SASKATOONEXPRESS - April 2-8, 2018 - Page 14
Saskatchewan Rush fans love celebrating goals.
James Zintel created the Rush comic book for superheroes night. (Photos by Darren Steinke)
Rush players become superheroes in comic book Darren Steinke Saskatoon Express ames Zintel was surprised when he received an email from the Saskatchewan Rush about putting together a comic book about the team. The 33-year-old Saskatoon resident has had an interest in comics and drawing all his life, and has been creating comic books and doing comic book art for about a decade. He had never before been approached by a sports team regarding such a project. He remembered the first correspondence from the Rush being polite, asking if he was interested in the project and if he had heard of the team. Zintel had been following the Rush’s exploits since the National Lacrosse League franchise relocated to Saskatoon for the 2016 regular season, so he got a kick about being asked if he heard of the team. “I was like, ‘I’m from Saskatoon, so yes,’” said Zintel. From there, the concept of what the project was all about unfolded. The team wanted to sell the comic book as part of its “superheroes night” promotion with all the proceeds going to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation. The 24-page well-drawn publication was sold at the Rush home game against the Rochester Knighthawks on March 24 for $5 a copy. Zintel said he came up with a concept of a story and sent it to the Rush. “(I wanted to) make sure everything was OK before I started drawing it,” said Zintel. DS040203 Dan
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Zintel and the team went back and forth on the story a little bit, noting the Rush staff had some good observations. “There were a couple of revisions on the story just because they shouldn’t have a fist fight in the children’s hospital,” said Zintel. “It was a good idea (to leave that out).” The finished product featured the Rush players, the Original 16 Crush Dance Team, Grandma Rush, Bruiser the Bulldog and the Rush Hulk. There was also an appearance by the Rush monster truck. The comic includes locations like the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre, a completed Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital and the SaskTel Centre. The plot involves a group of bad guys that seem to follow the Rush players around Saskatoon. Before the start of a lacrosse game, the leader of the bad guys reveals himself to the Rush and states his intention to get rid of the team and the NLL and replace all of them with the Xtreme Lacrosse League. The comic contains a lot of easy-tofollow humour. It includes Grandma Rush questioning if the team’s monster truck is a street legal ride when it picks up captain Chris Corbeil and star forward Mark Matthews. Other humour includes the Rush players comparing notes about all the places the bad guys were following them to, which also happened to be some of the club’s major sponsors. Zintel had a trick to getting all the Rush players in.
The Original 16 Crush Dance Team were catwomen on superheroes night.
The Rush Hulk poses with two of his many fans. “It was mostly just kind of going through the roster,” said Zintel. “It was like picking it off as I went.” To add to the humour, the bad guys turned out to be as hapless as your regular WWE jobber like the Brooklyn Brawler. Zintel was pleased the comic was used to raise proceeds for the Children’s Hospital, and he was happy to give back
to the community. He’s open to doing similar projects in the future. When asked if he would work with the Rush on another comic book project, Zintel responded emphatically, “I sure would.” (You can see more of Darren Steinke’s work in his online blog stankssermon. blogspot.ca.)
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