The second Canadian national comic hero, Johnny Canuck, first appeared in the February 1942 issue of Bell's Dime Comics No.1. Johnny Canuck was created be Leo Bachle when he was only 15 years old. His character had no superpowers whatsoever. As Bachle explained:

I drew Johnny Canuck and he had my face, and everybody at my school ( Danforth Tech) read it, and I was popular. I drew the teachers, and all the kids read the books to see whose name I was going to mention.

Bachle made Johnny Canuck tall, strong, and brave and endowed him with a good right hook. Just as Superman had devoted his attention to the Axis powers, Johnny Canuck was Canada's answer to Nazi oppression. He served as an air force captain and secret agent on the front lines working with partisan and guerrilla forces. Like Captain America, he met Adolf Hitler face to face and almost succeeded in eliminating him and ending the war.

Like Nelvana, Johnny Canuck was one of the Canadian Whites. Canada Post's stamp shows him in color, dressed for action in his air force flight jacket, goggled headgear, and boots as he appeared in the comics. He wears no super hero costume and has no bulging muscles, but he is incorruptible and fearless in his fight for democracy and what is right.

Near the end of the World War II, Bell realized that to compete with the soon-to-be reopened American market in Canada, he would have to shift to color printing. To do so, he borrowed large sums of money and bought the necessary equipment. War had made newsprint scarce, and Bell discovered he couldn't acquire enough paper to print his publications. Between 1947 and 1952 Bell sold all of his equipment and stock, and the original Canadian comic heroes fought their last fight.