by Richard Vasseur

Richard Vasseur: Where were you born and raised?

Richard Comely: I was born in Radcliffe, Oxford, England and came to Canada at age 2 I grew up near Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. My parents were in the Toronto area for almost two years before heading west. They bought a small farm in the Gainsborough district. I was there between ages 6 and 17 then moved to Wpg. to work as a commercial artist.

RV: How does it feel to have created a super-hero that symbolizes an entire country?

RC: I hadn't really thought of it that way until you posed the question here. Now I suddenly feel under a weight of responsibility to put polish on what is being considered by many to be a pop cultural icon representing something about us as Canadians.

RV: Would you consider "Captain Canuck" to be of a higher moral standard than other comics?

RC: Yes, I would. Although I can't speak on this as one who has examined every comic or series published. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have certain standards I plan to uphold as to the content of any entertainment project concerning Captain Canuck. That being comic books, film etc. Obviously we're talking about a comic book, superhero character and stories that involve conflict and violence. The stories are fantasy and are meant to be entertaining and hopefully to some degree thought provoking. As long as I have control over content there will not be gratuitous violence or gore. There will not be sexual exploitation or will there be representation of substance abuse - other than to portray it as a destructive, negative. There won't be profanity and inappropriate life style choices will not be glamorized or promoted. I see little that I would object to in Superman, Captain America or Spiderman comics and films. Obviously the people maintaining those characters have not strayed far from the story telling standards that the originators first determined they should be. We can see that policy hasn't hurt their popularity.

RV: What do you see as the main changes that have occurred between this series and the other ones?

RC: I like Riel's approach. He has created what we're now calling the West Coast Captain Canuck. His character becomes the superhero with a more organic approach. Riel's hero is a young, athletic, extremely adventurous mountie who takes on the name, puts together a costume and sets out to make crime fighting an adventure. In the original series, Tom Evans, is originally drafted by a federal government agency. The name and the costume were designed by well meaning government security force officials. In the Reborn series, Darren Oak borrows the name and costume for a very serious purpose, that being to stop a conspiracy from taking control over the Canadian government. Of course, Riel's writing style is different and his character is a little more carefree and flippant.

RV: Why does an RCMP constable feel it is necessary to don a costume to fight crime?

RC: Because he wants to do so with out being hampered and encumbering by due process and the legalities of the system. My brother is a cop and many cops will tell you that the checks and balances in the justice system sometime make it difficult to catch the bad guys. Plus he's doing it for the thrills. At least that's my take

RV: Is there any chance of the 3 issue series continuing on in another limited or regular series?

RC: I think there is a good chance. I like Riel's work and I've grown to like Drew's art much more. Riel has said he will do another series if this first one does well enough.

RV: How did you come to work with Riel Langlois (writer) and Drue Langlois (artist)?

RC: Riel approached me by email and phone in 2002 then sent a presentation. Riel's concept was fresh and his script and publishing plan were solid. He had a different artist attached originally. I asked for changes in the art style and Riel ended up bringing his brother on board as the artist.

RV: Whatever happened to Ron Leishman who helped you create Captain Canuck?

RC: I talk about Ron in my editorial in the first issue of Captain Canuck, the Unholy War. I first met Ron in 1971 when I joined the LDS Church and he has remained a good friend ever since. Ron went on to become a high school art and French teacher. He now runs his www.toon-a-day.com website. He has a great cartooning style that he has turned into a viable business.

RV: Why have you decided to just edit while others write and draw the comic?

RC: This project was Riel's concept. He created the mountie who becomes the West Coast Captain Canuck and had a clear idea of how he wanted to proceed with this series. I'm interested in writing another Captain Canuck Reborn series and plan to do so in 2005. I'm also planning to develop something for television. Most of the writing I am doing right now is for Camcorder and Computer Video and for video production.

RV: Have you ever written or drawn another comic book besides Captain Canuck?

RC: I did two issues of Star Rider and the Peace Machine which included The Raft and Steel Chameleon. It was a black and white magazine size comic book that I also published but couldn't get enough financing to carry it through. Tom Grummett illustrated The Raft for me and Ric Estrada did his own series called Komputer Keene. I did two other newspaper features, Trumpet and Friends and Wabbits. I also did a Captain Canuck comic strip which ran in 8 Canadian newspapers an from 1995 to 1996. The only other superhero style comic project I illustrated was Fan Guys which was a humour feature published in industrial trade magazines. (www.fanguys.com)

RV: Have you ever dreamed of being a super-hero?

RC: No.

RV: What do you do in your spare time?

RC: At this point in my life I still have very little spare time. I'm self-employed. Besides writing for Miller Magazines (Camcorder and Computer Video and Digital Photographer) and others I also manufacture and sell my video camera jib arm (see www.camcrane.com) I teach drawing at Conestoga College and locally with the Library and Gallery. I do some video production. Occasionally I will do some illustration and/or storyboarding but that has become much less frequent. I have 8 children and 5 grandchildren.

RV: Will you, Riel and Drue be attending any conventions?

RC: I will be attending the Toronto National Comic book convention held at the Convention Centre in Toronto from Aug 27 to Aug 29. I plan to be there on the Friday and Saturday.

RV: Any last words of wisdom?

RC: Love and look after family. Live a healthy life style. Be kind to everyone. Be honest always. And ... Lets hope there is a renewal of interest in entertainment that is uplifting has some moral conscience.