PARADISE COMICS TORONTO COMICON 2004 JUNE 18-20

[Ares]

Sure, i could use a laugh. What did ya get?

 

 

 

What,whatyd i say? I just wanna know if you spent $15 for admission, probably $10 for parking, and gas money....all to scrounge through the quarter bins.

Parking was $7

[THE_BEYONDER]

Sure, i could use a laugh. What did ya get?

 

 

 

What,whatyd i say? I just wanna know if you spent $15 for admission, probably $10 for parking, and gas money....all to scrounge through the quarter bins.

 

You were following me?

[justiceleaguer]

Seriously though, how many dealers would you say were in attendance? Was the building as empty looking as it was last year? And how DO they get the caramel into the caramilk bar?

[THE_BEYONDER]

Seriously though, how many dealers would you say were in attendance? Was the building as empty looking as it was last year? And how DO they get the caramel into the caramilk bar?

 

1. No idea

2. No idea

3. No idea

 

Any more questions?

[justiceleaguer]

Seriously though, how many dealers would you say were in attendance? Was the building as empty looking as it was last year? And how DO they get the caramel into the caramilk bar?

 

1. No idea

2. No idea

3. No idea

 

Any more questions?

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

Seriously though, how many dealers would you say were in attendance? Was the building as empty looking as it was last year? And how DO they get the caramel into the caramilk bar?

 

1. No idea

2. No idea

3. No idea

 

Any more questions?

 

 

I was too busy scrounging through the quarter bins to notice.

[justiceleaguer]

Good Morning everyone. Rise and shine, its time for a convention today. Wohoo!!!

[Ares]

Good Morning everyone. Rise and shine, its time for a convention today. Wohoo!!!

So who is going to the auction?

[THE_BEYONDER]

Good Morning everyone. Rise and shine, its time for a convention today. Wohoo!!!

 

 

[Ares]

If peopel are going for Drinks how will we recognize each other?

 

I hardley recognize anyone of you all.

Just

Doug, Peter and Kevin.

[THE_BEYONDER]

If peopel are going for Drinks how will we recognize each other?

 

I hardley recognize anyone of you all.

Just

Doug, Peter and Kevin.

 

Should I wear my Venom t-shirt?

[Ares]

If peopel are going for Drinks how will we recognize each other?

 

I hardley recognize anyone of you all.

Just

Doug, Peter and Kevin.

 

Should I wear my Venom t-shirt?

Sure!

I'll Wear my blue shirt that was an avatar at one point

[THE_BEYONDER]

If peopel are going for Drinks how will we recognize each other?

 

I hardley recognize anyone of you all.

Just

Doug, Peter and Kevin.

 

Should I wear my Venom t-shirt?

Sure!

I'll Wear my blue shirt that was an avatar at one point

 

If I can find it...I will.

[Murph]

Great! I'll wear my dark khakis, my navy blue shirt, and a hat.

 

Brian

[justiceleaguer]

Ok...i just got back from the con. I got some pros and some cons. The floor space was a lot more used than last years con which was great, didnt feel as empty. Nice size area for the artists and dealers both. Security was very tight from what i saw, good job on that. ... now for the cons. ......... dealers jacking up the prices through the roof. .....whew...glad to get that off my chest. Oh, i ended up grabbing a couple VG j.l.a's and the first 3 Cherry's. Ended up dropping about $150 between books, admission and parking. Great show guys.

[Ares]

Ok...i just got back from the con. I got some pros and some cons. The floor space was a lot more used than last years con which was great, didnt feel as empty. Nice size area for the artists and dealers both. Security was very tight from what i saw, good job on that. ... now for the cons. ......... dealers jacking up the prices through the roof. .....whew...glad to get that off my chest. Oh, i ended up grabbing a couple VG j.l.a's and the first 3 Cherry's. Ended up dropping about $150 between books, admission and parking. Great show guys.

You got 3 cherrys at the con?

 

Who were the girls that gave em to you?

[AlexH]

If peopel are going for Drinks how will we recognize each other?

 

I hardley recognize anyone of you all.

Just

Doug, Peter and Kevin.

 

Come by the ACTOR booth tomorrow. Dam60 and I were there most of the day today.

[dam60]

So here's the DAM60 con report (and pictures):

 

First off, I usually don't complain much but I have to say coming from NYC next time for sure I want to take the train. It took 5 1/2 hours both coming and going door to door which is way too long for an hour flight! I got killed in traffic in NY and JFK is probably the worst airport in the world. I really mean that - super disoranized and congested.

 

Well the good news is, when I got to the hotel late Friday night it was by far the nicest hotel I had ever stayed in. It was truly like a 1 bedroom apartment with a great lounge / den and a really nice bedroom with an adjacent bathroom.

 

Take a look:

lounge

 

bedroom

 

bathroom

 

kitchen

 

It was pretty smooth . . .

 

Okay, so Saturday morning I got a ride over with Kev in the early morning. The con set up was much better than last year - a lot of extra dealer tables, a much better layout on artists alley and an overall better feel. Good job guys!

 

I ended up working the ACTOR booth which as always was a great time. As a quick aside, everyone should try to work an ACTOR booth at least once in their con careers. You will never get better interaction with the creators.

 

Here's the booth before the doors opened:

 

The show began and there was a very good and steady crowd throughout the day. I got a nice shot of Peter's setup (pardon the glare):

 

and Koop did gangbuster!

 

Toronto is always a good show for original art:

 

ps - CGC was in effect and Harshen is one sexy [!@#%^&^], look at that smile!

 

 

over at the ACTOR booth I had great access to Roy Thomas! Roy wrote just about every single Conan ever and TONS of Avengers and X-Men. Really cool guy - very nice and sociable. He had some great stories and it was a pleasure to meet him:

 

One of the highlights of the con was meeting Dale Keown. He even did a sketch for me! Jim McLaughlin (the president of Top Cow and the head of ACTOR) had him over at the Top Cow booth (literally the back of the ACTOR booth) and helped me get a great sketch. The Incredible Hulk run that he and Peter David did in the early 90s are some of the best comics period. I love that series so much. Meeting Dale was a big thrill for me. I was literally stumbling on my words. Here's me and Dale:

 

The boys really put on a good show. THey had a bunch of Canadian dealers who I have never seen before and some of the bigger US guys (Koop and Harley) and of course a stellar guest list. They had some really nice panels throughout the day and the one with Sim and Eisner was literally standing room only. I had a picture of that but it didn't come out

 

Great day on Saturday. At the end of the show they had a charity auction to benefit ACTOR and the local food bank. They raised north of $3,500 CAD!!! Here's a picture of Kevin Boyd and Andrew the MC. Dude, Andrew was friggin hilarious! In addition to tons of inappropriate jokes he was really funny with having people bid against themselves with people bidding $50 for something and he immediately saying "the bid's at 60 do I hear 75?". He's a good guy.

 

Here's Kevin and Andrew:

 

Here's Jim from ACTOR giving us a pep talk:

 

ACTOR had a great show thanks in large part to these two -

Dave Sim and Peter with the Cerebus 1 in cgc 9.4 that cleared $10K USD

 

After the charity auction we headed over to Vinnies which is a really cool bar/arcade. More great access to creators and to Forumites. I had a great time with Alex (who is a freaking signature series machine! apologies for not saying goodbye - I couldn't find you to save my life this morning ), Comicwiz, Beyonder, Wasonoff, Mitol and then I saw ecfanman but didn't get to talk much. I wish I had met Captains of Industry (one of these days Andrew) and Justice League Fiend and Ares. I did see Ares Aquaman 1 page at the auction though.

 

So I didn't find a Batman 48 in cgc 8.0 at the con (although can't say that I looked really hard) but did get some nice sketches. Special thanks to:

Dale Keown (Hulk)

Andy Lee (Harley Quinn)

Ty Templeton (Two Face)

Tom Grummett (Robin - I also got two of his Adventures of Superman pages at the charity auction).

 

I don't have pictures but one of these days I will update my website officially and put all my sketches on there. Right now I am running out of space and haven't found the time to really do it right. One of these days.

 

I had a great time and would like to express my wholehearted thanks to the men behind this show Kevin Boyd and Peter Dixon. Thanks to all once again for welcoming me with open arms,

 

DAM

 

[justiceleaguer]

DAM, i have to say, you are great at summing up an entire con. Great post.

[dam60]

Thanks!! Sorry that I missed you

 

So here are a few shots of some of the sketches that I got both at Toronto and the last few cons (Dynamic Forces and the last NYC con). Please pardon the "bleed through" on some of these pics:

 

Dale Keown Hulk:

 

Ty Templeton Two Face

 

Tom Grummett Robin:

 

Andy Lee Harley Quinn:

 

Jamal Igle Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) (NYC)

 

Andy MacDonald World's Finest (NYC)

 

Eduardo Risso Batman (dynamic forces)

 

Jim Starlin Batman (dynamic forces)