This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at several neglected Canadian-made characters. FOR THEIR GOLDEN AGE HEROES (1941-1950) CLICK HERE.
WHITE THUNDER
Debut Year: 1982
Secret Identity: Scott Garvey
Origin: Bartender Scott Garvey was beaten nearly to death by street thugs. When his survival seemed hopeless, the hospital used experimental drugs on him. An unrelated electric shock interacted with the chemicals and healed Scott. It also granted him superpowers which he kept to himself so he could adopt the costumed identity White Thunder to get revenge on his attackers, then go on fighting crime.
Powers: This hero could fly, generate electricity and shoot electrical blasts from his hands.
CANADIANA
Debut Year: 2004
Secret Identity: Jennifer Neuwirth
Origin: Jennifer’s parents were flakey people who drifted to every cult that came along, taking their young daughter with them. The latest cult they became involved with was run by a charismatic but sinister man named Robertson. No first name was ever given.
Robertson indulged in the grooming of the teenage daughters of his followers and Jennifer’s parents blithely let her become his latest victim. The cult leader tutored the young women, bringing out superpowers in them and using them as pawns in his villainous activities.
Jennifer proved strong enough to rebel against Robertson and use her powers against him and against his other female acolytes. She adopted the costumed identity Canadiana.
Powers: Canadiana was strong enough to easily lift a standard 4-door car and carry it with her. She could also fly at 600 kph, generate an energy force field around herself. teleport and release energy through her hands to burn or disintegrate objects with her touch. Jennifer could transform from her street clothes into her Canadiana costume and back again at will. She calls herself “the spirit of Canada.” Continue reading
HAPPY FRONTIERADO! The first Friday of every August marks Frontierado, the holiday devoted to the myth of the old west rather than the grinding reality. 
PRAIRIE DOG MORROW – This overlooked gunslinger was also called Prairie Dog Dave Morrow. He was born on April 14th, 1837 in Jackson, Ohio. His was a farming family but that life didn’t appeal to David Morrow so in his teens he left home and made his way to California in hopes of making his fortune.
LUCILLE MULHALL – This incredible woman, the first to defeat male competitors in roping and riding contests, was born October 21st, 1885 in St. Louis. Missouri. In 1889 her family moved to Alfred, Oklahoma which was soon renamed Mulhall, Oklahoma in honor of her father Zach Mulhall as they established their ranch there. 
In 1900, Zach Mulhall bet $10,000 that his daughter could out-rope any of the cowboys in El Paso, Texas. Lucille did just that, following which she and her brother Charlie had to fight their way out of a mob of angry losers determined to strip the young lady to verify that she wasn’t a boy disguised as a woman.
While visiting there, Theodore mentioned his interest in prairie wolves, so our heroine saddled up and caught one for Roosevelt with her bare hands. The following year they held a special competitive wolf hunt in Theodore’s honor.
DRACULINDA THE GHOUL-GIRL – Liz Herring, the Assistant Program Director at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC put her theater experience to good use as North and South Carolina’s Movie Hostess Draculinda the Ghoul-Girl. Draculinda hosted films on Nightmare, which aired Saturday nights at 11:00pm.
This Movie Host show would open with thunder and lightning as well as screams and the sound of a werewolf howling. Fake blood would drip down the screen. That would be followed by the appearance of Draculinda, seated on a stool with a spotlight on her. 
BLUEBERRY – This movie (and then television series) that never came to be was based on the 1963 – 21st Century French comic book series Blueberry by iconic creator Moebius (Jean Guirard). The character’s real name was Michael S. Donovan and he was born in 1843 in the American South. Days before the U.S. Civil War broke out, he was mistakenly believed to have killed his fiancee Harriet Tucker’s father, a wealthy plantation owner.
For decades, the character appeared in countless adventures as he spent his Civil War service crusading against slavery, then when the war ended and he was sent out west to serve in Indian Wars he came to sympathize with Native Americans to the point where he was drummed out of the army and went on to further gunslinging heroics. He also championed Chinese railroad workers. 
The Blueberry stories were basically Spaghetti Westerns told in the sequential art (graphic novel) format. Martin Kove, an intense fan of Sergio Leone’s westerns, auditioned for the title role. When the initial project fell through, Kove and other parties tried producing a Lt. Blueberry film of their own, then a television series, but neither were completed. 
THE OREGON TRAIL (1976-1977) – Another seasonal post for Frontierado, which celebrates the myth of the Old West and not the grinding reality. The Oregon Trail was basically a 1970s attempt to imitate the classic western series Wagon Train. In the 1840s a recent widower played by Rod Taylor and his children join a wagon train headed to the Pacific Northwest. 
THE OREGON TRAIL (Jan 10th, 1976) – Pilot Movie. The story opens in 1842 on the wedding day of widowed Illinois farmer Evan Thorpe and his second wife Jessica (Blair Brown). The next day, they and Evan’s children join a wagon train headed for America’s Pacific Northwest. 
BLACK ROSES (1988) – This legendarily laughable attempt at a horror film belongs to quite a few niche sub-genres. It’s a Canadian horror movie, it’s one of the wonderfully campy Heavy Metal Horror productions of the 1980s and most importantly for trivia lovers Black Roses is one of the Big Three Canadian turkeys to feature Frank Dietz in a supporting role. (The other two are Rock’N’Roll Nightmare and Zombie Nightmare. ) 
Balladeer's Blog 