Mark Shainblum

Writer Mark Shainblum, a lifelong native of Montreal, leads a secret double life as both mainstream journalist and comic book writer. In the mid-eighties, Shainblum founded Matrix Graphics, an independent Canadian comic book publisher. He was also the co-creator of Northguard, a post-modern superhero series acclaimed by the Canadian Museum of Caricature as “the most sophisticated depiction ever of a Canadian national superhero.” A former literary columnist for Hour, the Montreal arts and culture weekly, Shainblum currently freelances for such publications as The Montreal Gazette and Quill & Quire, as well as New York?s Broadway Comics. Illustrator Gabriel Morrissette is a prolific comic book artist who began his career in 1984 collaborating with Shainblum on Northguard. In recent years Morrissette has worked on such classic mainstream comics as Doc Savage and Spiderman 2099, as well as many alternative and independent comics. Morrissette has also worked extensively in French for such Queacute;becois humour magazines as Croc and Safarir, for whom he illustrates the adventures of humorous Queacute;becois superhero Seacuteveudireman. His illustration of Northguard’s ally Fleur de Lys was recently featured in a Canadian superhero stamp series issued by Canada Post.