SASKATCH-A-MAN
Graphic novelists create green-clad champion to ‘save’ the Riders.
Some say it will take a miracle for the Saskatchewan Roughriders to win a game this season, but for two Saskatoon graphic novelists it might take an intervention of heroic proportions.
Enter Saskatch-a-Man, a watermelon helmet-wearing, beer-bellied super dude whose drunken antics propel his favourite fumbling sports team to victory. Inspired by the spoof genre of comic books, Mark Allard and Elaine Will created the unlikely green-clad champion as a lighthearted jab at the Riders.
“It started as us joking around, saying, ‘If there was a fan that could actually help the team win, it would have to be a super hero,’ ” says Will, who handled the artwork for the comic.
“I told (Mark) that he needed to write that.”
In the two pages of Saskatch-a-Man revealed online, the story begins with the hapless hero punching out a Calgary Stampeders fan on a Jumbotron, a move that gives the green and white an extra push to win the game.
The misadventures of Saskatch-a-Man will eventually be published as a full graphic novel, Allard says.
“Saskatch-a-Man is a bit of a lovable man child, but he’s ultimately pretty useless. He becomes a hero, but he doesn’t actually have any super powers.”
The vintage vibes of the golden age of superhero comic books is also a source of inspiration for the graphic novel.
“I like the art styles of the past,” Will said. “The old style has way more personality.”
The project is being released by Cuckoo’s Nest Press, a name Will created to self-publish her previous graphic novels, including DustShip Glory, a historic retelling of Dirty Thirties Saskatchewan ship builder Tom Sukanen.
Will and Allard have been selling their wares at the Fringe Festival, and plan to debut Saskatch-a-Man at the upcoming Saskatoon Comic and Entertainment Expo.
Will says plans are already in the works for a sequel dubbed The Saskatch Avengers.
“It’s the same character, but he is a part of a team of similar heroes,” she says.
“We are both really excited to see what the reaction is going to be like.”