University of SaskatchewanHARVEST
  • Login
  • Submit Your Research
  • About
    • About HARVEST
    • Guidelines
    • Browse
      • All of HARVEST
      • Communities & Collections
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
      • This Collection
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
    • My Account
      • Login
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
      View Item 
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item

      Chasing Captain Canada: National Identity Challenged Through Superheroes In Canadian Comic Books

      Thumbnail
      View/Open
      REDFORD-THESIS-2020.pdf (803.1Kb)
      Date
      2020-09-02
      Author
      Redford, Jasmine
      ORCID
      0000-0002-8135-4665
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      This thesis explores the connections between nationalism and the superheroic effigy in domestically produced Canadian superhero comics, with an eye on how Indigenous superhero comics published within Canada may enrich or complicate this landscape. Domestically produced comics and/or graphic novels are defined in this thesis as ones authored and published within Canada. Canadian-produced comics often fail to reach the heights they grope towards: an uncomplicated heroism. In this thesis, heroism is separated from Canadian heroism, which is further troubled through visual and textual representations of nationalisms—maple leaves, arctic climates—and expressions and appropriations of Indigeneity as it pertains to the superhero. These Canadian nationalisms, dovetailing with the supposed Canadian inferiority complex, have slowed down the growth of this genre while simultaneously leaving room for it to expand through the Canadian compulsion to trouble its own nationalisms. Unsettled nationalisms, as they appear in superhero comics—a canon that has traveled the spectrum of gentle incredulity to effigy—prompt Canadians to ask themselves if they have a need for superheroes, or if Canadian superheroes can only fill the roles of super defenders. The thesis examines the superheroes Nelvana from Adrian Dingle’s Nelvana of the Northern Lights (1941), Captain Canuck from Richard Comely’s Captain Canuck (1975), Northguard from Mark Shainblum and Gabriel Morrissette’s New Triumph Featuring Northguard (1984), and Kagagi from Jay Odjick’s (Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg) Kagagi: The Raven (2010). An exploration of these comics, supported by comic book theory, theories of nationalism in Canadian literature, and scholarship on representations of Indigenous peoples in graphic literatures, shows that the text, the art, and the intersections of both express and challenge outlooks on Canadian heroic figures, while the perspectives of Indigenous people living in Canada both adhere to and complicate these conclusions.
      Degree
      Master of Arts (M.A.)
      Department
      English
      Program
      English
      Supervisor
      Roy, Wendy
      Committee
      Banco, Lindsey; Hunnef, Jenna; Bath, Jon; Martin, Ann
      Copyright Date
      September 2020
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/12993
      Subject
      superheroes, comic books, graphic novels, Canadian comics, Nelvana, Captain Canunck, Northguard, Kagagi
      Collections
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      University of Saskatchewan

      University Library

      © University of Saskatchewan
      Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy