Monday, July 02, 2007

Happy Canada Day!

Today is a holiday in Canada as we celebrate the confederation of our nation on July 1st, 1867.

I have to admit, as much as I love my country, I know very little about its history. This is a failing I think most Canadians would grudgingly admit to.


We could blame the government and the education system and the media for that I suppose, but really, it's each person's responsibility to educate one's self, isn't it? Luckily, I found this wonderful book last summer in St. Catherines to help with that task. Its profusely illustrated in comic book form by a Toronto artist named Huntley Brown, who was a contemporary of my friend, Will Davies.


I plan to do a week on Huntley Brown some time soon -- so you'll get to see more of his artwork from this volume and learn more about him and his career at that time. For today, here's just one of the important heroes of Canadian history I had never heard of (and perhaps you had not as well) but am very proud to know is a part of my heritage as a Canadian citizen: Wilfred 'Wop' May.




You can find these images at full size in my Huntley Brown Flickr set.

1 comment:

  1. Loved today's entry. I write comics and just finished a 108 graphic novel called Daughter of Dracula, wherein the daughter of the bloodsucking count falls in love with Manfred von Richthofen, the famous flying ace, the Red Baron. And of course, as was later proven, he was not shot down
    by Canadian flier Roy Brown, but was actually shot by an Australian ground trooper. Still Wop May's story was much fun to discover here.
    Ron

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