Sweden Gets Its First Superhero

[Rich Johnston]

For all of its love of The Phantom, Spider-Man and Donald Duck spinoffs, Sweden has never had its own, its very own superhero. It may possibly be the only nation in the world not to have had one at some point.

That has changed this year with Agent Marc Saunders. Written and drawn by Mikael Bergkvist and inked by Joe Rubenstein (yes, that Joe Rubenstein), the second issue is just out, 108 colour pages an issue, published four times a year.

Superstrong and invulnerable, working in international espionage, his true power is his intelligence.

How very Swedish.



UPDATE: At one point, this comic was a Zuda entry called The Ares Imperative with Steve Ekstrom. Looks like America's loss was Sweden's gain.

[rohrmuller]

Well, if you're not counting Kapten Stofil, he is, yes. =)

[nietoperz]

That dialogue is pretty dreadful...

[amikael]

The last page is by Arvid Wessman, who has done a ten pager for Marc Saunders. It's coming up for issue three or four.
The other pages are from issues one and two, and done by me and Joe.

[amikael]

Kapten Stofil isn't exactly a mainstream superhero, is he? I am a fan - make no mistake - I love that comic. But parodies of superheroes have been around for a while in Sweden, but never a 'real' superhero with his own book.

[Knut Robert Knutsen]

That's factually untrue.

Both "Bamse" (a funny animal strip about a bear who gets super-powers when he eats his special "Thunder-honey") and "Pippi Longstocking" (the famous childrens' book character) are technically superheroes. In addition there have been other, as far as I recall, short-lived superhero characters, many of them comedic, but nevertheless "Superheroes".

It may be marketed as the "First Swedish Superhero", but even with my limited exposure to the Swedish comics field I'd dispute that. A simple search on Swedish Wikipedia listed several.

[Meyeraustin]

That's factually untrue.

Both "Bamse" (a funny animal strip about a bear who gets super-powers when he eats his special "Thunder-honey") and "Pippi Longstocking" (the famous childrens' book character) are technically superheroes. In addition there have been other, as far as I recall, short-lived superhero characters, many of them comedic, but nevertheless "Superheroes".

It may be marketed as the "First Swedish Superhero", but even with my limited exposure to the Swedish comics field I'd dispute that. A simple search on Swedish Wikipedia listed several.

Ahhh shit..claim-busters, you failed us.

[Mr Lawless]

What about Sweden / Sverige

[amikael]

No, the claim relates to the first *serious* superhero with his own comic book.
So, there's nothing factually wrong about this. It's not a parody nor a funny animal thing - it's just an ongoing comic book about a superhero fighting bad guys.

And calling Pippi Longstocking a superhero is a bit of a stretch, to say the least. :-/

[amikael]

The only competition is infact Dotty Virvelvind, from 1944-1945, but she never had her own book.