.jpg)
This past weekend (April 12th-13th, 2008) was Hobbystar's 4th Annual Toronto ComiCON Fan Appreciation Show. To give a quick summary, it was a GREAT SHOW! And this is my feeling just after the first few hours of the show. That feeling carried forward throughout the entire weekend.
Before I get into the report, Thanks to Tiziano De Santis and Kevin Boyd (as well as the Hobbystar crew) for putting on a great show.
Now, onto the report.
Saturday April 12th, 2008
This morning started off different. Instead of making the stop to Tim Horton's for morning coffee and breakfast, my brother and I drove to Yorkdale, so he could park his car, because he was leaving the convention early.
Then, we made our way to Tim Horton's. This one was at Weston Rd. + Hwy. 401 (The Crossroads). I've never seen such quick service at a Tim Horton's... especially for getting breakfast bagels ready. By the time we went from the intercom, to the window (without any stops inbetween), they had the bagel ready. Then they had the coffee ready. Huh? We ordered and left within two minutes. It's a frickin' breakfast bagel... toasted. How?
So after that, we drove down to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre South Building for the Toronto ComiCON Fan Appreciation Show. The underground parking lot was pretty full for early morning, so here I was thinking it was busy for the con. Got down to the 800 level, and didn't see any line infront of the door, nor were there many people around that level. That quickly changed, filling up fairly nicely.
Once I got in, naturally, I planted myself infront of the table of the person I wanted to see the most (like I do at most cons). This con, it was Steve Epting.
Doors opened at 11am. Steve Epting didn't show up to the table, until about 12:30pm. There was a HUGE line for him. This remained constant throughout the weekend.
There was a short sketch list being taken for him, and I was on top of it. With Steve doing sketches, this made my day, and the convention for me a success.
After seeing Steve Epting, I went over to check out Alvin Lee.
At last year's show, I got a totally awesome Zatanna sketch by Alvin Lee. This year, I wanted to try another DC character. Being the new character theme for sketches, I went with Stargirl, of the Justice Society of America.
I also picked up Alvin's new sketchbook, Nix & Scratches vol. 1. Lots of very nice stuff in his sketchbook. If you haven't seen it, pick one up the next time you see him.
After making a run to the car, I went to see Alex Maleev, to pick up both mine and my brother's commissions, which were pre-arranged prior to the show.
Truthfully, this wasn't the Batgirl I had requested, but damn, it is really nice!
After a quick chat, I made my way back to the car to drop off the commission pieces, I made my way down to hold the spot for my brother at Steve Epting's line, so he could try to get some stuff done.
Once my brother came back, I went over to see Ryan Ottley. The line for him kept altering throughout the weekend, from long to short, back to long, etc. I caught it when it was short. Soon after I got in, the line got long again (lucky me).
I got the second Stargirl sketch of the day. While the sketch was being done, I also checked out Ryan Ottley's binder full of random sketches, etc. I saw several magnificent pieces in there, but the two that stood out the most was the Zombie Superman and the Zombie Batman. They were reasonably priced, but still more than I wanted to spend. I did pick up one page, which features Ladies and a monster. On the back of that page, had a headsketch of Atom Eve (from Invincible). SCORE!
After, I headed over to see some of the guys at Transmission-X. First, I went to see Ramon Perez (nominated for a Joe Shuster Award in the category of Outstanding Canadian Webcomics Creator/Creative Team, for both Kukuburi, and along with Rob Coughler for butternutsquash).
I also got on Karl Kerschl's sketchlist, which I picked up near the end of the day. Karl is also nominated for a Joe Shuster Award in the category of Outstanding Canadian Webcomics Creator/Creative Team, for The Abominable Charles Christopher. Also, Karl is nominated for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artist, for his work on All-Flash #1, 52 #47 (both published by DC Comics).
I spent the rest of the time, from about 5pm-6pm, just going around and getting my books signed, so I didn't have to bring them back. Aside for six books, I was able to get everything signed, which really lighten my load. I did spend the bulk of that time in line for David Michelinie and Bob Layton. But I also went to see Scott Chantler, Leonard Kirk, Paul Rivoche, and Michael Cho.
Throughout the show, the guys over at Digital Kontent, as well as, Shane Heron, and new addition, Brian Boodnarine, were holding down their fort, kicking ass (on sick sketches), taking names (for those sick sketches), and raffling off awesome prizes! Every time I went by the booth, they were busy sketching away for fans. By 5pm (the time of their raffle draw), there was a huge crowd around the DK booth. Sadly, I did not stay to see who won any prizes, nor did I get in on the raffle that day.
Also, since my brother took off around 5pm, I headed home solo when the con ended at 6pm. Nearly got into a car accident on the way home (stupid people making tight lane changes that force people to come to full stops). Also, the weather was terrible for the drive back home. The rain came down pretty hard. But, eventually, I made it home, and got myself ready for the next day.
Sunday April 13th, 2008
The day started off like any tradition convention morning. Breakfast at Tim Horton's. We hit up the same Tim Horton's as the previous day, hoping for the same speedy service and no line. Unfortunately, there was quite a long line for the drive-thru, so we just went in, grabbed our stuff, and left. Not as speedy as the day before, but not slow at all.
Got to the convention around 9:30am-10am. Grabbed a newspaper, and there was an article that caught my attention.
Why Man of Steel is still super by Ty Templeton (Toronto Star, Sunday April 13th, 2008).
As for the con itself, since the bulk of my books were signed, my personal gameplan was to get books signed by Mike Grell, and GET MORE SKETCHES (My name is Jason, and I'm a sketch-whore).
Before doing any of my those tasks, I did help out my brother in getting his books signed by David Michelinie and Bob Layton.
After completing those two tasks, I went to complete one of my tasks, and went to see Mike Grell.
I also got a great quick Green Arrow sketch from him.
Now that I had completed that task, it was all about getting sketches done. I'm a sketch-whore, what can I say.
After Mike Grell, I went to see Bob Layton, to put myself down for a sketch, which I picked up later in the day. I was debating whether or not I wanted to get one, but ultimately in the end, I got one. Quite frankly, I do not regret this decision, cause it looks amazing. Clean, crisp, and somehow, really shiny!
After leaving my book with Bob Layton, I noticed that Joe Shuster Award nominee (for Outstanding Canadian Webcomics Creator/Creative Team for his work on Papercuts, which is part of the Transmission X line), Michael Cho had arrived.
I left a sheet of my sketchpad (sadly, I was down to just one sketchpad, which isn't normal for me) to get a sketch on later, after Michael was still setting up.
I picked this up later in the day, as well, and it is absolutely gorgeous! I'm not that big of an Iron Man fan, but these two Iron Man sketches just totally kicked ass.
To be honest, I didn't know what I wanted to get done by Agnes Garbowska, until 30 minutes before leaving the house. I ended up pulling out one of my box of comics, not published by Marvel or DC. The reason for that, is that I didn't want to double up on characters that I had done, or my brother had done.
This led to my decision on Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow. Making a decision actually took me several weeks, and I'm glad I was able to find something to get done. Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow were favourites of mine, when the cartoon was on in the late 80s-early 90s.
Now I gotta start thinking for the next con. Suggestions?
I haven't seen a Power Girl sketch by Francis Manapul, so I thought that would be a good choice for something new to see. This was actually the first one complete, out of the previous three.
Also, this was another sketch that I didn't originally know what to get. I did decide this Saturday night, so I'm quite happy with it.
I'll admit, I never followed any of Mark Englert's work. Nor, did I know who Mark Englert was (until he was announced). Being put in between Ryan Ottley and Alvin Lee, did allow me to peek over at Mark's stuff, and the sketches he was working on. The ones that I saw were great. I decided Saturday night, that I would try to get one from Mark.
While searching for a character to get a sketch of, I came across my Spider-Man/Black Cat hardcover, and opened it up. Near the back of the hardcover, was the back cover image of the "Marvel Must Haves" release of Spider-Man/Black Cat, which collects the first three issues of the series. The back cover is just a pin-up of Black Cat, and that was it. I wanted to get a Black Cat sketch.
About a week or so in advance, I had set up a commission with Marc Wolfe, to be done at his studio, and brought to Toronto to pick up. Yea, he forgot to bring it. Oh well.
Marc did start on a new on Saturday, and completed it Sunday afternoon. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Marc even threw in some colour for her hair! Nice touch to it, which I was not expecting at all.
Marc has been displaying his Fallen Son cover sketches, on one of the message boards that I frequent, which are very nice. Those covers are what convinced me to get something done, just not on a Fallen Son cover.
When Paul Rivoche was announced as a guest at this convention, I was quite happy, as I now had some stuff featuring his work. For those that do not know, he did background work for the Justice League: The New Frontier Movie, which you can see some of the backgrounds by clicking on his name, or by purchasing a copy of Justice League: The New Frontier Special.
This Superman sketch, by Scott Chantler piece was a spur of the moment thing. I didn't know what sketch to get from Scott. I got the Superman from Paul Rivoche, and I did plan on getting one, which is the next sketch, by Jeff Lemire, so I just figured a Superman sketch would be nice, which I'm quite happy with Scott's 1930s version of Superman.
Also, Scott is nominated for a Joe Shuster Award, in the new category of Outstanding Cover by a Canadian Comic Book Artist, for his cover of The Annotated Northwest Passage (published by ONI Press).
This was the only Superman sketch that I actually had planned on prior to the con, by Jeff Lemire.
Jeff Lemire the cartoonist of Essex County Trilogy. Essex County vol. 1: Tales from the Farm and Essex County vol. 2: Ghost Stories are both out, Jeff is nominated for a Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist for both of those books. Essex County vol. 3: The Country Nurse should be released later this year.
Marcio Takara was someone that I wanted to get a sketch from, since he made his debut at the Toronto Comic Book Fan Super Show in March 2007. He was busy all day then, and I skipped out on him at every other convention he was at since then. This was the perfect opportunity for me to get something done by him.
To top that off, he was sitting next to Shane Heron, Brian Boodnarine, and Digital Kontent. To be honest, if he wasn't sitting next to them, I probably wouldn't have known where he was sitting, because I didn't spend much time looking around at many other tables in the artist alley.
That was the final sketch of the weekend I got, and I actually picked it up after 4pm, when Digital Kontent held their second raffle of the weekend. This time, I got in on it, but with just my lone ticket, which I got by purchasing one slick Digital Kontent t-shirt.
My brother picked up ten raffle tickets, and totally cleaned house on those, winning like 5-6 prizes. I won one prize, with my lone ticket. Since I was also holding all of my brother's tickets, it totally looked like I cleaned house.
Quite the nice turnout for the raffle as well. In addition, throughout the day, Shane Heron, Brian Boodnarine, and the guys at Digital Kontent kept the fans entertained with awesome sketches and totally fun guest interaction. They were so busy, I wasn't able to get sketches done by them. Next time. I'll hit them up next time for sketches.
At that point, there I was done, so I decided to go check out the dealers, looking for some hardcovers and trades. However, the items I'm looking for are fairly new, so there wasn't much of a discount on any of them (and if there was at the tables I did see some of them at, it was not advertised). I'll have to check later on, when these books become somewhat older.
I left spending nothing at the dealers. Fortunately, throughout most Sunday, and many parts of Saturday, the dealers area was quite busy, that I couldn't even get to any of the bins. So there was a hell of a lot of other people spending at the dealers. After speaking with some of the dealers, and Peter of All New Comics, I'm told that it was quite crazy in the dealers area, so that is definitely a good sign.
Hopefully all dealers made some money this weekend, because it looked like an incredible turn out.
As for me, I had a blast! The show lived up to all the hype. I got some incredible sketches for my collection, got all but two books signed (Ty Templeton was unable to make it this weekend, so I'll catch him next time).
Thanks to all the guests. And once again, Thanks to Kevin Boyd and Tiziano De Santis (and the rest of the Hobbystar crew) for putting on an awesome show!
Looking forward to next month's guest list announcement for Fan Expo Canada 2008. The hype you guys are putting into the announcement alone has me all excited for it. May 15th, 2008.
Posts
