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On the night of the 17th
I got on a bus and headed west to Toronto...

This was the second Paradise Comicon. I'm told that the double whammy of SARS and a biter November made the first a dud. This year I think is safe to say was a decent, if not a bit of a quiet affair.

As I am so often [ahem], I was early on the first day of the con, letting em get this clear view of the space. For the most part I have good things to say about this con but let me just say, when the hell will con organizers stop using sterile nasty airplane hangers and old stables to hold their events. This wasn't the worst space, The Queen Elisabeth building at the old CNE exhibition grounds on the edges of downtown Toronto has lots of natural light for one thing. But it was out in the middle of nowhere, cavernous, and generally felt like exactly what it once was, and old exhibit hall that's seen better days.

It also had no separate space for the panels to be held in so a black curtain was erected in the back of the space to cordon of an area for them. This was not a successful strategy largely due to the still impersonally large space it created and the noise pollution from the PA system in the rest of the space [seen bellow]. Very noisy con, almost everyone I talked to and myself blew their vocal cords out on the first day just trying to communicate with each other. In addition the panels, with the exception of the one staring Will Eisner, were poorly attended. The vast space only served to heighten this.

Artist ally consisted of two rows of tables running the length of the room just one side of the middle of the space, behind the merch section. Putting the emphasis on retail at this convention. There was another set of tables for guest signings t the back next to the area sectioned off for panels and workshops. The deference between the guest singing area and the artist ally area seemed a bit arbitrary, and did not correspond to any strong logic, with featured guests in both areas. Bellow are the guys from The Royal Academy of Illustration and Design, who showed up just after I did.


With all that said, the vibe was over all very positive, and the gang in artists ally seemed upbeat on the whole. There was also a nice gathering at a local bar on Saturday night at where I hooked up with many old friends and even did a bit of shmoozing. At the con I Found myself sitting next to fellow Montrealer, Azad [on the right], who keeps promising to make it out to the jams but the poor guy's over worked getting his book Sammy out.

Behind me was the Hive gang, a loose group of artists from Ottawa, Attila Adorjany, Tom Fowler [seen two shots down], Eric Kim & Remon Perez.








Bellow we have a few shots of The Royal Academy of Illustration and Design again, Kagan Mcleod with Willow Dawson, Ray Fawkes [looking at the camera] and Cameron Stewart [back to us talking to that guy I don't know]. And finally a friend of Kagan's whose name I never got talking with Willow.





The boy’s pinched hit a panel after Bill Sienkiewicz bailed on the whole con. Amusing the audience with their zany shtick and roping in passer buys on their way to the toilets. Chip[seen far right] regaled the crowds [ahem] with stories of how he got himself locked up in the big house, and inspired his comic empire...









...It appears that Cameron was less than impressed,
but you can never tell with that guy...




Moderator Walter Dickinson, seen here below in the moments before things went bad, eventually had to pry the two apart.





Things were pretty hoping at the signing tables. Bellow Ty Templton knowingly looks the other way as soon as the camera comes out...




On day two the con was quit busy in general, though with the lack of anima kids in triply costumes and sci fi fans dressed as Jedi and Klingons, the con was overwhelmingly attended buy MEN. Only other place I see a crowd this badly skewed is when I go for a stroll on St Catharine st a few blocks from home in Village, but there it seems natural. You want to know why mainstream comics are having problems....?





....Well.

To be fair there were some women, mostly younger I think, my impression any way, which is good. But still, this is a pretty mainstream con, so what were seeing is a slice of that scene in Toronto. It's definitely still a bit too skewed for my likening.

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©Words Art and Photos By Max Douglas