Nelvana of the Northern Lights

## First Appearance

*Triumph-Adventure Comics* #1 (Aug. 1941)

**Nelvana of the Northern Lights** is a Canadian superheroine originally published by Hillborough Studios and, later on, by Bell Features. Created by Adrian Dingle, she first appeared in *Triumph-Adventure Comics* #1 (Aug. 1941). The first Canadian national superhero and one of the earliest female superheroes in comic books, Nelvana of the Northern Lights was Canada’s first distinctly Canadian female superhero, mitigating the lack of Canadian comic book heroes and affecting Canadian national identity as a whole. Nelvana, an Inuit demi-goddess, is the daughter of a mortal woman and Koliak the Mighty, King of the Northern Lights. She draws on the power of her father and the Northern Light which gives her such abilities as turning invisible and traveling at the speed of light along a ray of the Northern Lights. She visited lost kingdoms, journeyed to other dimensions and fought against the Axis Powers during World War II, eventually taking on the secret identity of secret agent Alana North.

## Publication History

Nelvana of the Northern Lights first debuted in *Triumph-Adventure Comics* #1 (Aug. 1941). Created by Adrian Dingle, Nelvana was the first Canadian national superhero and one of the earliest comic book superheroines. Dingle's friend Franz Johnston, a member of the Group of Seven, contributed to the creation of Nelvana. After a trip to the Arctic, Johnston claimed to have met an elder woman named Nelvana during his stay in Coppermine, Northwest Territories. Relaying his experiences with her to Dingle, the local artist felt inspired to create a superhero based on the elder. He made her younger, however, and based the superheroine's appearance on his wife. Dingle would later take  *Triumph-Adventure* and Nelvana to Bell Features after the seventh issue in February 1942. Her final story to be published is in Super-Duper Comics #3 (May 1947).

## Character Bio

Nelvana is the daughter of a mortal woman and Koliak the Mighty, King of the Northern Lights. Koliak's marriage to a human woman enraged the gods, and thus they placed a curse on Koliak so that he can no longer be visible to Earthly beings. His spirit, however, manifests as the Northern Lights to aid his daughter. Nelvana draws on the power of her father and the Northern Light which includes turning invisible and traveling at the speed of light along a ray of the Northern Lights. She used these powers to protect the people of the North. Her adventures would involve fighting against the Axis powers, travelling to a lost kingdom under the ice called Glacia, and even travel to other dimensions. Her enemies include such foes as Commander Toroff, Nazi agents Mardyth and Karl, Vultor and his Mammoth Men, One-Ear Brunner and his men Dwarfo and Slimey, criminal inventor Knuckles, and Dr. Electra. Nelvana frequently fights crime with her brother Tanero, and is sometimes assisted by their father Koliak, King of the Northern Lights. Corporal Keene, a mounted officer, later joins her. Tanero, despite possessing powers comparable to Nelvana, was afflicted with a curse that doesn't allow him to be seen by white men and hence reverted to the appearance of a Great Dane-like dog whenever they were present.

## Powers/Abilities

Nelvana has the ability to fly at the speed of light on a giant ray of the Northern Lights, call upon the powers of her father and the Northern Lights to melt metal and disrupt radio communications, possesses telepathic abilities and can turn invisible, as well as change her physical form. She is also apparently immortal.