Every Canadian of a certain age is probably familiar with the 1991 Heritage Minute about Superman’s connections to Canada, though his creator, Joe Shuster, who grew up in Toronto.
Superman, i.e. mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, himself grew up in the fictional small town of Smallville, Kansas, but had to move to Metropolis to make it big.
“What if Clark Kent had stayed closer to home?” states the foreword to the upcoming publication “Super Canucks.” “Would he have still been ‘The Man of Steel’ or would his legend be lessened?”
Edited by Sudburians Matthew Del Papa and Andy Taylor and set to be put out by local publisher Latitude 46 in March, the anthology “Super Canucks” shares 11 stories of Canadian superheroes.
These superheroes are a diverse bunch, everyone from teens to older adults, and living in every corner of the country, from, as press materials state, the frostbitten shores of a Newfoundland outport to the restless streets of Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Del Papa said his original idea was to do an anthology of Northern Ontario superhero stories, but following his pitch, Latitude 46 owner Heather Campbell encouraged him to open it up to Canadian stories, ultimately getting 78 submissions.
Four of the stories are by Sudbury authors — Del Papa and Taylor, along with Matthew Heiti and Melanie Marttila, although they couldn’t include too many locals, as they wanted a wide representation of Canada.
The idea came from Del Papa’s musings about superheroes leaving their hometowns and becoming associated with a major city.
“Then I kind of clued in on the brain drain phenomenon, which Northern Ontario has suffered from for decades,” Del Papa said.
“And I'm like, ‘Would there be a superhero equivalent? Would all the good superheroes leave Northern Ontario to go to Toronto or LA or whatever, where the money and the fame is?’
“So we started kicking around that idea, and then we opened it up, and then the various contributors ran with the small town Canadian superhero.”
Taylor, who’s originally from the Sault, set his story in his hometown, writing about Captain Eh, a middle-aged, hockey jersey and snowmobile helmet-wearing superhero who by day works at the steel plant, and, if truth be told, is getting a bit tired and is pondering retirement.
He hears about an American superhero from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan going by the name of The Beacon, and considers taking him on as an apprentice. Unfortunately, when he meets him, The Beacon’s attitude leaves a lot to be desired.
“He’s a very show-boaty kind of character, the American superhero, so they don't really hit it off,” said Taylor, who said he wrote the story in early 2025, with the threat of tariffs and the U.S. president’s musings about annexing Canada.
“So I kind of wanted to lean into the ‘elbows up’ a little bit,” he said.
Speaking of elbows up, the authors urge you to support Canadian arts, and, hint, hint, maybe purchase the book. “It doesn't get much more Canadian than stories about Canada by Canadians focusing on what superheroes can bring,” said Del Papa.
If you’d like to pick up a copy of “Super Canucks,” it will be published on March 21, on which date a release party is also being planned. It’s currently available for preorder on Latitude 46’s website.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.