John Bell (born 1952) is a Canadiancomics historian and senior archivist atLibrary and Archives Canada (Ottawa,Ontario). He specializes in the history of EnglishCanadian comic books, and has curated a number of exhibitions and websites.

He has contributed to theLiterary Review of Canada,Event,This Magazine, andMaisonneuve, and was former editor of the poetry magazineArc.^[1] On the subject ofcomics, he has contributed toThe Comics Journal,The Canadian Encyclopedia,The Classics Collector, andHeritage Post.^[2]

Bell was born inMontreal,Quebec, Canada, with roots inHalifax,Nova Scotia.^[1]

Bell is considered an expert on comics, and on the history ofCanadian comics in particular. He has authored a number of books on the subject, starting withCanuck Comics in 1986, followed byGuardians of the North in 1992, on Canadian superheroes, andInvaders from the North in 2006.

In 1992, he curated theGuardians of the North: The National Superhero in Canadian Comic-Book Art exhibition, which was revised and expanded in 2001 into aLibrary and Archives Canada website. His comic book collection was donated in 1996 to theNational Library of Canada's Rare Book Division, where it became known as the John Bell Canadian Comic Book Collection.^[2]

• Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe. Toronto:Dundurn Press, 2006. Foreword bySeth.ISBN 978-1-55002-659-7
• Confederate Seadog: John Taylor Wood in War and Exile. McFarland & Co., 2002.ISBN 978-0-7864-1352-2
• Guardians of the North: The National Superhero in Canadian Comic-Book Art.National Archives of Canada, 1992.ISBN 0-662-19347-4
• Canuck Comics: A Guide to Comic Books Published in Canada.Matrix Books, 1986. Foreword byHarlan Ellison.ISBN 0-921101-00-7

• Beyond the Funnies, long introduction to the history ofCanadian comics by John Bell andMichel Viau, hosted byLibrary and Archives Canada
• Guardians of the North, a history of Canadian superheroes by John Bell, hosted byLibrary and Archives Canada

• 1952 births
• Living people
• Canadian archivists
• Comics critics
• Canadian non-fiction writers
• Canadian magazine editors
• Writers from Montreal

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• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata