Ice Maiden Extraordinaire

Some Canadians are aware of the fact that artists from this country have long played a significant role in the growth and development of the U.S.-dominated comic book industry. Toronto-born Joe Shuster, along with Jerry Siegel, created one of DC Comics’ greatest superheroes, Superman. Marvel Comics gave us not only the popular and incredibly complex Canadian superhero Wolverine, but also a long-running series with a Canadian superhero group, Alpha Flight. On the independent comics scene, Richard Comely’s appropriately named Captain Canuck arrived in the 1970s, followed by David Boswell’s Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman and the controversial Dave Sim’s Cerebus.

Most of us, however, do not know this: there was a time in this country when the only comic books children could buy with their allowances and milk money were created by Canadians. This period has been called the “Canadian Whites” (most comic book pages were black and white, with colour usually reserved...