Author and cartoonist Dano LeBlanc, creator of Acadieman, dies at 55

Author and cartoonist Daniel Omer LeBlanc, better known as Dano LeBlanc, died Saturday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 55. He was the creator of the Acadieman character.

A multidisciplinary artist, he has acquired a reputation throughout Acadie, but particularly in southeastern New Brunswick, with the creation of the first superhero acadian.

His biting humor and the self-mockery with which he was able to approach the theme of identity through his characters will remain in the memory of many of his admirers.

Originally a comic book character, his mythical Acadian superhero was adapted for television, the Internet and cinema from the mid-2000s.

A multidisciplinary artist

Born in Moncton on February 23, 1968, he studied cinema and English literature at Concordia University.

Musician in bands The Great Balancing Act And Sunset IndustryDano LeBlanc also launched his own record label in 2009 called La Menuiserie.

He also played on several recordings of the famous post-rock band from Montreal Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

A poet, he published his first collection of poetry in 2000, The Wings of Self. A second collection Omegavillepublished in 2003 by Éditions Perce-Neige.

Until 2013, Dano LeBlanc owned second-hand bookstore Folio in Moncton.

But it was his work as a cartoonist and filmmaker that made him known.

The Acadieman Epic

Acadieman (New window) was born on screen in 2006, first on community television. At the time, it was the first Acadian animated television series.

Acadieman : THE First Superhero acadian wins the jury prize Yorkton Film Festival (Saskatchewan) in 2006 and three Impressions de Télévision awards Rogers (best entertainment program and audience award in 2006, best documentary in 2008).

In 2009, it won the La Vague-Léonard Forest prize for the best Acadian medium or feature film at the Festival international de cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA).

Cartoonist for the publications Le Mascaret, La Rumeur and KaboomDano LeBlanc publishes the first volume of the series Acadieman : his origins in 2007. Volumes 2 and 3 were published in 2008 and 2009.

An exhibition at the Louise gallery and Reuben Cohen in 2009 was devoted to his work and was entitled Acadieman vs. THE fine arts.

Dano LeBlanc has in the past described his character as Acadian everyman.

Acadieman works in a call center, he has a beer bellydrinks a lot of coffee and proudly speaks Chiac.

In 2017, after an eight-year break during which he opened a bookstore, among other things, he launched a fourth volume as part of the exhibition East Coast Comic Expo titled Escape from Dieppe.

In an interview given in the wake of this launch, Dano LeBlanc had confided how his character helped him to express himself.

I have a hard time expressing myself in a serious way, so this is the perfect character for me.he said then.

Dano LeBlanc has often been invited to meet young people in New Brunswick schools as a cartoonist and speaker.