mainstream comics world. Thanks to Jonathan Llyr of HarcoreNerdity.com, who presented the award and interviewed Steacy at Fan Expo last August, Steacy's was one of several entertaining video acceptance speeches that broke up the night.



And finally (in more ways than one), Dark Horse editor Diana Schutz became the Hall's first female inductee. As a member of the Hall of Fame Committee in previous, Schutz has been talked about for a while. And I'm glad to finally see her where she belongs among other giants of the Canadian field. Her award was presented by her friend, the ever-gracious Mark Askwith of Space: The Imagination Station.



One fun aspect of the Hall of Fame is speculating on who else has a place in such illustrious company. I usually don't play that here but heck, who doesn't have faves? It's arging for their place in Can comic history that's difficult.

My personal, pet pick is Deni Loubert, who contributed greatly to development of Canadian comics and comics in general as an editor and publisher of Renegade Press . She later used her hard-earned business sense to help kick start Friends of Lulu, an organization dedicated to prtomoting women in comics and women loving comics. Loubert edited Lulu's reatiler handbook, "How to Get Girls (Into Your Store)".



Hell, if you've worked with Dave Sim and Steve Ditko (two of the most talented and shall, we say bombastic iconclasts int he industry), you deserve the award just for surviving. Check out this terrific, recent inteview with Loubert from the 2008 San Diego Comic Con.


I also cast a vote for comic pioneer, Palmer Cox, creator of the insanely popular Brownies, as deserving a grandmaster space in the Hall. Cox's characters were marketed all over the place, mostly by illegal venders forcing him to fight for an artist's rights to earn a money from his own characters. Even Kodak's famous Brownie camera was named after his creations.

In many ways, over a hundred years ago, Cox blazed a trail many Canadian creators would follow, but few would match. Heck, only Walt Disney and George Lucas come close!


Find out more about the Canadian Walt Disney here.

Beavers Up!

I'm a Shuster Booster and Doug Wright Warrior

Over at the Joe Shuster Awards blog, Kevin Boyd posted a response to my brief Joe Shuster Awards round-up and makes some good points about the Shusters and the Doug Wright awards.

Kevin had one concern stemming from my use of the term "extending an olive branch" to characterize a Word on the Street panel yesterday sponsored by The Beguiling and the Sequential website featuring members of the DW's and Kevin. I did not mean to imply a war between the two awards. I believe they are, in fact, quite complimentary.

I meant only to point it out as a refreshing signal that a spirit of cooperation is growing between the two awards. I should have chosen my words more carefully.

Both awards have a different focus and unique viewpoints but are each good, healthy additions to our industry. And it did this canuck proud to hear of them sharing insights and addressing questions together.

Hugs all around.

Beavers Up!

Shuster Awards Round Up - Canadian comic books feted in fifth annual ceremony

The fifth annual Joe Shuster Awards were handed out this weekend at the University of Toronto’s Innis Hall to coincide with Toronto’s Word on the Street Festival.

Along with the hyper-focused and classy Doug Wright Awards, the Joe Shusters are rising in profile and acceptance. The little awards that could continue to widen their categories to cover many facets of comics and include Canadians nationwide. And they can now truly boast that their advisers and judges represent pretty every region.

To top it off, The Beguiling, sponsors and creators of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, along with Canadian Comics website par excellence, Sequential, have extended an olive branch to the Shusters by inviting co-founder Kevin Boyd to join a panel at the Word on the Street Festival today in downtown Toronto. “Oh Canada, Surveying the Landscape of Canadian Comics” happens at 4:00 pm at the Comic and Graphic Novels Tent during a day filled to the brim with comic book and literary awesomesauce.

It’s no secret both awards have different approaches and styles. The Doug Wright’s center more on cartooning, independent work and honour artists from the newspaper medium as well as graphic novels. They also seek out high profile, artistic jurors to spotlight the culture behind comics creation itself.

In addition to their Giants of the North section, honouring titans of canuck comic work from the past, the Doug Wright’s currently focus on only three awards. Best Book (won last May by Jillian and Mariko Tomaki’s Skim), Best Emerging Talent (won this year by Kate Beaton’s joyous and hilarious, online History Comics), and the Pigskin Peters award, named in tribute to a character from one of cartoonist Jimmy Frise’ early comics, which honours experimental and non-narrative efforts of Canadian cartoonists including sketchbook material and single-panel works (This year’s recipient being Matthew Forsythe for Ojingogo).

The Doug Wright Awards and TCAF have aligned themselves with Toronto’s arts community and City Hall, creating a very real bridge between the comics world and the public. The Joe Shuster Awards are unabashedly fan based, determinedly mining the mainstream but casting a wide net with a sweeping array of categories that strive to honour the many levels of the current comic world.

The Shusters more fannish approach is not surprising. Founders James Waley and Kevin Boyd have extensive roots in fandom, with James being involved in the very early days of Canadian fandom and publishing his own independent books over the years while Kevin helped the Paradise Comicon develop its stellar reputation among creators and fans alike for its laid back, comic book love-in atmosphere and is currently working in a similar capacity for Fan Expo. Their awards range wide, honouring retailers, publishers, artists, writers, webcomics and self-publishers whether they be floppies, graphic novels or mini-comics.

Ultimately, these two awards compliment each other more than they compete. And I see the invitation to Boyd to join the panel as a sign of new level of acceptance between the two awards groups.

Last night’s awards was a fun, fast-paced show with a wide range of deserving creator’s honoured. The multimedia aspects added a nice variation to the presentation with photos and artwork displayed, mock drumrolls and two entertaining video acceptances from Dave Sim (in a tuxedo accepting his Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year award as he mock brags/debates which of his many awards will have to come off his living room wall to accommodate his third Shuster) and Hall of Fame inductee Ken Steacy (interviewed by host Jonathan Llyr of hardcorenerdity.com at the last month's Fan Expo in Toronto).

There were a nice mix of presenters including Canadian fandom pioneer Bill Paul, comic book Renaissance man Ty Templeton, artist Dave Ross (Star Wars Dark Times, Angel), sponsor of the newly minted Comics for Kids award Jennifer Stewart, hardcorenerdity's JM Frey and Mark Askwith, producer of Prisoners of Gravity and Canada's sci-fi channel, Space: The Imagination Station. The Watchtower podcast's Jeff Moss and Donnie Coultier completely missed the fact that the Webcomics Award they were charged with presenting was supposed to be about the creators and not about them but the night survived their self-indulgence.

As a former Shuster Hall of Fame committee member, I was asked to help locate the families of two honorees, last year’s inductee Ted McCall (whose award lay unclaimed for a year) and this year’s Hall of Famer, George Menendez Rae. Both families thoroughly enjoyed seeing their loved ones honoured and remembered. I will be getting in touch with them over the next few months to learn more.

This year's other inductees are worthy additions as well. Real Godbout has been a staple of the Quebec comics scene for decades. Ken Steacy has been involved with all aspects of comics since the early eighties and Diana Schutz (someone I have long supported for inclusion) started out as a well-spoken and out-spoken fan and developed into one of the finest editors in comics.

Since my videotape of the Hall of Fame presentations is not yet ready to post, I will leave you with the short speeches I read before my two presentations.

Enjoy!

Joe Shuster Awards Hall of Famer EDWIN R. “TED” McCALL (1901-1975)

Last year, the Joe Shuster Awards Hall of Fame Committee inducted Edwin R. (Ted) McCall but we had no one to give the award to. I’m pleased to say this year we are at last able to correct that situation.

There is no doubt that Ted McCall was an instrumental figure in the rise of the Canadian Whites back in the golden age of Canadian Comics. Many of you are aware that when wartime restrictions limited the cross-border flow of materials and products including American magazines and comic books, a number of companies rose up to fill that gap. The first of those companies and the longest lived was a company spearheaded by Ted McCall.

A lifelong journalist and newsman, Ted first entered the comics field in the thirties while working for Toronto’s Evening Telegram newspaper. After reporting on many exploits of the RCMP, McCall used that intimate knowledge to create one of the first indigenous adventure strips in Canadian newspapers, Men of the Mounted, with artist Harry Hall, beating out that more famous mountie of the comic strip world, King of the Mounted by two years. McCall followed that with the strip, Robin Hood and Company with artist Charles Snelgrove.

When World War II broke and the paper restrictions began, Ted was among he first to seize an opportunity to make home-grown comics and convinced Sinnott News to create a new publishing arm called Anglo American or Double “A” comics to release reprints of his Robin Hood and Company Strip. As Ted added reprints of Men of the Mounted to their output he was already adding new characters like Pat the Air Cadet, Sooper Dooper, Deadline Dick, Don Shield, Dr. Destine, Purple Rider, Red Rover, Commander Steel, Terry Kane, the Crusaders, and his most famous creation, Freelance, a heroic freedom fighter for the Allies. Anglo rounded out their line by purchasing the scripts used in the US based Fawcett companies Captain Marvel comics and redrawing them, but even at their height Freelance outsold them all.

Freelance in action on land...

...and at sea.

It’s easy to see why, McCall drew on a wide tradition of adventure fiction and his journalist’s eye for world events to make Freelance feel like its accounts of worldwide espionage were was ripped from the day’s headlines. Lance globe-trotted to every theatre of the war. It didn’t hurt that while most comic book heroes’ tales came in spurts of six to ten pages and often continued next issue, Freelance’s adventures took the entire book, were paced like a bullet and always concluded by the back cover. You got a full reading experience for your dime! Anglo’s top artist Ed Furness, co-creator of Freelance attributed every iota of Double’s “A”s success to the writing of Ted McCall.

Ted McCall’s well-deserved Hall of Fame award finally has a home. Accepting on behalf of Ted is his great nephew, Russ McCall...

From left to right: Ted McCall's great nephew Russ Mccall, great niece

Janice McCall and great nephew Doug McCall proudy give Ted Mccall's

Joe Shuster Hall of Fame award the home it deserves.

Joe Shuster Awards Hall of Famer George Menendez Rae (1906-1992)

George M. Rae.

There were many companies that published Canadian Whites during the second world war. One of the classiest was Educational Projects whose flagship comic was Canadian Heroes A big part of the reason for that class was the artwork and storytelling of George Menedez Rae. Canadian Heroes was aimed at educating kids and honouring their contribution to Canadian Life and to the homefront war effort. Each issue featured stories of historical figures, modern politicians and tales of battlefield heroism meant to inspire young canucks. It also contained book reviews, examinations of potential careers in the growing country, celebrations of the community-building initiatives of the readership and sometimes wild predictions for the future of the country sent in by imaginative kids across the country.

It should have been boring but the artwork lifts the features off the page. Each issue reads like a large stable of artists are contributing. But though several talented artists did work on the book, a surprising number of them were actually Rae himself! George signed his work variously as Rae, R-, Dez and Geo. Each signature carried with it a variation in style, making it seem like a different person drew each item. But each style shared Rae’s supple linework, clear storytelling and elegant page layouts.

Educational Projects insisted that everything in their books be based on reality. There would be no magic words or leaping over tall buildings between the covers of Canadian Heroes. But Rae saw more potential for the book. He convinced them to add an adventure series based on true tales of the RCMP. His most famous innovation was the creation of his national superhero, Canada Jack.

Canada Jack’s adventures were designed to model an active lifestyle to kids and provide a character to inspire the reader’s to get involved. Jack made his debut in the March 1943 issue of Canadian Heroes.

Rae’s hero was not flashy. His costume consisted of tight slacks and a tank top that featured a Canada Jack crest on his chest or whatever gear was needed for the sport he was engaged during that tale. A gymnast, ju-jitsu expert, and superb horseman, he protected the Canadian home front from a variety of villains, including saboteurs, kidnappers, black marketeers, escaped Nazi POW’s and worst of all, children making bad decisions.

Canada Jack even inspired the creation of a popular children’s club that brought together fans of the strip and encouraged kids to contribute to the Canadian war effort. Their efforts were printed in the club pages and fictional versions of the club members were always deeply involved in his comic book adventures.

George Menedez Rae's niece Mary Beyers shows off his Joe Shuster

Hall of Fame award with her children (from left to right)

Chris Beyers, Diana Coen and Rick Beyers.

Rae’s comic art also appeared in the Canadian Jewish Congress title Jewish War Heroes (perhaps the first Canadian giveaway comic book) and in two Educational compilations, Action Stories of the Mounties and Thrilling Adventures of Canada Jack. Following the demise of Educational Projects in late 1945, Rae left the comics field and became increasingly active as a fine artist, serving as the president of the Arts Club of Montreal and receiving the Order of Merit for his many contributions to the arts in his home community of St. Bruno, Quebec. We are honoured to induct George Menendez Rae into the Joe Shuster Hall of Fame. Here to accept the award is George’s niece, Mary Beyers...

Beavers Up!