NORTHERN GUARD #1
Review by: kingdomofevan
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Size: pages
Price: 3.99
This review contains spoilers, click here to read
Ah, the Golden Age of Canadian Comics: Never have I been so fascinated with so many characters that I know so little about. Chances are you don't know much about them, either. From 1940 to 1945 - when wartime economic rationing kept American comics out of Canadian children's hands - they were the great national fad, a rich library of locally made superhero tales that, by the war's end, vanished as abruptly as they had appeared.
Doing a modern reboot of those stories is, admittedly, a big risk on Moonstone Books' part. Modern comics readers have no history with Canada's Golden Age; I've only ever read about them in history books. That's why I was so excited when I first heard Northern Guard was coming out, though I got worried when I heard this eclectic mix of characters would be glued together in a shared universe (in a post-apocalyptic future, no less).
The two pages of badly formatted expository text at the beginning of this issue only deepened my fears. But in a few pages, Ty Templeton had me willing to give this story a try. It's tightly written and fast-moving, with a well-rounded, classic feel to the dialogue and story. They threw a lot of characters into the mix, and I yelped when I saw some of the ones I recognized (look, it's Northguard! Captain Canuck!) The art is nothing to write home about - faces sometimes look weirdly pinched - but there are some well-executed action scenes, and the layout's clear and clean.
In case you forgot this is a book about Canadian heroes, they never let you forget it. There are maple leaves on everything. None of the characters are out-and-out Canuck stereotypes, except Trick Merlin, a long-haired hoser in a Habs jersey (of course hockey survived the apocalypse) who we see levitating Timbits with his mind. If he's the comic relief, I hope he's used sparingly. (You get a much better Trick Merlin story in the backup feature, a really well-drawn classic tale of Trick Merlin fighting crooked gamblers.)
All in all, a very solid first issue. When it's collected it'll be a great resource for Canadian comics history fans.
Doing a modern reboot of those stories is, admittedly, a big risk on Moonstone Books' part. Modern comics readers have no history with Canada's Golden Age; I've only ever read about them in history books. That's why I was so excited when I first heard Northern Guard was coming out, though I got worried when I heard this eclectic mix of characters would be glued together in a shared universe (in a post-apocalyptic future, no less).
The two pages of badly formatted expository text at the beginning of this issue only deepened my fears. But in a few pages, Ty Templeton had me willing to give this story a try. It's tightly written and fast-moving, with a well-rounded, classic feel to the dialogue and story. They threw a lot of characters into the mix, and I yelped when I saw some of the ones I recognized (look, it's Northguard! Captain Canuck!) The art is nothing to write home about - faces sometimes look weirdly pinched - but there are some well-executed action scenes, and the layout's clear and clean.
In case you forgot this is a book about Canadian heroes, they never let you forget it. There are maple leaves on everything. None of the characters are out-and-out Canuck stereotypes, except Trick Merlin, a long-haired hoser in a Habs jersey (of course hockey survived the apocalypse) who we see levitating Timbits with his mind. If he's the comic relief, I hope he's used sparingly. (You get a much better Trick Merlin story in the backup feature, a really well-drawn classic tale of Trick Merlin fighting crooked gamblers.)
All in all, a very solid first issue. When it's collected it'll be a great resource for Canadian comics history fans.
Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 2 - Average
Art: 2 - Average
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