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Golden Age of Canadian Comic Books
Time span1941 – 1947

Canadian Whites are World War II-era comic books published in Canada that feature colour covers with black-and-white interiors. Notable characters include Nelvana of the Northern Lights,[a] Johnny Canuck, Brok Windsor, and Canada Jack. The period has been called the Golden Age of Canadian comics.

Background[edit]

See also: The Great Canadian Comic Books

For the most part, the "Whites" have colour covers with interiors printed in black ink on white paper,[1][2] although there are a handful of comics with colour interiors.[1] They proliferated in Canada after the War Exchange Conservation Act[3] restricted the importation of non-essential goods from the United States into Canada, including fiction periodicals.[1] For this reason, this era is sometimes referred to as the "WECA period" and the comics are sometimes referred to as "WECA books."[4]

At least four companies took advantage of the situation by publishing comics in Canada, sometimes using imported scripts. Anglo-American Publishing of Toronto and Maple Leaf Publishing in Vancouver started publishing in March 1941. Later, two other Toronto-based publishers joined in: Hillborough Studios that August, and Bell Features (originally Commercial Signs of Canada[5]) in September.[1]

Some of the more notable "Whites" creators included Ed Furness, Ted McCall, Adrian Dingle, Gerald Lazare, Jon St. Ables, Fred Kelly, and Leo Bachle, all of whom would later be inducted into the Joe Shuster Award's Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame.[2]

This period has been called the Golden Age of Canadian comics,[6] but the age of the "Whites" did not last long.[2] When the trade restrictions were lifted following World War II,[b] comic books from the United States were once again able to flow across the border.

Influence and Legacy[edit]

In their depictions of heroic positive role models, the Canadian Whites served an important propaganda function for Canadian readers during the war years.[11]

The animation studio Nelvana took its name from Adrian Dingle's creation, and one of the studio's first productions was a documentary about the Canadian Whites, The Great Canadian Comic Books.[12]

The rediscovery of these comics by a new generation in the 1970s inspired a slew of new Canadian superheroes over the next decades, including everything from obscure fanzines, to webcomics, to graphic novels by bestselling authors like Margaret Atwood and Ken Steacy's War Bears.[13]

The 2014 documentary Lost Heroes: The Untold Story of Canadian Superheroes began by covering this era.[14]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ the first female Canadian superhero, predating Wonder Woman by several months
  2. ^ the import prohibition was repealed, effective August 1, 1944,[7] but foreign exchange controls effectively prevented American comics from returning until the end of the war. The prohibition was revived in 1947[8] and continued until the end of 1950.[9][10]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d John Bell (2002-06-24). "Beyond the Funnies: Canadian Golden Age of Comics, 1941-1946". Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
  2. ^ a b c "Canadian Golden Age Comics Online". Joe Shuster Awards. 9 June 2009. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
  3. ^ The War Exchange Conservation Act, 1940, S.C. 1940-41, c. 2
  4. ^ Kocmarek, Ivan (March 21, 2013). "Why WECA?". Comic Book Daily. Retrieved June 6, 2024. "WECA" is an acronym for the War Exchange Conservation Act brought into being by the parliament of Canada on Dec. 6, 1940 prohibiting the importation of "non-essential" materials into the country including magazines and comics from the U.S. This produced a comic vacuum in our country and before March (though the cover dates were indeed March, we well know that comics physically appear on newsstands at least a month ahead of their cover dates) of the next year a few enterprising young men in Toronto and Vancouver had Better Comics No. 1 and Robin Hood Comics No. 1 in the hands of eager kids across the land.
  5. ^ Walter Durajlija (2011-11-22). "Undervalued Spotlight #103: Better Comics #1, Maple Leaf Comics, March 1941". comicbookdaily.com. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
  6. ^ John Bell, ed. (1986). Canuck Comics. Special contributions from Luc Pomerleau and Robert MacMillan; Foreword by Harlan Ellison. Downsview: Matrix Books/Eden Press. ISBN 0-921101-00-7.
  7. ^ An Act to amend The War Exchange Conservation Act, 1940, S.C. 1944, c. 50
  8. ^ initially under "SOR/47-885". Canada Gazette, Part II. 81 (22): 2190–2204. November 26, 1947., until replaced by The Emergency Exchange Conservation Act, S.C. 1948, c. 7
  9. ^ "SOR/50-573". Canada Gazette, Part II. 85 (1): 7. January 10, 1951.
  10. ^ Kocmarek, Ivan (July 16, 2014). "FECA". comicbookdaily.com.
  11. ^ Maxwell-Turanski, Victoria (April 3, 2017). "The Relatable Hero: The Inception, Impact and Novelty of the Canadian Comic Hero During World War II in Commando Comics No. 16". Children's Literature Archive. Retrieved June 6, 2024. These comic book heroes were role models that gave unique hope to their avid readers.
  12. ^ Sanza, Eli (November 3, 2022). "The History of Nelvana". Entertainment Junkie Blog. Retrieved June 6, 2024. An ad agency actually said the name "Laff Arts" was too wacky to be taken seriously, so Hirsh, Loubert and Smith all decided to found a new studio in 1971 called Nelvana, named after the Canadian superhero Nelvana of the Northern Lights, created by English-Canadian cartoonist and illustrator Adrian Dingle and the first female superhero from Canada.
  13. ^ van Koeverden, Jane (Jun 19, 2019). "Ken Steacy teams up with Margaret Atwood to explore the Golden Age of Canadian comic books". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. I knew a lot about comics history, knew a lot about the trials and tribulations of creators and their relationship with their publishers and their relationship with the characters that they create and the intellectual property they create. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to expand on that. I contacted Margaret and pitched the idea of doing more with it. She was intrigued and we had spent a lovely afternoon brainstorming what was initially a three-issue mini series, which then became the graphic novel.
  14. ^ Veillette, Eric (28 February 2014). "A drink with a producer of Lost Heroes documentary". The Toronto Star.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

  • CBC video on the history of "Canadian Whites"
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