Pretty good show, even if Bill Sienkiewicz didn’t show up…highlights that you guys will enjoy:

(1) Got a sketch from Dave Sim. I talked to him for about 20 minutes (holding up the line and likely angering a slew of geeks - but the best part of a con is I’m fairly confident I can beat up anybody else there, so I don’t care…LOL) and at one point said “Dave, I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but I have to say this - I don’t agree with alot of what you’ve said, but I do admire you for saying it.” He sort of stopped and said “That’s all I’m after is open dialogue - I’m not trying to ‘convert’ anybody or anything like that.” I also thanked him for this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2249921400&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

Say what you will about the guy’s politics (which even me, Mr. Getting Crazier Right Wing Everyday, don’t agree with entirely) but anybody who’s donating that kind of money to help out old artists (and he donated all his file copies to ACTOR) is a very solid man in my books.

(2) Terry Austin - was an awesome guy. Said his next project is a Batman story with Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. I was stunned, because I’ve heard nothing about this. I also asked him about the recent Byrne/Claremont article in Back Issue magazine it had the original art from 4 or 5 X-Men covers in the Byrne/Austin era. All the covers credited as being “From the collection of Terry Austin.” When I asked him about still having all those, he said “Well, I just thought they looked great and wanted to hang onto them. You talk to John and he’s always complaining that he doesn’t have any of his X-Men cover I still do.?

(3) Cary Nord — was mobbed all week-end. He was charging $10 for a sketch, and I told him he should bump it up to $30, otherwise he’d never have a spare moment. I don’t think the guy realized he was the most popular current artist at the show (I mean, Conan is a top 30 book!). And, despite my begging and grovelling, he refused to sell me a single page of Conan art - said he’s holding onto all of it. I did tell him that holding onto the Conan art was probably a good idea.

(4) Tom Fowler - got my second Fowler sketch in as many shows, and if you’re able to find him at any show, hit him up. He did a kick-ass watercolour of Dr. Strange karoke singing “Abra cadabra” for my buddy Brian. Fowler is the goods. He’s apparently getting some big name project too, but wasn’t allowed to say what it was or who was writing it.

(5) Will Eisner - was a big deal for me to shake his hand. When I thanked him for coming to Toronto, he said “Well, I haven’t been here in 40 years, so I thought it was good time to get back before people here forgot about me.” When I made a joke that it was a good thing to get your name out there, he said (with what I can only describe as like a Disney-type glint in his eye) “Well, an up-and-coming young cartoonist like myself needs to get people talking about my work.” He also told a story about being at a National Cartoonist’s Society meeting in 1938 and having Hal Foster say he’d made $55,000 the year before. Sim said that’s probably equivalent to 10 million dollars nowadays…which might be pretty close…

The Eisner/Sim/Chester Brown panel was pretty cool, and there was a DC panel that my question was “Hey Joey Cavalieri why should I buy the upcoming Walt Simonson Elric book monthly, when I know I can just wait for the trade?” He tried to tell me there was no guarantee of a trade and that I’d better buy the monthlies…and then Jimmy Palmiotti said “Joey, it’s Walt Simonson AND Michael Moorcock. There will be a collection.” Which started a nice trade vs. monthlies discussion. All 3 creators on the panel (Cameron Stewart, Tom Fowler, and Jimmy Palmiotti) said they’d much rather work on whole stories in one volume than on monthlies. Joey then said it was unlikely that any North American company would adopt that policy at any time. Palmiotti also dropped a few hints that he was working on a DC books featuring ?40s superheroes.? Take from that what you will…

All in all — another great show, and it?s fantastic to watch this con continue it’s climb up the list of ?must see? good shows. Will Eisner, Dave Sim, a bunch of Top Cow guys, some Oni editors, and a slew of talented artists (got a great Scarlet Witch from Paul Ryan) too. Still convinced this will be “THE” show in Canada in 10 years time.

Check out the website for some more of the details - www.torontocomicon.com ? and plan a trip to Toronto for next year?s!

General