For a brief period in the early-1940s when there were no American comics coming into Canada, Canadian companies filled the void with some of the most iconic comic characters in Canadian history.
None were as famous, or had the lasting cultural power, as Nelvana of the Northern Lights.
The story of Nelvana of the Northern Lights begins with Torontonian Adrian Dingle, who was working for Hillborough Studios.
Dingle was inspired by the stories of Franz Johnston, a Group of Seven painter who had recently visited the Arctic.
While there, Franz Johnston had met an Inuit woman named Connie Nelvana at Coppermine, Northwest Territories.
He described her as an Arctic Madonna, and this sparked an idea for Adrian Dingle to create a superhero from the Arctic named Nelvana.
Nelvana debuted in the first issue of Triumph-Adventure, released in August 1941.
In the comics, Nelvana is the daughter of an Inuit woman and Koliak the Mighty, King of the Northern Lights. Using the power of the Northern Lights, Nelvana fought Nazi agents in the Canadian Arctic.
Nelvana wore a fur-trimmed mini-skirt, knee-high boots, gloves, and a headband with a cape.
She has the ability to fly at the speed of light, melt metal and disrupt radio communications. She is also a telepath and can turn invisible, while changing her own physical form.
Nelvana was joined by her brother Tanero in fighting crime, and later the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Corporal Keene. Tanero has the same powers as Nelvana but due to a curse, he turns into a dog whenever there is a white man present.
Nelvana was the first distinctly Canadian female superhero.
After American comics started to arrive in Canada after the Second World War, Nelvana saw its print run end in 1947.
In a season three episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, a planet was named Nelvana III in honour of the animation studio, and by extension, the superhero.
Nelvana’s impact on Canadian comic book culture was large enough that on Oct. 5, 1995, Canada Post issued a stamp depicting her.
In 2013, a Kickstarter campaign to republish Nelvana of the Northern Lights was launched and reached its goal in five days.
A collection of the comics was released one year later, forever cementing her in the hearts of the true north and free.