The Con had a lot of different retailers set up; there were four booths with a very large assortment of comics available, some smaller booths with more older (aka. more valuable) books but less variety, and then booths ranging from board gaming to toy collectibles to clothing, etc. I was kind of surprised to see the Warren golf course had a booth, but I grabbed some coupons for a discount on green fees there, so I may have to try that course some time. Part of the room was dedicated to video games (mostly Rock Band and Street Fighter, though I did get to see the brand-new DJ Hero) and video showings (but really, who goes to a convention to watch tv?). A good chunk of the room was set up for comic book professionals (who were available for autographs and were selling prints, sketches, etc) as well as the special guests (who all charged $20-$40 for an autograph!). There was also the Main Stage area where Q&A's were held throughout the week-end, and an exhibition arena for live demonstrations.
I spent some time walking around, checking out everything that was available. There were some cool collectible toys that I remember from when I was a kid, but I don't recall them being as expensive back then. I ended up getting a good-sized stack of comics on the first day, and got a VIP pass for Sunday that allowed me to buy $1.00 comics at $.50 at a specific booth.
I went with my friend Caleb, and he wanted to see the Julie Newmar Q&A, so I went with him for that. For those not in the know, Julie Newmar was the first Catwoman on the old Batman television show (starring Adam West, also at the Con). She was a...quirky old lady. She wanted to be different so she sat on the panel table instead of in a chair, and then proceeded to talk about her stockings (and while adjusting them so the pattern was on the right part of her legs she was coming way too close to flashing the whole audience, as she was wearing a skirt). If you're a Julie Newmar fan then I guess the Q & A was good, but since I've only seen her on the Batman show I didn't have a ton of interest.
After returning from a battery-run for my camera (in which a man in a leather jacket approached us on the street and said "I don't need gas money, my sister isn't sick, and I'm not dying, I just want $1.80 for a King Can of beer") I snapped this picture, mostly to prove that such a thing actually exists. This is the Illuminari Dance Group. As best I can tell, they are Klingon belly dancers. I swear I'm not making that up.
One of the highlights of the first day was meeting Marv Wolfman. Marv is the comic writer who created the New Teen Titans, Blade the Vampire Hunter, and has been a top notch comic professional for 40 years. He also does work in film, television, and is the writer for the DC Universe On-line computer game coming out in a year or so. Marv signed some of my Teen Titan comics for me, and also signed the original script for Nightwing 131 I bought from him. I then realized later I should get him to sign a copy of the actual Nightwing 131 comic, so I hit a booth to find it and went back to get Marv's signature.
The other comic professional I made a point of seeing was Bob Layton. Bob is known for his work on Iron Man primarily, but I've always loved his work on Hercules. As such I got him to autograph one of the Hercules mini-series' he did in the 1980's. I also brought along an Iron Man comic he did to get autographed for my friend Mark, who is a huge Iron Man and Bob Layton fan.
Later in the day I participated in a Comics Writing workshop that Marv ran, but he was rather unimpressed with the lay-out. Rather than have it in a separate room, we were in a small area right next to the Main Stage, where Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from Star Wars) was having a Q & A. The problem was, Mr. Mayhew had a microphone, and Marv didn't. There was also a Norse fighting group demo going on at the arena, so the handful of us in the workshop (shame more people didn't sit in) crowded around Marv's table and we shouted back and forth trying to be heard. At one point Bob Layton (one of the other big name comics pros at the Con) came over and said "Are you having a panel?". He was shocked to see us doing the session in the middle of the room next to another panel session. Basically Marv and Bob agreed that the set-up for the panels was completely gong show (my word, not theirs), which isn't good. If the Winnipeg Con wants to draw top-notch talent to come, having the guys who come saying we're bush league (again, my term, not theirs) isn't going to help.
Anyway, it was great to hear Marv talking about the importance of writing your characters, not forcing them into a plot that won't work for them. He obviously takes a lot of care in his work and it really came across in the Q & A.
The other highlight of the first day was the costume contest. I didn't see the whole thing, and unfortunately was too far back to be able to take pictures, but there were some really impressive costumes. Of note was a guy who came out dressed as Indiana Jones. What was cool about this guy was he whipped out a bullwhip and started doing whip tricks, getting wickedly loud snaps out of it. He got one of the largest rounds of applause. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of him when he was whipping (and I didn't see him again to get a picture of his costume).
On Sunday I spent most of my time going through back issues bins, and got another stack for a great price ($.50 a book!). I skipped the Q & A with Adam West; I'll detail a little more in my next post about the Con why. I got to chat with one of my old card buddies from Winnipeg, which was nice. The highlight of Sunday though was the World of Comics Q & A session. Bob Layton, Marv Wolfman, Gordon Purcell, and Lovern Kindzierski were all a part of the panel, and it was great hearing about how things work in comics, or why they did things a certain way. I'll detail some of what they discussed in another post.
Quick info for the non-comic people here (basically everyone reading but me and Mark I'd imagine), Bob Layton is best known for his time as artist on Iron Man back in the 80's, but he still does a little comic work here and there today while focusing more on television and film. Gordon Purcell is one of the big names in regards to Star Trek comics (of which I don't read, but he used to do work for Marvel and DC I'm familiar with). I already introduced Marv's resume. Lovern Kindzierski I'd never heard of, but he was the co-founder of Digital Chameleon, a professional colouring company that used to do work for Marvel and DC before folding a few years ago; fun fact I didn't know about Digital Chameleon tough, it was a Manitoba company!
Left to right: Bob Layton, Gordon Purcell, Marv Wolfman, Lovern Kindzierski
The other comic professional I made a point of seeing was Bob Layton. Bob is known for his work on Iron Man primarily, but I've always loved his work on Hercules. As such I got him to autograph one of the Hercules mini-series' he did in the 1980's. I also brought along an Iron Man comic he did to get autographed for my friend Mark, who is a huge Iron Man and Bob Layton fan.
Later in the day I participated in a Comics Writing workshop that Marv ran, but he was rather unimpressed with the lay-out. Rather than have it in a separate room, we were in a small area right next to the Main Stage, where Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from Star Wars) was having a Q & A. The problem was, Mr. Mayhew had a microphone, and Marv didn't. There was also a Norse fighting group demo going on at the arena, so the handful of us in the workshop (shame more people didn't sit in) crowded around Marv's table and we shouted back and forth trying to be heard. At one point Bob Layton (one of the other big name comics pros at the Con) came over and said "Are you having a panel?". He was shocked to see us doing the session in the middle of the room next to another panel session. Basically Marv and Bob agreed that the set-up for the panels was completely gong show (my word, not theirs), which isn't good. If the Winnipeg Con wants to draw top-notch talent to come, having the guys who come saying we're bush league (again, my term, not theirs) isn't going to help.
Anyway, it was great to hear Marv talking about the importance of writing your characters, not forcing them into a plot that won't work for them. He obviously takes a lot of care in his work and it really came across in the Q & A.
The other highlight of the first day was the costume contest. I didn't see the whole thing, and unfortunately was too far back to be able to take pictures, but there were some really impressive costumes. Of note was a guy who came out dressed as Indiana Jones. What was cool about this guy was he whipped out a bullwhip and started doing whip tricks, getting wickedly loud snaps out of it. He got one of the largest rounds of applause. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of him when he was whipping (and I didn't see him again to get a picture of his costume).
On Sunday I spent most of my time going through back issues bins, and got another stack for a great price ($.50 a book!). I skipped the Q & A with Adam West; I'll detail a little more in my next post about the Con why. I got to chat with one of my old card buddies from Winnipeg, which was nice. The highlight of Sunday though was the World of Comics Q & A session. Bob Layton, Marv Wolfman, Gordon Purcell, and Lovern Kindzierski were all a part of the panel, and it was great hearing about how things work in comics, or why they did things a certain way. I'll detail some of what they discussed in another post.
Quick info for the non-comic people here (basically everyone reading but me and Mark I'd imagine), Bob Layton is best known for his time as artist on Iron Man back in the 80's, but he still does a little comic work here and there today while focusing more on television and film. Gordon Purcell is one of the big names in regards to Star Trek comics (of which I don't read, but he used to do work for Marvel and DC I'm familiar with). I already introduced Marv's resume. Lovern Kindzierski I'd never heard of, but he was the co-founder of Digital Chameleon, a professional colouring company that used to do work for Marvel and DC before folding a few years ago; fun fact I didn't know about Digital Chameleon tough, it was a Manitoba company!
Left to right: Bob Layton, Gordon Purcell, Marv Wolfman, Lovern Kindzierski
This post is getting to be pretty long, so I'll leave this as a summary of what I did at the Con, and I'll go into a little more detail on my impressions and reactions to things I saw and did in another post (and add anything I forgot in this one!). I'll also post up pictures of some of the costumes beings worn around the Con; some are really impressive! I'll leave you this picture as a costume teaser.
Haha, I just watched Spiderman 2 for the FIRST TIME yesterday! I can't believe it took me that long to watch it!
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