New comic imagines Lt.-Col. John McCrae leading secret WW I mission

Dr. John McCrae, the physicianand poet who wrote In Flanders Fields,is the star of an upcoming comic that imagineshim leading a team of Canadian luminaries on a secret mission during the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

The comic, calledGroup of 7,is a labour of love created by longtime friends in Ontario:Guelph's Chris Sanagan and Richmond Hill's Jason Lapidus.

The duowere introduced over a decade ago by their then girlfriends now wives who noticed they bothshared a love ofcomics, Wilco and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Lapidus and Sanagan plan to release the comic for free online in Aprilto coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

"John McCrae is a pretty larger-than-life figure in Guelph, for obvious reasons, so I started thinking about, or looking and researching into McCrae's history," saidSanagan, who works for the Archives of Ontario.

McCrae was born in Guelphon Nov. 30, 1872;the house where he was born is now a museum and a national historic site.

"Then I started thinking about all the other people I knew off the top of my head who participated in the war and then went on to dominate aspects of 20th-century Canada," he said.

Sanaganfocused on:

• Lester Pearson, who went on to be prime minister.
• Battlefield surgeon Dr. NormanBethune.
• Insulin co-discoverer Dr. Frederick Banting.
• Indigenous sniper FrancisPegahmagabow.
• ConnSmythe, who owned the Maple Leafs for decades and built Maple Leaf Gardens.
• A.Y. Jackson, aGroup of Seven painter.

Sanagan thought it would be fascinating to imagine connections between the seven men, and brought the idea to Lapidus, who he says was immediately enthusiastic.

Drawing from historical pictures

"It's challenging, it is challenging, but there's also a lot of room for creativity because the information available is old and there's not all that much online for me," Jason Lapidus told Craig Norris, the host of CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition, on Monday.

Lapidushas taught art for almost 10 years and currently owns his own communications company.

"You have to consider they're in a period of time where they weren'tposing for photos. So what they did during the months we don't really know, and I'm allowed to have a little wiggle room to change the way they look a tiny bit. Given that it is a graphic novel, a comic book, there's some creative freedom there."

Deliberate tribute to Group of Sevenpainters

Sanagan said the name of the comic is a deliberate nod to the Group of Seven.

"I deliberately put the number 7 instead of sevenspelledout, because seven spelledout is actually how you refer to the Group of Seven, the painters," he toldCBC'sCraig Norris.

He notes that A.Y. Jackson isin the Group of Seven, and painter Tom Thomson also makes some appearances in the comic.Thomson famously went missing in the summer of 1917.

"I wanted to create something that one, people could identify with;two, spoke to some kind of Canadian legacy or history. It certainly ties in with the art, given the graphic nature of the comic," said Sanagan.

Consulted with families

Sanagan consulted with the families of McCrae and Francis Pegahmagabow while scripting the comic. He said it was of particular importanceto talk to Pegahmagabow's familybecause the sniper is Indigenous.

"We're pretty aware of the history of cultures maybe telling the stories of other cultures, without having those cultures be included in the conversation," he said.

SanagancontactedPegahmagabow'sgreat-grandaughter through social media and sent her a draft that she then shared with the rest of the family.

"They got back to me in early December and actually provided excellent story edits," said Sanagan.