by the fans for the fans

One might think the Japanese were an extremely violent people. When anime or manga are violent, it tends to be way more bloody than Western animation still tends to be (Akira, Fist of the North Star, Attack on Titan. Even the original Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z showed blood and pierced bodies); their favorite sports tend to be martial arts; they have a very interesting idea of what's funny in home video or candid camera shows...

So a year ago I was surprised to see in news reports Japanese citizens protesting against a change in constitution, which would allow the Japanese army to engage in offensive operations. Large parts of the population had prefered to keep it limited to defensive actipns only, because most present-day Japanese are pacifists.

Lately I developed an interest in Canada. It seems to be a very egalitarian, political correct, multicultural, environmentally aware and pacifistic society. Or at least that's what they have been aspiring to be, ever since the sixties.

Never saw that coming, with the most famous fictitious Canadian being Wolverine...

Almost as if the location of stories plays no part whatsoever in plots or character's backgrounds.

It's just different cultures. Japanese culture has centuries, even millenia, of history, dating back to times long gone when battles and wars were fought hand-to-hand. Their heros are the likes of Sun Tzu and Miyamoto Musashi.

Contrast that with American culture, which only dates back 200 years. Our heros are the likes of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid, and Chuck Norris.

Safe to say, location played a TREMENDOUS part in that disparity.

Might be true for American superheroes and Japanese fictional heroes (allthought it doesn't explain why Japanese fiction often is so more - visually shown - violent than American).

Still, I find the contrast between fictional Wolverine and reallife Canada bizarre! Not just Wolverine. A lot of Alpha Flight stories seem to have revolved around intrigues between various secret services. You got Department H, Department K and of course the notorius project Weapon X. Alpha Flight was apparently the 'graduate'super hero team - you had to go through Gamma Flight and then Beta Flight before.

Seems a lot of taks payer's money invested into things that would have been plausible for a geopolitical superpower 9USA, Russia, China) or aspiring superpower (certain Middle Eastern Countries, certain European countries reluctant to admit there no longer global players, certain countries with dictators), but not so much for a real-life democracy that has never had the desire to become a World Power and has actually declared pacifism policy half a century ago!

Keep in mind that one of Woilverine's earliest artists, and co-creator of Alpha Flight, John Byrne, actually IS a canadian. Guess Jim Shooter had to press his mark once again.

And Hugh Jackman said he was done, but here comes LOGAN movie next month.

Poor guy just wants to retire already.