A comic book series is highlighting Acadian culture with a superhero twist. Daniel Bouffard says one day it dawned on his brother there was a need for an Acadian superhero. “Dany is the first one who talked about Captaine Acadie. It’s not me. I do the drawing,” Daniels says. The comic follows typical superhero storylines with a French twist. Captaine Acadie swoops in to save an Acadian area from some sort of creature. The region changes in each edition of the comic. The most recent story is set in Baie Sainte-Marie with a villain based on the popular dish of rappie pie. “We have a new monster we’re going to call La Rapure, which is an Acadian meal, but he becomes a monster like blob who eats everything and Captaine Acadia comes to save the region,” Dany says. The brothers are from the Magdalen Islands. They’re taking part in the Francofest at Ecole Carrefour in Dartmouth. “We are Acadian, we’re French Acadian, but we’re Acadian,” Daniel says. “There’s a lot of information that we can do on both sides with the books and with the education in the schools. Now we see the results with all the kids, and they discover the superhero.” In addition to promoting Acadian culture and language, each comic book comes complete with augmented reality. A symbol is scanned through an app and the book comes to life. “We have sold practically every book each year and we are maybe 30,000 books already sold,” says Dany. “I started maybe 10 years ago. We just thought about a superhero, Acadian, and we just started with one book in Shediac, New Brunswick.” Touring with their comic book creations also allows the Bouffard brothers to visit Acadian communities throughout the Maritimes, often for the first time. They’ll be heading to the Université Sainte-Anne with their latest book on Monday and Tuesday. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
