On Sunday, September 23rd, Pop Culture Canada returns to the Evinrude Centre for the third Peterborough Comic Con. This year, organizer David Wyldstar is giving Peterborough fans the opportunity to meet one of pop culture’s original superhero stars when he brings actor Jackson Bostwick to town.

Long before Marvel Studios dominated the box office, over a decade before Tim Burton brought Batman to the big screen, and even four years before Christopher Reeves made you believe a man could fly, Jackson Bostwick put on the red and yellow colors of Captain Marvel on the classic Saturday morning television series Shazam!, which ran from 1974 to 1977.

An often-overlooked pioneer in the evolution of the modern comic book film and television industry that dominates today;s entertainment market, Bostwick will be at the Peterborough Comic Con from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — meeting fans, signing autographs and taking photos in Pop Culture Canada’s event that also supports Kawartha Food Share.

VIDEO: Shazam! Opening Theme

Holding small-sized conventions throughout Ontario, this is the third event that Dave Wyldstar has held in Peterborough, and it’s a place where he likes to bring his biggest guests. Previous guests have been Allyson Court (who played Loonette the Clown in The Big Comfy Couch) and The Crow creator James O’Barr and Asian/American actress Bai Ling.

But for both superhero and 1970s pop culture fans alike, Jackson Bostwick could be the most exciting guest that Dave has brought to Peterborough yet. Speaking with Jackson via telephone from his home in Nashville, Tennessee, I was impressed that the actor has an encyclopedic knowledge of Captain Marvel that would challenge even the most hardcore comic book fan.

“I grew up with Captain Marvel,” Jackson says. “Captain Marvel, Plastic Man, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon were my favourite characters growing up.”

Created in 1939, Captain Marvel made his debut in Whiz Comics #2. Young orphan named Billy Batson is chosen by the wizard Shazam to possess the powers of Greek gods and heroes Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Mercury, Achilles, and Zeus. When Billy says the magic word ‘Shazam!’, he turns into the super-powered adult Captain Marvel.

One of the most popular comic books of the 1940s, Captain Marvel spawned spin-off characters such as Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel, and even outsold Superman in its day. Captain Marvel was even one of the few American superhero comics published in Canada during the Second World War. However, the comic would cease publication in 1953.

“I loved the comic books, and when I was very young and I remember going to the local move theatre one Saturday morning to see War of the Worlds,” Jackson recalls. “Back then they would have a lead-in which was a cartoon or a serial, and this one happened to be The Adventures of Captain Marvel with Tom Tyler. I thought it was great, but it was a very different Captain Marvel than who I played. Tom Tyler was throwing guys off of the tops of buildings. But it was just one of those things you looked forward to each week.”

Originally from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Jackson was one of the original 11 students to get a Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Southern California. Primarily working on the small stage, Jackson made a few minor appearances on television before getting the role of a lifetime to play one of his childhood heroes.

In 1974, under the guidance of producers Norm Prescott and Lou Schemer, Filmation Studios decided to branch out from animation to live-action kids’ shows to compete with their Saturday morning rivals Sid and Marty Krofft, who were dominating the time slots with hit properties such as H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and Sigmund the Sea Monster.

Having worked with DC Comics in the past, the comic company had recently acquired the rights to the long-dormant Captain Marvel franchise and decided to take a chance with the character by making it a half-hour live-action TV show. Jackson Bostwick was cast as Captain Marvel with teen heartthrob Michael Gray as young Billy Batson and Les Tremayne as a wise old man called Mentor.

Making its debut on CBS in 1974, Shazam! became an instant hit with young viewers. Superheroes had been absent from television since the cancellation of Batman in 1968, and this was the first time a new generation had seen live-action superheroes on the small screen.

“We were an instant hit,” Jackson says. “We were the highest-rated show in our time slot. I remember that the Krofft Brothers weren’t happy because they came out with Land of the Lost and we beat them in the ratings.”

The TV series started a new popularity for the character, with a new Shazam! book on the comic stands and soon Shazam became a household name again. But while the comics stayed true to the original characters, the TV series made huge creative leaps: Captain Marvel never fought any villains or threw any punches. Instead Billy Batson and Mentor travelled across California in a RV and met misguided kids who would get into trouble, prompting Billy to turn into Captain Marvel to save the kids and give them a speech about not doing drugs, not stealing cars, and respecting their parents.

VIDEO: Shazam! Preview Clip

At the end of each show, Captain Marvel would return for one more segment where Jackson Bostwick would break the fourth wall and talk to the audience about the lesson they learned that week. These “tags” are a part of the show that Jackson is most proud of.

“That was something I came up with,” Jackson explains. “I told Robert Chenault, who was our producer in the first year, ‘What you’re missing here is having the hero come back and talk to the audience, the way that the Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid and Sgt. Preston came back and talked at the end of the show.’ I told him it was something we need. Rob said ‘Well, they don’t want to give the sixty seconds of commercial time.’

“So we started filming the episodes, but a month later Rob came up to me and said ‘Jackson, they have decided to go ahead and do the tags at the end.’ We shot them all in one day for the first fifteen shows. If you look behind me you’ll see it’s actually raining. They had a big umbrella over me and with a light shining in my eyes. It gave the kids a chance to really get to see Captain Marvel and have a face to face with him.”

Filming schedules were tight, with the company filming two entire episodes a week. But despite the gruelling schedule and questionable production values of the show, Jackson took his role very seriously.

“I was happy to play my childhood hero,” Jackson says. “I put everything I could into being Captain Marvel. I was very careful how I interacted with the kids on the show. I always made sure I wasn’t wrinkled, and I never put my hand on my hip, and I never talked down to them.”

Jackson also did all his own stunts, for the exception of one memorable episode where Captain Marvel had to wrestle a lion.

“They put the lion trainer out there to wrestle him, but he was this short guy wearing my costume,” Jackson recalls. “He looked like a California Raisin once he put on the costume. But he did a great job wrestling the lion and making it look like it was me.”

However, it would be a problem with the stunts that ended Jackson’s reign as Captain Marvel, and eventually put an end to the show. As filming for season two began, with the show being at the height of its popularity, Jackson was fired from the role of Captain Marvel.

“They fired me because they felt I was holding out for money at the beginning of the second year,” Jackson says. “I didn’t show up on set because I had injured myself doing a stunt on set the previous day. I had the nurse call the studio and tell them where I was.

“I had busted a blood vessel under my eye and there was no way I could have filmed that day. They said if I wasn’t on set by one p.m. I would be fired. There was no way I could get out there from the doctor’s office to what was a remote location. So I didn’t make it and by three p.m. they had John Davey out there in my place.”

Jackson sued Filmation Studios and won the case for wrongful dismissal.

“We had my injury on camera which helped me win the lawsuit against Filmation,” Jackson says. “They had to pay me for all the shows they didn’t use me on, plus residuals.”

Yet despite suing Filmation, Jackson didn’t hold it against his successor John Dewey — although he doesn’t think he was suited for the role of Captain Marvel.

“God love him, John is a great guy, but he’s no more Captain Marvel than I am Wonder Woman,” Jackson laughs. “John later told me this story where he sat his son down, who was a huge fan of the show, and said ‘I want to do this, and I know you like the show but I need to take over as Captain Marvel.’ His son said ‘Oh, that’s alright Daddy. You just go and do it until the real Captain Marvel comes back.'”

Despite the popularity of the series, after Jackson’s firing the ratings plummeted. After 11 episodes without him, the series was cancelled.

In the years that followed, Jackson primarily worked on stage and at one time taught theatre at the University of Alabama. He also played minor roles in films, including an appearance as a guard in the 1982 cult Disney sci-fi film Tron.

Meanwhile, the Shazam franchise continued to be a fan favourite for DC Comics, with a brand new big-screen version of the character slated to make its debut in 2019 starring Zachary Levi as Captain Marvel.

While still passionate about the character, Jackson is not impressed with what he has seen in the trailer for the new film.

“This new guy they got playing Captain Marvel, again, just isn’t Captain Marvel,” Jackson says.

“They’ve ruined the character. The trailer is an absolute farce. It’s just Tom Hanks in Big crossed with The Greatest American Hero. It’s a guy who’s stumbled into something he doesn’t know anything about. They didn’t give him an alter ego. They’ve just made him Billy Batson all the time. It’s like putting a man into a dog and making him the dog. What happened to the wisdom of Solomon? It’s ridiculous.”

Jackson is also not a fan of the darker tone that current films based on comic books have taken.

“The reason that Billy Batson is chosen by Shazam is because he is pure of heart, but in the new movie he’s a juvenile delinquent,” Jackson points out. “That’s the problem with the way the movie studios portray these heroes these days. They all have dark sides to them. They all have something wrong with them somewhere. There’s no pure hero anymore. They’ve taken away the fun of a hero.”

However, the resurgence of Shazam in the mainstream pop culture world has made Jackson a popular guest at comic conventions across North America, where he has been meeting fans both young and old.

“It’s usually the fathers of the kids who come and see me, but some of the kids are getting into it because of the series’ DVD release,” Jackson admits.

“But I get emails, and people coming up to me all the time and tell me that Shazam changed their lives. They say that they didn’t know where they were going, but something in my role of Captain Marvel spoke to them, and they went into the military or law enforcement and all kinds of different things. That’s pretty great.”

Jackson Bostwick’s appearance at Peterborough Comic Con is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet one of the original Saturday morning TV stars and a pop culture icon.

Peterborough Comic Con has all the elements of the bigger comic cons, but without the huge line ups, crushing crowds, and high ticket price.

A family-friendly event suitable for kids that want to discover the comic con experience, Peterborough Comic Con is a fun event that brings out members of our community to celebrate their inner geek.

Peterborough Comic Con takes place at the Evinrude Centre (911 Monaghan Rd., Peterborough) on Sunday, September 23rd from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $5, with kids under 12 free. The community is asked to bring cans of food to be donated to Kawartha Food Share, to be exchanged for tickets for special drawn items.

Many of us have had this experience at some point in our lives: sitting in a room in our house when we hear a sudden thump against a window. We investigate, only to find a bird has flown into the window and is either injured or dead.

A local conservation authority is encouraging the public to help protect our feather friends by taking steps to prevent these bird-window collisions.

According to Lower Trent Conservation, birds are particularly vulnerable to window collisions during the migratory season, including the fall when birds begin to fly to warmer climates where food is abundant.

Although birds actually have better vision than humans, mirrors are not a natural part of their habitat. As a result, birds can perceive a window reflecting the surrounding sky or trees as open space — and fly into it at a high rate of speed.

Birds that do not die upon impact can become easy prey for predators such as cats, raccoons, gulls, or other animals.

Windows are one of the leading human causes of death for birds. According to a 2013 Environment Canada study, collisions with residential and commercial buildings kill an estimated 16 to 42 million birds each year in Canada, mostly at residential homes.

Across North America, the estimated number of migrating birds killed annually in collisions with buildings is estimated to be 699 million.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take at your home or business to deter birds from flying into your windows.

“Using visual cues, we are able to alert birds of the presence of glass,” says Ewa Bednarczuk, Ecology & Stewardship Specialist with Lower Trent Conservation. “This can be done very simply with window paint, adhesive markers, film, screens, or netting.”

“At Lower Trent Conservation’s Administration Office, we have placed small white adhesive markers on the exterior surface of window glass to deter birds, while maintaining a clear, esthetically pleasing view through the windows.”

The markers can be spaced to ensure that even smaller birds, such as hummingbirds, will not attempt to fly through a window.

FLAP Canada is an organization dedicated to safeguarding migratory birds in the urban environment through education, policy development, research, rescue, and rehabilitation. For more information on how you can prevent bird-window collisions, visit the FLAP Canada website at www.flap.org.

As well as the adhesive markers used at Lower Trent Conservation, FLAP Canada suggests other products you can use to make your windows bird friendly.

If you do find an injured bird that has flown into your window, FLAP Canada does not recommend that you leave the defenceless bird on the ground to recover from its injuries, as it may quickly become prey for scavenging animals.

Instead, gently place it inside an unwaxed paper bag or cardboard box, firmly secured, and put it in a quiet location away from people and pets. Do not give the bird food or water. Look on the internet for a wildlife rehabilitator close to you for further instructions.

Editor’s note: The Avant-Garden Shop (165 Sherbrooke St., Peterborough, 705-743-0068) sells the window markers mentioned in this story.

Kawartha Lakes Police Service is seeking the public’s help in identifying a suspect in a daytime robbery in Lindsay.

On Saturday, September 8th at 12:20 p.m., a lone woman entered a convenience store on William Street North in Lindsay. She displayed a weapon and demanded money from the store clerk. After receiving a sum of money, the woman ran from the store, travelling west on Wellington Street.

She is described as a white female in her 20s, approximately 5’5” and 140lbs, with red hair and wearing a green hoodie, dark pants, and sunglasses (see photo).

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Detective Constable Deb Hagarty at 705-324-5252 or dhagarty@klps.ca.

This is the second daytime robbery in Lindsay in two days. On Friday, two men were involved in robbing a convenience store on Albert Street South.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for the most southern areas of Ontario, including Northumberland County in the Kawarthas, for possible significant rainfall on Monday (September 10) and Monday night.

As the remnants of tropical depression Gordon move into southern Ontario, total rainfall amounts in the range of 20 to 30 mm are possible by the time the rain tapers to scattered showers or drizzle later on Monday.

The heavy rain will ease on Monday morning for Toronto and areas to the west, and on Monday afternoon or early evening for areas east of Toronto.

If visibility is reduced while driving, turn on your lights and maintain a safe following distance.

Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to ONstorm@canada.ca or tweet reports using #ONStorm.

The Art School of Peterborough is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a special exhibit during September.

The Founders Art Show runs from Friday, September 7th to Friday, September 28th in the LAUNCH gallery at the school (178A Charlotte Street, Peterborough), with an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. during the First Friday Art Crawl (September 7).

Twenty-five years ago, the Art School of Peterborough was founded as the Lakefield School of Fine Arts by a group of like-minded people headed by the late artist and teacher Richard Hayman.

In the spring of 1993, Chris and Kit Ridpath opened an art supply store in Julian Plaza in Lakefield, the same year Richard Hayman stopped teaching at the Lakefield College School. Hayman had been the director of the art program at Lakefield College School for 25 years (the school’s art gallery is named in his honour).

After Hayman left Lakefield College School, he rented a studio behind Verne Hamilton’s Real Estate office on Queen Street, a building that now houses Celtic Connections (the studio could be reached through the alley where you can still see the large mural of a Tom Thompson painting done by Hayman).

In the summer of 1993, he walked into the Ridpaths’ art store and discussed the idea of a local art school.

With the help of the Ridpaths, a group of creative people — Drew and Marge Ridpath, Anne Crowley, Marni Moldaver, and Doug and Helen Batten — came together to hammer out the details and, in the fall of 1993, the incorporated not-for-profit Lakefield School of Fine Arts was established, with a board of directors comprising the founders along with Di Collins, with Hayman in the role of the school’s director.

The initial location for the school was the Old Ray’s School on the corner of Buckhorn Road and County Road 8. The school offered adult courses, with Hayman teaching beginner watercolours and pottery, Chris Ridpath teaching oil painting, and Marni Moldaver teaching design. Although the school had 75 students during its first year of operation, it struggled to stay afloat.

In the fall of 1994, Hayman moved the school to its current location at the Charlotte Mews in Peterborough. Now called The Art School of Peterborough, the new location had one large studio on the ground floor and three studios in the basement, of which the largest became the pottery studio. Chris and Kit Ridpath soon followed Hayman into Peterborough, where they opened Ridpath Art Supplies next door the following year.

The school expanded its curriculum, including youth classes taught by Susan Murphy, wildlife painting taught by Terence Andrews, watercolour taught by Emil Varga and Sharon Taylor, and more.

However, despite the relocation to Peterborough increasing the number of students, the school was still struggling financially. As a result, the school launched its annual Art Auction fundraiser, which remains the school’s largest fundraiser to this day.

In 2004, the school suffered a blow when Peterborough was hit by a major storm-related flood. Board members, instructors, and students pitched in to help clean up the school and get it back to working order, and the school purchased new equipment for the basement pottery studio.

The school continued to raise funds to support its operation through the annual art auction as well as garage sales and other fundraisers, and then received an estate donation, which gave it some financial security. A portion of the money was used for improvements at the school.

In 2007, Hayman passed away at the age of 65 after suffering a heart attack, and Anne Marie Kornachuck soon took over the reins as director of the school.

Over the next few years, the school obtained grants and was able to purchase new equipment and hire new instructors, increasing the number of students. In 2013, Kornachuck left her position as director, and long-time instructor Jenni Johnston became the school’s new executive director.

Today, the Art School of Peterborough has three studios on its main floor as well as three studios in the basement, with more than 1,000 students every year. The school offers a variety of classes for people of all ages and — in keeping with Hayman’s goal for an art school where anyone could do art no matter what skill level or their financial background — offers bursaries for people who may not have the financial means to pay for classes.

The Art School of Peterborough remains a place where people come and share their creative journey with each other. The Founders Art Show will celebrate and honour those who made the school what it is today: the founders, board members, instructors, members, students, and volunteers.

For more information about the Art School of Peterborough, visit artschoolptbo.org.

This story is based on information supplied by Jenni Johnson, Executive Director of the Art School of Peterborough.