THE SWEATER

Based on the classic short story The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier, this National Film Board film was animated by Sheldon Cohn. It won 15 international awards including a British Academy Award.

It is based on Carrier’s experience as a child in Sainte-Justine, Québec. Roch and his friends are fans of the Montréal Canadiens and its star player Maurice Richard and so they all wear Montréal Canadiens’ sweaters with Richard’s number 9 on the back. Roch’s old sweater has worn out and so his mother orders a new sweater from Eaton’s Department store in Toronto. Eaton’s mistakenly sends him a sweater of the Toronto Maple Leafs. To avoid sending it back his mother insists that he wear it to the game. He of course then faces the antagonism of his classmates and is ejected from playing by his coach.

SOURCE:

Article periodical:

fps, 11, Autumn 1995: “Hockey Night in Animation.” Writ., Chris Robinson: 13.

Internet:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hockey_Sweater. Accessed 9, March 2022.

SWAN Peter

Born 17 April 1941 in Greenrock Scotland, he moved to Toronto where he pursued a career in illustration and graphic design. As can be seen below he did illustrations for a number of magazines and books. He also designed several postage stamps for Canada Post including a commemorative for the Bicentennial of the Arrival of Scottish Settlers at Pictou released 20 July 1973, a commemorative for Lucy Maud Montgomery and her creation Anne of Green Gables released 15, May 1975 and three stamps celebrating the 1976 Montréal Olympics, released 18 June 1976.

He became ill and returned to Greenrock where he died 10 April 1992.

WORK:

ILLUSTRATOR:

BOOK TEXT:

Cover dust jacket:

Crang Plays The Ace. Writ., Jack Batten. Macmillan of Canada Ltd., 1987.

PERIODICAL TEXT ANTHOLOGY:

Content essay:

Maclean’s, May 1973: “The Passion of a Bow Hunter”. Writ., Greg Cook: 34-35.

Toronto Life, October 1978: “Future Woof”, Writ., Patrick Conlon: 57.

Cover front:

Maclean’s ….
…, February 1973.	… March 1975.	… August 1975.

Radio Guide, …. Canadian Broadcaster Corporation.
…, 2-23, December 1982.	…, 5-5, May 1985.

GALLERY:

Maclean’s, February 1973: Front cover.

Maclean’s, March 1975: Front cover.

Toronto Life, October 1978: 57

Radio Guide, 2-23, December 1982: Front cover.

Radio Guide, 5-5, May 1985: Front cover.

SWAIN Carol

WORK:

CARTOONIST:

PERIODICAL GRAPHIC:

Content story:

The Cheese Heads. 2, Tragedy Strikes Press, November 1991: “History Man”: 27-30.

ILLUSTRATOR:

Cover back:

The Cheese Heads. 2, November 1991. Tragedy Strikes Press.

 

SUZANA Ken

WORK:

ILLUSTRATOR:

BOOK TEXT:

Cover book front:

Don’t Deal Five Deuces. Writ., Hugh Garner & Paul Stuewe. Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd., 1992.

 

SUTTON Ronn

                                          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronn_Sutton

Born 17 December 1952.

Ron was an active participant in the Toronto graphic arts community in the 1970’s and 80’s. Many of his early stories are grouped under an idea he conceived in 1979. “Starbikers” rather than a narrative, is a motif within which individual stories are told about different members of a loose organization of outlaw bikers living in a dystopian future. The unconnected stories first appeared separately in Gene Day’s Black Zeppelin, Orb and Vortex. They were then gathered into the single issue Starbikers 1, September 1988 published by Renegade Press. This title was the introduction to a bimonthly anthology T Minus 1 which continued the “Starbiker” stories. A single issue was published by Renegade in 1988. For it, Ron partnered with Gene, Dan and David Day.

Ron himself acknowledged, “Because I am an artist first and foremost rather than a writer the entire spectrum of the STARBIKERS has been based on visual imagery rather than plotlines or characterization. I make no bones about it.” It is not surprising then that the great bulk of his subsequent work has been giving visual interpretation to the words of other writers. Among other titles, he has contributed to are The Man From Uncle, The Phantom and Elvia, Mistress Of The Dark which he worked on for about nine years. Recently (2018) he has been drawing a comic strip adaption of Edgar Rice Burrough’s The Man-Eater. Meanwhile, his illustrations have appeared in such periodicals as Business Journal, Canadian Business, Maclean’s, Saturday Night, On Spec, Owl and newspapers Ottawa Citizen and Toronto Star. He has been a courtroom illustrator and has worked in animation on commercials and short stories.

Ronn Sutton met Janet Hetherington at a comics convention. She was carrying with her a sketch for which she needed a skilled artist to complete. She approached Ron and asked him to finish it. He agreed and out of this first encounter blossomed a romance and a partnership .Hetherington/Sutton Studio. They located in Ottawa. Here she and Ronn created a humorous cartoon strip based partly on themselves called “Jannie Weezie” which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen in 1994. They also created a fascinating and dark character called “Spinnerette”.

WORK:

CARTOONIST:

PERIODICAL GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:

Content story:

Gene Day’s Black Zeppelin, 1-4, Mar.1986: “Harry”: 23-29.

Orb Magazine, 2, July 1974 “Musical Roulette”: 24-26.

Vortex, 1-8, April 1984: “Dog Eat Dog”: 9-19.

Vortex, 1-10, September 1984: “New Ruins For Old”: 11-17.

Content story & Cover front:                                                                                              Published by Renegade Press. Colour cover. Black & white content.

Starbikers, 1, September 1988: “Wasted Days”: 1-5.                                                                                                             “Dog Eat Dog”: 6-16.                                                                                                           “New Ruins For Old”: 17-22.                                                                                               “Harry”: 23-29.                                                                                                                     “Firebird Sweet”: 32. (Portrait).

ILLUSTRATOR:

BOOK GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:

Content story:

Gothic Tales of Haunted Love. Ed., H. Nicholson & S.M. Beiko. Bedside Press, 2018: “Crushed.” Writ., Janet Hetherington. Col., Becka Kinzie. Let., Zakk Saam: 12-21.

PERIODICAL GRAPHIC:

Content promotional:

Perf & Guage vol. 1, Spring / Summer 1996. Writ., Janet Hetherington. Canada Post.

PERIODICAL GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:

Cover back:

Orb Magazine 1-3, Dec. 1974.

Content panel:

Orb Magazine 1-3, Dec. 1974: “Orb Poster 4”: 51.

Content story:

Armageddon Rising, no date. “Spinnerette: Truce Or Consequences.” Writ., Janet Hetherington. Millennium Publications.

Song of the Sirens, Book 2, Earth, no date. “Spinnerette: Survival Instinct.” Writ., Janet Hetherington. Millennium Publications.

PERIODICAL TEXT ANTHOLOGY:

Content interview:

Saturday Night, 114-10, Dec.1999/ Jan. 2000: “A Strange Trip Into Tomorrow”. Writ., several: 76- 86.

PERIODICAL TEXT & GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:

Content game:

Owl, 24-7, October 1999: “Things That Suck.” Writ., unidentified: Back cover.

NEWSPAPER:

Content strip cartoon:

“The Jannie Weezie.” Writ., Janet Hetherington. Illus., Ronn Sutton. Ottawa Citizen, 2 May 1994:D9 to 18 June 1994: J2.

INTERPRETER & ILLUSTRATOR:

PERIODICAL GRAPHIC:

Content poem:

Vortex, 1-4, July 1983: “Wasted Days”. Writ., Oscar Wilde: 25-29.

CO-CARTOONIST:

BOOK GRAPHIC COLLECTION:

Content strip cartoon & Cover book front & back :

The Jannie Weezie Ashcan Sampler. #0. Co-car., Janet Hetherington. Hetherington/Sutton Studio, 1994.

Jannie Weezie vs. “The Brain”. #00, (Book 2). Co-car., Janet Hetherington. Hetherington/ Sutton Studio, 1996.

CO-WRITER & CO-ILLUSTRATOR:

BOOK GRAPHIC:

Content & Cover:

Eternal Romance . Labour Of Love Sketch Book. Co- writ. & Co-illus., Janet Hetherington. Hetherington/Sutton Studio, Summer 1998. Edition limited to 250 copies.

SOURCE:

Article periodical:

Gothic Tales of Haunted Love. Ed., H. Nicholson & S.M. Beiko. Bedside Press, 2018: “Creators: Ronn Sutton”: 216.

Article newspaper:

The Ottawa Citizen, 2 May 1994: “Artists bring own lives to art, art to life”: A2. \

Internet:

http://www.ronnsutton.com/about-me/

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/sutton_ronn.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronn_Sutton

GALLERY:

Vortex, 1-8, April 1984: 13.                                                                                                  Starbikers, 1, September 1988: 10.

Vortex, 1-10, September 1984: 16.                                                                                      Starbikers, 1, September 1988: 22.

Starbikers, 1, September 1988: Front cover.

Owl, 24-7, October 1999: Back cover.

Saturday Night, 114-10, Dec.1999/ Jan. 2000: 79

A portrait of Elvira 2015.

A sample of Ron’s work on The Man-Eater, 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUPERIOR PUBLISHING LTD.                                                                                          Location: 2382 Dundas Street, Toronto.

As determined by the date on Star Studded Comics, Superior Publishing entered the market in 1946, probably to take advantage of the phase out of the War Exchange Conservation Act. This phase out was devastating for companies producing original material. Both Educational Projects and Maple Leaf Publications left the market in the final months of 1945. Bell Features after attempting to replace its features with U.S. material ceased operations in 1945/1946. Anglo-American survived till the beginning of 1947. Superior Publishing published periodicals in close association with U.S. companies notably the short-lived Cambridge House followed by the various companies and studios under Harry “A” Chesler which in addition to publishing their own periodicals, supplied individual cartoon features and complete periodicals to other publishers.

There appears to have been a connection between Superior Publishing and F.E. Howard Publications. The two episodes, “Zor The Mighty” and “The Space Nomads” in an F.E. Howard publication later appeared as full comic books under the Superior imprint. It could have been that Superior inherited them from F. E. Howard, but it is more likely both companies tapped into the same U.S. companies. As pointed out in entries LETKEMAN Edward and F.E. HOWARD, Letkeman was probably only the illustrator rather than creator of “Zor” in its first appearance and had only minimal involvement in the second.

What was the relationship between Superior and the U.S. companies. The evidence is overwhelming that the creative work was all done in the U.S. Were the U.S, company cartoon plates sent to Canada to be printed here? It seems unlikely the U.S. companies would let them out of their possession. Furthermore, while colour printing was well established in the U.S. it seems it was just in its infancy in Canada. According to Ed Furness Anglo-American only began colour printing its periodicals in 1945 because Globe and Mail who printed them acquired its first colour printing press. It is most likely the entire process was completed in the U.S. as a custom job for Superior and the final product then shipped to the company.

However, there is one known exception. Bill Thomas who worked for Bell Features and later Superior Comics, had this to say about the latter;

“Superior Publishing was, perhaps the only publisher operating in Toronto after the decline of the Bell Features [actually Anglo-American survived longer] – but they seemed to publish only under American story titles. One of these was allotted to me [note the concept comes from the U.S.] and was called ‘Punch and Cutey’. I wrote both the story and drew the strips for a few months until this operation also folded. I did not see any of the printed material and was never sure whether these books were distributed in Canada or only in the U.S.”

The strip a short, humor-based feature, often just one page or a few pages long appeared in Punch Comics issues 10, 11, 12, 15, 18 and 22 (Canadian edition) under Superior Comics 1947. Punch Comics issues 1-19 December 1941 to December 1946. was originally under the Chesler/Dynamic Publishing imprint. Apparently only issue 22 appeared under the Superior imprint. It appears then that Thomas’ stories appeared principally in U.S. editions.

Superior Publications achieved a certain amount of notoriety when two of its titles Journey Into Fear 15 and Strange Mysteries 10 were cited in the book Seduction of the Innocents by Fredric Wertham published in 1954. Shortly after the Comics Code was established by the industry and many titles disappeared. September 1954 saw the last issue of Journey Into Fear. The last issues of Strange Mysteries and Mysteries Weird & Strange appeared in January 1955.

Superior ceased operations circa1956.

\The following list of periodicals published under Superior imprint comes principally from Canuck Comics.

Star Studded Comics, no number, Single issue published by Cambridge House 1945 and Superior Comics 1946.

Space Nomads, 1-1 (March 1946) also published by Century Publishing another Toronto based company which apparently was associated with Superior but focused on the British market.

Zor The Mighty Comics, 1-2 (1946) Issue 1 published by both Superior and Century, issue 2 by Superior alone. Issue 2 was reprinted as Red Seal Comics 19.

Red Seal Comics, 14-30 (June 1947-1948) Name replaced Carnival Comics and/or Spotlight Comics. Issues 14-18 were published by Harry “A” Chesler/Dynamic. Superior began publishing it with issue 19 which was principally a reprint of Zor the Mighty Comics.

Aggie Mack, 2-8 (1948 – August 1949) issue 1 published under Four Star Comics (Farrell Publishing)

Brenda Starr, 3-12 (1948-1949) issues 1-2 published under Four Star Comics,

Bruce Gentry, 22-28 (1949) issue 1 published under Four Star Comics.

Ellery Queen, 1-4 (May – November 1949). Originally appeared in Crackajack Funnies (Whitman Publishing)

My Secret, 1-3/Our Secret 4-8 (1949-1950).

Strange Mysteries, 1-21 (September 1951-January 1955).

Secret Romances, 1-27 (April 1951-July 1955.

Super Funnies,1-2/Super Western Funnies 3-4 (December 1953-September 1954).

Mysteries Weird & Strange, 1-11 (May 1953-January 1955).

Journey Into Fear,1-21 (May 1951-September 1954).

Love & Marriage,1-16 (March 1952-September 1954.

United States Fighting Air Force, 1-29 (September 1952-October 1956).

My Secret Marriage, 1-24, (May 1953-July 1956).

G.I. War Brides, 1-8, (1954-1955).

SOURCE:

Article book:

Canuck Comics, Ed., John Bell. Matrix Books, 1986: 89, 52, 54, 55, 61, 63, 66, 67, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 77, 80, 82.

Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 44^th edition, Robert M. Overstreet. Gemstone Publishing July 2014: 874, 942.

Article periodical:

Now and Then Times,1-1, Summer 172: “World of Canadian Whites”: Writ., Bill Thomas: 22.

The Northern Guard, 2, 2011: “Spotlight on Red Rogue”: 24.

Internet:

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=366271. Accessed 21 October 2025.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_%22A%22_Chesler. Accessed 21 October 2025.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Studded_Comics#:~:text=Star%20Studded.  Accessed 21 October 2025.

https://www.google.com/search?q=punch+%26+cutey+a+comic+book&sca._Accessed 21 October 2025.

https://heykidscomics.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Golden_Age_of_Comics_publishers. Accessed 21 October 2025.

SUPERHERO GIRL 

Through this character, Erin Hicks, in the first story promotes Canadian diversity by convincing “The League of Villainous Canadian Stereotypes” Canadians come in many forms. In the second story she takes a swipe at the convention of superheroes dying only to be resurrected again.

MEDIUM:

BOOK GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:

Content serial:

True Patriot: All New Canadian Comic Book Adventures. Ed., J. Torres. True Patriot Comics, 2013: “Superhero Girl vs. Canadian-ness.” Car., Erin Hicks: 46-52.

True Patriot: Heroes Of The Great White North. True Patriot Comics, 2014: “Superhero Girl in ‘The Death of Kevin’.” Car., Faith Erin Hicks. Col., Noreen Rana: 25-30.

SUPER PUBLICATIONS LTD.                                                                                            Location: 56 ½ Adelaide Street East Toronto, Ontario                                                        Publisher: Lou Ruby                                                                                                          Editor: Charles Biro, Bob Wood.

Contributors: Dick Briefer, Jerry Grandenetti, Fred Kida, George Tuska.

Lovers’ Lane was a graphic magazine published by Super Publications Ltd. probably in the 1950’s. Were there others? The publisher was Lou Ruby. The editors were Charles Biro and Bob Wood. This company may have been owned by Lev Gleason Publications Inc. The named creators were illustrators Fred Kida, George Tuska, Dick Briefer and Jerry Grandenetti.

PRODUCT:

PERIODICAL GRAPHIC:

Lovers’ Lane, 6, no date. Contents: Probably American reprints.

SOURCE:

Article periodical:

Lovers’ Lane, 6, no date.: Publication information.

 

SUPER DUPER COMICS

See F. E. HOWARD PUBLICATIONS

 

SUMMERS Mark

This Torontonian is a prominent artist working in the scratchboard medium a rarely used technique. He takes an artist’s black Bristol board and uses a sharp instrument to scratch and define the subject he is illustrating. He was taught the technique by the legendary editorial cartoonist Duncan Macpherson who was his idol. Macpherson was a guest lecturer at the Ontario College of Art in 1976 when Summers was a student there. Summers remembered, “He was extremely helpful and gave me a lot of encouragement.”

After he graduated in 1978, he did freelance illustrating for Maclean’s, Radio Guide, Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Time and Vanity Fair. He wanted to portray authors and so about 1985 he took his work to the art director of the New York Times Book Review. At the time the Review was experimenting using illustrators outside New York. As a result, Summers was hired to do highly stylized portraits of authors in scratchboard and became a regular. Also noteworthy, was his decade long collaboration with book retailer Barnes and Noble doing the portraits of famous authors that decorate the walls of its stores,

He has illustrated books including heritage volumes from authors like Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe,

For his work he has received 350 awards including the Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators in New York.

WORK:

ILLUSTRATOR:

BOOK TEXT:

Content novel & Cover dust jacket:

God Bless Us Every One! Writ., Andrew Angus Dalrymple. Methuen Publications, 1985.

PERIODICAL TEXT:

Content essay:

Radio Guide, 5-6, June 1985: “The Inside Dope”. Writ., William Deverell: 7.

Content essay & Cover front:

Globe & Mail: Broadcast Week Magazine, Aug. 27/Sept. 2, 1983: “A girl approached with the magic phrase …”. Writ., Unknown: 29.

Cover front:

Maclean’s, 18 November 1996.

NEWSPAPER:

Content essay:

Globe & Mail, 17 March, 1980: “Out-of-this-world living”. Writ., Unknown: 7.

SOURCE:

Article newspaper:

The Toronto Star, 2 Dec. 1995: “Making their mark.” Writ., Michael Hanlon: K5.

Internet:

societyilustrators.org/award-winners/mark-summers. Accessed 4 March 2024.

GALLERY:

Globe & Mail: Broadcast Week Magazine, Aug. 27/Sept. 2, 1983: Front cover.

God Bless Us Every One!, 1985: Dust jacket front.

God Bless Us Every One!, 1985: 2.

 

Radio Guide, 5-6, June 1985: 7.

Maclean’s, 18 November 1996: Front cover.