Con Report: Fan Expo Canada, Day 3

Day 3 went out quietly today, peacefully in its sleep. There were a lot fewer costumes today, with the majority of them familiar to me, indicating that anime fans got all of their fervor out during the first two days and just needed to rest. Not so the Star Wars fans, who came out in force to stage several mock duels and battles wherever they could find an area of floor not littered with folks standing in lines, which security has apparently decided is the right way to prep for every session, no matter how minor.

1:00 p.m. After having discovered that the hot dog vendors outside the Blue Jays game next door sold their food for half the price the Convention Centre folks wanted, I grabbed lunch there and wandered back for the "Conversation with Dan Didio" session. I was a little early, so I sat in on the end of the comic book cover art panel that included the great Brian Bolland. The general story at the session is that: (1) a lot of artists are going to covers only because they like being able to put a lot of time into one image, (2) editors typically have no clue what makes a good cover, and (3) artists get really sick of being compared to Jack Kirby, because no one will ever be as prolific (and good at the same time) as The King was.

The Conversation session is something Didio has started to do on Sunday at every con that he attends. The format is one of discussion, where he and the rest of the "panelists" (Francis Manapul and Fletcher Trufon (sp?), neither of whom spoke much unless Didio remembered to ask them questions) moderate a discussion among the audience about what they like (and sometimes dislike) about comics. To his credit, Didio really does shine in this format. During the entire time, he didn't take to the stage even once, instead spending the entire time circulating around the audience. It was clear he is an avid comics fan (something that's easy to have lost among the shuffle of massive crossovers and killing off of beloved characters), talking about the day when he was a kid when he hopped off the bus to school so that he could go into a store they were passing where he spotted Captain America 152, spending all of his bus money so that he had to walk the rest of the way to school and back.

As is tradition, Didio started out polling the audience to see who had been reading the longest, this time with a winner at 42 years of comics reading. The audience was pretty split between those of us who were given comics to start and those who discovered comics on their own. It seems a common story among those who were first given comics was that they were used to keep them occupied as a kid during a time of waiting, such as a long trip or hospital visit. I recall getting dropped at the comics rack at our local grocery store and looking through the comics (I could pick 10 to buy) while my mom bought our food.

There was a disagreement between portions of the audience about what types of comics they like best. One guy wanted continuity in creative teams for at least three to five years, while another enjoyed seeing changeover so that ideas don't get stale. Didio offered that you could always tell when Amazing Spider-Man was going to change creative teams, because that's when the current team would do their Green Goblin story, having saved it up until then. One guy wanted one and done stories. I spoke up and modified that a bit, saying that stories (multi-part or one and done) should move, as opposed to reading as Part Five of a one-part story. I mentioned Booster Gold as moving nicely, to which Didio replied it was because Geoff Johns knew he only had 12 issues to tell everything he wanted.

By far the most active discussion was to Didio's question of the silliest story the audience had read. The winner was the gentleman who described a six-page Jimmy Olsen story in which Jimmy accidentally turned Perry White invisible, so took his place judging a beauty contest, which cost him Lucy Lane after the judges gave the title to another contestant instead of her. The contestant turned out to be an alien, who took Jimmy to her planet only to reveal herself as a monster. Fortunately, Jimmy was able to escape, aided by the invisible Perry White, who somehow knew how to fly a spaceship. Now that's packing story into six pages! I leave it to Kevin to say which issue the story appeared in, but I'm pretty sure I've read it. Others talked about various promo comics (think Superman and the TRS-80 Kids, including one issue in which Batman accompanied a pair of kids to Zellers to buy a hat.

2:00 p.m. Took a quick spin around the dealer floor one last time. Apparently, everyone was happy to take lots of inventory back home, as I could only spot a couple of Sunday clearance markdowns.

3:00 Marvel, seeing DC as having really glommed onto something, have started their own fan-centered session. Unfortunately, it's still a work in progress, as the panel of Arune Singh, Dan Slott, Mike Paciello (sp?), and C.B. Cebulski spent most of the hour talking themselves. I wish I could find something of note to talk about for this session, but it was very content free, with the only interesting anecdote being a rerun of Slott's tale of getting his Skull Kill Krew cover idea shot down.

Having experienced Fan Expo Canada, I am confident I will not be investing in a return trip in the coming years. It's a nice little con, but a little con nonetheless. I'd put it at about par with WizardWorld Philly, and quite far behind Comic-Con New York, which is itself behind both Chicago and San Diego in scope. But this seems a very nice regional convention, and I wish the nice folks I've visited with throughout the weekend well.

Posted by JL Franke at August 24, 2008 6:23 PM