Richard Comely says he didn’t think an image of his comic book creation, Captain Canuck, giving Trump a stern talking to would get the attention it has. Instead, he worried about whether it “looked right.” He mulled over whether parts of it might need to be reworked and was concerned about getting it to the printer on time. “Like anybody who’s churning out creative stuff, you really don’t know for sure what’s going to resonate with people,” Comely told CTV News in a recent interview. Then, he says, the calls and emails came. The image of Comely’s brainchild confronting the U.S. president came about as a variant cover to a comic marking the character’s 50th anniversary. You could pick one up at Comely’s table at last year’s Calgary Comics and Entertainment Expo. You could even have the creator fill in a blank word balloon on the image right there. This was around the time Trump had started publicly suggesting Canada could, should and maybe would become a “51st state.” Canadian media reached out to do stories. U.S. media did, too. Even on the other side of the pond, news outlets wanted to chat Comely up. “My aunt in England saw it on BBC,” he said. “It got a lot of attention.” A year later, Comely has filled in hundreds of those word balloons for people who’ve purchased the comic. And probably hundreds more after turning the image into a poster that’s now into a second printing. In California, a group reached out asking if they could use the image for a protest. Comely says the image has done “very, very well.” And he believes that comes down how “very, very Canadian” it is. “He’s being ‘in his face,’ but he’s not being violently confrontational,” he said. “I felt it had to be what we would view as a ‘Canadian’ way ... How we as Canadians would deal with someone like Trump. “Hopefully it represents a determined yet polite approach.” Comely says he handles filling in those word balloons with the same mindset. Which is to say he “keeps it PG.” You can catch up with Comely at this year’s Calgary Expo, which runs April 23-26 at the BMO Centre. Information about the show and tickets are available at https://fanexpohq.com/calgaryexpo/.
