May 2, 2006

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, hasn’t it? A lot has happened in the past couple of months, and I should probably mention them soon, but first: the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon.

That’s right, this past weekend was my first con of 2006, which marks the start of what will presumably be another busy con season, so let’s just skip right to the photos. I should note that I didn’t take very many photos at all, so there are quite a few omissions of wonderful people that I met and chatted with throughout the weekend. Really, this is more like the “post-Toronto Comicon karaoke report,” which I’m sure will become obvious in a few minutes.

Friday

Setup and much of the day went by fairly smoothly. There weren’t too many people at the con today, so it was a good time to catch up with people that I hadn’t seen for months and months, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

My little table setup, where I was also helping to pimp Hope Larson’s new prints and book, Gray Horses. Note the classy faux suede tablecloth.

Chris Butcher and the boys of The Beguiling at the end of the day.

After the con wrapped up for the night, a bunch of us went out for some Korean BBQ, and then for some drinks soon afterwards. The boys from Strange Adventures joined us later in the evening, and much sake, beer and tequila was consumed.

As I was driving everyone home at the end of the night, a fairly drunk Chris pressured me into stopping at a McDonald’s for some double cheeseburgers. It does taste somewhat better when someone is actually feeding them to you.

Saturday

Up bright and early. The Gardiner Expressway was closed in the morning, which shunted all the traffic on to Lakeshore Blvd., which made for an entertaining drive. I was joined at my table today by Mr. Ryan North, who was there as a last-minute addition to promote his new print collection of Dinosaur Comics. He was kind enough to keep an eye on the table whenever I felt the urge to wander the con floor, which was probably far too frequent. This makes him a Totally Cool Dude in my book.

It’s Raina Telgemeier! She was on quite a few panels for the Women in Comics symposium which ran throughout the weekend. I had been waiting to get a copy of her adaptation of The Baby-Sitter’s Club, which I finally did today.

My favouritest Haligonians, Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O’Malley.

Hope had made some really cool stand-ups for the show, and they were pretty neat!

This one of Hailey and Salamander was absolutely adorable.

Aaah, the RAID/Butternut Squash Lounge. What a great idea for a booth! It was a nice little shelter from the con to kick back and relax.

I-I think Chip Zdarsky is giving me the eye?

Back at our table, Ryan was busily selling his books. Here he’s drawing a T-Rex with a proton pack and ghost trap from Ghostbusters that was purchased by…

…this fellow in his amazingly detailed costume. He and his buddies even had Ghostbuster business cards! They’re ready to believe you.

Right next to us, our buddy Eric Kim was showing off his manly biceps while Jim Zubkavich pretends not to notice.

Eric would later show off his powerful drawing muscles, cranking out several gorgeous commissions throughout the day, including this classic image of Storm.

There was some really interesting programming at the con this weekend, and I truly regretted not finding the time to attend more panels than I actually did. I did manage to sneak into the last several minutes of the indy comics panel, though.

And that was about it for the con on Saturday. The real events were to come in the evening, where we gathered up some of the kids and headed down to the Red Room for some food.

Sitting down at our table, one of the first things we noticed were all the tastefully painted nudes on the walls. Ryan’s head was conveniently positioned in front of a lady’s derriere.

This was the very first time that I was able to sit down and have a real conversation with Becky Cloonan and Vasilis Lolos (pictured on the right) outside of a convention, and I have to say, I had a really good time. They really are great people.

Rosemary and Nadine.

Parrish, Miguel and Ro.

That’s Raina taking a photo of a fancy lamp, but I kind of like how this photo turned out.

Chumps.

After dinner, it was on to the main event: Karaoke. Chris had organized a giant karaoke party where almost everyone took turns at the microphone (except for Jimmy Palmiotti and his crew, who showed up later on in the evening, and then were probably scared off several minutes later by all the mad, drunken singing). No one was safe!

Jessica Abel at the mic.

It’s Matt Madden! Later on, Matt and Jessica would team up to deliver a polaroid-shakin’ rendition of “Hey Ya.”

Fresh off his Shuster win for ‘Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist,’ Mal hits us with a ballad.

Butcher takes to the mic. At certain points in the night, we had more than 20 people in the room.

Jim Zub and Jon Ellis team up for a little G’n'R.

Heidi MacDonald joins in on the action, rocking out to “New Year’s Day.”

I’m not sure if you can make it out in the foreground, but a fair bit of soju and beer was consumed this fine evening.

Jim and Eric singing “We Built This City.”

I wish I could remember what song Chip was singing here. It must’ve been a good one, that’s for sure.

Chip and Heidi close the night out in style…

…and one last group song to end the night.

Sunday

I get home from Karaoke at almost 5 in the morning, my voice completely shot, and then I hauled myself back into the con at 11:45, three quarters of an hour late. Sunday came and went quickly, and I was forced to say goodbye to too many people far too soon. However, I was able to meet and chat with Paul Rivoche for the first time in person, and he was just a great guy. He and Mike Cho had a great little conversation that I was more than happy to sit in on, despite me feeling like a completely inexperienced rookie, listening to these two guys trade war stories about making comics.

At the end of the day, I sat in on the ‘Comics for Kids’ panel, which was moderated by Scott Robins, and it certainly got my gears turning. Sadly, Raina had to leave to catch her plane immediately after this panel.

Just in case you were wondering what that drawing was behind them on the whiteboard, here it is. Left over from a previous panel, “The Butcherer” sounds like it would make for an awesome comic.

As the con was ending, I picked up a cheap Hellboy toy, seen here endorsing “the champagne of ginger ales.” Between the toy and the new Hellboy trade, Vasilis and I probably spent far too much time nerding out over Mignola’s work.

After the con was over and dinner was had, a small group of us (myself, Jon, Ryan, Eric, Becky and Vasilis) ended up at the arcade across from Sam The Record Man on Yonge St., where we blew probably far too much money on video game entertainments. We also determined that: I am still able to beat Ryan at Ms. Pac-Man any time, any place; Ryan has the strongest punch out of all of us (but only by a measly 20 points); and that Becky is far better than I am at Dance Dance Revolution (neither of us had ever played the game before), but we were nothing compared to the little kid that played the game before us.

The night ended back at the Victory Cafe for a few more drinks, and then that was that. The Monday afterwards, I was completely exhausted. I felt like I’d been drinking for three days straight.

Oh wait, I was.