Johnny Canuck is a piece of Canadian history. Let's get him back in the Game!

On the 1 September 1939, Adolf Hitler ordered the German Wehrmacht to invade Poland. The United Kingdom, then allies with the Poles and having pledged support in the event of an invasion, immediately declared war on the German Reich and the Second World War had begun. For Canadians however, the beginning of this conflict was not immediate. Twenty-five years earlier when Britain declared war on the Central Powers (which included Germany) it was done by King George V in the name of the British Empire and Canada was automatically in the conflict. But by 1939 things had changed. Eight years prior, the UK parliament had passed the Statute of Westminster which ended British control of the Empire's foreign policy and Canada’s government was now free to make up its own decisions about a response to Hitler's aggression. These new powers notwithstanding, the Canadian parliament wasted little time and on 8 September 1939, Nazi Germany also found itself at war with Canada.   

A Canadian World War II propaganda poster by Henri Eveleigh. Although the Statute of Westminster meant Canada was now (almost completely) independent, it was never-the-less still very close to Britain.  

Over the course of the Second World War, Canada would contribute a great deal to the overall effort. This included over 1.1 million people (out of a population of slightly over 11 million total citizens in 1939) and considerable materiel and supplies for its own and the British war effort. Indeed, in the same month that President Roosevelt proclaimed that the United States would become the "Arsenal of Democracy" and start selling mutations to Britain and Canada, the Canadian parliament passed the War Exchange Conservation Act, 1940. This law stopped the importation of "non-essential" items into Canada with the purpose of curbing its mounting trade deficit with the United States. A casualty of this new law were both magazines and the cultural phenomenon that was started in 1938, in part, by a talented young artist from Toronto: comic books.

Image from Johnny Canuck #1

But as is often the case, the War Exchange Conservation Act had some unintended consequences and one of these was the prolific growth in homegrown comic books, based largely on Canadian tropes and geared to Canadian consumers. Sure, the superhero trend started by Action Comics #1 had reached across the somewhat porous American border and many Canadian superheroes were similar to their US counterparts. But others, like Johnny Canuck, focused on the Canadian war effort and spoke to a young audience that had this on their minds. Johnny Canuck wasn't a superhero per se, but that didn't stop him from doing many of the things his super-soldier ally from Brooklyn did, including beating the crap out of Adolf Hitler! With Johnny there was an emphasis on the skills Canadians liked to think their "regular" soldiers, sailors and airmen had too: derring-do, intelligence, fighting-spirit and skills, among many others.

Johnny Canuck stamp issued as part of 1995 Canadian Superheros collection from Canada Post. Johnny Canuck was often portrayed as a pilot.

First appearing in Dime Comics #1 (February 1942) and published for 38 issues, Johnny Canuck was a hit with Canadian readers for much of the war. But unfortunately, his fame was short-lived and unlike many of his American contemporaries, he has not been seen since. Well, that's until now, because in July of this year my friend Rachel Richey, a comics historian and successful co-publisher of the 1940s Nelvana of the Northern Lights comics has launched another Kickstarter campaign to bring Johnny back to print. Rachel is hoping to re-print all issues of Johnny's run and WGTB is looking forward to delving back into the stories of a Canadian icon!

If you haven't done so already done so, please consider supporting Rachel's Kickstarter project by visiting it here. Rachel has also assembled a team of some of the best in the business to support her cause and as of today is only a few thousand dollars short. Please jump on this bandwagon today because the campaign to get Johnny Canuck back in the game ends August 27th. Tally-ho! 

The Avengers, Omega Flight & Westminster style Executive Government

While rereading Avengers Vol. 5 #10 recently I noticed (remembered!) how the story took the Avengers to Canada where we had an alien force take over Regina, the capital city of the province of Saskatchewan. Canada's Department H had reluctantly called in S.H.I.E.L.D. and the US-based Avengers for help when this little gem of dialogue appeared: 

Image from Marvel's Avengers Vol. 5 #10 (June 2013) Written by Jonathan Hickman, Pencils by Mike Deodato, Colours by Frank Martin, Letters by Cory Petit.

Image from Marvel's Avengers #10.

A military department with nuclear weapons that "his government" (and by this I presume the elected politicians) doesn't know about. Could this even happen in Canada? Could there be such a disconnect between a government department and the elected leadership that, as Logan suggests an "old school" government agency could have access to nukes that nobody knows about? And if so could this thing even be legal? This piece will examine this issue using the history of both the Canadian and British parliamentary systems as well as the current law that governs the Department of National Defence to explain how this in fact could not happen. Legal issues aside, this was an enjoyable story is not an indictment of the actual writing or art in any way. 

Canada is what can be called a Westminster democracy because it is modelled after the UK’s parliament located in Westminster, London. The British parliament has been a model for many democracies around the world, not just those 16 states that share Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. Naturally, as these different states have evolved they have made subtle changes to better reflect the realities of their geographic and political realities, but in essence Westminster systems tend to remain quite similar. Examples of such changes include Australia, which while sharing the Queen has an elected upper chamber, whereas members of their British and Canadian equivalents, the House of Lords and Senate of Canada respectively, are appointed by the Queen on the advice of their prime minister.  Since 1982 Canada has also had an entrenched constitution with a Charter of Rights and Freedoms which is a legal document that while allowing for both the federal parliament in Ottawa and the provincial legislatures to pass laws, also serves as an entrenched check against these legislatures and their laws have been found to be unconstitutional and struck down by the courts. Westminister style states can also include republican countries such as Israel or India who have presidents yet operate in a similar fashion as their monarchical cousins and have prime ministers who make the political decisions and are elected members of parliament. 

The UK's MI: 13 (The MI stands for "Military Intelligence" and dates back to WWII) would follow a similar chain of command as Canada's Department H, as Canada's system of governance was largely modelled after the UK's. Image from Marvel's Revolutionary War: Alpha (March 2014) Written by Andy Lanning & Alan Cowsill, Art by Rich Elson, Colours by Antonio Fabela.

History

While the history of parliamentary governance reaches back further than the Norman invasion of England in 1066, it's here where we’ll begin our discussion. It was that pivotal year that the Normandy-based duke William conquered England and took the kingship of the realm. Not knowing the country as well as he might, the new king and his descendants set about inviting England’s landowners to join in the governance of the consolidated kingdom. Over time these aristocrats grew robust in the defence of their newly acquired rights and responsibilities and by the early 1200s were in rebellion against one of William's lesser decendents, John. So it was in 1215 that John was made to sign Magna Carta, which subjected him to the law and disallowed him from raising taxes or an army without their consent. From John onwards, certain favourites or competent individuals would assume positions of power and influence and the early stages of ministerial government developed.

But it was in the seventeenth century that things came to a fore. In 1603 James VI of Scotland became the King of England upon the death of his cousin Elizabeth I and this brought a different tone to the governance of England. James was influenced by continental rhetoric that envisioned a more centralized and monarch-centred ideal and soon set out to implement this as policy. This thinking became even more pronounced when James' son Charles assumed the English throne and would culminate when parliamentary and royalist forces went to war in the English Civil War (1642 to 1651). This war ultimately led to Charles’s execution, but when the republican experiment failed, Charles's son (Charles II) was invited to become King. When he died, his brother assumed the throne but being Catholic, was unacceptable to England’s largely Protestant aristocracy. So when James II finally became unpalatable for English nobles, they invited the Dutch Prince William of Orange (who was married to James’ daughter Mary) to become co-regent with his wife. But in order to become King, William was made to sign a contract of sorts – called the Bill of Rights of 1689 – containing a number of provisions of which the king had to adhere. These included a prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, jury trials for criminal matters and other such things.

The marker denoting the site in Westminster Hall where Charles Stuart, King of England was sentenced to death. Photo by Blogger.

Westminster Hall. This is the oldest party of the Palace of Westminster. The above shown plaque is on the stairs. Photo by Blogger.

Giving the crown to William and Mary under such conditions represented a seismic shift in the constitutional status of England. By setting conditions, the nobles and the representative body of parliament ascended into an arrangement with the King that changed the legal landscape. Henceforth, it was the "King-In-Parliament" that had sovereign power in England and not only could the King not act unilaterally (as per Magna Carta), if a law was passed in parliament it was indisputably the law of the land and the only thing parliament could not do is pass a law that bound itself. The Crown's prerogative powers – which was the body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, that was the sole prerogative of the sovereign and included defence, foreign affairs and keeping the peace – were largely maintained and would remain considerable until gradually chipped away by parliamentary statute. But the legal Rubicon had been crossed and parliament was now a sovereign body that could make laws as it decided. Mary died in 1693 and William in 1702 and eventually the crown passed to Anne, Mary’s sister. But when Anne died without an heir, the closest protestant candidate was George, Elector of Hanover, a German who could not speak English. Because of these linguistic issues by the end of George’s reign, much of the responsibilities for the governance of the realm were on the shoulders of a parliamentarian named Sir Robert Walpole and he is largely considered Britain’s (and therefore the Commonwealth’s) first Prime Minister. 

A century and a half later in 1867, when the three colonies of British North America came together to form Canada, its establishing act from the British parliament called the British North America Act stated in its preamble that the newly formed Canada was to be a federal union of "One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom." 

Ministerial Government

Which brings us back to the question at hand: could a Canadian Prime Minister or Minister of Defence not know that the department which he or she ultimately controls has access nuclear weapons? Currently, the Prime Minister of Canada is selected by the Governor-General of Canada (the Queen's representative in Canada) to become PM. This is usually done after an election in which the party he or she leads wins the most seats in parliament. Once this happens, the Prime Minister-elect sets about deciding on who will join him or her to form the Canadian Ministry, which over time by constitutional convention (these are not laws but conventions that have evolved) has taken the prerogative powers of the Crown and become their sole exerciser. These are typically other Members of Parliament and are chosen not just for their competence but other politically calculated considerations which include but are not limited to province of origin, ethnicity, city or constituency.  

All of these Canadian government resources are ultimately under the control of a minister who must answer to the House of Commons. Image from Marvel's Avengers #10.

Once a minister is chosen, he or she is sworn into the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada. The Privy Council's active component are those individuals who are responsible for running or assisting with the operations of government departments such as the Ministry of Finance, Justice Canada or the Department of National Defence. Leaders of the Opposition are also sworn into the Privy Council so they can have access to secret information, but they do not head a government department and actively oppose the government in the House of Commons where each minister is held to account. Because of this, it is ultimately the minister who is responsible for its bureaucrats and employees. So if Department H were to acquire nuclear weapons without the Minister of National Defence knowing, this would be counter the National Defence Act, 1985 which reads in Section 4:

 

The Minister holds office during pleasure, has the management and direction of the Canadian Forces and of all matters relating to national defence and is responsible for

• (a) the construction and maintenance of all defence establishments and works for the defence of Canada; and
• (b) research relating to the defence of Canada and to the development of and improvements in materiel.

Remember this law was passed by the heir of the sovereign parliament of 1689 and is very clear: the Minister of Defence is responsible for all matters relating to national defence. So even if Department H was created by a separate statute by the Canadian parliament (to my knowledge Marvel has never stated which statute created Department H) it would most likely be governed by similar language as the NDA and would ultimately have a minister responsible for it. Because of this, Logan's "old school" friends with their secret arsenal are clearly operating outside of the law and counter to centuries of both historical negotiation and constitutional and legal development.

WGTB Reviews The Life and Times of Conrad Black: A Wordless Biography

Few Canadians are more polarizing than Baron Conrad Moffat Black of Crossharbour. Born in Montreal, Quebec to beer baron George Montegu Black Jr., and his wife, the daughter of an insurance magnate, Jean Elizabeth Riley, Black was educated in such bastions of the Canadian establishment as Upper Canada College and the Trinity College School (both Toronto in the area) before completing degrees at Carleton, Laval and McGill universities, finishing in 1973. Education notwithstanding, it was seven years prior that Black started down the road towards what he is best known for – being a newspaper proprietor – when he purchased the fledgling Quebec-based Eastern Townships Advertiser in 1966. This would lead to Black and his family starting the investment company Ravelston Corporation and the systematic acquisition of newspapers across the globe over the course of the next three decades. Black and the companies he controlled would eventually go on to own such influential broadsheets as the Chicago Sun-Times, The Jerusalem Post and Britain's Daily Telegraph.
 

The Life and Times of Conrad Black: A Wordless Biography, George A. Walker, The Porcupine’s Quill, 2013, pp. 221, C$22.95

But all this would change in July 2007 when – after a very public trial – he was convicted in a Chicago court of corporate fraud and sentenced to six and a half years in a US federal prision. He would go on to serve only three and a half years after which he returned to Canada where he currently resides in a tony Toronto neighbourhood. The Life and Times of Conrad Black: A Wordless Biography by George A. Walker is an unorthodox treatment of the above story done through 100 prints of wood engravings. So while this book is not a graphic novel in the conventional sense of the phrase, it is nevertheless a very interesting take on one of the most loquacious and controversial Canadian exports of recent memory.

Lord Black, the Baron of Crossharbour was given a Life Peerage by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2001. This was opposed by Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who citing the 1919 Nickle Resolution, a motion in the Canadian House of Commons that prevented Canadians from recieving British honours, forced the two parties to go to court. The case Black v Chretien in the Ontario Court of Appeal saw Black lose his case and subsequently give up his Canadian citizenship. All images from The Life and Times of Conrad Black.    

The book starts with a well written introduction by the author who explains the purpose and goal of the book, making it clear this is not a hit piece and should not be viewed as one. Rather, the book tells the story of Conrad Black's life through masterfully crafted images and transitions one image at a time from his earliest beginnings to his resettlement in Canada after prison. As a long-time reader of comics, I have often heard that the panels of graphic storytelling should be thought of as the highlight moments of a longer narrative such as a TV show, film or novel and this book takes that to an extreme. In 100 images you see such mountains as Black being made a member of the Order of Canada and valleys as his incarceration by the US government. Other significant images include meeting Pope John Paul II, a significant event for a convert Roman Catholic and Black sweeping the floor of a prison cell. 

Conrad Black after purchasing the Daily Telegraph. The "Torygraph" was an extension of Black's conservative ideology in the UK.    

Pope John Paul II was a towering figure in conservative politics of the 1980s and Black, having been received into the Church in 1986, would not have missed an opportunity to meet the pontiff.

But it would all come crashing down in 2007 when Conrad Black was convicted of fraud in a Chicago court.

This is an interesting book and as mentioned, a very unorthodox telling of Conrad Black’s story. As a work of art it is a very well done and an accomplishment in so many ways. It does lack as a work of history; not having the information to give readers a sense of who this man is. But that's clearly not the point, and the book in so many ways is a superlative expression of Black's flawed and complicated humanity. And in this respect it's very good. When Black achieves, he is represented as doing such. When he fails, he is fairly represented as well. In this reviewers mind, the above cited image of Baron Black of Crossharbour sweeping a prison floor remains the most potent and is emblematic of not only Black's failings, but how fleeting each and every one of our own successes can be. With a $22 price point it is an expensive purchase for what amounts to a half hour read, but it is still an interesting and well crafted work of art. Read in conjunction with a solid history, it would certainly be valuable at highlighting the key moments in Conrad Black's life, giving the reader a much better sense of who Lord Black is.  

Admittedly, before his fall from grace, I was an admirer of Black and this is what attracted me to the book. Having read his books on US presidents Roosevelt and Nixon, I continue to admire him as an historian, but as a convicted felon the lasting image I'll have of him is that of carrying Bankers Boxes of corporate documents from his Toronto office. Nevertheless, like the subject of the book or not, The Life and Times of Conrad Black: A Wordless Biography and its 200 images is a remarkable account of the life of a remarkable individual and a very interesting "read" overall.  4/5 STARS

WGTB Reviews Two Generals

I remember back in 2005 when I prepared a eulogy for my grandfather. I wanted to write something that was both short and enjoyable, yet grasped the gravitas of a long and distinguished aviation career that began as a fighter pilot in the early 1940s. Coming from small town Saskatchewan, Grandpa learned to fly in Canada before heading to Britain and eventually fighting over North Africa and Europe, ultimately surviving the war and returning to a career as a bush and corporate pilot. Being a humble man, Grandpa never bragged about his remarkable career but would occasionally sprinkle his conversations with fascinating stories about the various adventures he had during the war at Christmas and Easter dinners or at the mutual birthday parties we celebrated (I was born on his 57th birthday).  

Two Generals, Scott Chantler, McClelland & Stewart, 2010, pp. 145, C$ 27.99

I mention Grandpa because he came to mind as I read Two Generals, a graphic book by Canadian writer and artist Scott Chantler. In Two Generals Chantler tells the story of his own grandfather, Law Chantler and Law's best friend Jack Chrysler who both fought in the same war my grandfather did. Grandpa is also the reason that, while I don't normally review books almost four years old, I had to write this piece to tell my readers how much I enjoyed it.

Two Generals is a story about two friends serving in the Second World War. The book was written and drawn by one of these men's grandsons. All images from Two Generals.

As mentioned, Two Generals tells the story of two good friends. Not generals, but commissioned officers from Canada during the Second World War. From their origins in small Ontario towns, the two friends head off -- one married and the other a charming bachelor -- to do their part to end Hitler’s tyranny and win the war for King and country. Throughout the story we follow the lads and their experiences as they join the army, head to England, drink and enjoy themselves in London, train for battle and then, after waiting and waiting, finally launch towards France. As members of the Highland Light Infantry of Canada, the men arrive during “Operation Overlord” (better known as the D-Day invasion) and after helping secure Juno Beach, head into occupied France where they experience the same highs, lows and horrors that so many of their friends and colleagues did during that hellish time.

The book is mostly grey, olive green and white, with red used to illustrate danger-focused points.

The story is both a tribute to the two soldiers and educational experience about the horrors and frustrations of war. The art, while not especially complex has a delightful story-telling quality and matches the flow of the dialogue and overall narrative seamlessly. It also selectively uses the colour red to mark points of hazard, which is very effective and gives the reader a sense of foreboding and danger as it happens. All of this makes it a very accessible book for a non-comic book reader and my father for example, not having read a comic book since the 1960s, was able to pick up Two Generals and get into the story immediately. And of course part of this book's charm is that it's a great story. We often hear about the bonds people forge during the toils of war – this is something I knew about my Grandpa – he loved his squadron buddies as much as anyone in his family. How these types of friendship are formed in very clear from this story and when the author describes how Law and Jack's friendship came to an abrupt end towards the end, it literally brought a tear to my eye. It was that sad. 

While focusing on the army, Two Generals doesn't ignore the overall horror that all those fighting faced.

Simply put, this book is a credit to the comic book medium and a great way to introduce any reader to both comics and the history of the Second World War. It doesn't glorify wars, rather explains what happens to many of the people who go off to fight in them. My only problem with the book is that it seems to have a slightly higher price-point than needed, and this might dissuade buyers. This issue won't really be a problem for teachers and libraries, and is probably mitigated by the fact that it's available in softcover now, but if you're looking to spend a little more than you might normally for a trade paperback, then I highly recommend Two Generals. I guarantee you'll read it again and might even share it with someone who's interested in WWII. 4.5/5 STARS