The character re-emerged during World War II in the February 1942 issue of Bell Features' Dime Comics #1.[2] Cartoonist Leo Bachle created the character as a teenager, apparently on a challenge from a Bell executive. Initially, Johnny Canuck had no superpowers. Johnny Canuck's cartoon exploits helped Canada fight against Nazism. Like Captain America, he met Adolf Hitler and almost single-handedly ended the war.
The use of such stock figures diminished in popularity after World War II, but in 1975, a new comic book character, Captain Canuck, emerged. Created by Richard Comely (who at the time was unaware of the earlier Johnny Canuck character), Captain Canuck was a costumed superhero rather than just a hero, and he wore red and white tights and bore a red maple leaf emblazoned on the forehead of his mask.
In 1995, Canada Post issued a series of Canadian postage stamps celebrating Canada's comic-book superheroes.[3] Johnny Canuck is depicted as he appeared in the comic books, dressed in flight jacket, goggles, leather headgear and boots. Johnny Canuck is linked to a tradition of stalwart, honest, upstanding Canadian heroes.
Ty Templeton and Moonstone Books resurrected the character in a comic originally called Johnny Canuck and the Guardians of the Northern Lights and then re-titled The Northern Guard, which published two issues in December 2010 and March 2011.
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In the mid-1990s, Harold Berndt, the former director of marketing and assistant general manager for the major junior Western Hockey League's New Westminster Bruins,[6][7] visited the BC Sports Hall of Fame. He obtained a photo of the vintage 1950s logo, originally inspired by a Dawson Creek BC team,[5] and by the 1960s had begun to be referred to by fans as "Johnny Canuck". He created the first major redesign and a campaign for "Johnny Canuck" to become the Vancouver Canucks' new logo,[8] Berndt released his logo redesign to the internet by December 1996[9] advocating that "Johnny Canuck" would make the best new logo for the Vancouver Canucks.[10]
In October 1999, Kevin Sander applied for a "Johnny Canuck" logo as a trademark and subsequently sold a similar modified version to the Canucks.[11]
In 2006, a vintage-inspired goaltender mask worn by Canucks' goaltender Roberto Luongo featured the older style "Johnny Canuck" logo.[12] The following season, Luongo's new mask once again featured a "Johnny Canuck", but more prominently than his previous design.[13] Beginning in 2008–09, the Canucks introduced "Johnny Canuck" on the shoulder patch of their third jersey.[14] The full body Johnny Canuck logo was then recreated by graphic designer Evan Biswanger in 2009.
In October 2022, the Canucks revealed their reverse retro jersey which featured Johnny Canuck as the logo.[16]
Stage play by Ken Gass
In 1974, Toronto's Factory Theatre staged a play based on the Johnny Canuck character, written by Ken Gass and entitled "Hurray for Johnny Canuck".[17]
Bachle, Leo (2015). Richey, Rachel (ed.). Johnny Canuck. Foreword by Seth; Leo Bachle biography by Robert Pincombe; other stories by André Kulbach and Paul Dak. Toronto: Comic Syrup Press. ISBN978-0-9940547-0-8.
References
^Fee, Margery; McAlpine, Janice (1997). Guide to Canadian English usage (First ed.). Toronto: Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN0195408411. By the turn of the century Johnny Canuck was being used to personify Canada in the same way that John Bull personifies England and Uncle Sam the United States.