Toronto Pulp Con: A Report

[That Ron Dude]

Well, I thought the pulp con was enjoyable. It was tiny compared to TCAF going on at the same time. It was held in one large room, about the size of three high school classrooms. I would guess that there were 15 dealers. Some had pulp magazines, most had older science fiction novels. There were a few Warren comics and Classics Illustrateds but I didn't see any of the more common or collectable comics. The older science fiction novels are almost worthless now, it is hard to sell them on ebay or ABC books but most of the dealers had them at high prices which I assumed factored in an emotional value.

 

When I was there there were usually only 15-25 people in the room who were not sitting behind a table. I didn't count but that is how it strikes me upon reflection. There may have been even fewer. Everybody was old. At 55 I would have been one of the younger ones. It was also a club. Most of these people have been hard core SF fans since the 1973 Toronto World Con (which I also attended), maybe earlier. Most know one another and everything about one another. I saw people there whom I hadn't seen in years and it was nice to talk to them.

 

SF is a little like the National Hockey League. When I was a kid I knew that the greatest game in the world was hockey and that it was a shame that the only people who played it were Canadians and that the pro league had only six teams, all in the North East. Today everybody plays it, probably better than ever, but it has taken on a strange commercial air. Furthermore there are so many people playing it that you just can't pay attention to all. Consequently guys like me can name more players on the Toronto team that won the cup 42 years ago than they can on the current Leaf team.

 

SF had taken over the world through film and video games. Everyone is now an SF fan. It used to be just engineers and lonely 14 year old boys. But for some reason the number of people who loved SF through actually reading the books has not grown. They have aged however. They have left the world to enjoy the summer movies as they sat in a downstairs room with one another talking about the community, catching up on old times and even discussing the literature of the fantastic. They may go and see the latest Hollywood blockbuster but it just won't have the magic of reclining in a favourite chair and devouring the latest book by Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov.

 

There didn't seem to be much money changing hands. This is nice. As a comic fan who is used to seeing conventions centre around deals, it was nice to see the friendship and love of media evident at the Pulp Con. How's that for a con report?

[bergdoll]

It sounds like a club meeting with a few tables set up for selling. That isn't a bad thing! As long as the expenses were low and the dealers continue to show-up to future events.

 

With so many used bookshops now having a Science Fiction section stacked to the ceiling, there isn't as much of a need for conventions to buy and sell the books. The pulps and out-of-print books are certainly something that shows like this can help readers/collectors find though.

 

These low-key shows were once the way for people to connect with others that shared their interests. Today, it seems that they are more of a way for people to re-connect - with not a lot to attract new readers. Comic shows that are successful today seem to have a huge entertainment section to attract film and TV audiences. It's nice to see that some of these more specialized meet and greets are still around.

[That Ron Dude]

I didn't quite look at it that way but you are absolutely right. Toronto has had a lot of places for SF fans to socialize over the years. In many ways this was one of them.

 

I understand that comic fandom was initially an offshute of SF fandom but by the time I got into it, which would have been about 1970, the two groups had taken largely divergent paths. Some people like Julie Schwartz had a hand it both areas and called his autobiography, "Man of Two Worlds". Many of the people that I saw there had an interest in SF and comics, for instance Ron Hobbs, Steve Lipson, Larry Hancock, Peter Halasz and Don Hutchinson. There was also the guy with the old comic fanzines and the other guy with all the Classics Illustrateds.

 

Generally speaking though, I don't know what SF fandom looks like today. The last world con I attended was in Toronto in 2003. I suspected that the attendees were the same ones that came to the Toronto Con in 1973 but were thirty years older. The size of the convention had not changed.

 

I have never been to Dragon Con in Atlanta but that is supposed to be a very large convention where a lot of money changes hands and there is a fantasy bend. Maybe that is the greater face of SF today. In Toronto we have a summer convention called the Comics Expo which is huge, larger than Chicago Wizard World in floorspace and, it seems, the third largest convention in attendance after Chicago and San Diego. It encompasses gaming, SF books, comics, anime, mystery and horror and probably a few other things that I am leaving out. Maybe that is the true face of SF fandom today.

 

What I went to yesterday was like a club meeting but it was also a "reader-con" where the emphasis was on books. This facet of SF fandom hasn't grown and has been swamped by film, TV and gaming. Even many of the books that are out today have an emphasis on novelization of other media.

 

I don't pine for the days when the written word was king in SF, but I am still glad that I am old enough to have caught the tail end of it. To draw another parallel, I am really glad that I am old enough to have bought Barks, Kirby and Ditko off the stands. It was a thrill to have been 12 years old in 1965.

[Guardian Comics]

Ron: Everytime I read something you have written, I often think not only are you the most intelligent man in the hobby but probably the most intelligent human being I've ever met. Your insight whether it be written or spoken astounds me.

 

Jim

[thehumantorch]

Thanks for the report Ron. I was involved in SF fandom in the early 80s. We had a local SF/Comics club, Edmonton Science Fiction and Comic Arts Society, that evolved into a SF club with little interest in comics. We put on a series of SF conventions called Noncon and eventually we took turns hosting it with Calgary. Many of us also travelled to Vcon (Vancouver), Moscon (Moscow Idaho) and Norwestcon (Seattle).

 

Noncon attendance probably peaked at about 500. Vcon was probably closer to 700 while Moscon was quite small and I'm not sure about Norwestcon attendance numbers.

 

I'm not sure how many of these cons survive. They were a ton of fun and I fondly remember many of the cool people I met through these shows. Thanks for dredging up the memories.

[aardvark88]

Great report. Don't think World Con has ever made it out of Toronto or Winnipeg, MB to Vancouver, BC. Much better stash of antiquarian books & pulps in Portland, OR.

Seattle, WA seems to have 2 antiquarian book shows per year. Last 1 in downtown hi-rent Vancouver, BC must have been almost 10 years ago: a 2 day show with 1 dealer having Classics Illustrated complete set for sale.

 

I have never been to the sci-fi V-Con but heard that 1 of the 1st ones in 1970 had a local Vancouver dealer selling 3 copies of Batman #1!

[That Ron Dude]

Jim, my goodness, I laughed when I read your comment. I also felt good, thinking that I have done something right. I also came up with a smart remark-- Jeez, I just do this while I am waiting for the porn to download.

 

I never got to V-Con or the others. I remember V-Con though because it was put on initially by Vaughn Fraser from Corunna, Ontario who went to Sheridan College for illustration and lived in Toronto for a while. Some Torontonians used the convention as a reason to go up and visit Vaughn. In the second year, I believe, Toronto fans Ken Steacy and Dean Motter did the program book cover. I still have it. The last I spoke to Vaughn he had given up fandom in favour of learning to play the steel drum. It is a shame when conventions fade away but they are a lot of work. Back then there was little chance at profit.

 

This year the world con is in Montreal. I sheepishly told my friends that I don't expect to go. I have not had a lot of "fanac" in the past five years and I don't really miss it. The only reason I would go to Montreal for the con is to see old friends who live in Montreal. Surprisingly all my friends understood and some felt the same way. One of them told me that he was going to try to by a pass from anyone who had one and would decide at the last minute to not go. If he couldn't get one that way he wouldn't go. I was surprised. All of us owe a lot to fandom, both SF and comic, and with the world con only 320 miles away I felt like a traitor to the cause for passing it up. But I guess I am not the only one to get tired of it, look at the substantial cost, and decide that I won't miss it any more this summer than I would have, had it been taking place in Japan.

[thehumantorch]

Just googled Vcon. It's still going, #34 this year. I think my first was #5, suddenly I feel old.

 

http://www.vcon.ca/index.htm

 

I do remember they had a strong group of active fans in Vancouver and they organized a great convention. I don't think I got more than a couple hours sleep at my first Vcon. Partied all night every night. Good times.

 

 

[That Ron Dude]

I just went through the obvious places where I would have put the V-Con program and couldn't find it. I will look in the less obvious places later. I will check out the website.