Paradise Comics Comic Fan Super Show
Report By Jamie Coville
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Date: November 19th, 2006 Location: Holiday Inn, 370 King Street West Toronto, Canada Attendance: 364 I showed up a bit after 11am, when the con started and I walked right in. The first thing I noticed was the room was much bigger than the last con and there was more space between isles. Except for this one row in the middle where artists and retailers were kinda cramped. Some retailers had much larger booths than the last one day show by this organization. One particular store I thought would be there was not, but I did see the owner in the lobby of the show. Early into it there was already a line up for the big name guest, that being Dale Keown. He is known for drawing some of Peter David's Hulk run and later doing PITT with Image. The other big name artist was Ken Lashley, artist of the Flash, who was a no-show. Liana K and Ed the Sock (in display) was there as were a variety of other local Toronto creators including Ray Fawkes, Dave Ross, Francis Manapul and J. Bone. I've got a number of pictures here. There was a wide range of comics to be found. In particular I was surprised to see some major golden age key books there. Among them were The Funnies #1, Tip Top Comics #1, Popular Comics #1 and Classic Comics (Illustrated) #1. There was lots of trades available, some manga here and there too. 1-3 dollar dollar bins were there, plus folks selling recent back issues. Roughly half of the dealers there had some of DC recent Absolute editions books for sale. The convention didn't have as many people as last time. That Sunday had a number of special events going on. Among them was the Grey Cup, which is the Canadian Football Leagues version of the Superbowl. Plus Nascar's final race was on and Toronto had their Santa Clause Parade going on near by blocking traffic. Although it should be said, the convention could have stuck a sign outside of the Holiday Inn to attract folks walking by. Towards the end of the con I talked to some retailers and creators about how the convention went for them. Most of them said it was okay, but wished there was more people. Two dealers that were really happy had a lot of golden to bronze age back issues. One even said they made more money at this con then the last one. It appears these cons are attracting those back issue collectors looking to buy books for cheaper than ebay prices. Artists I talked to said they did okay at the con, but didn't appear to be looking to move a lot of books/art. Some of them told me it's partly to grow their fan base and to hang out with fellow pro's. There was certainly lots of lively conversations going on between readers and pros. It was a very relaxed, casual atmosphere. I left the con around 4:30ish. The convention was to end at 5pm. I had a good time and was happy it wasn't quite as squished as the last con, but more people would have likely helped everybody that was selling.
Regards, http://www.TheGraphicNovels.com News and discussion on a free, Delphi like forum.
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E-mail: jcoville@kingston.net
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