Canada’s crafty Captain Canuck

By James Chambers – A friend gave me this book after finding it in the 50-cent bin at a local comic shop. This special is a great introduction to a very cool character. It’s an anthology issue which features several stories that show us the Cap­tain in different situations, and a couple of others which are pure fun. And it all comes with some of the tightest writing and sharpest-looking artwork from the early ’80s.

From the opening story, “Faith In Those Few,” it’s clear that Captain Canuck is a hero in the noblest sense of the word. What’s remarkable is that this short story succeeds in establishing that, while nearly reducing the Captain to a supporting character. At the same time, it sheds some light on his role as a top agent for the Canadian government.

The second Captain Canuck story, “The Money Run,” portrays the Captain as a dedicated patriot in an all-out action tale that sends him on a high-speed chase after a foreign agent who stole the negatives for the new Cana­dian dollars. Only an accident, which endangers the life of an innocent, draws him away from the chase. But when a second chance comes up, he’s ready to take it and stop the enemy from escaping the country and flooding the Canadian economy with counterfeit money.

The third tale, “Night­mares,” sends the Captain down a dark road into the twisted world of Walker, a mad scientist with the power to transform humans into monsters. On the trail of a missing operative, Canuck faces a bizarre cult built around the scientist’s power and crosses paths with an old flame, Heather, on the hunt for her lost husband. Walker, a would-be messiah, draws upon a supply of nuclear waste hidden in a nearby cavern to fuel his terrible experiments. Canuck’s only chance to defeat him is to turn his work against him, for Walker’s own creations hold the seeds of his destruction.

The art throughout the book is uniformly excellent, exciting, and full of energy. The combined talents of J.C. St. Aubin and George Freeman provide some slightly cartoonish, but highly detailed, drawings that expertly cover the range from high-octane action to moody suspense. This is some very stylish material. It serves the stories well by making them dynamic and memorable. Free­man’s expressive touch is consistently sharp, and he brings the tales to life with his eye for body language and characterization.

Also in the issue are a group of pinups from Andrusiek, Day, Grummet, and Sim, showcasing some rare early work from these talented Canadians.