Well, I’m back. After four exciting days in Toronto, I’m back to the prairies, and beginning to process everything from my first convention as a featured guest. While it’ll take some time and space for me to fully internalize all the stuff I experienced in Hogtown, here are eight quick first thoughts on the experience.
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1. I (Still) Heart Toronto.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 8 years since I lived in the GTA (Oakville counts, right?) and I had wondered if I’d still have the same affection for the place after so much time had passed. I needn’t have worried. Toronto had the same electricity and vibrance that I enjoyed when I was at Art College, the feeling that I was in a place where things actually happened, a place where people go to when they get serious about what they’re doing--whatever that is. If anything, I enjoyed this visit to Toronto more than when I lived in the area, both because I was no longer a starving student, and could actually afford to enjoy some of the finer things Toronto has to offer, but also because I could share this place from my past that I so loved with my wife; my future. I didn’t know how or even if I’d make it back to Toronto, but for it to have been my artwork to have brought me back made it extra special, and so much more so because my wife was there to share the experience with me.
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2. Comic Book People are the Best Kind of People.
Aside from the great interaction I had with the fans at Comic Con, one of the biggest highlights was meeting some of the other creators at the Con, and even making some new friends. I had the great fortune of sitting right next to one of my favourite creators, the great J. Bone, whose work I’ve enjoyed for a long time, whether it’s his fantastic inks on Darwyn Cooke’s revitalization of Will Eisner’s The Spirit, or his work on Johnny DC’s funny and deeply charming Super Friends (both of which are my perennial picks as Christmas gifts for the as-yet uninitiated to comics). He was a swell guy in person, and I had a blast chatting with him and commiserating about the new Wonder Woman costume. Here’s a shot of him with the print I gave him as part of an art exchange.
Another swell fella I met was Mike Del Mundo, a brilliant up and coming artist over at Marvel Comics. A veteran of Toronto cons, he and his lady were really helpful and encouraging, and a great couple to help us through our first convention as exhibitors. I dumbly didn’t get a picture of Mike, but here’s one of his Illustration pieces to give you an idea of the amazing work this guy is putting out. I made sure to get a print of this in our art exchange.
While there are bad apples in every bunch (and unfortunately for this convention, flat-out thieves among them) I felt really blessed to be able to spend my time at the con rubbing shoulders and sharing coffees with these two guys.
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3. Don’t Engage People Wearing Union Jack Flags as Capes in Conversation.
I don’t really have the space here to really explain this one, so just trust me, OK?
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4. In the first real battle of Illustration vs. Comics, Illustration Wins.
Since WizardWorld Toronto was a comic book convention, I put most of my preparation time into doing comic book stuff, and then, as an after-thought, also made some prints of my published magazine work. To my surprise, the non-superhero Illustration stuff outsold the comic character prints at a rate of about 3-to-1. Sure, I still had plenty of requests for comic characters while I was doing live sketches, but it was the non-capes work to which people really seemed to be responding. What does this mean? I don’t really know, but I thought it was interesting.
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5. There Are Only So Many Hot Dogs One Man Can Eat
An unfortunate quirk of the convention centre was that its food court was smack dab in the middle of a different convention (I think it was for flower growers or something) so our only option for food in our hall was either hot dogs or pizza. Unfortunately, I’ve developed a rather bothersome intolerance to our old friend lactose, so that cut my own personal options in half. And being at the con all day long meant that the weekend ended up being my own personal attempt to bury Takeru Kobayashi once and for all (at least until Sunday when I was finally smart enough to bring healthy food with me). So for the foreseeable future: no more hot dogs.
6. The “H” in “Shazam!” Stands for “Hercules” and Not “Huckabee.”
It’s not a well-kept secret that Captain Marvel creator C.C. Beck visually based the good Captain on actor Fred MacMurray, and it’s a stylistic choice the best Shazam artists have followed over the years. So when it came time for me to do a live sketch of Billy Batson’s alter-ego, I too tried to emulate Fred MacMurray. Only, when it came out, it didn’t look so much like Fred MacMurray as it did Presidential candidate (and Chuck Norris hobnobber) Mike Huckabee. Am I crazy? Here’s an iPhone pic of the sketch, followed by Fred MacMurray and Mike Huckabee, side by side. You be the judge!
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7. The Hyatt Regency on King Street is Where all the Cool Kids Stay.
Not only was our hotel the very nicest we’ve ever stayed in, with an enthusiastic and helpful staff, but it was also home to all the celebrity guests in town for the convention. So it made for some pretty weird mornings, as it’s not every day that you look up (way up) to see Peter Mayhew (the dude who played Chewbacca) in the lobby, or Sherlock Holmes’ Robert Maillet ambling down the street on his morning jog. It was neat to see these guys, but I did my best not to bother them, or any of the other celebrities staying at the hotel, because after entire days of noisy crowds, the last thing I’d want would be to have people coming up to me at the hotel, too.
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8.Old Friends are the Best Kind of Friends.
Coming back to Toronto was already an experience I wanted to savour, but it was made all the more special because we could spend so much time after the convention each night with good friends. Just about each evening we had dinner with another pal, and whether I knew them from Art College, High School, or the years since then, it was so great to be able to reconnect with them, and pick up as though I’d just seen them the day before. My buddy Aylwin (a gifted designer in his own right) even worked the booth with me on Sunday, and it was a blast goofing around with him again (and I know my wife appreciated the time to check out the shopping in Toronto). And even if it wasn’t incident-free (Aylwin somehow ran afoul of some Roller Derby Girls) it was never boring, and for that I’m grateful.
I wish I could tell you that’s not his usual expression.
Overall I had a great weekend in Toronto, and remain thankful for the opportunity WizardWorld afforded me when they brought me to Toronto to be part of their Comic Con. It wasn’t a perfect experience, but I learned a great deal, which will help me at any future convention of which I’m part. I’ll post some more of my pictures from the trip on the Facebook page in the comic days, so stay tuned, and thanks for reading!
