Superman lifts $1M

A copy of the first ever comic book featuring Superman, considered the holy grail of comic collecting, has sold for US$1 million.

The sale, on auction site ComicConnect.com, set a record for a comic sale Feb 22. The previous record was estimated at just over US$400,000.

The buyer was a New York-based collector, according to a ComicConnect.com spokesman.

“It’s considered by most people as the most important book,” said John Dolmayan, a comic book enthusiast and dealer. “It kind of ushered in the age of the superheroes.”

This copy got a better price than earlier copies of the same comic at auction because it is in better condition, Dolmayan explained.

The 1938 edition of Action Comics #1 has Superman lifting a car on its cover. It originally sold for 10 cents.

Superman was created by Toronto-born writer Jerry Siegel (1914-1996) and artist Joe Shuster (1914-1992) in the mid-1930s. The action hero genre caught on almost immediately and the Superman comic book series followed in 1939.

I’m not dead: Lightfoot

Canadian icon Gordon Lightfoot says he was at the dentist last month when he heard on the radio that he was dead.

The folk legend, whose hits include If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, took the news lightheartedly and was soon on the phone with Toronto-based all-news station CP24.

“I’m fine, everything is good. I don’t know where it comes from. It seems like a bit of a hoax or something,” the 71-year-old singer said. “I was quite surprised to hear (it) myself. I haven’t had so much airplay on my music now for weeks.”

The initial reports of Lightfoot’s death appeared on Canwest news sites on Feb 18, spreading instantaneously across many blogs and Twitter posts.

The report was discovered to be untrue within minutes of the news being posted.

BC Fiedler Management, Lightfoot’s concert tour promoters, put out a quick statement proclaiming Lightfoot “is alive and in good health” and that the report was “false and completely without merit.”

“This is just an unfortunate prank,” said promoter Bernie Fiedler.

In fact, the singer’s 12-city spring tour of Eastern Canada, Quebec and Ontario kicks off at the end of this month starting in St. John’s.

Over the past few years, Lightfoot has been beset by health problems after suffering a ruptured artery in his stomach in 2002.

One report of the fake death attributed the news to fellow singer Ronnie Hawkins.

Hawkins says he heard the rumour through his management firm in the U.S., which told him that they heard it by phone from someone claiming to be Lightfoot’s grandson.

“Oh what a dirty, sick joke that is, but I’m glad it was a sick joke and not the truth,” Hawkins said.

Earnest Broadway-bound

Brian Bedford’s gender-bending turn as Lady Bracknell is headed for Broadway.

The British-born Stratford Shakespeare Festival veteran will reprise his turn as Oscar Wilde’s formidable matron in The Importance of Being Earnest in New York next year.

The Tony Award-winning Bedford both starred in and helmed the Stratford Festival’s production of Earnest in 2009, winning acclaim for both his portrayal and for his direction.

The revival will join the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2011 season, the American troupe announced on Feb 15.

According to Roundabout artistic director Todd Haimes, the production will open for a limited engagement in winter 2011 at the American Airlines Theatre.

“The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is obviously a prestigious company, and I’ve had great respect for (the company’s) work over the years. So in the particular case of Earnest, it’s exciting to me to be able to collaborate with that institution and give (Roundabout’s) audience the opportunity to see great work that they otherwise would not have access to,” he said in a statement.

The revival will also feature other actors from the original Canadian production, he said.

Brother André to be canonized

The bishops of Canada are calling the announcement of the canonization of Blessed André Bessette -- known as the "miracle man of Montreal" -- as a moment to rejoice.



Bishop Pierre Morissette of Saint-Jérôme, president of the Canadian episcopal conference, said in a statement after Benedict XVI announced Feb 19 that Brother André Bessette (1845-1937) would be canonized Oct 17.



"Brother André lived his life with great humility. Guided by a deep faith and devotion to Saint Joseph, he dedicated his life to praying, serving the poor, welcoming strangers, healing the sick and comforting the suffering," the bishop said. "To this day, his memory remains an important witness to all Canadians of faith and love."



Brother André has always been tremendously popular among French-Canadians and gained a reputation for miraculous cures that endured after his death.

He will become the 11th saint in Canada, according to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, including eight from the country's earliest days.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper also welcomed the news of Brother André's canonization.

“His canonization confirms the devotion of the countless people who came to him for help during his life, the million who attended his funeral and the two million who visit St. Joseph’s Oratory every year," Harper said in a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office.

Brother André was born Alfred Bessette on Aug 9, 1845, to a large Catholic family in the town of St-Gregoire-d'Iberville, Que.

After joining the Holy Cross Congregation in 1874, he worked as a porter and barber at a boys school run by the order, and it was there that his reputation as a healer and miracle-worker took hold.

His dream was to build a shrine to St. Joseph on the side of Montreal's Mount Royal. He started with a tiny chapel in 1904, which over the years grew to become the giant landmark church that now towers over the city.

Brother André was laid to rest there when he died in 1937 at the age of 91. His heart is stored in a reliquary inside the Oratory and is an object of contemplation for pilgrims.

Efforts to have him recognized as a saint started in the 1940s, and he was declared venerable in 1978. He was beatified in 1982 after a case of healing in 1956 was recognized officially by the Vatican as a miracle. Over the years, millions of people have signed petitions asking for his sainthood.

Last December, Pope Benedict XVI attributed to him a second miracle healing described as scientifically inexplicable, a requirement of sainthood. Details of the miracle have not been disclosed to the public.