The launch of an English graphic counterpart to Captain America is not a hoax. But it's hard to take seriously

But for being three weeks or so late, it almost reads like an April Fool: a digital comics company chooses St George's Day to unveil a new superhero – Englishman!

But Mohawk Media – which positions itself as an "eco-friendly" comics company because it does only paper-free digital editions – seems to be deadly serious about its new character. Not a huge amount is known about the title character – what his powers are, for example, or whether he received them from a radioactive roast beef dinner – but a preview of the cover depicts our hero in Iron Man-style armour emblazoned with the cross of St George.

Writer Chris Bunting, the man behind comics about A-Team actor Mr T and Action Man, says: "Expect plenty of famous English faces to appear in comic-book form for the first time – the cover preview reveals some of them. Plus, there are brand new, quintessentially English characters, including Greenbelt and Dry Stone Wall."

Other figures on the cover include a Thor-like character, Guy Fawkes, a female hero who could possibly be the Easter Bunny, and what appears to be the Cerne Abbas chalk hill drawing giant come to life … though his famously priapic nature is hidden from view.

Englishman, which is being released under the Eco Comics banner, will be drawn by Valentin Ramon. No release date has been announced on the Mohawk website, though there is no indication that it's a spoof on the back of England's patron saint day. Mohawk says the comic will be in a format "previously unseen" and the first issue will be available for free download.

Bunting sets out the theory behind the comic:

"I often feel quite envious of the patriotism that so many other countries display, but 'England' has almost become a forgotten, even a dirty, word. "To paraphrase the historian David Starkey, we should celebrate, and not be ashamed of, England. "To help address this, just as the US has its Captain America, I realised that England needed its own patriotic superhero: enter Englishman."

While patriotic comic-book characters, led by Captain America, abound in the States, Britain has had a less comfortable relationship with flag-waving superheroes, perhaps because the national colours have so often been co-opted by right-wing organisations such as the National Front, the British National Party, and more recently the English Defence League.

Marvel comics has perhaps had the most success with Captain Britain, created 36 years ago by classic X-Men scribe Chris Claremont to act as a Captain America cousin-german for British readers. Another successful hero from the Marvel stable is Union Jack, who has undergone several iterations beginning with his inception as the British representative in the second world war superteam The Invaders.

Rival DC's main Brit-costumed characters have been Batman and Robin analogues Knight and Squire, members of the international "Batman Incorporated" line-up, but perhaps the most successful mainstream comics character to encapsulate British sensibilities is John Constantine, the wise-cracking, chain-smoking magician originally created by Alan Moore.

But Englishman, fighting for truth and justice in a land where patriotism has become "a dirty word", puts me most strongly in mind – rightly or wrongly – of early Viz character Billy Britain, and his chest-swelling refrain: "I love this country!"