#TBT: Canadiens at Comiccon

When the Canadiens set up shop at Montreal Comiccon this weekend, from July 7 to 9 at Palais des Congrès, it will mark the latest chapter in an ongoing saga between the Habs and the world of superheroes.

And no, we're not referring to the NHL Guardian Project.
The Canadiens organization will be official exhibitors at Montreal Comiccon for a second consecutive year in 2017, but the association began at the 2011 event, when Wolverine artist Herb Trimpe drew his iconic X-Man reimagined as a Habs fan.
A year later, in 2012, that tradition continued with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.
In honor of this weekend's event, we dug through the archives at Habs HQ to re-publish the two articles which originally appeared in CANADIENS magazine, taking a look at the pair of Canadiens-inspired commissions drawn by comic book greats.
BIRTH OF A SUPERFAN
This feature originally appeared in Issue 26.1 of CANADIENS magazine
Way back in the fall of 1974 writer Len Wein and artist Herb Trimpe created one of the most iconic and popular comic book characters of all time: Wolverine.
Originally appearing in The Incredible Hulk No. 181, Wolvie was introduced as "the world's first and greatest Canadian superhero"; in the four decades that have followed, the grumpy mutant with the adamantium skeleton and nifty healing powers has gone on to join the X-Men, sell millions of comics and merchandise for Marvel, and make Hugh Jackman a star across four blockbuster movies and counting.

When we heard Trimpe would be appearing at the Montreal Comiccon this past Sept. 17 and 18, we thought that given the rad pedigree of the character he was the first to draw, it would be cool to hook up with the artist himself and ask him to reimagine Wolverine for us as a seriously hardcore Habs fan. Trimpe was tickled by the request, and over the course of an hour or so, carefully penciled and then inked the end product that we present to you here. "That was a fun one to do," Trimpe said of the sketch. "It was different. It's an honor to do this for a team with the incredible history and success you guys have."

Personally, we think Wolvie looks pretty good in our jersey. Now if only we can convince him to lace up some skates…
JERSEY'D DEVIL
This feature originally appeared in Issue 27.1 of CANADIENS magazine
One of the most iconic comic book characters of the past 20 years made his debut in unassuming fashion.
Over the span of a four-page black-and-white story in San Diego Comic-Con Comics No. 2, Hellboy was introduced to the world by renowned artist and writer Mike Mignola back in August 1993; just a few short months later, he would appear in his own title for the first time when Hellboy: Seed of Destruction hit newsstands. Since then, the benevolent demon has gone on to appear across a wide array of media, from publications and merchandise to animated features and a pair of two successful live-action films starring Ron Perlman in the title role.

When we caught wind that Mignola would be one of featured guests at the Montreal Comiccon this past Sept. 14-16, we thought we'd try to continue with a tradition we started in 2011, when we had the co-creator of Wolverine, Herb Trimpe, draw Wolvie in a Habs jersey.
Reaching out to Mignola in advance of the show, he confirmed that while he no longer does commissions under normal circumstances, given the nature of the request, he was willing to make an exception. Meeting up with the man himself at the show, we were pretty impressed with the final product - though the art is black-and-white, we can somehow envision our red jersey complementing the red demon rather well in an alternate universe.

And while Mignola would neither confirm nor deny, we couldn't help but notice… Doesn't Hellboy's signature "Right Hand of Doom" look suspiciously like a hockey glove?