A Tale of Two Cons

Apparently the end of Summer is prime time for Comics fans in Toronto*. There were not one, but TWO comics-related shows over the past few weeks, and because I feel it is my duty, I spent some time at both.

First up, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I was prepared to say that the best part of this show was that it was free, but this is just not true. I mean, it was free, don't get me wrong, but it was also a pretty great show. They held it in an old building on the University of Toronto campus, which gives them serious bonus points for atmosphere. And it was almost exclusively hipster indie comic artists and authors (even the few guys there who'd worked with DC and Marvel - Paul Pope and Stuart Immonen, for example - are far more 'edgy' than your standard comic book artist.) Also, there were a ton of great webcomic creators there, including two of my favorites, R. Stevens and Jeffrey Rowland. Also Ryan North and Chris Hastings, from whom I bought this most excellent tshirt. What Would Batman Do, indeed. I also picked up a few compilation books from people I'd never heard of, and checked out some pretty cool art (although I was out of money and could not buy any). As free shows go, this one rocked. And now that I've been once, I would totally pay moneys to go again next year (if they decide to start charging, that is, although I would obviously prefer that they didn't.)

This weekend is the Toronto Fan Expo, which has Comics, Sci-Fi, Horror, Anime, and Gaming components. Sounds cool, right? Is not so great, actually. Look at the guest list, man. Even the people who CANCELLED are pretty mediocre. Supposedly it's been better in the past, and maybe they made a huge mistake by scheduling it the same weekend as PAX, but whatever. Also, it's one of those cons where you have to pay extra to be able to see any of the panels - your $25 ticket only gets you access to the dealer's room, and a few of the signings. Needless to say we just went to the dealer's room and bought a lot of comics. Oh, the World Series of Video Games was there, also. Which is kinda cool, I guess. I was looking forward to watching some serious Guitar Hero shreddage, especially if someone chose to play 'Miserlou' on expert. But when the second dude we saw picked a song on MEDIUM and then proceeded to screw it up, I was a little disappointed. And shockingly, watching a slew of people sit at computers and play WoW is not nearly as thrilling as I had anticipated. The best thing about this show, really, was the mix of people attending. I didn't bring my camera, because I wasn't expecting so many cosplayers, but they were EVERYWHERE. We briefly debated instigating a fight between the Horror fans and the Anime kids, but it wasn't to be. The one booth selling TPBs for 40% was the redeeming factor, since I easily bought enough to make up for the ticket price.

*Yes, there is a third Comic Convention in Spring, the Paradise Con. We went to that too, but since it sorta sucked, I'm not going to bother with it. Really, it wasn't worth the price of admission.