by BK Munn
“‘The Stones of Seeing do not lie, and not even the Lord of Barad-dur can make them do so. He can, maybe, by his will choose what things shall be seen by weaker minds, or cause them to mistake the meaning of what they see.” Those spake Gandalf! Now we gaze into our crystal palantir to see what in yonder Wizard World doth transpire…
The Wizard World Toronto Comic Con took place March 18-20 at Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre. It was the second year for the renamed Paradise Con. My research has revealed that the con was fairly lacklustre, with a dearth of comics guests and vendors. But see for yourself:
Item! Previous Sequential reports: Day One ; Day Two.
Item! Did you know that fans of Joss Whedon’s short-lived tv series Firefly are called Browncoats? And that there is a large group of people called The Toronto Browncoats who attend fan events? I didn’t.
Item! “Comic Book Goddess” Shelley Smarz on an uneventful last day.
Item! David Diep, news editor for the Toronto-based Comic Book Daily, has a fairly thorough con report with some notes from dealers. I was a bit surprised to learn that there were essentially only 4 traditional comics-focused dealers at the con! Some other nice tidbits in there as well, including details of the Grant Morrison-Yanick Paquette working relationship on Batman Inc.
Item! Another, shorter report from Comic Book Daily’s Andrew Ardizzi. Plus: Ardizzi covers the Francis Manupal panel.
Item! Artist Adam Gorham complains about the con music, shares a killer Mr. Monster sketch. Day One, Day Two, Day Three.
Item! Matt Demers of ComicVine has cosplay photos.
Item! A little kid’s blog, written by the kid’s parents. Still, kinda cute.
Item! Comics artist Kieron Smith has a big report, checks in with a ton of artists, mentions our own Robert Pincombe and Sequential (!), and complains about the cold.
Item! Another family report.
Item! Con guest and superhero artist Phil Jimenez raised bucks for the Red Cross.
Item! Meandering, amateurish, but dopily charming Video tours from all 3 days by “Multiverse 5”.
Item! A slick, tightly-edited highlights clip with horrible music from ConsoleCreatures.com
Item! Not sure about the veracity of this report.
Item! The Toronto Sun’s Jonathan Brodie gets a quote from Wizard CEO Gareb Shamus claiming “a major growth in the attendance at this show over last year.”
Item! Mike Grell.
Item! Tdot Comics’s con photos on Facebook.
Item! This report has lots of cosplay photos and mentions that there may be an age divide between the con and the Hobbystar Anime con across town.
Item! Checking on the veracity of this report as well.
Item! Jason Truong has a thorough-going report from the art-buyer perspective. Also, some music criticism.
Item! Adriana Blake, of the Fall on Me webcomic.
Item! Rue Morgue’s horror-themed coverage.