Author, artist and entrepreneur Richard Comely spoke at UMD

I’m tired.

I woke early on Wednesday to Zoom briefly with the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission on a an exciting upcoming project (this is a teaser sentence for a future post) and then to meet Richard Comely at Perk Place Coffeehouse.

Comely is the creator of the signature contemporary Canadian superhero, Captain Canuck. Ryan Edwardson called the Captain “a cultural artifact, a key item in the construction of modern Canadian cultural identity and consciousness.” Other scholars are also discovering the religious dimensions of the Captain’s story. Brigham Young University is hosting an exhibition in this, the 50th anniversary of the Captain’s creation.

The 50th anniversary of Captain Canuck brought Comely to Duluth for a signing at Rogue Robot, really the best shop for comics and gaming culture in the region.

At 9:30 a.m., Teri Cadeau of the Duluth News Tribune joined us. Teri is one of those storytellers at the paper who really works hard because Duluth is her home. The DNT is lucky to have so many on staff who aren’t just working their way up to a larger market, but who genuinely love Duluth and our area. I don’t subscribe to the DNT for the writing outside our region (whether from a wire service or from another Forum publication); I get the NYT for that. I subscribe because I want these storytellers to keep telling me all the things I don’t yet know about my home.

At 11 a.m., I took Mr. Comely to see Luke Moravec of 103.3FM, The North. Luke was kind enough to interview Mr. Comely for MN Reads. I feel the same way about Teri that I do about Luke — these are the storytellers we want to preserve.  Luke is also another kind of storyteller whose willingness to share the stories of Duluth on the radio is invaluable. His recently published novel, Ghost Town Run, has me excited (though I have not read it yet).

By 11:30, we were having vegan lunch at Crisp and Green. Comely is a very religious man, his religion having connected him to community at a time when he needed it most. In small ways, he has integrated faith into his comics. So we spent lunchtime with members of his religious community in Duluth, and Comely shared with me a pocket volume of the history of his church, which I will read; this gift touched my heart.

Then, at 2 p.m., it was showtime, for author, artist and entrepreneur Richard Comely<, who spoke to a room of about 50 students at UMD on Sept. 10.

• His lessons for students, both artists and writers, were threefold:
  A contemporary writer or artist must have an entrepreneurial spirit.
• A contemporary writer or artist must consider and protect ownership of their creations. (He discussed the distinctions between copyright and trademark; he outlined adventures he’d had in licensing the Captain for merchandise, motion pictures, web animations, and even coins and postage stamps for use in Canada.)
• A contemporary writer or artist must write, draw, paint, create, every day.

After his talk, Comely met with about ten students to offer critique of their art and encouragement of their voice.

The talk could not avoid politics. Canadians do not want the tariffs, do not want the tension at the border crossings, do not want to become our 51st state. The 50th anniversary of the character sees renewed interest in Canada in the Captain as a symbol of Canadian unity, Canadian resistance to current political headwinds, and hope for a new relationship with the United States once the current turbulence has passed.

I went home and went to bed. It was a day with a lot to do with a dynamo of a man.

The next day, Comely’s visit to Rogue Robot was intimate, with a few folks, very passionate and happy to be there. He left on Friday, making a stop at the comic shop in Bemidji, on their way home.

Thank you to the Alworth Institute, the Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies, the Department of Art & Design, and the John & Mary Gonska Cultural Fund for help in co-promotion and supporting this visit.