Leave the super-heroics to the professionals

If you feel that your summer 2006 entertainment calendar isn't chock-a-bloc with super-heroes already (as if the X-Men, Superman, and even My Super Ex-Girlfriend aren't enough), Canada has the answer for you!

Straight from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency comes this handsome devil, Captain Copyright! Fighting against the evil forces of plagiarism, bootlegging, and piracy, CC arms Canadian kids and teachers with a supply of cheap-ass games, mazes, coloring books, and even two -- gasp! -- issues of his own comic.

Putting aside the loaded question of whether Captain Copyright is merely a stooge of the media-controlling conglomerates (Hey, Disney, how long do we have to wait until "Steamboat Willie" enters the public domain?), it's worth visiting the Captain's site just for a chuckle at this latest ham-fisted attempt to market "edutainment" for kids. Yes-sir-ee bob, nothing gets kids learning better than printing out sticker sheets and coloring pages.

(Though IMO calling it "edutainment" is being generous; as a parent, I've seen my share of decent edutainment already, and Captain Copyright isn't it.)

To be fair, at least the Captain Copyright art is decent; the style reminds me of Bruce Timm, best known for his work on Warner Bros.' animated DC superheroes. The costume kinda-sorta reminds me of Space Ghost and (appropriately enough) Alpha Flight's Vindicator (the first one), but with a bright-green color scheme. On the other hand, after perusing the site, I still don't have a clue as to what super-powers the Captain actually has, short of being a square-jawed bookstore owner. As it is, I suspect that Captain Copyright wouldn't last three rounds against the Mystery Men even on their worst day.

And if you didn't catch the links above, the Captain Copyright URL is http://www.captaincopyright.ca/. I'm mentioning this because the site says it reserves the right to determine who is allowed to link to it. So ostensibly if I get a nastygram from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, I'll have to remove the links -- or else Captain Copyright will give me a stern talking-to, I suppose...