A Game Most Dangerous, Part 5: The Dreamer

For this entry in A Game Most Dangerous I'm going back to an old favourite on this blog - the Canadian whites! Yep, I'm examining one of the many characters published in Canada during World War II. The character is called the Dreamer and he was published by Bell Features in Wow Comics under the pen of Jerry Lazare.

Jerry Lazare did quite a few characters at Bell, including the Phantom Rider, Jeff Waring, the Wing, the Young Commandos, Nitro and Drummy Young. He was pretty talented - not up there with Adrian Dingle, but certainly better than Ross Saakle.

The Dreamer actually has a very fascinating backstory, an unusual one for a 1940s super hero - it seems he's a psychiatrist, Kent Marlow, and he analyzes his own dreams in order to solve crimes! The 1940s were certainly the decade where psychoanalysis broke into pop culture in a big way (check out the films Spellbound and the Snake Pit for instance) so the Dreamer's existence makes sense along those lines, but he's a very pleasant oddity within super hero comics.

For the purposes of A Game Most Dangerous, I have to cover the Dreamer stories from Wow Comics #29-30 (1946). Previously, the Dreamer's dreams had led him sneak aboard a ship which proved to be smuggling gold. That story came to an abrupt end in Wow Comics #28 when the ship hit a reef. Wow Comics #29 opens with the Dreamer awakening from the shipwreck on Moon Island. Two men - Rabar and Nod - find the Dreamer ashore and drag him to Rabar's home. The Dreamer has a dream of being hunted by Rabar, then awakens to meet his host.

After dinner, Rabar informs the Dreamer that he'll never leave Moon Island. "Luck brought you to my island and I shall take advantage of it!!!!" Rabar hints darkly at the contents of his trophy room, even though the Dreamer has already noticed the island has no wildlife. But then Rabar shows the Dreamer a copy of the novel The Most Dangerous Game! The Dreamer recognizes the book and realizes "You mean to tell me you're going to carry out the plot of that book?? You're going to hunt me down like some animal??" Rabar nods. "Exactly! For after all, Marlow... what are we but animals???" The Dreamer refuses to cooperate so Rabar and Nod throw him into a pit until the time for the hunt has begun.

Continuing in the pages of Wow Comics #30, the Dreamer has been dressed in his costume (he lost the cape and mask at sea) for the hunt. He knows he has no chance against Rabar: "This island is an open book to you, every rock, every tree..." Rabar opines that because the Dreamer is younger than him he has that advantage to his credit. He gives the Dreamer 24 hours to evade him in the hunt; if he survives, Rabar will send him back to the mainland.

As the Dreamer exits Rabar's home to use the one hour head start he's been granted he recalls another dream he's had: "Something about a prophecy! The - the rabbit who flees from the hunter has no hope of escape!! But, the rabbit who faces the hunter has a fighting chance!!!!" He quickly interprets the dream's meaning and hides in the trees nearby Rabar's home. As soon as Rabar exits the house to begin the hunt, the Dreamer sneaks around into Rabar's house and knocks out Nod with a frying pan.

Rabar realizes the Dreamer has doubled back and returns to the house but the Dreamer overpowers him in a fight and takes away Rabar's gun. All at once, Rabar becomes meek: "Did I mention murder? No Marlow, I wouldn't have killed you!!!" he insists, offering his wireless set to the Dreamer so he can radio for help. The Dreamer obligingly uses the wireless set - and calls for the authorities to arrest Rabar and Nod.

My thoughts: What a delight! Not only is the Dreamer a wonderfully unique premise for an adventure hero but this was a fun riff on the Most Dangerous Game which wasn't afraid to admit its influences. I also appreciate the Dreamer's solution to the scenario - to refuse to play the game by its rules but instead leave the hunting grounds and thereby level the playing field.

The Hunter:

• A Russian noblemangentleman (1/4 points)
• Who is a big game hunter (4/4 points)
• But is no longer challenged by big game (4/4 points)
• So he hunts men on his secluded island (4/4 points)
• Justifying this through a eugenics/Darwinian philosophy (0/4 points)
• He is aided by his servants, including a disfigured mute (3/4 points)
• And his vicious hunting dogs (0/4 points)
• He obtains his prey by scuttling nearby luckily receiving people from wrecked ships (2/4 points)
• His victims are given a time limit of 3 days24 hours; if they are alive at the deadline, they win the hunt (3/4 points)
• As a further example of his sense of "sportsmanship", he will deliberately prolong the hunt if he finds it interesting (0/4 points)
• His victims are placed on display in his trophy room (3/4 points)

The Hunted:

• A famous big game hunter (0/4 points)
• Who philosophizes about what (if anything) animals sense while being hunted (0/4 points)
• He is cast overboard and finds himself on the hunter's island, alone (4/4 points)
• The hunter knows him because of his reputation (0/4 points)
• When he learns the hunter's scheme he refuses to hunt alongside him (0/4 points)
• Hunted by the hunter, he flees into the wilderness trying to avoid detection (0/4 points)
• His only tool is a knife which the hunter gave him (0/4 points)
• In time he constructs traps to kill the hunter or his servants (0/4 points)
• He survives the ordeal by leaping over a cliff (0/4 points)
• Although the hunt is over, he confronts the hunter and duels him to the death (0/4 points)

The Island:

• Is a tropical island in the CaribbeanAtlantic? (3/4 points)
• Surrounded by dangerous reefs which wreck ships (4/4 points)
• The island has a dangerous swamp (0/4 points)
• And high cliffs (0/4 points)

I'm awarding an abitrary bonus +1 for being the only rip-off of The Most Dangerous Game so far to own up to its inspiration!

Total score: 36/100!

More hunting to come!

Mr. Monster on Kickstarter!

He's been super; he's been duper; now he's going to be collected!

A Kickstarter project has begun to bring yet another 1940s Canadian hero back into print; this time, it's Doc Stearne, alias Mr. Monster! This is yet another rare opportunity to feast one's eyes on seldom-seen Canadian comics, so I certainly encourage all interested peoples to follow my lead and support the project!

Happy Canuck Day with Johnny Canada!

Yesterday I received in the mail my copy of Johnny Canuck, a new collection featuring all of the 1940s adventures of the titular hero, created written and drawn by Leo Bachle for Bell Features' Dime Comics, one of the so-called "Canadian Whites." Appropriately, I received this handsome hardcover volume just in time for Canada Day!

The book was produced via Kickstarter by Rachel Richey, who had earlier helped publish Nelvana of the Northern Lights, another Bell Features hero. Included with my package were a Johnny Canuck bookplate and this stylish "What Would Johnny Canuck Do?" wristband, seen above.

Johnny Canuck has retained some familiarity with we Canadians over the decades, whether it be through his stature in Canadian comic book history (Captain Canuck owes him his own nom de plume) or his relationship to the Vancouver Canucks. For myself, I first saw him in a grade 4 social studies textbook which reprinted a few pages from one of his adventures. I wish I could say this sampling made me a fan, but in those days I had been successfully brainwashed by the US publishers to believe they were the sole purveyors of "legitimate" super hero fiction.

Seeing these stories together in one place, I do have to admit Leo Bachle had some real chops as an artist. Some of his body language is stiff or poorly-proportioned, but his facial expressions were quite good. The stories themselves are fairly familiar stuff - less exceptional than what his US cousins the Destroyer or Spy Smasher were getting up to. Still, Johnny toured across the scope of World War II, from Libya to Berlin to Russia to Yugoslavia to Africa and Japan. The war's end likewise brought about Johnny's end as the returning US heroes gave Johnny the boot.

One way in which Johnny managed to outplay his southern cousins is in his relationship with Hitler. Captain America famously socked Hitler in the puss on the cover of his first issue, yet less-famously didn't meet Hitler at all in the pages within. Johnny, however, caught up to Hitler in his second appearance and gave him a Canadian knuckle sandwich! Strangely, however, Germans in the Johnny Canuck stories tended to call Johnny a "Britisher." The meaning of his surname was evidently lost on them. Johnny also loved to talk about rugby; perhaps that was a popular sport in the Canada of the 40s, but unlike most of the Commonwealth we since given up such British interests in favour of sports beloved in the US (namely, football).

Top: Dime Comics #2 (1942) Bottom: Dime Comics #4 (1942)

If Bachle's stories have one serious failing it's that he would occasionally recycle art from previous tales. Unlike his friend Ross Saakel, he did at least trace his own work, rather than Jack Kirby. There are some typically-disappointing racist caricatures of the Japanese and a very strange jungle in Libya which is inhabited by a tribe of people who stepped out of a Conan novel.

Top: Dime Comics #3 (1942) Bottom: Dime Comics #7 (1943)

How wonderful to have such hard-to-find comics preserved for future generations! Thank you Mr. Bachle for being one my country's pioneering artists. Johnny Canuck lives again!

"Windsor is a remarkable man in almost every way, but when it comes to that sort of thing he's about the dumbest man I have ever known!" Brok Windsor review

Through supporting the Kickstarter which produced Hope Nicholson & Rachel Richey's collected edition of Nelvana of the Northern Lights, I came to learn quite a lot about the era of 1940s Canadian comics which produced the so-called "Canadian Whites" (much of what I learned arose because I found myself promoting the book on behalf of my employers, the University of Calgary). With both women turning to new Kickstarter projects along the same lines, I happily endorsed Nicholson's new book Brok Windsor, collecting the adventures of the obscure Canadian hero featured in the obscure series Better Comics (sometimes a black & white series, sometimes color) by the obscure publisher Maple Leaf Publishing. Obscurely.

Created by Jon Stables, Brok Windsor is rather nice Canadian fellow who goes canoeing one day and finds himself in Chaqua, a lost land featuring enormous monsters, sorcery, advanced technology and heads without bodies. He soon befriends Torgon, a First Nations chap who is son of the local chief; eventually they join forces with Starra while saving her from a depraved sorceress and the trio endure many adventures together (with Starra developing feelings for Brok). Brok also obtains superhuman strength and grows taller due to the Chaqua environment. He also acquires clothing which might best be described as a halter top (possibly also the reason why Torgon refuses to wear a shirt).

The content of Brok Windsor includes a heaping tablespoon of Flash Gordon, a dash of John Carter and a liberal pound of Pellucidar. Like Gordon, Windsor is thrust into a land of both science and sorcery, of rebel armies and sinister witches, of flying machines and terrifying beasts. Like Carter, he obtains special powers from his environment and clashes with despicable creatures who plant their heads on other people's bodies. And as in the Pellucidar tales, the backdrop is a hidden land somewhere on Earth where anything is possible.

Indeed, anything -- even a First Nations sidekick hero who defies most of the "Indian sidekick" tropes! Torgon speaks English perfectly, is actually taller and stronger than Windsor and has his own love interest. Although he enters the tale in a loincloth and with feathers in his hair, he quickly puts on pants and boots. Although he's the son of a great chief, his father's kingdom is a super-scientific city with advanced aircraft ("Zipcars") which Torgon can fly. In general, Torgon is smarter than Windsor, not only in the ways of Chaqua, but in craftiness. At one point he even demonstrates real agency - when Brok has temporarily lost his memory, Torgon decides to abandon him in the prison they've landed in, deciding it's more important to escape and complete their mission than to drag Brok along. Yes, the book's nominal hero is left behind by the sidekick!

Part of why the series reminds me of Flash Gordon is that, as in Alex Raymond's strip, the goals of the protagonists are constantly interrupted as they wander into the clutches of menaces which are entirely unrelated to their present predicament and this tends to set off a domino effect; Brok and Torgon's attempt to rescue Starra from giant rats leads to Brok's amnesia, to their capture by an evil sorceress, to their journey through an underground world filled with monsters and so on - all of this interfering with the larger mission of saving Torgon's father from a rebellion. However, unlike Raymond's strip, the characters occasionally find time to rest, eat and (gasp!) converse with one another. As I noted in my review of Flash Gordon on the Planet Mongo, it seems unbelievable that Gordon could fight on day after wearying day - I appreciate that not everything in Chaqua is life-or-death - sometimes Brok and Torgon can drop everything to hunt their next meal.

Also unlike Raymond is the pacing of the series. Fights in Brok Windsor can carry on for pages, whereas Raymond would short-cut his characters' actions, leaving his text boxes to exposit on what occurred. Brok Windsor fits more comfortably into the realm of comics than Flash Gordon because it escapes the confines of "illustrated text story" which far too many comics of the 30s & 40s fell into. The only real misstep is that the adventure in Chaqua comes to an abrupt finish when the heroes meet a figure who grants them each one wish, which they use to end the story. It enabled Stables to take Brok into new territory by returning him to Canada proper, but sadly the series didn't last long enough for him to finish the next tale (the Kickstarter raised enough money to publish Stables' last-known unpublished script, but the story is still left on a cliffhanger).

In parting, I have to say Jon Stables' artwork is a treat. I certainly ragged on one Canadian Whites creator - Ross Saakel - for his poor art and traced tales. Brok Windsor demonstrates that Stables had real talents as an illustrator, moreso than many comic book artists of that decade (be they US or Canadian). He understood anatomy, perspective and fight choreography, plus he had weird and wonderful ideas about what to draw. Brok Windsor is great fun, but I think the real take away is that in Stables, Canada had one fine artist.

Wonder of Wonders: Ross Saakel's Captain Wonder

In the last two years I've had a great opportunity to expand my knowledge of World War II Canadian comic books - the so-called "Canadian whites." Among those characters I've discovered is Captain Wonder, a super hero who appeared in Triumph Comics stories created by Ross Saakel.

I most certainly will not!

The Captain Wonder series began in Triumph Comics #7 (1942) and you can read the early stories for yourself at the Digital Comic Museum. Our hero's origin is fairly typical for a comic book of the day: a yogi in the Himalayas calls upon the gods of Valhalla to grant their powers to a young Canadian man whom the yogi raised after his parents were killed. Kind of a Mulligan stew of super hero origins. With his newfound powers and the identity of Captain Wonder, the young man returned to Canada to fight crime!

Even they're being sarcastic about these tropes!

Captain Wonder's first adventure pit him against a mad scientist called Frank N. Stein, which may give you some conception of how much care and originality went into crafting those tales. However, that's not exactly what I want to talk about. I'd like to talk to you today about swiping. Perhaps it's not too surprising to begin with Bob Kane - he is, after all, notorious for signing his name to the work of other artists and tracing much of his own work. And yet here, in Triumph Comics#8, Kane was himself swiped by Saakel!

Top: Bob Kane, Detective Comics #33 (1939); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #8 (1942)

Now this isn't such a terrible swipe - the Batman pose has proven to be a popular one for artists to swipe over the years and considering the conditions artists had to labour under in the 40s, you can't blame them for the occasional tracing.

The thing about Saakel, however, is that he didn't trace occasionally - he traced frequently!

Top: Jack Kirby, cover, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #13 (1943)

I think Ross Saakel really enjoyed Marvel's Daring Mystery Comics #6, an early Marvel offering with some of Jack Kirby's earliest art for the company. Saakel loved that issue so much that he - well - traced the ever-lovin' almighty out of it! He must have pressed his pencil over the pages so many times they turned back into pulp! Not only did he lift his layouts from Kirby & Joe Simon's cover and interior pages but he also made liberal use of the dialogue!

Top: Jack Kirby, Marvel Boy story, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #8 (1942)

He did, at least swap some names, such as the Nazi spy Stohl being changed to Storhm, while the submarine commander Strohm was renamed Stohl by Saakel.

Top: Jack Kirby, Marvel Boy story, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #8 (1942)

But then he lifted most of the dialogue too! "Still the old destroyer dodger, eh Strohm?" became "Still the old destroyer dodger, eh Stohl?" And likewise with the submarine commander's response.

Top: Jack Kirby, Marvel Boy story, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #8 (1942)

These panels I'm posting constitute only a minority of the Captain Wonder art from Triumph Comics #8, but it's possible there are other swipes I haven't yet identified - another sequence where Captain Wonder attacks a submarine could have easily been traced from a Sub-Mariner comic - not an accusation I'd normally lob at an artist, but with Saakel, the more I see of his work, the more I wonder how much of it was his own work.

Top: Jack Kirby, Fiery Mask story, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #9 (1942)

Saakel went on to pen a multi-part story where Captain Wonder battled the Devil himself. However, as you can see by comparing the introductory text above, he again lifted his layouts from Daring Mystery Comics #6 - this time from Joe Simon & Jack Kirby's Fiery Mask story.

Top: Jack Kirby, Fiery Mask story, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #9 (1942)

Most of the swipes are found in part one of the story, leaving me again to wonder where Saakel might have swiped the rest of the battle with the Devil from (a Spectre story?). The sheer amount of swipes in this one story is staggering.

Top two: Jack Kirby, Fiery Mask story, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #9 (1942)

At some point you have to think Bell Features should have cut Joe Simon & Jack Kirby a cheque! Bell Features came into existence in 1941 to fill the gap caused by restrictions on importing comic books from the USA. That means Canadians would have already had a chance to see Daring Mystery Comics #6 for themselves in 1940. Then again, in those days reprints were frequent and not normally identified as such. Is a swipe really that much worse than a reprint?

Top: Jack Kirby, Fiery Mask story, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #9 (1942)

Yes, a thousand times yes! To lift one's plot, layouts and dialogue from another comic book without crediting them was unfair of Saakel to his US counterparts, even if they were much better reimbursed for their work.

Top: Jack Kirby, Fiery Mask story, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #9 (1942)

And yet, I'm more bemused than outraged. Saakel lifted so liberally from his copy of Daring Mystery Comics #6 that I half-expected to see a tracing of Stuporman somewhere in Triumph Comics!

Top: Jack Kirby, Fiery Mask story, Daring Mystery Comics #6 (1940); Bottom: Ross Saakel, Triumph Comics #10 (1942)

Hey, not every Canadian comic could be as good as Nelvana (Captain Wonder's stablemate at Triumph). Saakel churned out some cheap super hero fare for very little pay and expected his work to be almost instantly forgotten. Between you and I, we've now spent more time considering Saakel's work than probably anyone else in the last few decades. As the history of Canadian super heroes continues to be unearthed and archived, Saakel is perhaps destined to a form of immortality and while he was no Adrian Dingle, he was (probably) not malicious about tracing other people's work. And what better artist to be rediscovered in this age of reboots and relaunches than a tracer? He was into retellings before it was cool!

A new round of coast-to-coast media promotion!

Once again I'm in the news - this time appearing in an article for the Calgary Herald. Canadians continue to be fascinated by the character Nelvana of the Northern Lights and, as a decently-educated and willing comics scholar, I've again submitted to their wishes. You may read the Calgary Herald article (with video) here! The story has also run in various other city papers, including Vancouver, Regina & Ottawa.

I'm sure I made some errors - like, it occurred to me later that if you consider Fantomah a super hero then she predates Nelvana. I suppose it comes down to semantics, like whether you think the Phantom is a super hero or not.

Anyway, I much prefer these interviews to the sort I did back in my Marvel days - I found it difficult to talk passionately about the Marvel projects while knowing the interviews were primarily intended to serve as marketing. Now I'm not selling anything and I think I'm a lot more authentic.

More Canadian whites on Kickstarter!

Earlier this year, Rachel Richey & Hope Nicholson combined efforts to produce a quite successful Kickstarter for Nelvana of the Northern Lights (as I've mentioned on this blog before). With "Canadian whites" (original Canadian comic book content of the 1940s) being so expensive and only lightly researched over the decades, it's a tremendous gift to see this renewed interest in the field.

With Nelvana in the rearview mirror, Richey's new Kickstarter project is a collection for perhaps the best-known Canadian adventure hero of the 1940s - Johnny Canuck, a Bell Features hero like Nelvana.

For her part, Hope Nicholson is now creating a collection for Brok Windsor, a Maple Leaf Comics hero who's quite obscure, but I'm fascinated to learn more about him.

Maybe I'm a little more excited than most about these projects - in the last year I've gone from being pretty ignorant about my home & native land's 1940s books to being able to rattle off the history of the "whites," the major creators and characters at the drop of the hat (which I've had to do thanks to the media attention the Nelvana book brought to my workplace).

These are new Kickstarter projects but have brought in money so quickly they're pretty dang certain to fund themselves. I mention them here not so much to promote the Kickstarters as to get the word out - anyone who missed out on the excitement of their book about Nelvana (or who is looking forward to IDW's release of their book), make sure you get in on Johnny Canuck & Brok Windsor too!

From IDW in October

Usually when I post solicitations it's to promote something I had a hand in creating; in this instance, it's something where my involvement ended with the Kickstarter project, but I think you should consider this puppy:

Nelvana of the Northern Lights—CERTIFIED COOL

Adrian Dingle (w & a & c) Nelvana of the Northern Lights returns from the lost pages of Adrian Dingle’s Triumph Comics! Nelvana was one of the world’s very first super-heroines, predating Wonder Woman by several months, and is among the ranks of the first Canadian superheroes to emerge after Canada placed an embargo on US luxury goods during WWII. First appearing in 1941, Nelvana was tasked with protecting Canada’s northern lands. Using the powers of the northern lights, Nelvana could fly at incredibly fast speeds, become invisible, and even turn into dry ice! She used her great powers to ward off Nazi invaders, shady fur traders, subterranean mammoth men, and inter-dimensional ether people.

Featuring an introduction by editors Hope Nicholson and Rachel Richey, and foreword/afterword by Dr. Benjamin Woo and Michael Hirsh. HC • FC • $39.99 • 352 pages • ISBN: 978-1-63140-128-2

Nelvana was one of the world’s first super-heroines, predating Wonder Woman! For the first time, her complete adventures are collected in one volume!

I've already given interviews to CBC Radio & Utoday about this book and, happily, now it will be available worldwide thanks to IDW! More books celebrating the "Canadian whites" heroes will be arriving from this tome's author. I hope Dingle's other great hero the Penguin will get his due eventually!

Another story about me and my ego

It's a little strange to me to find myself back in the public eye, years after leaving Marvel, but that's what's happened over the last week and all over a single e-mail intended only for my immediate colleagues.

I helped support the Kickstarter for the book Nelvana of the Northern Lights, which collected all of the 1940s adventures of Nelvana, Canada's first super-heroine. Happily, we at the University of Calgary were asked to help provide material for the book, so I found myself able to support the publication from two separate ends!

Receiving the book last week, I informed my colleagues that University of Calgary Archives had received a special thank you for our efforts; there I thought it would end, but the story grew from there as the rest of campus became interested. As of this writing, it's led to a story at UToday (read it here) and may yet lead to me appearing on radio or television to speak more about the George Morley Collection, which, despite having been in our hands for most of a decade, hasn't received a great deal of attention until recently, largely because of my efforts.

Compared to the days when I had to struggle to get anyone interested in promoting my work at Marvel, I rather enjoy this set-up - people approach me, ask if I'd like to talk to them about comics and voila, the media machine takes over!