📚🦸A #HamOnt comics historian is working with a group of researchers and enthusiasts to mark the 80th anniversary of the first Canadian comic book. Better Comics #1, from Vancouver’s Maple Leaf Publishing came out in 1941 during a unique period of homegrown comics. [1/12]
https://twitter.com/TheAgenda/status/1427668010706391041
Prior to World War II, “all the American comics were there on our newsstands,” Ivan Kocmarek of @cdncomics says. But the War Exchange Conservation Act of 1940 banned the import of pulp magazines, certain candy bars, and comic books, among other things, creating a void. [2/12]
Canadian publishers stepped in to fill that void. After Better Comics, titles including Dime and Triumph were soon available in the now-ubiquitous “floppy” format. Previous #comics weren't published in Canada in that style. [3/12] 
.@geek_worlds has an analogy: “Imagine if a couple of years after the Nintendo Entertainment System came out, we banned the importation of video games, and a bunch of Canadian programmers and designers said: ‘Okay, kids like video games; let's try to figure that out.’” [4/12]
Kocmarek says wartime Canadian comics had more in common with books from England than with those from the United States. They had few superheroes, but some — such as Iron Man (not the one you're thinking of) and Nelvana of the Northern Lights — were introduced then. [5/12]
Community discussion, which is an important part of contemporary comics culture, was also vital in the ’40s, Kocmarek says. Then, comics effectively became the first social network for Canadian children, connecting them with one another through letter columns. [6/12]
Woo, who directs @roccetlab, hopes marking the publication of Better Comics #1 won’t turn into a “rah-rah Canada moment.” He says the “real challenge with an anniversary like this is to resist the temptation of easy, unthinking commemoration,” and recognize flaws. [7/12]
Wartime comics were often racist and sexist, Woo notes. “As we think about how we integrate this into our idea of an artistic tradition in this country, [part of that is] recognizing the extent to which there are a lot of exclusions there." [8/12]
Educator @zjarondinelli is working with the @cdncomics to hold a symposium on Canadian comics. He agrees asking questions about inclusion is important. "... We have a new audience, a new group of readers who can bring their world experiences ... ." [9/12]
While Canadian comics were popular during the war, their reign ended quickly come peacetime. Import rules changed, and home-grown publishers folded, says Olivia Wong, special-collections curatorial specialist at the Ryerson University Archives & Special Collections. [10/12]
Wong says wartime comics don't hold up well today and were never meant to be collected. But the university archives still let students get hands-on with them. “These are really fantastic pieces of Canadian history.” [11/12]
Kocmarek is hoping Better Comics #1 will soon reach a larger audience: the family of the publisher has given him permission to use a digital copy for a reprint — which he anticipates will be available this fall.
More here: tvo.org/article/the-st… [12/12]
More here: tvo.org/article/the-st… [12/12]
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
