Tag Archives: northguard

ChapterHouse Announces $1.99 Issues and $9.99 Trades

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Toronto-based comics publisher Chapterhouse Publishing has announced a new pricing structure for its Chapterverse range of superhero titles, with every monthly comic priced at $1.99 US, and all trade paperback collections priced at $9.99 US!

The new $1.99 price point applies to all Chapterverse titles in 2018, including Captain Canuck, Fantomah, Freelance, and The Pitiful Human Lizard.

The change in pricing is a being driven by the tough competition in the comic market and the hope is that this decrease in cover price will remove the barrier for consumers to purchase the comics. The change is also driven by a decrease in production costs. The company has grown enough that printing costs have decreased in what’s described as a “sizeable savings” from the printer. This savings is being passed along to retailers and consumers.

This price point also means that readers can read the entire universe line of comics for $4 to $6 a month.

Chapterhouse is creating an accessible superhero universe with heroes for every kind of reader, from the classic adventure of Captain Canuck to the horror of Fantomah, and from the humour of Pitiful Human-Lizard to the globetrotting action of Freelance.

The $1.99 initiative kicks off in January 2018 with the second seasons of two of Chapterhouse’s most acclaimed titles; Freelance, starring gay superhero Lance Valiant, and Fantomah, featuring a revival of the Golden Age horror icon. The $1.99 price also applies to the new 2018 seasons of Captain Canuck, Pitiful Human-Lizard, Fallen Suns, Northguard, and two new titles to be announced next year.

The $9.99 trade paperback price will apply to the entire Chapterverse line, including Captain Canuck: Aleph, Captain Canuck: Gauntlet, Captain Canuck: Harbinger, The Pitiful Human-Lizard: Far From Legendary, The Pitiful Human-Lizard: Still Pretty Pathetic, Freelance: Angel of the Abyss, and Fantomah: Up From The Deep.

Chapterhouse offers a publishing model unlike anyone else in comics. All Chapterverse titles run in four-issue seasons, and each season stands on its own, with no crossovers or stunts. Each $9.99 trade paperback collection will be released and distributed through Diamond Books before the next season begins, so it’s always easy for readers to catch up without breaking the bank.

Chapterhouse Comics Launches a Canadian Superhero World

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Captain.Canuck 1 coverAt Fan Expo this past weekend, Chapterhouse Comics announced they were launching the “Chapterverse,” a comic superhero universe featuring Canadian superheroes. Already the company has three series, Captain Canuck, The Pitiful Human Lizard, and Northguard, but will be launching a new series featuring the character Freelance, a modern take on one of Canada’s oldest original heroes, with Jim Zub and Andrew Wheeler co-writing, and art by Vaneda Vireak.

Zub has described their take on Freelance as a globe-trotting adventurer, kicking butt and exploring mysteries hidden from the world.

Also joining the world is Fantomah, a character in the public domain is credited as the first female comic character with superpowers.

There’ll also be a series called Agents of Pact about an all-woman super team featuring Red Coat and Kébec.We’ll see the new universe bloom in 2017.

We’ll see the new universe bloom in 2017.

 

Review: Northguard #1

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Northguard #1 CoverLeaping from the pages of Captain Canuck comes Northguard, Canada’s newest super-hero! His first mission: Track down The Aurora Dawn, a mysterious cult hoping to bring about the end of the world! Chapterhouse Comics‘ Captain Canuck reboot has garnered praise and critical acclaim, now see our take on another classic Canadian superhero, Marc Shainblum and Gabriel Morrisette’s Northguard!

Written by Anthony Falcone with art by Ron Salas, Northguard #1 is exactly what I expected and hoped for, a nice fun throwback in a similar vein as Captain Canuck. The comic is full of action as we’re quickly introduced to the mysteruous Aurora Dawn and Agent Wise, aka Northguard.

While each comic features Canadians in super suits, the two comics have a very different feel to them, though share very similar qualities. This comic too has action and avoids dark and gritty, but it’s also a bit darker in the beginning, and dealing with an cult it has a bit more of a horror vibe to it in some ways (especially that opening page).

What’s also missing is the Canadian factor. One thing I find really interesting with Captain Canuck is the use of French throughout the comic without translation. Northguard has a few French words thrown in, but lacks entire speech bubbles or characters that are specifically Canadian. Agent Wise is a pretty generic guy overall, which isn’t a bad thing, and so far there’s not enough of a supporting cast to really make things stand out with a distinct Canadian voice. The first issue also has the main character flying solo and working for the CIA, so that may be a reason why.

The art by Ron Salas is solid and fun. It keeps a consistent style with Captain Canuck, which helps create a coherent look to the world. The action is good and scenes are set up nicely, though some have a lot of empty space. It’s not bad in any way, I’d just have visually set some of the fight differently as opposed to panned out shots. There’s nothing that detracts and the art fits the tone of the comic.

I’ve been looking forward to Northguard #1 and had high hopes going in. The comic didn’t disappoint me at all and continues the solid work began in Captain Canuck. Chapterhouse Comics looks to have another fun series on its hands.

Story: Anthony Falcone Art: Ron Salas
Story: 7.75 Art: 7 Overall: 7.75 Recommendation: Read

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

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GENZERO_001_COVER-A_MOONEYWednesdays are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!

We’re bringing back something we haven’t done for a while, what the team thinks. Our contributors are choosing up to five books each week and why they’re choosing the books.

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.

Alex

Top Pick: Faith #2 (Valiant) – I really can’t say enough about how much I’m enjoying this series. If you’re not reading it you’re missing out on one of the best comics from any publisher being released right now. Faith is a series that’s fun, that has a more positive outlook on things and takes some very light jabs at industry tropes. And it’s visually stunning.

Action Comics #962 (DC Comics) – It’s not often that I read a comic where Superman feels like he’s actually in a fight for his life, so watching the Man Of Steel in a rematch against Doomsday has been incredibly fun – even if the chances of him losing are nil.

Blue Beetle Rebirth #1 (DC Comics) – I recently dug out the pre-New 52 run featuring Jaime Reyes, and wondered why I never read the series through the New 52 iteration. With how easy many of the Rebirth comics have been for new readers, I’m looking forward to this.

Generation Zero #1 (Valiant) – A new series from Valiant? Don’t mind if I do.

Northguard #1 (Chapterhouse Comics) – An incredibly underrated publisher, Chapterhouse have some fantastic series on the racks, one of which, Captain Canuck is a genuine pleasure to read. I’m excited for this spin off series that I know very little about (which is deliberate on my part), because based on Chapterhouse’s track record, this promises to be a blast.

 

Anthony

Top Pick: Pretty Deadly TP Vol. 2 (Image Comics) – The first volume of Pretty Deadly was a dark, poetic, bloody journey that featured one of the best creative teams in comics…period. The second arc here is collected for those that missed out on the single issues (or just loved it so much that the trade is worthy of purchasing) and features more striking images from Emma Rios and Jordie Bellaire’s colours with a hypnotic script by Kelly Sue DeConnick that will put you in the good kind of trance that makes Pretty Deadly a difficult title to put down.

Island #10 (Image Comics) – Anthologies tend to be hit and miss but not Island. Emma Rios and Brandon Graham have opened the creative floodgates by curating a slew of material from both artists more well known and those perhaps yet to be discovered by a wider audience. It’s also refreshing in that each and every issue of Island defines variety in covering a wide array of genres and material.

Faith #2 (Valiant) – It’s a very warming feeling to remember that Faith has her own ongoing series. Jody Houser provides such a great voice for Faith, blending her pop culture quips with dramatic moments. Maintaing the back and forth art style of Pere Perez during the present time and Marguerite Sauvage doing Faith’s fantasies from the mini series is an extra nice touch and has been played with wonderfully so far.

Generation Zero #1 (Valiant) – Straight from the pages of Harbinger comes a new team of super powered teens. Minus the Imperium title, there hasn’t been much explored in the Harbinger side of the Valiant universe recently besides a few appearances here and there in other titles so it will be very interesting to see what Fred Van Lente and Francis Portela have prepared. This has a very New Mutants type appearance featuring a younger group of misfits so the parallels between characters will be very intriguing to see in how it will be presented.

Sombra #2 (BOOM! Studios) – The first issue of Sombra was a fairly solid introduction to this story of a DEA agent about to throw herself into the middle of a tense situation with the Mexican Cartel. With the introductory exposition out of the way, hopefully being thrown further into the fire is something on Justin Jordan’s mind. Raul Trevino’s photo realistic backgrounds with the shadowy but bright colours of Juan Useche really paint an uncomfortable tone, especially with how the violence felt so sudden in the first issue.

 

Shay

Top Pick: Alena (Dark Horse) – This is a great time to get on board with this horror comic treasure. This TP gives you the whole story so that you’e all caught up before it becomes a live action Swedish horror film. There’s mean girls, a best friend who had been dead for a year and lots of murder an blood.

Batgirl #2 (DC Comics) – This issue should be packed with enough kick ass girl power to wipe the taste of the Killing Joke out of your mouth and combined with last weeks Birds of Prey get you back on team Babs.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer , Season 10, #30 (Dark Horse) – All good things must come to an end and Season 10 off BTVS is no exception. Issue #330 ends this killer story arc and will remind us all why we keep reading and still enjoy watching the reruns.

 

Brett

Top Pick: Generation Zero #1 (Valiant) – I’ve been waiting for this series since it was announced and wondering when we’d next see Generation Zero since last we saw them (during Harbinger Wars?). I’m hoping for a new take on the New Mutants formula, and honestly that’s what I expect. It’s also an area Marvel has dropped the ball on, so glad to see Valiant picking it up and running with it.

Atomic Robo and the Temple of Od #1 (IDW Publishing) – It’s new Atomic Robo, really nuff said when it comes to why you should be checking this series out. I’ve yet to be disappointed by any volume of the series released. It’s always packed with action and humor, and constantly entertains.

The Hellblazer #1 (DC Comics) – I’m intrigued as to what version of John Constantine we’ll be getting. The Rebirth issue gave me some hope, but the real test is with this first issue.

Northguard #1 (Chapterhouse Comics) – Putting out fun, positive, superhero comics with lots of action and humor. I can’t wait to check out this new series which we got a tease of in their Summer Special.

The Revisionist #3 (Aftershock Comics) – Time traveling fun action. It’s entertainment for a genre that lends itself to all sorts of madness and interesting twists.