Superheroes can be found in the most unlikely of places. But it’s the hometown heroes that can go on to change lives.
The small city of Humboldt, Sask., is home to Canada’s newest superhero.
Jeff Burton has created the comic book Auroraman. It tells the story of a mild-mannered teacher who assumes a super-human form and goes on adventures in Saskatchewan.
“I’ve always been into comics I grew up watching the old Spiderman cartoons, the Batman TV series with Adam West,” Burton said.
“Last fall, an opportunity came up that Humbolt was going to be putting on a comic-con and I thought it’d be really cool if Auroraman debuted at the first-ever Humboldt comic-con. So I was like ‘let’s do this.’”
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And so his journey began, Burton overcame various challenges along the way, testing and building his character.
“Your days aren’t always going to be easy but you still have to work through it, you cannot give up and throw in the towel. You have to manage your time, given the fact that Auroraman’s a teacher, a super-hero and a father. He’s got a lot of responsibilities,” Burton said.
“He’s truly a living example for our staff and students of what you can accomplish with hard work and perseverance … the students and staff have seen him take a thought and make it into a dream and make it happen,” said Cori Harcourt, who is also a teacher at Englefeld School teacher.
“At first, I was really shocked and extremely excited because knowing my teacher is Auroraman that’s really amazing,” Grade 10 student Khrystyna Ostrovsky said.
But with great power comes great responsibility. And so Auroraman shares ‘the power of knowledge’ with his students, engaging them in the plot lines, action plans and adventure.
“Usually we have textbooks so Mr. Burton throws in the comic books for a different perspective. So if he’s trying to teach us and it might be a hard topic, he kind of relates it to the comic book so that way we can see it in a different way and we understand it more. It’s a lot easier and more fun too,” Ostrovsky said.
“I think it’s really great how some students have found their niche. They didn’t realize they were such a good artist and now their self-esteem has gone up and they realize, ‘hey I’m good at something,’” Harcourt said.
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The ultimate reward for this hero isn’t fame or fortune. It’s to see his students succeed and live by the moral of the story.
“The biggest lesson to take away from Auroraman is that he does good because that’s the way you should do it. People are good and should therefore do good things. It just happens that he has the ability to do more good things than maybe the average person,” Burton said.
But a hero’s journey is never done and so Auroraman will continue to teach by day and protect Saskatchewan by night.