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bent's review
2.0
I would like to give this book a higher rating because I love the idea behind it, but I found it just so earnestly, self-consciously Canadian. There were a few chuckles along the way, but for the most part, it didn't do much for me.
katebrarian's review
3.0
Cute!
I especially liked The League of Villainous Canadian Stereotypes: The Lumberjack! DoubleDouble, fueled by the power of 1000 Tim Horton's coffees! La Toque Homme, brought to hideous life in a Quebec laboratory! and Farley Mowat! From [a:Faith Erin Hicks|996558|Faith Erin Hicks|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1310012075p2/996558.jpg], who is lovely always.
Awesome that there were multiple stories with First Nations protagonists, though I'm not sure if any of the authors are First Nations (it wasn't mentioned in any of their biographies in the back of the book). One was about a kid named Cody being bullied for being First Nations: "You think all land is your land? This is my dad's development, loser. This is my dad's land! And if your ancestor's bones are buried under here, he own them too!" Cody then stumbles across the secret Avro project, stolen 50 years ago and forgotten - an Iron Man-like suit weapon and gets his comeuppance. It's the only story that even tries to explore past and ongoing violence against the First Nations in Canada. Something I also love about that story is that the bullies are white and the heroes are not! Cody's friend who helps him to research the Avro project is black.
A lot of the stories in this volume were not necessarily very nuanced, but definitely really fun. They leaned on easy Canadian things like the environment, Canadian myths like Bigfoot and Ogopogo, and stereotypes like lumberjacks and beavers. They were all tongue-in-cheek though, and adorable. There is one story that is broken into pieces between which the other stories occur, about a kid who just wants to see a Canadian superhero and can't find one anywhere, so he ends up drawing his own and sneaking them into the comic book store where the owner decides to keep them on display. Representation is important, as we've heard a lot recently about the comic industry, and I have hope that volume 2 will contain some more nuanced and diverse stories.
I especially liked The League of Villainous Canadian Stereotypes: The Lumberjack! DoubleDouble, fueled by the power of 1000 Tim Horton's coffees! La Toque Homme, brought to hideous life in a Quebec laboratory! and Farley Mowat! From [a:Faith Erin Hicks|996558|Faith Erin Hicks|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1310012075p2/996558.jpg], who is lovely always.
Awesome that there were multiple stories with First Nations protagonists, though I'm not sure if any of the authors are First Nations (it wasn't mentioned in any of their biographies in the back of the book). One was about a kid named Cody being bullied for being First Nations: "You think all land is your land? This is my dad's development, loser. This is my dad's land! And if your ancestor's bones are buried under here, he own them too!" Cody then stumbles across the secret Avro project, stolen 50 years ago and forgotten - an Iron Man-like suit weapon and gets his comeuppance. It's the only story that even tries to explore past and ongoing violence against the First Nations in Canada. Something I also love about that story is that the bullies are white and the heroes are not! Cody's friend who helps him to research the Avro project is black.
A lot of the stories in this volume were not necessarily very nuanced, but definitely really fun. They leaned on easy Canadian things like the environment, Canadian myths like Bigfoot and Ogopogo, and stereotypes like lumberjacks and beavers. They were all tongue-in-cheek though, and adorable. There is one story that is broken into pieces between which the other stories occur, about a kid who just wants to see a Canadian superhero and can't find one anywhere, so he ends up drawing his own and sneaking them into the comic book store where the owner decides to keep them on display. Representation is important, as we've heard a lot recently about the comic industry, and I have hope that volume 2 will contain some more nuanced and diverse stories.
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