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.

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!