Toronto FanExpo 2008

One of the giddy joys about moving from Australia to Canada is the strength of the convention circuit over here. Well, this weekend is the FanExpo in Toronto. I could only go on Friday (required on Dad Duty the other days), but by golly, was I determined to find some swag for extra prizes for Summer of Love! And ya know, I do believe I did find a few nifty items…

Below is a collection of no less than 61 images of booths, artists, sketches, and people in an assortment of costumes… yeah, it’s gonna be a pic heavy ride… enjoy!

Well, I got off the train, found the con, and immediately wished I’d pre-bought my ticket online…

The lineup was already a coupla-hunnert people strong, some in costume, bumping over the queue railings wherever possible. Thankfully, it was moving at a decent pace, because half an hour later, I walked through the con doors…

Yay! Geekery abounds! I immediately started scanning, taking in the surroundings so I could make a beeline for Artist Alley. Unfortunately, the only card game being promoted anywhere that I saw was:

I only had four hours to spend at the con, so I wanted to get started on sketches right away… but to make the narrative a bit more palatable, I’m going to break the rest of the images into categories: People, Sketches, Costumes, and Swag. Feel free to scan ahead to whichever section you’re most interested in, but I’m putting swag at the end just to annoy those of you who only wanna know what’s going into the Summer Of Love pot

PEOPLE

Agnes Garbowska is the talent behind the oddly named evilrabbit.org. Her cartoony heroes and villains are positively chibitastic… and I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t find her until it was too late to get a Beta Ray Bill sketch from her. Poutage.

Allison Covey sets the bar for photoblogging in the Toronto geek scene. Everywhere she goes she ends up with an astounding collection of visual delights for all; I know she was working the con here, but I’m still surprised she didn’t have her camera!

Blair Kitchen is the mad genius behing The Possum, available at possumpress.com. His wacky hijinks make his table the highlight of any con trip for me, and I’m glad to say I was finally able to get a t-shirt from him. His usual compatriot, brother Mike, wasn’t at the con due to his wife having a baby or some such shenanigans. Huzzah for the Kitchen family! (all of ‘em).

Lar deSouza is the talented and hirsute artist behind webcomic successes Least I Could Do and Looking For Group. It was a thrill to meet the crew, and I was even able to pick up the LFG hardcover… mmm geekery… (** warning: LICD is laden with adult humour, not aimed at a younger audience. LFG is kinda an MMO spoof, and a bloody good one at that. **)

J.Korim is the artist on the modern dinosaur tale Neozoic, available from Red 5 comics. His gallery is here. In fairly short order he banged out one of the best Bill sketches I’ve ever seen, using only a black biro. It was a hoot chatting with him and his colorist Jessie Lam- now there’s a firecracker.

okay, I’ve got no idea why Melanie Espinola’s trying to hide those eyes of her behind her bangs, but as always I’m amazed at this girl. A few cons back she did some sketches for me; she wasn’t happy with the end results, so when I bumped into her again at a future con, she’d completely redone the Dazzler one! I was chuffed, of course, and then she literally tracks me down out of the crowd here at FanExpo to give me ANOTHER Dazzler sketch! Hot damn! (it’s below in the sketch section). Dammit, Mel, get an online gallery or blog other than MySpace so I can link to you or something!

EDIT: Lanie’s got a site! Click the link, love her, commision her, and stuff!

Ramone Perez was, I confess, a bit of a disappointment. Cool enough guy, and it was hilarious to see that the main cast of Butternut Squash are based on real people (** Warning: adult humour**), but… well, I asked him for a sketch. He started it, then had to go to a printer or some such and vanished for half an hour or so. As I mentioned earlier, I was only at the con for one day, and was on a limited timeline for sketchy goodness, so I grabbed my book with the intention of coming back to him when he returned… but when I got back to him he was working on someone else’s sketch, and didn’t seem to be making any time to complete mine. I’m sad I didn’t get a Perez Bill, but I’m glad I didn’t pay up front at the same time. I wish him the best for the rest of the con though. 

Yay for Allison Sohn! Not only did she have the original art for both her Hawkgirl and Parasite cards for VS System there for sale (oh, if only I had a larger budget) but she also donated a signed Parasite for the Summer of Love card pool. It was a thrill to meet such a warm and lovely individual, who can draw me under the table.

Speaking of drawing…

SKETCHES

Beta Ray Bill by Lar deSouza – you can get his links above in the People section

Beta Ray Bill by John Lang. In all honesty, not really representative of his best stuff.

J.Korim’s Beta Ray Bill. This thing is freakin’ awesome! His pic (and link) are up in the People section.

Alright, not so much a sketch as a work of art, this is the third Dazzler that Melanie Espinola’s blessed me with. As with the second, referenced here on the Lost Hemisphere, it’s appropriately doused in glitter – this is disco era Dazzler, after all. I can’t express how chuffed I am to have another piece by Melanie for my collection!

Every con I go to, I get a sketch from Mike and Blair Kitchen. As mentioned up in the people section, Mike wasn’t about, so all the pressure was on Blair. Now I got a Bill sketch from Blair at the last con I saw him at, so this time we went with Iron Fist.

Now onto the people in silly costumes! Yay!

COSTUMES

Benny, also known as Gid, from the cast of Looking For Group

Richard, from the cast of Looking For Group

Rainbow Brite

The world’s shortest clonetrooper, in his “I’ve been captured” pose. Little tyke must have been about 6 years old.

Sandtooper! Yay!

Snowtrooper! Double yay!

Jango Fett stalks Sailor Whichever-One-She-Is

Nothing like a random jedi slicing up the con floor

The sidekick from Apollo Justice, and a dude with a huge wooden sword. Weighed a bloody craptonne, good for him!

Miles Edgeworth also expressed his androgyny.

Mario gets all the chicks…

like Daisy…

and Peach…

despite having an atrocious moustache

This Mario’s moustache was real at least… but he forgot to take the tag off his power star.

I don’t want to  think about the amount of product this poor girl put into her hair, which went all the way down to her armour-padded buttocks. And no, it isn’t a wig.

Megaman’s apparently taken on a new sidekick in Robin, the Puppet Wonder

This was one of the most astounding visuals, seeing Midna running around with a drawn-on navel. That headgear was a work of art.

The hills aren’t as silent as one might expect…

… this guy? Rocks the karaoke bar.

Seguing from video games to comic characters, Lego Catwoman, dangling from the zipper on a Catwoman costume…

Of course, where you find one Gotham Girl, you find another…

And where you find Harley, you find Joker.

Dr Light thought Joker wasn’t too funny though…

Dr Horrible serenaded us… launching into song on request? Fanbouy!

I should probably be punished for showing you all of these pics…

I mean, it’s one thing to wear bright green tights…

… and another thing to be a 5′4″ Nightwing…

… but this guy had to be the bravest dude at the con. Not only did he have anklewings, not only was he in a green lame speedo, but he brought a fish purse.

Even Rainbow Brite was impressed.

Purple haired dude not so much, but he could have been under the influence of…

Vampires! Ah! RUN!!!!!!

Ah, the nuns will… save…. us… Are you two really nuns???

Ooookay!!!!!! 

FInally, the hallmark of civilisation – yes, fans, Toronto has a competitive pillow fighting league. And you thought WWF was entertaining? You ain’t seen nothing yet! Wheeeee!

Alright, you’ve been patient enough…

SWAG

 

The con provided a pile of nifty stuff to be added to the door prize list for Summer Of Love. Some of it I’m keeping for myself, but heck, it’s all mine in the first place

Going into the pool:

• The Possum issues 1, 2, 3 from Possum Press
• Spy Guy: Bootleg from Ultraist Studios
• Spu Guy: Minis from Ultraist Studios
• Spud/Harry from Ultraist Studios
• My Name Is Bruce posters and a trailer DVD
• Looking For Group issue 2 from Blind Ferret
• A bunch of Entropia CD’s, bumper stickers and in-game credits from Mindark
• A carboard Skrull mask from Marvel (if I can find an envelope that won’t require bending it)
• Half a dozen Superfreeks from RAK Graphics
• and a signed copy of DWF159 Alexandra Allston @ Parasite: Power Drain, from Allison Sohn

So… are we giving you guys enough yet? We should totally start charging for participation in these things…