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An afterthought to my Friday column

Dudley Do-RightWolverine has to be damn near the best-known fictional Canadian in any medium at this point, doesn't he? Surely he's, like, a length ahead of Bob & Doug McKenzie and pretty much abreast of Anne of Green Gables. Who else is in this race?

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Comments (31)

dWj:

My first thought was "Red Green", but I'm probably not typical.

I suppose the Bullwinkle direction may be the way to look. Although I still think Canada's most prominent cartoon character is Pierre Trudeau.

rpk:

without question wolverine is in the hunt, but seriously, the winner by a landslide is Denis Lemeiux....go to box and feel shame...

Geoff:

Winnie the Pooh. Named for his hometown of Winnipeg.

That Due South guy has to be in the running. I worked in Germany for a summer and the locals ate that shit up.

mclea:

Cyril Sneer should be, but you're probably right.

Half Canadian:

I'm going to disagree with Mr. Cosh. Anne of Green Gables, after 100+ years, has to be considered the most prominent Canadian contribution to the literary world.

Don't talk to me about anything less than 15 years old. You've got to show staying power before you can be considered great. Yes, Wolverine is more than 15+ years, but Anne of Green Gables is MUCH more influential with women than Wolverine, and women read much more than men.

Martin:

Duddy Kravitz? The Whiteoak family (Jalna)?

I didn't say "influential" or "great". I'm just talking about who is more famous right now. Also, I didn't restrict it to books. Women may "read much more than men", though even that proposition is dubious, but they don't consume any more media in general. At one time, the dramatis personae of The Beachcombers might well have been in second place behind Anne.

"At one time, the dramatis personae of The Beachcombers might well have been in second place behind Anne."

Or Dick Assman.

Er, of course, we're talking fictional characters here... in which case Dr. McKay from Stargate would probably rank somewhere above zero...

The Chin of Doom:

Pamela Anderson.

sacamano:

Did you spell "McKenzie" incorrectly as a subtle dig at their relative unpopularity or just to offend Scottish beer drinkers worldwide?

Sand:

The Queen.

;p

Sand:

In all honesty, I don't think there are enough famous fictional Canadians to fill out a top ten list.

With the exception of Anne, the few that do qualify are mostly not of canadian creative origin.

And Anne is a bit of a stretch - yes, she's sold a lot internationally, been adapted for foreign adaptions, but I doubt that even 1 out of 50 foreigners have ever head of Green Gables.

Eric Grant:

For fictional Canadians (I don't know why created by Canadians would matter, but Wolvie was fleshed out initially by John Byrne, who should be considered his co-creator, even if he's technically not).

Before the movie, Wolvie would not have challenged Anne and her Japanese fanbase.

After the movie, Wolvie hands down. Also in the running would be Humphrey Bogart's character in African Queen, and the Acadian chick from that old poem.

Sand:

Yeah, Anne has had some success in Japan. The 70s anime was one of the better adaptions, and retained some interest over the years from some of the talent involved. According to wikipedia there's a current pre-quel anime that debuted just a few months ago.

I suppose it's possible, with the wider asian audience that recieves japanese stuff, that Anne is up there with wolverine.

The gap between either of those to any other fictional canadian is a big one, though.

Does it matter whether these characters are created by canadians? Of course! Why should anyone from any other country bother?

If we don't do it, nobody will - which is probably why nobody can name many truly famous fictional canadians.

Based on Edgar Wright's pedigree, I'd have to guess that this time next year Scott Pilgrim is at least in the mix.

1) I always knew Anne of Green Gables was (much like Spinal Tap) big in Japan, but I had no idea that there was an Anne of Green Gables anime. Maybe I should have.

2) I don't live in Edmonton anymore so I don't know if it's safe to give this one away, but Wayne Gretzky has got to be our most famous fictional character. The best part was when we convinced the Americans "yeah, there's this 5'9" kid from Brantford who's getting two hundred points a season up in Edmonton" and then some guy in Los Angeles was like "oh, we've got one too!" Hilarious. Anyway, he's my pick.

Sean:

Colby, have you seen Punisher - War Zone yet? I found it in a $2.00 bin at Wal-mart and brought it home out of a misplaced sense of loyalty. Frankly, I hadn't even been aware of a third Punisher film, which is a shame. This one was very true to the comics and worth seeing on a big screen.

If you haven't seen it, please do. If you have seen it and didn't like it, may I ask why?

I haven't seen War Zone. The Punisher is basically a bundle of movie clichés reverse-engineered as a comic character, so there is no good excuse for him to be such a problem child when it comes to going the other way.

I probably spelled McKenzie incorrectly out of subconscious bitterness over people's inexplicable struggles with "Cosh".

Sand:

I wonder whether a francophone might be able to name one or two. I know what the problem is with english language fiction - america - but Quebec is supposedly immune to that.

Anyone?

Thor:

Ren and Stimpy must surely get an honorable mention, no?
"Happy Happy Joy Joy, Happy Happy Joy Joy!"

And what of Johnny Canuck?

Sean E:

If we're talking fictional characters who themselves are Canadian, I don't think we can count Winnie the Pooh (although, do we know exactly where the 100-acre wood is supposed to be located?).

If it's open to any character with a Canadian connection, then, hands-down, Superman (via Joe Shuster).

Robin from "How I Met Your Mother" is Canadian, but that show has inexplicably failed to reach Green Gables level of fame (so far).

Tim:

70 years ago, the #1 fictional canadian was Nelson Eddy's Sgt. Bruce from the picture Rose Marie. Eddy and Jeanette McDonald were huge stars and that was their most famous picture. I think Sgt. Bruce still jumps to people's minds when they think of fictional canadians.

Garnet:

For the last time, Joe Shuster left Canada when he was 10, nine years before he and Siegel came up with the first (bald, sinister) version. We can try to find something Ontarian in Kal-El's stiff, bland modern personality, but not in the old days, when he was breaking through walls to terrorize wife-beaters and pulling a Dr. Strangelove overseas:

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/comic-covers/Pre-Crisis-Covers/1942/adv018s-tb.html

Sean E:

"We can try to find something Ontarian in Kal-El's stiff, bland modern personality, but not in the old days, when he was breaking through walls to terrorize wife-beaters and pulling a Dr. Strangelove overseas: "

Canada was pretty badass in the '40s too.

And claiming partial-credit based on the thinnest of connections is pretty much a Canadian tradtion (see also: The Pooh, Winnie).

Dudley Do-Right is still fairly well known, if not up to Wolverine's level.

Another interesting thread would be "Most Prominent Canadian Who Ought to Be a Fictional Character." Of course, you'd have to keep in mind that readers would have to be able to believe that a fictional character could exist.

Steve Skubinna:

Jeez. William Freakin' Shatner hands down. By a landslide.

What is wrong with you people?

Steve Skubinna:

Jeez. William Freakin' Shatner hands down. By a landslide.

What is wrong with you people?

William Shatner doesn't qualify as a fictional character. As I said, fictional characters have to be believable. The same thing keeps Michael Ignatieff off the list.

bruce:

Three young whores from Canada? The Economist still uses the song as a paragraph heading every so often.

Yes, I know it's a stretch.

Dorothy Cummings McLean:

Well, there are the Canadian characters Pip (or is it Philip?) and Terrence on South Park. And Kyle's little brother, of course. I enjoy very much South Park's solution as to how to differentiate between Canadians and Americans. The charge of the Canadians in the South Park movie is one of the greatest moments in cinematic history.

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