I’m a bit late to the party, but I wanted to thank both of you for your comments. Glad to see the on-going dialogue around the symbolism of characters in comic books.

Sincerely,

Amanda

It looks like I was a little unfair to Amanda. I’d be interested to hear your take on Captain America. I’ve always loved Americana, but for some reason, Captain America never really seemed…American…despite wrapping himself in a flag. If I had to pick the “all-American” superhero, it would have to be…Iron Man. Tony Stark is the bastard love-child of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, Ayn Rand, and Steve Jobs, embodying an uneasy alliance between free-markets and big government. A close second would be Howard the Duck…

Off the cuff, I would say that characters like Nelvana and other
Canadian Golden Age characters specifically suffered from lower
distribution figures than their American counterparts, and a black and
white printing format that couldn’t stand up to the influx of American
comic books after World War II. Like much of Canadian culture, the
Golden Age of Canadian comic books was legislated into existence – in
this case, by the 1940 War Exchange Conservation Act. (Forgive me if
you already know this story!) When that Act was repealed, American
comic books took over again – like most American popular culture and
media exports do today (with exceptions like the Barenaked Ladies and
Canada Council-funded artists).

Likewise, Captain Canuck doesn’t enjoy the same widespread (or even
continuous) distribution the characters like Wonder Woman and Superman
do. Starting from an already small population (of comic book readers)
and appealing to a small set within that (Canadian comic book readers)
hurts your chances of gaining widespread popularity and, hence,
precludes the attainment of iconic status. Although Nelvana and
Captain Canuck aren’t as iconic as a character like Captain America,
they were still deployed as symbols by Canada Post on a 1995 stamp
series (Bart Beaty has written more on this phenomenon:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb009/is_3_36/ai_n29332438/).
Again, the Canadian state stepped in to help the comic book characters
get a bit of press.

On the other hand, long-running titles like the Canadian super-team
Alpha Flight (now in its fourth volume) have enjoyed greater success
both inside and outside of Canada. Canadians don’t need to feel bad
that a group of individuals based out of the various regions of Canada
(Sasquatch from BC, Snowbird from the North, Aurora and Northstar from
Quebec, Guardian from Ottawa, and so forth) is arguably the most
popular of the Canadian-themed superhero teams, while Captain Canuck
doesn’t begin to rival Captain America in popularity. If anything,
that speaks to the highly touted inclusiveness of Canadians,
manifested in such precepts as the federal policy of multiculturalism
and Northrop Frye’s “garrison mentality.” The Alpha Flight team could
be interpreted as a multicultural mosaic that works together (with
quite a few hiccups, but those are all part of the drama and fun),
while Captain American is emblematic of American individualism,
perseverance, and work ethic. Captain America’s unflagging devotion to
the US, and his flag costume, are bound to meet greater success in the
US, whereas Captain Canuck could be seen as a Canadian version that
just doesn’t fly (pun intended) with supposedly more inclusive
Canadians.

That’s not to say that patriotism is fine for Americans and a failure
in Canada. Quite the contrary, one could interpret Alpha Flight as
representative of the Canadian nation in the same way that Captain
America stands for the American nation. One could say that what makes
the comic books distinct from each other reflects what makes the
countries different.

Granted, I am lacking a critical lens on the terms “patriotism” and
“nationalism,” and individualism versus collective Peace, Order, and
Good Government is a drastic oversimplification of social, political,
and economic similarities and disparities between the US and Canada….

I’m sorry, that last sentence was a bit of a howler. How is Alpha Flight significantly different in terms of team-work from the Justice League, X-men, Fantastic Four, The Avengers, etc? John Byrne’s account of the creation of Alpha Flight is worth reading – to hear him tell it, Alpha Flight was, in the end, a plot device, and not an expression of his latent Canadian nationalism, earlier fan sketches notwithstanding. Also significant, to my mind, is that the Byrne issues, at least as they’ve been described, didn’t have any team-work at all. Members of Alpha Flight would go on individual missions, and occasionally another team-mate would pitch in and lend a hand.

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/FAQ/listing.asp?ID=2&T1=Questions+about+Comic+Book+Projects#9

Sorry for geeking out on you here. Really enjoyed the article. Grant Morrison has some interesting thoughts on Captain America in his new book, Supergods.