Northguard is a superhero, created by Mark Shainblum and Gabriel Morrissette, who originally appeared in Canadian comic books published by Matrix Graphics Series. Northguard made his first appearance in New Triumph Featuring Northguard #1 (September 1984).
Northguard is the costumed identity of Phillip "Phil" Wise, a video-store manager and comic-book enthusiast who was enlisted by Progressive Allied Canadian Technologies (PACT) Corporation to help them combat an extreme right-wing terrorist organization known as ManDes (an abbreviation for manifest destiny). that was bent on overthrowing the Canadian government. Working in secret, PACT had developed a revolutionary cybernetic personal-weapons system called the "Uniband". Wise was contacted when Karl Manning, the original wielder of the Uniband, was killed in a terrorist attack. Wise's brain patterns were similar enough to allow him to operate the device. Wise eventually agreed to be an agent of PACT only if he could do so as a costumed superhero. PACT accepted Wise's condition; and Northguard was born.
Publication history The first stories of Northguard appeared in New Triumph Featuring Northguard #1-5 published by Matrix Graphic Series between 1984 and 1986. These stories were collected and republished by Caliber Comics in 1989 as the trade paperback Northguard, Book One: Manifest Destiny. In 1989, Caliber published the three-issue series Northguard: ManDes Conclusion. The "Manifest Destiny" and "ManDes Conclusion" arcs were collected and republished by Chapterhouse Comics in 2015 as the Northguard Compendium. Chapterhouse planned to republish color versions of the original Northguard stories, but only Chapterhouse Archives: Northguard #1 was ever issued.
A standalone Northguard story was featured in Canadian Comics Cavalcade (Artworx, 1986). Northguard made a cameo appearance in The Northern Guard #1 (Moonstone Books, 2010).
In 2015, Canadian publisher Chapterhouse Comics launched a new comic book universe featuring rebooted versions of both Captain Canuck and Northguard. In 2016, Northguard made a number of guest appearances in Captain Canuck. Later that year, Chapterhouse published its first Northguard story arc. A second arc was published in 2017. The story arcs were collected in 2018 into the trade paperbacks Northguard, Volume One: Aurora Dawn and Northguard, Volume Two: Enemy of the States.
Date Publication Publisher 1984.09 New Triumph Featuring Northguard #1Shainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a); Isherwood, Geof (cw, ca);. "And Stand on Guard...". New Triumph Featuring Northguard #1 (September 1984), Matrix Graphic Series. Matrix Graphic Series 1985 New Triumph Featuring Northguard #2Shainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a); Mireault, Bernie (ca). "Awaken the Dreamers". New Triumph Featuring Northguard #2 (1985), Matrix Graphic Series. Matrix Graphic Series 1985 New Triumph Featuring Northguard #3Shainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a); Boivin, Jacques (ca). "Target Red, Target Blue; Chapter One: Making Hate". New Triumph Featuring Northguard #3 (1985), Matrix Graphic Series. Matrix Graphic Series 1986 New Triumph Featuring Northguard #4Shainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a); Harpes, Jan (ca); Isherwood, Geof (ca); Labrosse, Thierry (ca); Leialoha, Steve (ca); Mireault, Bernie (ca); Steacy, Ken (a); . "Target Red, Target Blue; Chapter Two: Never Surrender". New Triumph Featuring Northguard #4 (1986), Matrix Graphic Series. Matrix Graphic Series 1986 New Triumph Featuring Northguard #5Shainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a); Boivin, Jacques (ca). "Games of the Heart". New Triumph Featuring Northguard #5 (1986), Matrix Graphic Series. Matrix Graphic Series 1986 Canadian Comics CavalcadeShainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a). "Canada does not believe in superheroes...". Canadian Comics Cavalcade (1986), Artworx. Artworx 1989.09 Northguard, Book One: Manifest DestinyShainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a). Northguard, Book One: Manifest Destiny (1989), Caliber Press. Caliber Press 1989 Northguard: ManDes Conclusion #1Shainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a). "Part One: Blood and Fire". Northguard: ManDes Conclusion #1 (1989), Caliber Press. Caliber Press 1989 Northguard: ManDes Conclusion #2Shainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a). "Part Two: Fleur De Lys". Northguard: ManDes Conclusion #2 (1989), Caliber Press. Caliber Press 1990 Northguard: ManDes Conclusion #3Shainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a). "Part Three: Scorched Earth". Northguard: ManDes Conclusion #3 (1990), Caliber Press. Caliber Press 2006 Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book UniverseBell, John. Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe (November 2006), Dundurn Press Dundurn Press 2010 The Northern Guard #1Templeton, Ty (w); Cutler, David J. "Northern Guard: [The world of 2028 was a dangerous place"]". The Northern Guard #1 (2010), Moonstone Books. Moonstone Books 2015.12 Northguard CompendiumShainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a). Northguard Compendium (December 2015), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2016.04 Captain Canuck #8Andrasofszky, Kalman (w); Kirk, Leonard (a); Kniivila, Irma (ca). Captain Canuck #8 (April 2016), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2016.06 Chapterhouse Archives: Northguard #1Shainblum, Mark (w); Morrissette, Gabriel (a). Chapterhouse Archives: Northguard #1 (June 2016), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2016.08 Northguard #1Falcone, Anthony (w); Salas, Ron (a); Kniivila, Irma (ca). Northguard #1 (August 2016), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2016.09 Northguard #2Falcone, Anthony (w); Salas, Ron (a); Kim, Eric (a); Estrada, Juancho (ca). Northguard #2 (September 2016), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2016.10 Northguard #3Falcone, Anthony (w); Kim, Eric (a); Estrada, Juancho (ca). Northguard #3 (October 2016), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2016.11 Captain Canuck #10Andrasofszky, Kalman (w); Kirk, Leonard (a). Captain Canuck #10 (November 2016), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2016.11 Northguard #4Falcone, Anthony (w); Kim, Eric (a); Pagnotta, Marco (ca). Northguard #4 (November 2016), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2016.12 Captain Canuck #11Andrasofszky, Kalman (w); Kirk, Leonard (a); Pagnotta, Marco (ca). Captain Canuck #11 (December 2016), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2017.05 Captain Canuck, Season Three #1Andrasofszky, Kalman (w); Kirk, Leonard (a); Gallagher, John (ca). Captain Canuck, Season Three #1 (May 2017), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2017.09 Northguard, Season Two #1Falcone, Anthony (w); Valletta, Giovanni (a). Northguard, Season Two #1 (September 2017), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2017.10 Northguard, Season Two #2Falcone, Anthony (w); Valletta, Giovanni (a); Harrison, Yinfaowai (ca). Northguard, Season Two #2 (October 2017), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2017.11 Northguard, Season Two #3Falcone, Anthony (w); Valletta, Giovanni (a). Northguard, Season Two #3 (November 2017), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2017.12 Northguard, Season Two #4Falcone, Anthony (w); Feldman, Aaron (a); Carrera, Sergio (ca). Northguard, Season Two #4 (December 2017), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2018.01 Captain Canuck, Season Three #2Andrasofszky, Kalman (w); Kirk, Leonard (a); Gallagher, John (ca). Captain Canuck, Season Three #2 (January 2018), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2018.05 InvasionBaruchel, Jay (w); Jensen, Van (a); Kirk, Leonard (ca). Invasion (May 2018), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2018.06 Northguard, Volume One: Aurora DawnFalcone, Anthony (w); Kim, Eric (a); Salas, Ron (a). Northguard, Volume One: Aurora Dawn (June 2018), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics 2018.06 Northguard, Volume Two: Enemy of the StatesFalcone, Anthony (w); Feldman, Aaron (a); Carrera, Sergio (a). Northguard, Volume Two: Enemy of the States (June 2018), Chapterhouse Comics. Chapterhouse Comics
Fictional character biography Original series Manifest Destiny Begun in the anthology series New Triumph, the Northguard series centred on the misadventures of Philip Wise, a young Montreal resident of European Jewish ancestry, who had found himself caught up in the efforts of a private corporation's senior staff to defeat a conspiracy known collectively as "ManDes" (from the term "manifest destiny") to force Canada and the United States to merge under a quasi-Christian theocratic dictatorship with elements borrowed from white supremacist doctrine.
Wise was recruited as the corporation's field agent as a result of the murder of another operative, who was the only one neurologically equipped to use a unique energy weapon, called the "Uniband", built as an offshoot of applied physics experimentation. Wise's single condition for agreeing to do so was the creation of a "superhero" identity: Northguard. Wise later improvised the name Le Protecteur as a more suitable French language version.
Successfully defeating an assassination attempt on the Premier of Quebec in his first mission, Wise subsequently found himself and his newfound colleagues stumbling through several misadventures, accidentally inspiring a martial arts/dance instructor whom Wise became acquainted with to create the identity of Fleur de Lys. These misadventures led ultimately to the defeat of the ManDes conspiracy and the destruction of the Uniband, effectively leaving Wise without any technological advantages. The whole ManDes affair was covered up at the insistence of the Canadian and American governments, allegedly for reasons of preserving cross-border trade.
Chapterverse Aurora Dawn Enemy of the States
Powers, abilities, and equipment Northguard is athletic and in good physical shape. He is a capable hand-to-hand combatant but has no formal training. Northguard is bilingual in French and English.
The Uniband Northguard wields the Uniband, the first weapon ever created by the PACT Corporation. It operates on a principle that was discovered by accident and appears to be a loophole in the laws of thermodynamics. Theories vary as to how the Uniband actually works. Dr. Eli Gilberson believes the device taps the output of a white hole. Dr. Ron Cape theorized that the Uniband warps the fabric of spacetime and is therefore not bound by the laws of physics as we understand them. The device does not need to be recharged and appears to have an unlimited source of energy.
In its dormant state, the Uniband is a metal hexagonal prism. A retractable power cable plugs into a cybernetic port in the bicep of Phillip Wise's right arm. Once plugged in, the ends of the device iris open allowing Wise to slip the Uniband onto his upper arm.When the Uniband's power cord is unplugged and retracted, the ends of the device snap close with enough speed and force to sever fingers.
Although the device is plugged into Northguard's voluntary nervous system, there have been indications of spillover from his autonomic nervous system in moments of anxiety. This manifests itself in a series of ascending arrhythmic pulses in the device's power curve, all congruent to his mental state. In other words, Northguard's power increases when he is stressed.
Unipulses Northguard can direct the Uniband to fire bolts of an unknown luminous energy down his right arm. Each unipulse imparts considerable kinetic force as well as an electrical charge. A typical pulse can knock a man off of his feet. A strong pulse is capable of disintegrating cinderblock. A pulse can deliver an electroshock capable of rendering assailants unconscious. The electricity can also pass through Northguard's glove and discharge it on physical contact. Northguard has the ability to adjust the power level of the pulses through an act of will. The Uniband fires with no discernible recoil.
Forcefields