Q&A: Captain Cannabis has sparked a whole new industry for Vancouver illustrator Verne Andru

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Captain Cannabis: Beginning of the End

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Verne Andru | Amazon.com

$33.49, 72pp

Hal Lighter is just another schlub living day by day who likes the occasional doobie.

That is, until the day that he sparked up a number rolled from a stash of intergalactic bud that shipped in from outer space in 1947 when a UFO crashed in Rosewell, New Mexico.

One toke from the glowing green spliff and Lighter turns into Captain Cannabis, a sensi-super on a mission to defend the world from the forces of evil. From X-ray vision to super strength, this green-caped crusader is always ready to do the right thing.

Once he’s dealt with a galactic case of the munchies, of course.

Created by Vancouver-based artist and illustrator Verne Andru, Captain Cannabis’ saga spans both graphic and animated volumes and the first three issues are captured in a new graphic novella. Andru talked to Postmedia about his alternative avenger.

Q: How did Captain Cannabis originate?

A: I took a cartoon course in the back of Popular Mechanics back in the seventies and met the Comely Comics crew, creators of Captain Canuck, at a school career fair in Winnipeg which got me started on making my own titles. At the same time, the Ledain Commission into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs was released in 1972 and it looked like it would lead to legalization. So I took a Captain Canuck type character and changed the red and white suit into green and yellow and Captain Cannabis was born in 1975.

Q: It seems that it took some time to get the product to market?

A: Comic work takes an incredible amount of time to do, and I was sidetracked from my own comics when I got hired by Nelvana to work on the cult-classic Rock & Rule and found myself working deadlines full time on advertising campaigns, etc. I wound up teaching, opening my own shop and working in the tech community around town. I worked on Captain Cannabis when I could, as well as other characters.

Q: How is the reissue/new issue rollout going?

A: I started with reissues of the first three volumes for the 40th anniversary. Number three launched this spring along with a companion yo-yo toy. Then there is the Captain Cannabis in 4/20 screenplay which was named after the government copyright that was issued for the first comic on April 20, 1977. Someone pointed out to me the significance of that date, which I was not aware of at the time. It’s a point of contention in the cannabis community.

Q: This seems to be a budding empire?

A: All told, it will be 24 books, which have all been written as screenplays. I’d like to see these also become eight animated features. It’s, obviously, taken a very long time to write and polish it up. One of the reasons comics don’t always work as films beyond eye candy is because they don’t have a strong story first. It’s what separates Alan Moore from others, because he was a writer first.

Q: Do new storylines reflect the changing reality for cannabis in society?

A: When I first envisioned the character it was in a Prohibition world where the bad guys were the narcs. In the post-Prohibition world, which I thought was coming in the 1970s, that was changed to agents of a shady evil corporation. It’s timely today, I was just 40 years ahead of the plot.

sderdeyn@postmedia.com

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