Northern Adventure Quarterly #1

Welcome to Frozen Light Comics new series with 3 titanic tales featuring the muscle bound & mighty Canadian Shield, the electro-magnetically charge super heroine Nelvana & the shape shifting crime fighter Zodiac.

The Pros

The return of all-ages comics is here and creator, writer & illustrator Andre St-Amour has delivered a fun & exciting trilogy for the kid in us all. All 3 stories offer colourful characters with wall to wall action with straight forward plots and an innocent quality to it, which by no means makes it less entertaining. The Canadian Shield is reminiscent of Guardian of Alpha Flight, but he’s less of a hothead. Nelvana is a cute & charming teenager with the goodness of Ms. Marvel & the Zodiac’s powers are similar to DC’s Captain Marvel, except of shouting SHAZAM, he yells out an astrological sign and magically transforms into a being with the properties of that specific sign. Great stuff. I also like how each hero introduces the other like they’re getting ready for a talent show.

St-Amour’s illustrations have a very “funny pages” kind of style that complements these types of super hero stories. The panels are filled with vibrant colors and the action & lettering are very in your face in a way that would make the great Jack Kirby proud. You can tell that this guy has read comics all his life and it shows in his stories and drawings.

The Cons

I personally don’t have any negative criticism except that the Canadian Shield’s story and Zodiac’s story were a little too similar. Also, if you’re used to a regular diet of Avatar (Crossed) & Marvel Max (PunisherMax) comics, than this is definitely not for you.

The Outcome

I read a wide variety of comics from the Amazing Spider-Man to Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth & Dark Horse’s B.P.R.D. to Brian K. Vaughn’s Saga. I admit, I usually stay clear of kid friendly comics, but this was a refreshing change, like reading Jeff Smith’s Bone for the first time. I’d like to thank Andre St-Amour & everyone at Frozen Light Comics for this wonderful comic and I wish him the best of luck with his artistic endeavours. You’re doing something I’ve always dreamt of doing since I first picked up my very first Punisher comic way back in 1986. Kudos!