New collection of old Canadian Whites go on the market

Guest post submitted by a reader

In the past year, I had to help sort through a lot of my uncle’s belongings after he passed away. It was clear that he, like his brother (my dad), was not one to part with things easily. There was a mountain of miscellaneous stuff to tackle, and it was tempting to just haul it all off to the dump and the thrift store and be done with it. I knew going through it bit by bit would be a tedious job that would take months, but I had also learned from a previous experience that there is often at least one hidden gem for every truckload of garbage, so we proceeded carefully. 

We came across a pile of comics that at first glance seemed only to be of sentimental value – aside from a golden age Batman and Superman, there were mostly titles that none of us recognized, and while it was pretty neat to realize my dad and uncle must have loved paging through these books as young boys long ago, I didn’t think much more of it at the time.

Months later, when most of the sorting was done, and I had more time on my hands, my mind returned to these comics. I was curious about their significance and wondered if they had been kept for a reason other than sentimental value. I knew my uncle liked antiques and historical memorabilia, so I started searching for information about these titles and discovered a very cool little nugget of Canadian History. These titles I had never heard of were Canadian Whites, published on home turf in the 1940’s because of a ban imposed on the import of American comics into Canada during WWII. No wonder my dad and uncle had kept these! I shared this information with my siblings and felt enriched to have this extra little glimpse into history – not just of my own family but also of our nation.

Since we are not comic aficionados, my siblings and I decided to sell these books in hopes that they might end up in the hands of someone who has been looking to add one of these rare specimens to their collection. They are currently listed on Goldin.co in an auction that ends on December 20th, 2023. Even if you’re not in the market, the trip down the rabbit trail is one worth taking.