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Scott's Classic Comics Corner: Classic Canadian Creators
Tomorrow is Canada Day, and I thought it would be a good time to shine a light on some comic book creators that were either born or raised in Canada. The question was – which creators to pick? Everyone knows about Joe Shuster, Dave Sim and John Byrne. I just talked about Win Mortimer a few weeks ago, and the likes of Darwyn Cooke, Stuart Immonen and that guy who overpays for baseballs are a bit too modern for this column. I’ve chosen a handful of notable Canadians who deserve some attention.
Hal Foster. Yes, that Hal Foster. I’m always shocked when I discover how few people realize that Hal Foster is Canadian. He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and even worked briefly as an artist for Hudson’s Bay Company in Winnipeg (does it get any more Canadian than that?). He’s one of the godfathers of comic storytelling. Many have argued that without the triumvirate of adventure strip artists (Foster, Raymond and Caniff), we wouldn’t have comic books as we know them today. Foster was the key artist behind two of the most important and popular strips of all-time. It’s doubtful that without Foster’s work on Tarzan and Prince Valiant that we’d see the lush and detailed artwork of Joe Kubert, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson and half of the artists emerging from Europe and the Philippines during the 60s and 70s. Foster is a member of just about ever Cartoon and Comic Hall of Fame in existence. I lived in Halifax for 4 years and I was very surprised to find that there was nothing dedicated to this important illustrator. Perhaps my good friend Craig can correct me if I’m wrong.
You may have heard the name Russ Jones somewhere in a comic book magazine article. He’s one of the guys who is very, very important to the history of the medium (especially the horror genre), and yet never seems to get enough ink. He was a true triple threat – a talented writer, artist and inker. During the mid-60s, however, Jones helped change comic books simply by making things happen. Jones had a brief and tumultuous professional relationship with Jim Warren, but it was a very fruitful one. Jones was the founding editor of Creepy and Eerie - two of the most important books of the 60s. I think I even read somewhere that he was behind the initial pitch for Blazing Combat. In 1966, Jones would put together Christopher Lee’s Treasury of Terror for Pyramid Books. It was a kind of proto-graphic novel; a collection of horror stories in mass market paperback format. These stories would all later pop up in either Creepy or Eerie, but it’s was a very interesting marketing move at the time. Jones has done work for a variety of publishers, also contributing a great deal to Castle of Frankenstein and has written a good deal of fiction, but he’ll always be remembered for the brief period in the mid-60s when he helped re-shape the industry.
Jack Sparling was a one of those consummate pros that never gets much attention. He worked from the late 30s, well into the 80s, and he worked in every genre for countless publishers. Sparling was born in Winnipeg, but moved to U.S. as a child, so it’s doubtful that Canada made much of an impact on him. He was raised in New Orleans and I often wonder if he spoke any French. Winnipeg has a good sized Franco-Manitoban community and I’d love to hear the accent of someone influenced by both Franco-Manitoban and Cajun French. It would be awesome, but I digress. I like Jack Sparling’s work a lot, but I know that many don’t hold him in very high regard. That’s too bad, and I urge you to take a second look. He was a fine storyteller, and was able to bring a sense of gravitas to the pages.
Did you know that Gene Day was Canadian? Well, he was – and he made a real impact on both the Canadian underground scene as well as mainstream comics before his death at age 30. Could you imagine what kind of impact Gene Day would have had in the industry if he had contributed over the last 25 years? Day may be best known and best loved for his work on Master of Kung Fu, and that’s well deserved. If you’re looking to get a sense of what Day might have been able to achieve had he had a longer career, I urge you to do a little hunting for Marvel Premiere #54, featuring the great introduction of Caleb Hammer and Star Wars #68, a standout issue featuring Boba Fett. Day was recently inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame.
So there are some notable people that you may not have known were from the Great White North. Happy Canada Day everyone!
For more comic talk, stop by my blog Seduction of the Indifferent
- Posted on June 30, 2009 @ 07:32 AM
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19 Comments
Roquefort Raider
June 30, 2009 at 8:19 am
Great choices, Scott. I had forgotten that Foster was born here.
Gene Day left us way too soon... what a great artist he was developing into.
Say, no love for Dave Sim? He was a close friend of Gene day, andhad a huge impact on the entire independent comics movement.
Jeff Ryan
June 30, 2009 at 9:24 am
What about John Byrne? First guy i thoguht of, even if he's not a Silver-Ager.
Scott
June 30, 2009 at 9:45 am
Ben - I meant to include Sim in my "everyone knows about Joe Shuster and John Byrne" line.
Jeff - See above.
Thanks guys.
Dave
June 30, 2009 at 9:51 am
Thanks for the Canadian love!!
Ryan H
June 30, 2009 at 11:01 am
For a more recent artist, Stuart Immonen deserves a mention. He's so Canadian that his own site http://www.immonen.ca/ is a .ca
Scott
June 30, 2009 at 11:17 am
Ummm.... I mentioned him at the start - noting that he's too recent for my mandate here. The rest of the internet is dedicated to modern artists. This little corner is for a sharing a little Jack Sparling love.
I'm starting to suspect that you guys are just looking at the pretty pictures!
And to think, I almost considered proof reading this piece.
Dan Bailey
June 30, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Huh. I had no idea that most of those guys were Canadian, Sparling included.
As I've mentioned before, for some reason my appreciation for Sparling's work rose considerably when I saw it in b&w in the first Showcase Presents the House of Mystery. For me, his work seems to lose a little something with color ... or maybe it was just the poor repro technology of the times.
Scott
June 30, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I think it's a bit of both, Dan.
Black and White Sparling also looks quite good in the Showcase Presents: Unknown Soldier collection.
m!ke
June 30, 2009 at 5:42 pm
tom grummett's canadian as well!
Anonymous
June 30, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Scott, I have indeed often lamented the lack of local recognition for the titanic talent of Hal Foster here in the place of his birth. I mean a mere plaque would be nice for such a significant talent, and character of historical import in the area of homegrown culture. If such a commemoration exists I recant, but I don't know that it does. Every so often you get him mentioned here on some such CBC (or other) show in the context of "Famous Nova Scotians", but that's about it. The most significant way, it seems, that Harold "Hal" Foster connects to Halifax now comes in the form of his "nickname"
It is similar with Darwyn Cooke. Though born and having lived in your neck of the woods for most of his life, in the past decade or so he has relocated to a Nova Scotian idyll, not far outside Halifax. But this, alas, is also a fact pretty much ignored by the larger cultural community here in Halifax. A shame. Though perhaps he prefers it quiet.
Really though you need not be a local comic book nerd to appreciate guys like Foster and Cooke.
Great piece today! Happy Canada Day to you!
benday-dot
June 30, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Also (sorry, I am also anonymous just above) I want to second or third the love for Jack Sparling and Gene Day.
Another Canadian artist from ye olden days, though nowhere near as well known as the fine fellows you mentioned, is Bill Payne. He didn't do a lot of work in comics but where he did it is striking to see. On certain of the DC horror anthology titles of the 70s you can check out a measure of his intensely atmospheric work. Craig.
JackKing
June 30, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Steve McNiven is Canadian too, isn't he?
Brad Curran
June 30, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Your roundabout way of mentioning McFarlane was great. Also funny/frightening; to people my age, he is a classic artist. I'm not saying he's good, but I imagine a lot of people who were young when he was doing Spider-Man and Spawn would classify him that way.
Brad Curran
June 30, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Maybe Scott should tape a sign up that says "No artists published after the '70s are welcome!" That might help.
Kirbydotter
July 1, 2009 at 7:52 am
Hal Foster was Canadian? I did not know that!
)
As a Canadian I am a appaled that we have never recognized the man.
Not even a museum or anything? Canada Post has to him at least a stamp! (I am also a stamp collector.
Gene Day, I knew of course. He died too young, just as he was becoming well known and appreciated by the Marvel crowd (us Canadians Comics fans were already proud of him).
Russ Jones contribution to our favourite artform is open for debate for sure. But I liked most of the stuff he worked on.
Jack Sparling's origins are news to me. I must say that, even though that DOOM PATROL cover is pretty cool, I never really appreciated Sparling's bland style.
Thanks for another great Comic Corner Scott! And Happy Canada Day!
(Speaking of Corner, I'm going back to the Corner Gas Marathon they have have ALL DAY! on the Comedy Network!)
Andrew Wahl
July 1, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Scott:
I have to agree: Gene Day was on his way to being a special creator. His work on MoKF showed what great storytelling chops he had. He was also one of the most refined inkers working during the early ’80s (e.g., his run on Marvel Two-in-One). With Marvel giving creators like Frank Miller and John Byrne the keys to their own books around that time, one would think it was just a matter of time before Day would have got to write some tales for Marvel, too (he penned some wonderful sci-fi short stories in various ground-level publications in the ’70s).
Cheers,
Andrew
benday-dot
July 1, 2009 at 3:13 pm
JackKing... Yes, Steve McNiven is also Canadian, and like Hal Foster and Darwyn Cooke, calls or has called Halifax, Nova Scotia (where I live) home.
Scott
July 2, 2009 at 5:46 am
Great conversation, folks.
I am certainly aware of many of the Canadian creators who've made a real impact in recent years. Darwyn Cooke, in particular, has helped breath new life into the superhero genre. After falling in love with the Essex County Trilogy, I'll follow Jeff Lemire anywhere.
Lots of great talent from the GWN.
As I said in my initial bit - I'm shocked by how few people know of Hal Foster's roots and how little has been done in Canada to recognize his contributions to art and culture.
A few years back, a new road (cutting through a townhouse development in a gentrified ex-industrial district) named Joe Shuster Way. He's also been featured in patriotic television ads and his work has been featured on stampes. Now, I love the fact that Shuster is from T.O. and he deserves the recognition - but someone should throw Hal Foster's legacy a bone.
Now, has anyone ever heard the rumour that Winsor McCay was actually born in Ontario, and not Michigan?
Rob Allen
July 2, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Happy Canada Day!
I recently picked up a few more issues of Captain Canuck; currently own just over half of the issues. We know someone here in Oregon who's related to Jean-Claude St. Aubin, who did a lot of the art in CC along with George Freeman.
I've also got several issues of a magazine that I recall was Canadian - Orb. Anybody remember that one? It was really good, IIRC.
Also, the editor of the Skywald Horror-Mood magazines, Alan Hewetson, was Canadian. After Skywald folded he went back to Ontario and into the newspaper business.