"Not so fast, Nazi dog! Time for a taste of the True North, Strong and Free! KaPOW!" - Johnny Canuck, Two-Fisted Tales #11, "Secret of the U-boat Menace!", April 1940
An all-together
forgotten Canadian hero of
World War Two comic books, the
Fightin' Canadian first appeared in Two-Fisted Tales #7 in
November 1939, published by the tiny Toronto-based comic house,
Mapleleaf Pulps.
Johnny Canuck was a skilled woodsman, trapping
furs in the deep Canadian woods, when he was caught up in a mysterious
snowstorm. Blinded by the driving winds and vicious
cold, Johnny desperately wandered in search of
shelter. Lost beyond all hope, he stumbled into a
mystical grove of pines, ringed with huge leering
totem poles. Seemingly safe from the storm, Canuck discovered he had a new problem: a pack of
ravenous white wolves, advancing on him. The storm raged outside the circle of totems, trapping Johnny inside an impromptu
gladiatorial arena. Fighting the wolves barehanded, Johnny is gravely injured. He is saved at the last minute by a ghostly native medicine man,
Inuk Shuk. Inuk brings Johnny back from the edge of death by using the power of the animal
totem poles which guard the
Sacred Grove of the Hero. Transformed, Johnny becomes the super-strong and bulletproof
Fightin' Canadian, complete with costume consisting of a full Canadian army uniform with a trench coat and cap minus the shirt, which is replaced by a white costume shirt emblazoned with a trinity of
red maple leaves, a
domino mask and mighty stone gauntlets, named
Strong (right) and
Free (left). Inuk then explains the price of salvation to Johnny. "A great evil rises like the winter sun. You must fight,
white-man, fight for all Canada!". Johnny thanks Inuk, and pledges to forever fight against those who would threaten the "
Dominion of Canada".
Thus, a hero is born!
From this first appearance in Mapleleaf's flagship, "
Two-Fisted Tales", until his last appearance in "
Johnny Canuck, the Fightin' Canadian" #23", the Fightin' Canadian punched his way into the hearts of a generation of youngsters. After a quick meeting with the
Prime Minister,
Mackensie King, the Fightin' Canadian was sent off on thrilling secret missions in
war-torn Europe. One of the highlights of Fightin' Canadian stories where the
grisly assortment of over-the-top
Nazi villains that opposed our hero.
Gordie Burton, creator, author and artist on almost all Fightin' Canuck stories, had a definite flair for writing devilishly evil villains.
Kommandant Heinrick Von Krieg, director of the SS Superweapons programs, was Johnny's key
nemesis, a brilliant Nazi scientist, prone to bouts of
megalomania and
fiendish scheming. Readers longed to see his dastardly
monocle knocked out by a well placed punch from their hero. Von
Kreig was a fan of elaborate
deathtraps, in which Johnny would find himself regularly trapped at the end of
issues. Scholars have debated the effectiveness of this
matinee cliffhanger story structure on the
disperse Canadian population. Mapleleaf was one of very few Canadian pulp printers that mailed out
subscriptions, and their distribution was spotty at best. Rural readers could go months between issues, in which school yard debates could grow
heated. Only the next issue would answer the hotly contested questions like "Will our hero survive the dastardly deathray?". This unintentional word of mouth marketing, coupled with the hero's distinctly Canadian references and dialogue; "
Holy Halifax!" was his favored expression of shock; drove domestic sales to astronomical numbers.
Mapleleaf, seeing a huge jump in sales of "Two-Fisted Tales" issues that featured the Fightin' Canadian, launched "
Johnny Canuck, The Fightin' Canadian" in February, 1940, for the unheard of
cover price of 12 cents. It was an instant
smash hit. Johnny punched his way through Von Kreig and a parade of classic villains:
Ruhr, the Man of Iron, The living tank
Panzer, Dr.
Neechee and his hideous
Uber-men,
Swastitron and menacing Swastibots, and the mysterious and deadly Sons of
Wotan, a secret mystical Nazi society. Von Kreig and his SS scientists also menaced our heroes with spectacular
super-weapons, with names like
Thor's Hammer,
Odin's Eye and
Valkyrie's Sword.
The Fightin' Canadian also teamed up briefly with other heroes, like controversial
Red Pair, a team of
Soviet Russian heroes.
Comrade Hammer and
Mistress Sickle, along with their sidekick the
Kremlin Gremlin, helped Johnny during his adventures on the Eastern Front.
The Bullet Brigade, a team of British commandos, also fought alongside the Fightin' Canadian on a few occasions. Notable absences in plots include rare mentions of
American heroes, and a lack of stories focused on the war in the
Pacific. Debate on these omissions is decidedly
nationalistic. Burton himself is quoted as having said "the kids can go buy
Captain America if they want Yankee stories" to a
Toronto Daily Mail reporter, but it was never documented.
Sadly, the Fightin' Canadian soon disappeared from the public eye, a victim of his own popularity. A story published in "Two-Fisted Tales #21" entitled "
The Phantom Saboteur", introduced a Quebec based super villain called "
Le Patriote", a French
separatist who sabotaged various industries and forced the Fightin' Canuck to return from overseas to oppose him. Regarded a slap in the face to Quebecers serving
overseas, as well as stirring up the ire of powerful Quebec politicians in the
House of Commons, the story was a nail in Mapleleaf Pulp's
coffin. The publisher was already battling a marketplace saturated with American war comics, which flooded in after Pearl Harbor, and a lawsuit from the producers of the 1924
Hollywood film "The Fighting American", a romantic comedy starring
Mary Astor. Having their book brandished angrily on the floor of the
Parliament lead to a final drop in sales that doomed the publisher to
bankruptcy. The final issue of "Johnny Canuck, the Fightin' Canadian", #23, was published in July, 1943. Rights to the character where never completely
resolved in the
dissolution of the company, and as such, it remains in
legal limbo.
The Fighting American, whom
Joe Simon and
Jack Kirby created in 1954, was named only after Simon carefully ensured the copyright on the film name had already expired before creating their hero for
Prize Comics.